October 4, 2007 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

CHA soccer captures Inter-Ac opener
by TOM UTESCHER

CHA’s Taylor Ferry

After taking a 2-0 halftime lead in last Friday’s Inter-Ac League soccer debut, Chestnut Hill Academy gave up a goal to visiting Haverford School 10 minutes into the second half but was able to hang on for a 2-1 win.

To be fair, the host Blue Devils did more than just hang on, enjoying a number of scoring opportunities in the second period while Haverford had to adjust its personnel in the face of four yellow cards (to CHA’s one). Taking advantage of offensive openings hasn’t come easily to the Devils this season, though, and that’s a major factor in their 3-4-1 showing so far this fall. The Fords slipped to 4-2-1 with Friday’s setback.

“We’re creating the opportunities,” said CHA coach Mark Weinmann, “but we’ve got to put the simple ones away, and it would’ve been a different game if we did. We’ve got to be more aggressive going to the ball in the final third; when we have numbers in the box, we have to recognize that and just go for it.”

In a rare occurrence, Weinmann found himself matching wits with another redhead in Haverford coach Kevin Tryon.

After a few Haverford rushes at the outset, Chestnut Hill got on the board just two minutes and 37 seconds into the bout. Alex Blenheim took the ball in along the right edge of the box and then passed it inside to assist Chris Eckert’s close-range strike.

Two Haverford corners and a few other offensive gestures by the visitors came to naught, thanks in part to CHA keeper Chip Culp (three saves total) and to defender Taylor Ferry, who each cleared several balls out of the box before the Fords had a chance at a shot.

“Chip’s an exceptional athlete,” Weinmann remarked. “Being a former keeper, I work with him, but there are just some things he does naturally that I don’t want to mess with. Taylor Ferry is an anchor for us - he’s solid as a rock back there. He plays smart and doesn’t make mistakes.”

On a CHA through pass near mid-period Fords keeper Max Kurtzman (five saves) beat Devils forward Joe Breen to the ball, and later Breen narrowly missed the top right corner of the cage while on another charge. With four minutes left in the half, Breen succeeded in putting one past Kurtzman, heading in a beautiful corner kick by Mike Marino. Soon after that, a promising CHA serve into the box found no one on the receiving end, and the half ended with the count still 2-0.

At the start of round two, CHA thwarted a threat by the Fords when Culp blocked a head shot by Ben Rossman. On a CHA restart, a serve by Ferry was headed outside the right post by Brandon McCrae, and on a Blue Devil corner from the right side, Eckert flicked a shot wide of the near post. Nine minutes in, Marino split some Haverford defenders going across the 18 on the left, but shot the ball over the crossbar.

Haverford then came up the field on the transition. Nick Patrylak carried the ball into the right side of the box, drew out Culp, and then popped a shot by him to get the visitors on the board with 30:24 left in the game.

The Fords followed up with a nice serve inside on a restart, but Ferry headed the ball out of danger. Near the middle of the half, CHA’s Peter Adubato roused the home crowd with several runs at the cage. The first time he had a shot saved near the left post by Haverford’s Kurtzman, and on the next occasion he went down in the box after contact with a defender. Chestnut Hill partisans hollered for a penalty kick, but the refs ruled that there’d been no foul by the Fords.

Haverford made a few forays up the pitch, but got off no shots, and at the other end CHA’s Max Mitchell got a nice pass inside to Marino, but visiting defenders closed in and captured the ball.

Over the last seven minutes or so the Blue Devils denied Haverford the chance to tie the game by pressing up on the attack themselves. A high shot by Sam Levin and a low one by Marino were saved by Kurtzman, while Breen booted the ball over the cage on one sequence and then almost headed in a Marino serve as the game entered its final minute. CHA couldn’t acquire the insurance goal, but the Devils got the “W.”

Weinmann said that Ferry and the other CHA backs were a major factor in allowing the team to remain in offensive mode most of the time.

“Penn Steel and Ryan Duffy on the outside giving services helps us a lot,” he explained. “We’re basically playing three in the back, because Brandon McRae is so tough and aggressive that we’re mainly using him as a man marker.”