Soccer: Cardinals Blank William Tennant, 4-0, Remain Unbeaten

Unbeaten they will stay. The Upper Dublin boys soccer team used a stellar defensive effort to keep their unbeaten streak alive with a 4-0 win over William Tennant on Monday afternoon.

“I think this is a good start for us,” said head coach Rick Schmidt. “They’re a National Conference team, so they usually play the bigger schools. It was a good test for us.”

Tennant, who remains winless at 0-4, struggled to find a good look at the net. When they did manage to find a decent shot, Cardinal goalkeeper Parker Schroeder had the answer. Schroeder finished with eight saves.

Upper Dublin (2-0-1) came storming out the gates with an early fourth-minute goal by senior Gabe Fellus. Twelve minutes later, the team struck again—this time a right field cross from inside the box as Zach Arnold connected with captain Andrew Yekel for a 2-0 lead.

Yekel would again prove instrumental in Upper Dublin’s 28^th-minute goal. Mike Connelly beat the Tennant right wing defense and made a saucer pass into a high traffic area just outside the goalkeeper’s box. Yekel would fake the one-time shot and let junior Dan Demchick power a kick past Tennant’s starting goalie, Jeff Piotrowski. Demchick would later go on to acknowledge his captain’s ability.

“Andrew’s a great team player, and he’s a really good player to play with,” Demchick said. “He made an unselfish play on my goal when he could’ve kept it for himself.”

Coach Schmidt has put the senior captain and junior striker on extended periods together, and it seems to be paying dividends early in the season.

“Andrew and Danny are starting to come into their own,” said the Cardinal coach. “They’re doing the jobs forwards are supposed to do, and that’s what I’m seeing from them.”

The second half would see a lot of physical play come out for both squads. Although no red or yellow cards were issued to either team throughout the game, the latter half of the match seemed more like a hockey game played in the corner of the boards.

“It took a little while to get the jitters out of the defense,” Schmidt said. “It was a fast paced, physical game, and we got the best out of our guys.”

Late in the second half, William Tennant finally got on the score sheet. Unfortunately, it was an own goal on a hard cross from Demchick, who was yet again looking for Yekel in front of the net.

“I just tried to cross the ball in towards the net, and Tennant’s guy just happened to finish it for me,” Demchick said, laughing.

Coach Schmidt had a smirk on his face as well when he talked about the final goal of the game.

“It’s a shame, and they do happen. Nobody wishes that, but it’s a tough situation to be in. There are just so many people in front of the net, but you know, we’ll take it.”

The season is still young for the Cardinals, with only three games played, but that’s not the only thing about the Upper Dublin squad that’s young. The Cardinal and Gray only have four seniors on the squad, but with a solid mid-field distributing the ball to Yekel and Demchick up front, the Cards could be seeing a playoff berth come November.