Fisher’s fast foot from in front of the net delivers first-half goal to send Schalick past hard-luck Penns Grove
THURSDAY’S BOYS SOCCER
Glassboro 3, Pennsville 0
Schalick 1, Penns Grove 0
Wildwood 4, Salem Tech 0
Gloucester Catholic 4, Salem 0
Woodstown 5, Overbrook 2
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PITTSGROVE – Seth Fisher couldn’t believe the good fortune that fell at his feet in the first half Thursday afternoon.
The Schalick sophomore just happened to be in the right place at the right time when a ball off a free kick landed at his feet an empty section of goal staring him right in the face. All he had to do was not mess it up.
Fisher couldn’t have finished it off any more solid and drilled the ball into the back of the net for the only goal in the Cougars’ 1-0 victory over Penns Grove. It was the center midfielder’s second goal of his career – he scored the second goal against Gateway Sept. 9 – and his first game-winner.
“It was like this natural instinct,” he said. “I just saw the ball pass on my right side, it bounced off the keeper and it was right there on my right foot right in front of the goal. I couldn’t believe it was there. It fell right to me.”
The Cougars (5-2) were carrying the play, spending most of the game in the attacking end, but Fisher’s goal with 15:22 left in the first half was the only ball they could get past Penns Grove keeper Dwayne Guzman. They had several chances, but couldn’t cash in, thwarted either by Guzman or the Red Devils’ defense, led by first-year starting stopper Erlin Mondragon and sweeper Jason Cisneros.
Their best chance for a second goal came with 21 minutes to play when Bradford Foster hit the crossbar and Cooper Willoughby headed the rebound into the chest of Guzman. But all you have to do is score one more than the other team to win and the Cougars, thanks to Fisher’s fast foot, got that one.
“Tuesday (a 1-0 loss to Glassboro) was a physical beating so I really wasn’t sure how much we had left and we had some guys have to come off the bench and give minutes,” Cougars coach Joe Mannella said. “They have to get comfortable playing in close games, there are going to be a lot of them, and this is a good step forward to do that.”
Both teams were coming off a spate of one-goal losses. The Cougars had lost two in a row. All four of the Red Devils’ losses (1-4) have been by one goal. It might be the kind of thing that could get a team down, but first-year Penns Grove coach Mano Massari remains positive.
“I have a very young team, a very green team,” Massari said. “We’re keeping up with these top-tier teams in our division and conference, so, yeah, it stings now, but the optimism in me is looking towards the future and thinking, man, we’re going to be a force to deal with for the next couple years.”
WOODSTOWN 5, OVERBROOK 2: Adrian Ibarra scored a hat trick for the Wolverines (5-1).
GLOUCESTER CATHOLIC 4, SALEM 0: Trey Battle and Zack Payne scored two goals apiece for the winning Rams. Both of Battle’s goals came in the first 17 minutes of the game.
GLASSBORO 3, PENNSVILLE 0: Emirhan Kir scored a goal in the first half and Christopher Martinez and Atakan Ozdemir found the back of the net in the second as the Bulldogs remained unbeaten (7-0). It was their third straight shutout.
Riverview Sports News 