BUCKTOWN — Spring-Ford is no stranger to close games. The Rams tied four times in Pioneer Athletic Conference play this season, including their matchup with Upper Merion on Sept. 20.
Due to all those draws, goalkeeper Andrew Wible worked on penalty kicks at practice Monday – just in case.
Practice paid off in the Pioneer Athletic Conference semifinals against Upper Merion. Wible needed to make a penalty kick to extend the shootout before making a save in the 11th round. His stop set the table for Pat Clemens, who followed with the deciding goal in No. 2 Spring-Ford’s 4-3 (7-6 PKs) win over No. 3 Upper Merion Tuesday evening at Owen J. Roberts High School.
“We’ve gotten to some ties earlier this season,” Wible said. “We knew that we could end up in the same situation. I just knew I had to be ready whenever it comes.”
Upper Merion took a 3-1 lead in the shootout before Spring-Ford battled back to tie it, 3-3. The rivals remained tied at 4-4 after six consecutive misses. It was 5-5 entering the 10th round, when it was time for the goalkeepers to shoot. Upper Merion’s Dilan Carrasco-Palma made his kick to put the pressure on Wible to keep his team alive.
In the 11th round, Wible made a diving save to deny Upper Merion’s Ben Wintersteen, who scored on a PK during the first half and was successful during the first round of the shootout.
“He’s a great player,” Wible said. “He loves to curl it really hard, so I knew he was going to that side again. I just dove that way and made the save.”
Clemens followed with a goal to send the Rams to Thursday’s final against Norristown, a 2-1 winner over Phoenixville.
“I just went up there and knew I was going to make it,” Clemens, who was 2-for-2 in the shootout, said. “I had a lot of confidence. Went up and made the first one. Second one – easy.”
“It was who was going to mentally survive and not make that mistake,” Upper Merion coach David Lawrence said. “Unfortunately, our goalie came up huge with three saves but we couldn’t find the back of the net to capitalize on a few of their misses in the PK shootout. The kids played their absolute best and left it out on the field.”
Spring-Ford needed some late-game magic just to send the game to overtime. Bill Collins, who played a role in the Rams first two goals, scored in the 78th minute after a throw-in bounced around in the box to tie things up, 3-3.
“We were going full attack,” Clemens said, “like, ‘we need to score, it’s on us to score.’ We flipped a switch inside ourselves and got the goal.”
After falling behind 2-0, Upper Merion dominated the end of the first half and most of the second. Wintersteen got the comeback started when he converted his penalty kick in the 38th minute to cut the Vikings deficit in half at intermission.
The defending PAC champions didn’t waste time tying things up after the break. Wintersteen took a free kick in the 49th minute that hit the post and bounced to his brother, Luke Wintersteen. He re-directed the ball to Sandier Urias, who buried it to make it a 2-2 game.
Upper Merion pulled ahead in the 72nd minute. Luke Wintersteen took a free kick from around midfield that bounced around in the box. Alok Shori found the ball and put it away to put his side ahead, 3-2.
“It definitely took a lot of mental fortitude and belief,” Lawrence said of the Vikings comeback. “It’s a place we’ve been before – down. I’m proud of the way they responded and were able to get themselves back in the game.”
Spring-Ford took a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute and doubled its advantage in the 16th. Collins’ corner kick found Ben Resnick’s head at the near-post for the game’s first goal and Collins’ free kick from 40 yards out helped set up Luke Rouyer’s goal to make it 2-0.
In last year’s PAC semifinal, Upper Merion defeated Spring-Ford in double overtime before winning the program’s first PAC title.
Spring-Ford 4, Upper Merion 3 (7-6 PKs)
Upper Merion 1 2 0 0 (6) – 3
Spring-Ford 2 1 0 0 (7) – 4
