BUCKTOWN — Make no mistake, Steve Ruiz had thoroughly enjoyed his first PAC semifinal, but he wasn’t interested in having it go longer than needed.
The dynamic junior, a major catalyst in the Eagles’ breakout season that got them into their first-ever PAC playoffs, already had an assist to his name Tuesday night in a match that seemed headed for overtime. Then, the ball found him in space behind Phoenixville’s back line and Ruiz knew it was worth a shot to take a shot.
Ruiz’s powerful strike from the left side of the box with 1:04 left sent No. 4 Norristown past No. 1 Phoenixville 2-1 in a PAC semifinal at Owen J Roberts.
Ruiz is looking forward to coming back Thursday to take on No. 2 Spring-Ford, the Rams advancing past No. 3 Upper Merion after a marathon spot kick shootout, but on Tuesday, he did not want to play overtime.
“Home,” Ruiz said of the motivation of his game-winner. “I wanted to go home.”
Norristown, which finished the regular season 10-6-1 and was on the right side of the District 1-4A playoff bubble Tuesday night, didn’t have any nerves making its PAC playoff debut. Even facing a Phantoms side that came in with a 14-2-2 record, Norristown wasn’t aiming to do anything other than play its own style.
Of course, it helps to score early, and thanks to a marauding run by Ruiz, that’s what the Eagles did. Ruiz was able to work his way up the right flank five minutes in, cutting into the box and delivering a cross onto the front doorstep of the goal, where classmate Ishmael Kromah one-touched it in for an early spark.
“We didn’t know what to expect, we just had to play our game,” Ruiz said. “We had to play like us. We had a lot of confidence after that, we kept our heads up when they scored and just kept going and kept going.”
The early goal did seem like a shock to the Phantoms, who were chasing their second PAC title. It forced the top seed to adjust tactically, but Phoenixville did settle in over the next 20 minutes in what became a lively first half.
Norristown took a free kick with 11:35 left that was saved by Ryan Lang, a crashing Eagles attacker then hammering the rebound home only to have the goal called back for the secondary runner having been offside.
That let the Phantoms restart and they wasted little time getting the ball down the field. Senior Brody White cashed in at the other end, fighting through a tackle attempt at the edge of the box, then using his second try to pocket the equalizer with 10:25 left in the first half.
“We went in with the plan to play a through ball over them, but that wasn’t really working so the balls to our feet helped us to attack them better,” White said. “I think we came at them more aggressively toward the end of the first half compared to the first five minutes where we kind of let them run through us.”
The second half saw a lot of open play and both teams going end to end on a number of occasions, Norristown working the ball through a mix of dribbles and passing while Phoenixville opened up some opportunities in transition after restarts. A couple sequences saw Norristown take a corner, Phoenixville stop it then go down and earn one of its own less than a minute later.
However, neither team could score from all of that with Patrick McNamara and Samuel Faunce anchoring the Phantoms back line and Collin Harrington and Brett Murphy doing the same for Norristown.
“We had to work as a team,” Ruiz said. “This was our first time here, we literally shocked the world. We built this up, we trust each other and we’re like family now.”
Phoenixville, which was firmly in line for a first round District 1 playoff game, will now focus on the start of the tournament next week. White noted that two years ago, the Phantoms lost in the PAC semis then made it to the Class 3A title game but it’s up to his team to come with the right motivation.
“We’re going to make sure we don’t end up with the same result,” White said. “We’re going to get more serious, everyone will have a more competitive mentality and we’ll put this game behind us.”
Ruiz said Tuesday’s goal ranked at the top of his tallies this season, mostly for its significance of booking a return to OJR on Thursday. But it was a quality hit too, the junior taking a couple touches into the box and blasting a right-footed take to the far panel of the goal to set off a major celebration
“It was amazing,” Ruiz said. “It’s our first time in the PAC playoffs and we’re going to the championship. I can’t believe it.”
NORRISTOWN 1 1 – 2
PHOENIXVILLE 1 0 – 1
Goals: N – Ishmael Kromah (Steve Ruiz), Steve Ruiz; P – Brody White
