The Saucon Valley boys ‘black’ team
UPDATE: The semifinal game was played Wednesday in spite of heavy rain. Saucon Valley lost 1-0 to Northwestern in “a very tight game,” coach Tim Houghton said Thursday. Houghton added that he had expected that the game would be postponed til Thursday due to weather.
This year’s boys varsity Lehigh Valley summer soccer league kicked off back in early June with 26 teams competing for the title. It is now down to only four with Saucon Valley boys booking their place in the semifinals after beating Easton 4-0 Tuesday.
Despite heavy intermittent rain and muddy conditions, Saucon showed a lot of energy and dominated the play. Zack Mikuta scored early after some crisp passing in the midfield. A few minutes later Jake Raven doubled the lead with a rocket from outside the box that left the goalkeeper flat-footed.
Although the second half opened with a third Saucon goal, and Mikuta’s second, the Saucon defense was tested throughout the early stages. Jared Thatcher at center back assisted by Tyler Marino, Nick Snead and Aston Gonsalves managed to cut out multiple attempts, and Sean Cyphers’ steady hands parried or caught anything that got through.
As the game wore on Saucon exerted more pressure with multiple players having chances on goal. Late in the second half, Jake Raven was tripped in the box and Zack Mikuta converted the resulting penalty.
Saucon entered two teams for Summer league, Red and Black. Both teams made it to the last 16.
The Red team fell to a very good Emmaus JV team in the first round of the playoffs. Black overcame Upper Perkiomen in the prior round and during the season delivered some convincing results against Pleasant Valley, Liberty and Pocono Mountain East. Red’s best results were hard-fought wins against Freedom High School JV and Palisades.
Saucon’s team on Tuesday consisted of rising sophomores, juniors and seniors including Sean Cyphers, Jared Thatcher, Tyler Marino, Nick Snead, Ashton Gonsalves, Zack Mikuta, Zach Appel, Zach Nicholas, Matt Konkolics, Kyle Coronado and Colin Zyck.
The next game is Wednesday against Northwestern, weather permitting. The team will be missing a couple of key players, but they are upbeat about their chances.
