Hill teams play well in Lancaster’s
Hempfield tournement

by GRAHAM ROBB

Thirteen of the Chestnut Hill Youth Sports Club’s travel soccer teams recently visited Lancaster for the Hempfield Tournament. Chestnut Hill’s contingent was the second largest number of teams from a single club, after the host Hempfield club. The tournament featured 340 teams of girls and boys ages 9 to 18 and included many of the strongest soccer club teams from Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Virginia.

Over 450 parents, coaches and players attended the club’s eighth annual banquet , which featured a film edited by the club’s own independent film producer/director Eugene Martin. In addition to coming together for dinner, Chestnut Hill players and parents often could be found on the sideline cheering on other teams from the club. Overall, it was a great weekend of soccer, camaraderie and sheer fun.

The U-11 girls team brought home the championship trophy in their division in dramatic fashion. Following 5-0 and 6-0 wins over Octorara and Lower Dauphin, the U-11 girls fell to MOT 2-1. That meant that Chestnut Hill needed a win over previously undefeated Conestoga Valley just to get into a three-way tie. The U-11s pulled out an exciting 2-1, which left Chestnut Hill, MOT and Conestoga in a three way tie with 3-1-0 record records. Chestnut Hill was awarded the championship second tie breaker (goals scored), outscoring MOT 11-8.

On the field, several teams distinguished themselves as both the Under 14 year old and U-13 boys teams reached the championship game in their divisions. While results were not available at press time for all age groups, here are results for several teams: the U-15 boys tied Deep Run 1-1, defeated Oakhurst 1-0 and fell to West Plainboro 2-1; the U-15 girls played to three ties against host Hempfield, Carlisle and Quakertown; the U-13 girls beat NHSC 3-2, fell to Hempfield 1-0 and tied Dublin 0-0; the U-12 boys lost to Octorara 3-0, downed Schwencksville 4-2 and tied HMMS 2-2; the U-13 boys beat CASA 2-0, Mason Dixon 4-1, and Gettysburg 1-0 before losing the championship game 3-0 to Octorara; the U-14 boys recorded victories over South Penn, CASA and Hickory before coming up just short in the championship match; the U-10 girls beat Lower Dauphin 5-0, fell to Manheim 4-3 and tied Spirit United 3-3; the U-14 girls came up short in their matches against Solanco, Parkland United and Exeter as did the U-12 girls against Chestertown-Palmyra, Rising Star and Hempfield.

In non-tournament play, the 7-2-0 U-9 boys took on previously defeated Upper Moreland in a key Inter-County Soccer League match. After a scoreless first half, Chestnut Hill got goals from Nic Solomon and Ben Holl to come away with a well earned 2-0 victory.