PHILADELPHIA- With a few games under their belts, Archbishop Ryan and Conwell-Egan Catholic are starting to get a true sense of their mechanics and expectations. Such was the game this past Wednesday night under the lights in Northeast Philly.
Both teams coming onto the field hungry and aggressive.
The Raiders saw a majority of the ball in the first 15 minutes constantly probing Conwell-Egan Catholic’s (CEC’s) back line. Although they had possession, Ryan still looked for the ball behind CEC’s back line that would break the game open.
Twenty minutes in, Ryan found their first scoring opportunity. Finding space on the right side, Raiders’ sophomore Christopher Rola crossed the ball to center midfielder George Montag, on the left side of the 18-yard box. Montag struck the ball with his head to the far post but the ball kept rising and floated right over the net for a goal kick.
Montag seemed to be Ryan’s leader out on the pitch with his calm, composed play. He could be seen doing everything you could ask out of a player that night, from attacking to defending. So it was not surprising that less than a minute after heading the ball over the crossbar, Montag opened the scoring with a beautifully composed finish.
Having pressured the Eagles for most of the game, Montag picked up a bouncing ball going right down the middle. Beating the CEC player on the top of the box, Montag took the still bouncing ball and passed it right by the keeper. Ryan led 1-0 with 18 minutes left to play.
For the rest of the half, the Raiders continued to search for the ball in behind CEC’s back line, but were unable to connect on the long passes. As for the Eagles, the longer the game went on, the more confident they seemed, and the more aggressive their attacks became.
Coming out of the half, CEC’s chance of a comeback was almost ruined when Raider’s junior Evan Kirby gathered the ball outside of the 18-yard box. Kirby then chipped the ball right over the goalie’s head. Kirby beat the goalie but was unable to beat the post as the ball hit off the top left corner of the goal and bounced out.
CEC applied pressure on the Ryan back line but was not able to penetrate the well-run defense.
With CEC pressing high to try to level the game, the Raiders continued to find space behind CEC’s defense whenever they counter-attacked. This would lead to a few opportunities, but none better then the connection between Ryan’s George Montag and Will Stackhouse.
In the last 5 minutes, Montag got in behind the pressed CEC’s defense and crossed it to Stackhouse on the right side of the goal. Stackhouse made a great first touch and tried to curl the ball with the outside of his right foot, but the ball didn’t make the curl back inside the post and instead went out for a goal kick.
With less than 3 minutes left in the game, spectators started packing-up thinking the match was over. That was until Egan’s captain Matt Costanzo picked up the ball in the middle of the field.
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Constanzo, surrounded by Ryan’s defensive line all around him, took the ball across the 18-yard box, shielding Ryan’s defenders on the way. With his back to the goal, Costanzo swung his left foot all the way around contacting the ball landing it into the bottom left corner of the net to tie the game 1-1.
The glory of CEC’s comeback would be short-lived though thanks again to Ryan’s George Montag. With just 5 minutes remaining in overtime, the Eagles turned the ball over in their half leading to a Ryan break. Stackhouse stole the ball passing it into Montag in the middle of the field. Montag laid it back for Stackhouse who was inside the 18 and in on goal, except Stackhouse opted to slide the ball right across the line to Kirby who tapped the ball into an open net sealing Ryan’s 2-1 OT victory.
The Eagles continue league action 9/16 on the road against Lansdale Catholic.
The Raiders are also on the road 9/16 as they face Archbishop Carroll for a conference match-up.