West Cheser United SC Defeats Hershey FC 4-1 in Keystone West Conference Play
By Beb Shirk/Hershey FC
Hershey FC played their last home game of the season again West Chester United SC. Hershey FC started the first half of the season off a little rough. They also had a midseason coaching change as well. Coming into the night, Hershey FC seemed to have a little fire, and they seemed ready to go against West Chester United.
West Chester, on the other hand, was coming in with a very strong season. They were ranked fourth in the overall NPSL standings with a record of 5-0. West Chester have scored 12 goals, but have yet to concede a single goal.
The game started off hot for Hershey FC. They had multiple chances in the first 10 minutes, but West Chester found a way once again to not give up a goal. West Chester was having a hard time getting anything going against the press until a quick counter took Hershey by surprise.
In the 12th minute, West Chester’s Jacob Gier played a cross in to find Andrew Blackwell sitting on the back post for the first goal of the night. This didn’t stop Hershey as they got right back into the game and dictated the play for much of the next 15 minutes.
Ben Zimmer unfortunately gave up a penalty kick and earned himself a yellow card in the 27th minute. Ridge Robinson stepped up and calmly buried the penalty kick, giving West Chester the two-goal lead.
Hershey didn’t back down, and they continued to fight. Just before halftime, Hershey FC’s Owen Clark stepped up, coming from the defensive midfield position, and took the shot. Clark scored the first goal against West Chester so far this season, giving Hershey a clear chance at a comeback. The fire came out after this for both teams. Hershey’s Dax Kelly also picked up a yellow card just before halftime.
It had to be an intense halftime for both teams, and the second half was going to be good. If you enjoy soccer, you wanted to watch this match. Both teams battled, and nobody wanted to back down. Several yellow cards were shown in the second half to Hershey’s Nolan Ciesielka, Ethan Flickinger, and Abass Ndiaye. West Chester’s Sama Tima was also given a yellow card.
It started to get deeper and deeper into the second half, and Hershey need something to happen. With some fresh legs, they tried to push for a goal to tie it up, but unfortunately West Chester was able to hold of the pressure and find enough room to score another goal in the 78th minute. The goal was scored by Ayoub Mouhou, and it was assisted by Robinson.
This obviously hurt, but Hershey did their best throwing everything forward and looking for a late goal but was unable to find the net again. West Chester made it 4-1 in the 89th minute thanks to another goal from Mouhou.
While Hershey did lose on Saturday, it was a much better performance, and both Flickinger and Kelly really stepped up. Flickinger really controlled the field from his defensive midfield position by shutting down their offense for most of the game and getting forward every chance he could to help with the attack. Kelly also really grew into the game. He was asked to take on a new role and managed the pressure nicely.
“While disappointed on the final result because who likes to lose, but wow that was a fun game to be a part of,” Hershey FC head coach Demetrios Papadopoulos said. “The boys worked really hard to implement some different ideas with little to no practice time, and it’s exciting to think about the next few weeks ahead of us. I was also very impressed with some of the guys moving in to different positions and just really responding to our model we wanted for today. Play hard, get forward into the attack, and have some fun, and they definitely went for that today. Time to rest up, put in some work this week, and prepare for the Ukies next Friday night.”
Photo Credit: Julia Shirk/Hershey FC
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