BOYS SOCCER: Boyertown beats Upper Merion for 4th straight win

by ed morlock

BOYERTOWN >> When Boyertown’s game against Upper Merion started back on Sept. 8, the Bears weren’t playing their best soccer. They were on a two-game losing streak and in the middle of a 2-4 start to the regular season.

The game only lasted 9:44 before getting postponed due to weather. When the teams reconvened 20 days later, the Bears were in a different spot.

Boyertown scored two goals in each half Thursday afternoon and beat Upper Merion, 4-1, at Boyertown Area Senior High School for their fourth straight win to improve their record to 7-5.

“The boys, we’ve just got to build our confidence up,” Boyertown captain Macade Knoblauch said. “We started off battling with each other, but we picked it up. We’re good buddies, so we fight a little bit but we overcome it. We have a lot of talent and we started working better together.

“We’ve been playing together for a long, long time – not just high school. We have a lot of talent. We’re moving the ball well and being unselfish. Like I’ve said from the beginning of the season, the goals are going to come. Here they are, coming in bunches.”

“One of the things we’ve been focusing more on is just the defensive responsibilities,” Boyertown coach Matt Danner said, “making sure that we’re accountable and covering for each other. Early on in the season we let in some soft goals and came out on the losing end in some of the matches. It’s one of the things we’re focusing on now – to make sure that we’re defensively sound.”

Boyertown's Jayden Anderson and Upper Merion's Luke Wintersteen battle for possession. (Ed Morlock/MediaNews Group) — Boyertown’s Jayden Anderson and Upper Merion’s Luke Wintersteen battle for possession. (Ed Morlock/MediaNews Group)

The Bears (7-5, 6-3 PAC, 4-2 PAC Liberty Division) got the scoring started in the 27th minute when Braedyn Johnson found Brayden Burkhardt cutting towards the goal along the right side. Burkhardt ripped a shot into the back of the net for an early 1-0 lead.

Knoblauch doubled the advantage in the 37th minute. Brady Albanese sent a long free kick into the box, where the ball bounced around for a few moments. Elijah Emodoh-Kaba eventually gained possession and passed to Knoblauch, who placed it from the left of the goal to the far side to make it 2-0 with 3:15 until halftime.

The Vikings (5-5, 5-3 PAC, 4-2 PAC Frontier Division) cut their deficit in half when Arjun Kaushik sent a corner into the box and Ben Wintersteen deflected it in in the 46th minute, but the one-goal margin only lasted for five minutes.

Knoblauch had possession along the edge of Upper Merion’s box and faked like he was going to pass. He turned to goal, drove in and shot from the right side to the far-post. His shot snuck inside to make it 3-1 Boyertown.

“I saw a man in the middle, but he looked marked,” Knoblauch said, “so I shot and went back post. If I missed wide, I had (Emodoh-Kaba) back-post to finish it off, but I finished in the bottom corner.”

Chase Bartman made it 4-1 when his low free kick from around 35 yards out got through Upper Merion’s wall of defenders and the keeper in the 59th minute.

Boyertown’s defense limited Upper Merion’s scoring opportunities for most of the game. The Vikings had a good chance in the first half when the game was scoreless and they got off two consecutive strong shots within range, but both hit defenders in front of the net. They earned six corners and put three shots, including their one goal, on target.

Upper Merion was a bit shorthanded in the game. The Vikings lost their starting goalkeeper, starting centre-back and starting outside-back in a 2-1 loss to Perk Valley Wednesday.

“I think for what we had left in the tank we did about the best we could,” UM coach Dave Lawrence said. “Going down 2-0 is obviously tough. We got a little hope with the set-piece goal to bring us back 2-1 and then just ran out of gas.”

Boyertown visits Exeter Township Saturday before a meeting with undefeated Perk Valley Monday. PV beat Boyertown, 2-1, back on Sept. 6.

Upper Merion visits Upper Perkiomen Monday. The PAC Frontier rivals play twice next week, with the Vikings hosting on Friday.