Coach Nate Hunsicker is a pretty laid-back guy, and he has been able to pass the demeanor along to his soccer team and it paid off well for Northwestern Lehigh in the District 11 championship game last week at Emmaus High School’s Memorial Field.
As Allentown Central Catholic self-destructed, Northwestern players stayed calm, cool, and collected and the demeanor brought district gold medals with a 2-1 win over the Vikings.
The first half went by with no scoring, which led to a rising level of frustration for both teams. In his halftime message, Hunsicker warned his team to simply focus on the task at hand and not play with reckless abandon. Early on, the calming message was tested, and Matt Johnson gave into emotion and competitiveness, resulting in a yellow card with 34:05 left to play.
“I told them that first and foremost, we have to keep our composure in the second half, whether it’s with each other, the other team, the officials, whatever,” aid Hunsicker. “That was going to be paramount for success. For the most part they did, with just some little blips here and there. They’re 15-, 16-, 17-year-old kids and they are going to have lapses – I think I had a lapse or two on the sideline myself – but they did it and that is what saw us through.”
Shortly after Johnson’s yellow card, the Vikings (14-8-0) caught a break when Jack Mauro was called for a handball in the penalty box to give Central a penalty kick. Daniel Petruno took the kick and placed the shot just out of reach of goalkeeper Damian Krapf for the first goal of the game.
Ironically, the 1-0 lead failed to help Central Catholic compose themselves as they started to play out of control. With 28:42 left in regulation, Maksym Komperda, the East Penn Conference’s Most Valuable Player, picked up the first of what would be four yellow cards given to Vikings players. Max Peterson later took the second card and 32 seconds later Fitch blasted a free kick into the upper right corner of the net to tie the game 1-1.
“I didn’t say anything to Cayden, but last night I had a dream that he scored an equalizer,” said Hunsicker. “When he hit that I thought ‘oh, my gosh, this is wild!’ He made an awesome shot.”
“It was weird,” said Fitch, “because usually, I play a shot like that in for someone else to play, thinking maybe Josh (Zellner) or Matt (Johnson) can get a header. Jake (Van Lierop) and Jack (Mauro) were there saying ‘shoot it, shoot it,’ so I figured I would take the shot and it was the right move.”
With added momentum, senior Dart DeLillo played a perfect cross and Josh Zellner, with the help of a Central Catholic player, was credited with his second goal in two games.
“We didn’t quit when we went down 1-0. In fact, it lit a fire under us, and we came out firing and when we got the momentum going, it just took the fire right out of them,” said Zellner, a senior.
“We have relied on those guys (seniors) all season. They were taking control of the team before the game and really gave us great leadership on the field and helped to keep everybody focused and calm,” said Hunsicker. “It was great to see Dart and Josh hook up on that goal.”
In the next seven minutes, Central Catholic added two more yellow cards, but with :20 left to play, Pearce Wagner put a shot on goal that was stopped by Krapf, and time ran out before Central Catholic could find another opportunity.
This is the fourth season in a row that Northwestern has gone to states, giving them some experience for their players to rely on. The Tigers will host the runner-up of the District 12 tournament Tuesday at Tiger Stadium. The District 12 champion has not yet been determined.