In last Tuesday’s nonleague boys’ soccer game at Germantown Academy, the host Patriots and visiting Tigers of Germantown Friends School proved to be evenly matched. After 80 minutes of play the scoreboard still read 0-0, and with no overtime session, each squad added an entry in the “tie” column of its season record.

GA (3-1-1) previously defeated Conwell-Egan, Academy of the New Church, and George School, and lost to Father Judge High School, while the Tigers (2-1-1) tackled Springside Chestnut Hill and Malvern Prep successfully, and lost to Perkiomen School.

In 2024, GA finished sixth within the Inter-Ac League, with a record of 1-8-1. GFS tied with Shipley School for second place in the Friends Schools League regular season (both 6-1), then lost to the Gators in the league tournament semifinals.

Westtown School won the league championship by defeating Shipley in the finals, while in the Inter-Ac (where final standings are based solely on regular-season league play), Haverford School won with a record of 8-1-1.

For 2025, the goalies for both GA and GFS will be playing their first full season as varsity starters. Current Patriots senior Rowen Harbert began the 2024 campaign as the starting keeper, but suffered a season-ending injury. Tigers junior Wyn Stace moved up into the GFS varsity position from the 2024 JV squad.

Both teams have veteran head coaches; Sam McIlvain is now in his 13th season for the Tigers, and this is the eighth season for Patriots skipper Kurt Wetzel.

The teams established an even flow of play during the game’s early minutes. About eight minutes in, senior Ned Spaniel of GFS had a shot from about eight yards out saved by the Patriots’ Harbert.

Closer to the middle of the first half, senior Quinlan Rink took the ball up along the left wing for GA, angled in toward the left side, and had a shot toward the right post blocked by Stace, the Tigers’ keeper. A shot off of the rebound was also blocked and the ball was loose once more, but another GA shot went over the crossbar.

On one of the first corner kicks for the visitors, senior Elliot Capecchi lined up on the left side. The ball he struck rose too high for anyone to get a touch on it in front of the goal, and a Patriot defender booted it upfield from just beyond the right side of the box. The half ended with the score still 0-0.

A little over two minutes into the second period, GA sophomore Logan Burgey launched a promising serve from well above the 18-yard line. When his senior teammate Ben Creighton got a head on it, the ball struck the left post.

Speedy sophomore Kiran Ebanks made a run up the left sideline for the Tigers, but the Patriots’ Creighton rushed over to extend a foot just in time to disrupt the attack.

A little later, GA freshman Michael Trent brought the ball along the right wing and crossed it, setting up a shot that strayed outside the left post. Midway through the second half, an errant GFS corner kick from the left side veered into the outer net wall of the Patriots’ goal.

On a threatening serve into the box by GA’s Burgey, the Tigers’ Stace tried to snatch the ball out of the air. Back at the other end, GFS looked to make something out of a throw-in from the left sideline, but the resulting shot was way off target.

The field play was getting a little chippy, and two Patriots received yellow cards, followed by one to a GFS player. The action was also halted when GA senior Jayden Gattuso went down momentarily with an injury.

Late in the contest, a single goal probably would’ve led to a victory for the scoring team, but it never happened. The experienced players on both sides maintained their discipline much of the time, and there were no major defensive breakdowns that led to easy scoring opportunities.

In the closing minutes, the Tigers saw a head shot go astray off of a corner kick, and what looked to be a dangerous right-to-left shot by Patriots’ senior Connor Harrington went wide of the far post. It was decided that no overtime period would be played.