West Deptford Boys' Soccer Suffers Another Tough Loss

With 10 minutes left in regulation against Haddon Township, all was well with the boys' soccer team.

The Eagles had a 1-0 lead on the back of Kevin Brockway punt that set up a goal by Kyle Redrow. With that strike from Redrow, the Eagles became the first team to score against the Hawks in six games.

It was the type of scenario that was going pull the Eagles out of its early season mediocrity and propel it to bigger things.

Then a questionable no-call, followed by a fluke keeper-defender miscue occurred, and all of that was wiped away. The only truth that remained was the final line: Haddon Township 2, West Deptford 1.

The Hawks scored twice in the final eight minutes, 49 seconds to steal a 2-1 victory in Colonial Conference inter-division matchup.

The loss dropped the Eagles to 3-4 (2-4 in conference), and the frustration was visible on the players' faces after the final whistle blew.

West Deptford head coach Ryan Dougherty cautioned that it wasn’t time for his team to panic, instead it was time to turn a corner.

“You just got to stay positive,” he said. “We have a veteran group here. Obviously this was a disappointing loss. Any time you have a lead with 10 minutes left in the game, it’s a critical loss. We had our chances put the second goal in and we didn’t do that today.

"Luckily we have a lot of season to play and we have a three-game week again next week, so we will get back to working hard, and I think good fortune is coming to us.”

Once again the Eagles had the better of both play and possession for large chunks of the game. Junior Evan Fahey nearly put West Deptford in front in the 12th minute, but his shot from the top of the 18 clanked off the post. Two minutes later, Redrow sent in a free kick from 30 yards out that was placed towards the top of the net, but the Haddon Township keeper was able to punch it over the net.

The Eagles did finally solve the Hawks' defense in early in the second half, thanks to a big boot from Brockway that sailed all the way to the Hawk’s 18. Joey Mingrino was able to shield his defender away from the ball, allowing Redrow to step in and shoot the ball past the keeper, giving West Deptford the 1-0 advantage.

“On a small field like this, we trained that all week and we were going to use (the big punt) to our advantage,” Dougherty said. “We got one and could have gotten more there. It’s huge, the way he can punt the ball and the way we can counter quickly up top, that’s one of the biggest assets to our attack. We have to utilize that more consistently.”

Haddon Township found the controversial equalizer with 8:45 left. Brockway and a Hawks striker simultaneously leapt up for a lose ball in the box and the resulting contact sent Brockway to the ground. Haddon Township was able to take advantage of the empty net, as Pat Burns fired home a shot to tie the game.

“From my view our goalie went up–he has the right to the ball–and he got knocked off the ball, but on the road like that you can’t rely on getting those calls,” Dougherty said. “We have to secure that ball before it gets in the box so that situation doesn’t happen.”

Just a few minutes later, the Hawks found the game winner as an attempted clear by Brockway (who had charged out to the front of the box) went off a the back of a West Deptford defender, allowing Haddon Township's Zack Curl to race in and slide a shot into an empty net.

The positive that can be taken away for the Eagles from the grueling defeat is that they had the better of play against a team that entered the game having outscored its opponents 17-0.

But at this point of the year the team is looking for results.

West Deptford will look to get back to the .500 mark Tuesday at Haddon Heights and will host Sterling on Thursday.