Boys Soccer Season Recap

Record: 10-5-2 (8-3-2)

Postseason: “We just missed out on Final Four,” said head coach Doug Landis. “We ended up being third in our division. And the way our conference is set up, the top two from each division make it to districts, even thought we beat every team in our division. So, we kind of missed out on the league playoffs there. We’re hoping to get that changed in the near future so it doesn’t happen again where a team is good enough to make the playoffs but doesn’t make it.”

Awards/Accomplishments: 10-win season (fifth team in Spring-Ford history to get double digits for victories). “I think that’s a nice accomplishment considering people thought we were going to be the bottom of the barrel this year since we graduated so many seniors.”

Four All-League Selections: First Team – Evan Harbison (out of 13 selected), Second Team – Dylan DuFour, Wes Counts, Honorable Mention – , Nick Bombard (sophomore).

Defeated 2011 League Champion Owen J. Roberts (only one of two losses)

Graduating Seniors: DuFour, Kelleher, Tyler Welch, Harbison, , Jason Dombrosky, Counts, Josh Dishman, David Temme, Sean Sweeney.

Major Injuries: “We didn’t have any major injuries. Josh Dishman was out a game or two with a toe injury, but everyone else was pretty healthy, which was nice.”

Overall Impressions: “Like I said before, , everybody pretty much thought that we were going to be down. The only people that believed we could be good was our senior class coming in and our coaching staff. I was specifically told by other coaches at games that they were surprised because they thought we were going to be at the bottom. I like staying under the radar. I thought we could surprise some people. After the season, it was like, I told you so. I knew we were going to be a decent team and thought we could achieve the things that we did.”

Best Game: “We played two really great games. One was the first Owen J. Roberts game. Our second was the last game of the season against Perkiomen Valley, where we won 2-0. It’s nice to finish the season with a shutout. We had eight shutouts this year, which is phenomenal, too.”

Worst Game: “The worst game was probably the first game of the season. It kind of hurt us, too, having a bunch of new starters. They were anxious and nervous and we played one of the best in the league right off the bat in Boyertown. They took it to us a little bit. It opened our eyes up and we really picked it up after that game.”

Story of the Year: “We had so many good kids. It would probably be Evan Harbison. He was a backup player last year and got very little varsity time on the team and then this year became a starter that played just about every minute of every game and then became a first team all league selection. This is somebody that wasn’t even known last year to one of the best in the league.”

Thoughts About Next Year: “I’m very excited for next year. I was talking to the coaches and we’ve got a vigorous offseason training program that we’re going to put into place because we can do a lot of damage with next year’s team. I have two sophomores up top that are very dangerous – they scored 14 goals for me this year. I have a nice, solid core in the back and the midfield. Right now, the only position that really needs strengthening and growth is our goalkeeper and I have someone working on that. So, I’m excited. I think next year there’s a very good possibility of us making it to the playoffs and being elite in the league.”

Unexpected Leader/Player: “Of my younger guys, I was really impressed with two guys in particular. One was Nick Bombard, who scored eight goals for me this year. He did get an all-league selection nod. The other guy is Jerry Williams. He played midfield for me. He actually stepped in when Josh Dishman was hurt and he did a terrific job in the midfield. He kind of earned my trust in there where I could sub him in and not have to worry about what would happen in there. So, he made a solid contribution to the team due to an injury, if not for that, we wouldn’t have known about him.

Seniors Next Year: “Returning seniors from varsity next year, and that’s not guaranteed but looking at my list, there’s seven.”

Last Thoughts: “Yeah. You know, I think it was an injustice that we didn’t get into districts. I think it’s a system that’s very flawed. We were a team with ten wins. We beat our league champion once during the season. The way they chose district teams is coaches around the league come in and argue who the best are and the PAC-10 really gets no respect in that regard, because other leagues like the Suburban League gets six votes because they have more teams. We always get outvoted when we try to get our teams in. It’s kind of like a smack in the face to us. I know we can beat those teams, as Owen J. just proved with a district win. We feel it’s an injustice and our season was incomplete to us. Until they go to a point system where teams are ranked on wins and so forth then nothing is going to change in the district.

That’s it though. I’m excited for next year. I talked to my coaching staff and we’re all ready to get rolling for next year already.”