Welcome back to the Casa Soccer League round-up. The second week of Casa has just finished and nobody is out of it. Let’s get right to the scores.
Defending champs Grey Lodge faced down West Philly FC in a battle of teams that didn’t score a goal in the first week of the season. In a real show of consistency, the final score of 0-0 did justice to the match. There were very few shots on goal, and the netminders appeared bored at times. Jireh Chao came closest to breaking the deadlock when his volley was deflected against the crossbar by an alert defender. Cracovia moved to four points on the year with a first half goal from Sebastian Ostrowski lifting them over AC Milan. Greg Kravitz and Matt Stone kept Stoney top of the table as Stoney kept their perfect defensive record, shutting out NewPhillyUnited 2-0 in a battle of promoted teams. Philly United and Drinker’s Pub tied 1-1 to stay even at 4 points apiece. In the final Primera showdown, Philly Soccer Firm grabbed their first three points of the season behind a MOTM performance from Darin Carminati. After scoring three in week one, Real Optimus gave up three to Firm and dropped to 1-1 on the season.
Jeff Freiberg scored the go-ahead goal as Quaker City won a battle of newly promoted sides 3-1 over Mt. Laurel. These two teams dueled it out for the top spot in Tercera last season, and Mt. Laurel knows this is just another chapter in the burgeoning rivalry. Cooperage FC showed that their first match was no fluke, earning a 2-0 shutout over FC Bucks. Drew Rinaldi opened the scoring and Nathan Ayres finished it off for the maroon menace. Cannons and Copabanana battled to a 1-1 draw in a clean but tough match. Copabanana, formerly Skulls, was known for their ability to grab a single point from both strong and poor performances last season. Sam Haas‘s goal wasn’t enough for Philadelphia Athletic as Lisa Nichols and then Sam Huntingdon put the match away for Nittany United. It was Nittany’s second 3-1 win of the year and they sit tied atop Segunda with Cooperage and Quaker City FC. Anthony Pepe scored the matchwinner and took home man of the match honors for Bluestars FC as they held on to shut out United Nations 1-0. After giving up three in their opening match, Bluestars put together a much better defensive performance in week two. Speaking of defense, Bayern Makefield will look to build on a 4-0 shutout of Tri-County United when they face offensive powerhouse Cooperage next weekend. Four different goalscorers for Makefield, with Brett Keys getting the opener.
After posting 3-0 and 4-0 wins respectively in week one, Lot Lizards and AOH61 were expected to come out firing when they lined up. It was not to be, however, as the 0-0 draw left both sides ruing missed opportunities. Anthony Ciccaglione knocked in the winner as AC Sessano remained in a first place tie thanks to a 2-o victory over Tacony. TSC put together a much stronger performance than week one, but couldn’t find the offense to knock off Sessano. They will take on Always Sunny next week and at least one team will earn their first points of the year. Speaking of Always Sunny, they dropped a tight one to Revolving United when Arlando Hamilton put the orange on top. Spartans also earned 3 points with a 1-0 win over Organized Chaos that kept their perfect defensive record in tact. The match was marred by a pair of red cards given for foul language. Hey dudes, there are kids around. Don’t cuss. Say “pony” or “Ljungberg”. Coming off opening week losses, neither Spruce Goose or Revolution 76 wanted to drop to the bottom of the table. The two teams split the points with Andrew Cole ensuring Spruce Goose didn’t walk away empty-handed. Mark Thompson and Andrew Hale scored for Park Towne United as they remained atop the table with a plus-10 goal differential.
Rudolph Moiyaliah broke down the Balls of Fury defense, but it wasn’t enough for Casa United. BoF dropped three and remains second behind PPR on goal differential alone. PPR got a man of the match show from Aaron Granger and a winner from Lukasz Zuzansky and held on to defeat Sons of Ben Independence. SoB-I drops to fourth, one spot above FC Kilbanes. Kilbanes dropped a close one to South Jersey Select as Sean Hirst knocked in the winner. Brad Foy got the first goal of the year for Sons of Ben Zolo but Loose Cannons had too many… big guns and SOB fell 3-1. John Gordon and his awesome superhero name scored a brace for The Incredibles as they dropped four on Sidewinders. Despite the loss, Teddy Miller earned man of the match honors for Sidewinders, and they can take solace in their strong offense, which has scored two goals in each of their first two matches.
And that’s the round-up for week two! Your leaders in the clubhouse:
Primera: Stoney United. Bombardier of Championship (leading scorer): Andres Gutierrez (Drinker’s Pub)….2
Segunda: Cooperage FC. Bombardier of Championship: Matt Doyle (Copabanana), Nathan Ayres (Cooperage)….3
Tercera: Park Towne United. Bombardier of Championship: Tom Vogdes (Park Towne)….3
Abierto: PPR. Bombardier of Championship: Bill Essounni (Kilbanes)….6 (holy crap, six!? No other ENTIRE TEAM in Abierto has more than six goals!)
Hey Adam thanks for putting our team in the article this week. Just one correction our team name is Cracovia. You should include post game interviews if you can.
Should be fixed now, thanks for the note, Eryk.
I’m open to adding post-game comments, or if something spectacular occurs in a match, just let me know. I’ll make it known.