Wolverines Stun No. 2 York in PKs
YORK, Pa. - Nick Talarico made a career-high 16 saves, but the three biggest won't even appear on the stat sheet. The sophomore goalkeeper turned away three penalty kicks as Wesley College advanced to the CAC Championship game after a 0-0 tie against No. 2 York (Pa.) was broken with a 3-0 Wolverine advantage on PKs.
The Spartans entered the game unbeaten and untied on the season and had outscored their opposition 59-3 on the season.
But after 110 minutes of scoreless soccer, the two teams lined up to decide things on penalty kicks. For the shootout, the Spartans decided to turn to back up goalkeeper Ryan Hock who is five inches taller than starter Kyle Marks.
The Wolverines led off with junior Ryan Fish (Rancocas Valley, N.J./Rancocas Valley) who pounded a shot past Hock for the 1-0 Wesley advantage. YCP countered with All-American Jon Ports, but Talarico (Little Egg Harbor, N.J./Pinelands) dove to his left and knocked the shot away.
Sophomore Will Sutton's (Washington, D.C./The Lab School) try was tipped, but the Wesley captain still managed to find the back of the net to put the Wolverines ahead 2-0. Lucas Emil decided to test the other side of the net against Talarico, who dove to his right to stop a second straight try.
Wesley went with Kyle Lawrence (Smyrna, Del./Smyrna) to lead off the third round and the sophomore put it in for a 3-0 lead. For York, Travis Williams went high and Talarico pushed it away to seal the win.
"Nick played great in the second half," said Wesley Head Coach Steve Clark. "But it was really just a great team effort. They really showed a lot of guts and hard work. We really supported each other."
In the second half, the Wesley defense bent, but did not break as the Spartans tried their best to end things in regulation. York hammered 23 shots, including 13 on net, but the Wolverines held firm and kept the match scoreless. One of the biggest plays of the half came on a punch save by Talarico on a screaming 30-yard attempt in the 74th minute by Justin Suchoski.
Wesley had its best opportunity in overtime, when Jason Norris (Woodstown, N.J./Woodstown) crossed a ball towards the far post, but neither Lawrence nor Matt Nimmerichter could get a clean attempt.
During the first half, York nearly scored during the 20th minute, but Wesley's Nico Scarpato (Washington Township, N.J./Washington Township) headed an attempt by the Spartans' Scott Becker off the goal line.
Wesley will now advance to it first CAC Championship game and first conference championship game since the Wolverines were members of the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference in 2004.
Wesley, seeded fourth, will travel to the two-seed Salisbury on Saturday, November 8.
