FEASTERVILLE-TREVOSE, PA – Around this time last year, Father Judge and Roman Catholic faced off in the Philadelphia Catholic League Championship, with Roman ultimately coming away as champions. Last night, the two Catholic League powerhouses, met once again, this time in the PCL semifinals.
It was a cleanly fought game, it was physical and it was emotional – an all in all perfect representation of Catholic League soccer.
At the beginning of the season, Roman’s head coach Ray DeStephanis stated that if his team “tightened up defensively” they would be in good shape for the rest of the season.
After last night’s performance, it’s obvious that the Cahillites have come very close to perfecting their defensive strategies.
Roman secured its third consecutive PCL Final berth after almost 65 minutes of scoreless play. Senior defender, Aidan Meissler, settled a perfectly placed ball to score the sole goal of the game, sending the Cahillites and their observing fans into a frenzy.
“It was probably the greatest feeling ever,” said Meissler.
Another key asset to the Cahillites strong defensive hold was freshman goalie, Kevin Tobin. Tobin remained notably calm and composed throughout the entire game, despite being pounded by the Crusader’s offensive attack.
Winning goal & celebration
Kevin Tobin makes two key saves for the Cahillites
“From day one you would never know he was a freshman. His composure is just amazing,” said DeStephanis. “I think some of that is from learning and watching his brother {Mark} play last year, and his brother has helped coach him since last November. Kevin just doesn’t play like a freshman, he’s amazing.”
With another win, comes the preparation for the most important game of Roman’s season. The Cahillites have two days to formulate a game plan to combat No. 1 seeded La Salle in the PCL Championship on Saturday evening at the South Philadelphia Supersite.
“We watched them [La Salle] tonight, they finished as the best team in the league, and they are very dangerous. Spencer [Patton] and [Michael] D’Angelo are fantastic offensively, even [Zach] Hogan up top is a big presence for them two to play off of to get open. And [Brett] Werner in goal is just enormous,” said DeStephanis. “We had some great success at La Salle earlier in the year. We have to clean up a couple mistakes we made defensively and we should have a shot.”
Goalie Kevin Tobin credits his success in goal to his seniors
Arthur Dolan reflects on his team goals from earlier in the season & his team’s preparation for La Salle
Matt Flanagan passes his senior wisdom to his returning teammates
Aidan Meissler, talks about what went through his mind when scoring Roman’s winning goal, sending his team to the PCL final
As difficult as it may be to grasp at times, losing is a primary aspect of the game. For Father Judge, learning to build off mistakes and grow from defeat is sometimes just as important as coming away with a victory.
“This league is very difficult to go one time around. To come around the second time is even more difficult. I thought it was probably going to go to overtime. But, I have to give Roman credit, they hung in there and battled,” said Crusader’s head coach John Dunlop. “For my 15 seniors, I feel bad for them. I thought we struggled for parts of our season, but we picked it up towards the end. I’m proud of what my guys accomplished. It builds character. It’s going to hurt for a little while, but they will wake up tomorrow and feel proud of themselves.”
Dunlop’s senior class included 7 All-Catholic team honorees and one All-State representative in senior forward, Sean McCormick. But what stands out most of all for Dunlop in regards to his seniors is the way they balance their athletic careers with their achievements in the classroom and beyond.
“Eight of my seniors are National Honor Society members, 14 of them are AP students. They are bona fide student athletes. If I could showcase them to every Father Judge soccer player and use them as an example of what a Judge soccer player should look like and act like in the classroom and on the field and in the community, I would. They are prime examples and I couldn’t be any prouder to have those 15 guys and be apart of their life and for them to allow me to be apart of their life for the past four years.”
Coach DeStephanis couldn’t help but laud Dunlop’s talented and league respected senior class.
“My hat’s off to Father Judge. John Dunlop and the kids do an amazing job. Their senior class was one of the best classes he’s ever had at the school in his tenure and they are just an amazing group of kids. Seven of them got All-Catholic for a reason. It was an amazing night because they were apart of it,” said DeStephanis.
Judge’s senior captain, Adam Nork, commended the hard work and dedication his team showcased throughout the season and in their final league game.
“I can’t even put it into words, I think everyone went out and tried to leave everything they had on the field,” said Nork. “We started out a little rough, but I think we learned to be a team and learned to play more for each other than for ourselves. I’m extremely proud of everyone for what we accomplished, but I wish our Judge soccer careers could’ve ended differently with a PCL plaque.”
For Nork, just because his term at Judge is coming to an end, doesn’t mean that his returning teammates don’t have unfinished business to settle. Nork expects nothing less than for Judge soccer to bring the PCL plaque home to Solly Avenue.
“And for the returning players, I want them to remember the feeling that they felt tonight so that they work as hard as ever to never feel it again,” said Nork. “In order to keep the Judge tradition of winning alive, they need to stay together as a team and as best friends and take things seriously so they can bring the plaque back to Judge where it belongs.”
