Freshman Vanlier moved to center forward, delivers 3 assists in Schalick’s win over Penns Grove; Pennsville scores another shutout; includes Salem County roundup
WEDNESDAY SOCCER
Schalick 7, Penns Grove 1
Pennsville 7, Salem 0
Gloucester Catholic 5, Salem Tech 4 (OT)
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PENNS GROVE — The closest Schalick soccer comes to giving out a game ball is coach Joe Mannella giving a nice atta boy to a player in the huddle after the game. If they did give out a game ball for Wednesday’s match with Penns Grove, it surely would have gone to Ty Vanlier.
The freshman moved up to center forward for the first time since he was a youth and got a shout out from the coach after producing three assists in a 7-1 win over the Red Devils that got their swagger back.
The Cougars (5-2-1) were forced to look for another option up front after senior Luke Price sustained a concussion in the Bordentown match Saturday. Vanlier got his feet wet up front against Woodstown, but with a full day to prepare for the task played the whole game Wednesday feeling a lot more comfortable and assisted on goals by Anthony Sepers, Connor Jackson and Steve Chomo.
“Normally I play center midfield, but I had to do what I had to do,” Vanlier said. “I tried to go up top and just contribute to the best of my ability. That used to be my main position and then I got moved to midfielder for club. I probably played it last when I was 8 years old. They told me just play my game, do what I do best.”
“He’s one of our talented freshmen that we’ve been looking at all season waiting to get an opportunity to really make an impact,” Mannella said. “Last game he played some minutes up top against Woodstown, we liked what we saw, but we didn’t have any preparation for it. We had a nice practice yesterday, he showed us a lot there, and today you couldn’t ask for anything more out of him. He seized the opportunity and that’s the sign of a good player.”
The Cougars were reeling a bit after one-goal losses to Bordentown and rival Woodstown, but they came out aggressively and controlled the action from the opening kickoff. They opened the scoring in the eighth minute when Sepers banged home a rebound and made it 2-0 when Vanlier sent a through ball between two defenders for Jackson to finish.
Spinnato made it 3-0 in the 33rd minute, shortly after a red card left the Red Devils to play with 10 men for the rest of the game.
“We were flat the last two games, it’s just hard for us to play, I don’t know why; it wasn’t us,” Spinnato said. “We got our swagger back this game and we’re going to come for everything now. We knew we had to win and we knew we had to come here and show people we’re still into this.”
“We certainly got some confidence back today,” Mannella said. “To lose two in a row, moving positions, changing formations, they start getting antsy and you’ve got to try and not panic. The guys did a good job settling in today and getting back to playing good soccer. More work ahead, but it was a nice step to get a little confidence back.”
Penns Grove (2-2-1) seemed poised to make a statement after an overtime win over Glassboro and a tie at Woodstown earlier in the week, but the Cougars never gave them a chance to cash in on that momentum. The Red Devils had gotten a couple nice shots on Schalick keeper Evan Sepers, but only got it past him once.
Juan Ortiz scored the Red Devils’ goal two minutes before halftime.
“Didn’t go our way,” Red Devils coach Mano Massari said. “This team for years has been dominant; they just have. They were better than us today, that’s what it comes down to. We were sloppy at times, for sure. Playing a man down is never beneficial, especially when you’re playing a team like that.”
The Cougars got goals in the second half from Jaxon Weber (penalty kick), Steve Chomo, Spinnato and Landon Anderson. For Anderson, a junior, it was his first career varsity goal.
PENNSVILLE 7, SALEM 0: Sam Hassler had two goals and two assists, Ugur Elmali had three assists and Coen Rinnier posted his fifth shutout. The Eagles haven’t given up a goal to an opposing player since their 2-1 loss at Overbrook in the third game of the season.
“One thing I was never worried about this team coming into this season was our defense,” Pennsville coach Derek Foglein said. “Coen is one of the best goalkeepers in South Jersey and Steve (Fatcher) and Brant (Regner) at center back have really worked hard to make a fantastic ying and yang pairing – probably the best I’ve had in my seven seasons.”
The Eagles got a boost in their bid for the TCC Classic Division title when Wildwood handed Clayton its second division loss, 2-1 in overtime. Pennsville already has beaten Wildwood and Clayton in division play.
GLOUCESTER CATHOLIC 5, SALEM TECH 4: Zack Payne’s fourth goal of the game, a golden goal in overtime, gave the Rams the victory. Salem Tech charged back with four goals in the second half after falling behind 4-0 at halftime.
Girls soccer
SCHALICK 7, PENNS GROVE 0: Kiley Parvin and Donaji Ortiz Sanchez scored their first career goals and it was such an exhilarating experience they did it multiple times. Parvin finished with a hat trick and Ortiz Sanchez had two goals. Kyleigh Cutler had three assists.
GLOUCESTER CATHOLIC 7, SALEM TECH 0: Ana Yucis scored two goals for the Rams.
PITMAN 7, SALEM 0: Emily Sharpnack scored two goals for the Panthers.
Field hockey
SENECA 8, SCHALICK 1: Ava Scurry scored the Cougars’ only goal with an assist from Alexa Shimp. The goal left the senior with 199 career points. Goalie Lydia Gilligan faced constant pressure from the Golden Eagles and despite the score played what coach Heather Cheesman called “the game of her life.”
GLOUCESTER CATHOLIC 3, SALEM 0: Madelyn McGinn scored the first and last goals of the game.
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