Wednesday sports report: Stengel’s stop of penalty kick sparks Woodstown soccer to second-half uprising, and more
BOYS SOCCER
Penns Grove 6, Gloucester Catholic 3
Pitman 5, Salem Tech 0
Schalick 3, Wildwood 2 (OT)
Woodstown 6, Pennsville 0
Glassboro at Salem
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PENNSVILLE – Scoring a goal always gets a team excited, but sometimes stopping a goal can be a spark.
Woodstown goalie Ben Stengel stopped a penalty kick in the second minute of the second half to keep their game with Pennsville scoreless Wednesday and it lit a fire under his team.
The Wolverines scored three goals over the next 12 minutes to take complete control and six in the entire half to pull away from Pennsville 6-0.
“It definitely lit a spark,” Woodstown coach Darren Huck said. “Ben’s save definitely was the spark plug. It energized the guys, like, wow.
“And what it did was reiterated what I told them at halftime that any little thing can happen. A ball squibs this way, spins that way, hits a patch of dirt one way, all of a sudden we could be down one-zero after we pretty much controlled the first half.”
Although the game was completed in regulation, both defenses worked overtime to keep it scoreless in the first half. Pennsville keeper Coen Rinnier turned back 10 challenging shots as most of the half was played in his defensive end. And whenever Pennsville pushed into Woodstown territory, the Wolverines’ back line was right there to turn back any threat.
But it all changed early in the second half. The Wolverines were called for contact in the box 90 seconds in – a call both coaches found questionable – and it sent Pennsville senior John Thomas to the spot for a penalty kick.
Stengel stood his ground. Thomas hit the shot straight on into the keeper, who leaned towards his left and raised his arms to keep it from catching the underside of the crossbar and batted it away. He collected the rebound, cleared it through the box and the game continued scoreless.
It was the second PK in three attempts Stengel had turned away this season.
“It helped a little bit that (Coach) Huck wanted to come out and ask about the play, so that was good; it built up the anticipation up there,” Stengel said. “He was scared to death just sitting there, his teammates were telling him where to kick, they were like pointing fingers this way so when he goes to kick I know exactly where he’s going. It was just all the nerves building up from waiting.
“I was ready to dive. I don’t know if you guys could see from where you were but there’s a little bit of a hole on the PK (spot) and he just took like a bad step and hit it weird. That’s what I was kind of waiting for. You’ve got like guess. I was ready to dive, he hits it weird, you’ve just got to react real quick and stand back up.”
Stengel said stopping the penalty kick “killed everything” in the Eagles. The Wolverines, meanwhile, kept up the pressure they exhibited in the first half only this time they were able to finish.
Ayden Ellis, Erich Lipovsky and Bryce Ayars scored over the next 12 minutes to make it 3-0. Before the half ended, Adrian Ibarra was credited with a pair of goals – his third straight two-goal game – and Sid Leevy scored his second goal of the year.
In defense of Rinnier, who faced 32 shots total, there wasn’t a lot he could do on several of the goals. Although it won’t be reflected on the stat line, Pennsville coach Derek Foglein called it “the best game I’ve ever seen Coen play.
“He was all over the place. He commanded his box. He slowed the game down. He did everything right. Even in the second half, you take a look at a lot of those goals, there aren’t many that are his fault. It was really one of those things where Woodstown, they didn’t execute in the first half, they executed in the second half.”
SCHALICK 3, WILDWOOD 2 (OT): Brad Foster headed home a corner kick from Jaxon Weber seven minutes into the first overtime to give the Cougars their seventh win in eight games and hand coach Joe Mannella his 300th career victory. Luke Price scored Schalick’s first two goals, both in the first half. Mannella is 300-123-28 — all at Schalick, his alma mater. (See related story).
PENNS GROVE 6, GLOUCESTER CATHOLIC 0: Anthony Braxton opened the scoring three minutes into the first half and the Red Devils proceeded to score six goals in the first half. Frankie Juarez Reynoso had two, while Sebastian Hernandez, Edward Swank and Angel Perez Herrera each had one.
PITMAN 5, SALEM TECH 0: Elijah Crispin, who recently returned to the Panthers’ soccer team, scored his first two goals of the season. Crispin had nine goals and 11 assists last year.
Glassboro at Salem
GIRLS SOCCER
WOODSTOWN 3, PITMAN 0: Talia Battavio scored two goals, raising her career total to 55, and Sophie Wells scored once for Woodstown. The Wolverines are unbeaten in their last four games and all three wins in the stretch have been shutouts. Ellie Wygand made five saves in the latest shutout.
Gloucester Catholic 5, Penns Grove 0
Salem at Glassboro
Salem Tech at Pennsville
GIRLS TENNIS
Pennsville matched its best start in four seasons when it swept Overbrook in straight sets, 5-0. The Eagles’ 11-0 start matches the start of the 2021 team.
PENNSVILLE 5, OVERBROOK 0
Megan Morris (P) def. Keira Riess, 6-2, 6-1
Regan Witt (P) def. Nesrine Fosso, 6-1, 6-3
Lily Edwards (P) def. Sophia Burgos, 6-0, 6-0
Emma Cornette-Morgan Holt (P) def. Jennifer Giovanni-Hillary Cao, 6-0, 6-2
Naomi Hess-Isabell Schrenker (P) def. Madison Rikard-Gianna Hardy, 6-0, 6-0
Records: Pennsville 11-0, Overbrook 1-10.
Riverview Sports News 