The Abington Heights sophomore had the game-winning goal in a 2-0 win over North Pocono to clinch Abington Heights’ fifth straight Lackawanna League Division I boys soccer title. He also drew the foul just outside the box to set up Wes Illian’s direct kick that made it 2-0. He also added four goals and two assists in a 6-2 victory over Delaware Valley.
Family: Dad, Jeff, mom, Sara, brother, Gabe.
Coach: Frank Dyska
You had a really nice goal that you curved into the net to break the tie in the game against North Pocono. How did it feel to score that goal?: It felt amazing because this whole season I’ve been struggling. That was probably my third goal of the season, my only real goal. The other goals were deflections or own goals, really. So, the pressure’s been really high on me after Joey (Pivirotto) has unfortunately been out for the season, and so the pressure was really high and it just felt really good to get a goal of that quality you can say, especially against a rival team after we lost to them.
As you mentioned, you lost to North Pocono on Sept. 17, the first time your team lost in about a year. What was the difference at that point in the season and now?: Definitely at the beginning of the season, we were kind of struggling to find our identity, because we knew, obviously, we were a very good team. We knew we had the same players of the caliber that can go to districts and potentially beyond. So, we were just still trying to find ourselves and when we really thought we found it was during Selinsgrove. We found something deep. We just wanted to win that game so bad after last year we beat them, 5-0, in the first round of states. We just wanted to beat them so bad, and so we were just kind of amped and we were just flying into tackles, we were just sticking tackles and winning balls and we dominated that game for sure. So, we’ve kept that mentality going forward, especially into the North Pocono game.
In the North Pocono game, you’re able to set up Wes Illian’s direct kick by forcing a foul outside the box on a hustle play. He said you talked to him before he kicked it. What did you say to him?: First of all, I was very happy for Wes. He deserved that goal. I saw it. I was standing behind the ball and I said, ‘trust me if you just fire this ball near post, just drive it, it’s not getting saved.’ I was super happy to celebrate that one with him.
You follow up that game with four goals and two assists against Delaware Valley. You had a hand in every single goal. What was that game like for you?: I did find a bit of confidence after that North Pocono game. My coach (Frank) Dyska, he actually switched me to center striker. The whole season I’ve been playing out wide on the right wing, so he just switched it up, put me in the middle. Jayden (Alu) was doing a great job there, I think Jack (Leuthe) played there, as well, but Dyska saw something in me that I guess no one else did. So he put me up there, made a couple runs and I trusted my teammates. A big point that we’ve been trying to capitalize on is a slip pass, so I’m as high up on the defensive line as I can get, and then they play a little through ball to space and I run onto it and score or shoot or find a pass. We’ve been capitalizing on those recently.
You’re defending state champions, and have faced plenty of adversity this season, losing starters to graduation and Joey Pivirotto — probably the best player in the Lackawanna League — to injury. What has this season been like for the team?: We’ve been expected to win every game and just pound teams and we expect ourselves to do it, as well, honestly. What we figured out the first games of the season is that no team is just going to fall over and die for us. They just want to beat us that much more now that we’ve won the state championship. So the first pretty big example of that one was when we played Scranton. We tied them, 1-1, and it was heartbreaking, honestly, for some of us. I don’t think we tied them or lost to them in the last couple of years. So, they scored on us and they celebrated like they won the World Cup, and that was a really big turning point for us, and we noticed that. Every team is going to give everything that they have.
You have one game left before districts, and lost to Lower Merion, one of the best teams in the state, 1-0, on Saturday. How do you keep the momentum going into the postseason?: We had film just the other day, and we were talking about just a couple weeks ago how we were such a different team, and how just in a couple weeks, we’ll be playing in the first round of districts, and so we still have so much time to change and grow and so many opportunities to just get better as a team, especially now that we played Lower Merion, we saw what it’s like at the top.
Other sport you play: Track and field. I did the 400 last year, and I did high jump, long jump and triple jump. This year, I’m probably going to do the 100, maybe.
Funniest teammate: That one’s easy, definitely Joey (Pivirotto).
Three people you’d like to have dinner with: My great-grandparents and Will Ferrell.
Athlete you admire: I’d say Kobe Bryant is a big one. Just his mentality, the Mamba Mentality.
Superstitions or rituals: Yeah, for sure. Just the other day, actually, when I scored at North Pocono, I did a knee slide into the corner and actually ended up tearing up my knee. So, I had a Band-Aid over that knee. So, the next game at Delaware Valley I had one sock low and one sock high because I didn’t want the sock rubbing on my knee because it was bothering me and I scored four goals and had two assists. So Saturday at Lower Merion I had one low sock and one high sock.
Favorite food: Anything with pasta and sauce. Pasta and meat sauce, it doesn’t get any better.
Favorite sports teams: Philadelphia Union and Arsenal.
Favorite movie: “Cars.” It’s pretty random, but I do like that movie.
Favorite musical artist: I don’t have a main one, but, this is pretty random, my mom used to play Coldplay when I was a baby. So, I like them a lot.
Future plans: I’m not really sure career-wise, but I know I want to play soccer after high school for sure.