2-2 Draw for West Chester United SC and Hershey FC
By Hershey FC
Hershey FC came into their third game of the season with two wins. They played West Chester United SC Sunday night at Hershey High School. Hershey FC had a battle on their hands tonight, and they didn’t back down.
West Chester came out strong in the first half, and they had a few great chances early on. Their first chance came just a couple minutes in when the Hershey goalkeeper had a little miscue but they couldn’t capitalize as the shot went off the post.
It took Hershey a few more minutes to settle down, while West Chester was able to put a few more shots on target. A missed pass gave the ball back to West Chester at the top of the box. Then Ridge Robinson set up Owen Slack for the first West Chester goal in the 31st minute.
The game settled down at this point but West Chester wasn’t done. Just before halftime West Chester was able to find the back of the net again. In the 45th minute, they played a ball to the back post where Owen Slack put the ball back across the box, and Zachary Burgess headed it home. This gave the momentum and the lead to West Chester going into the second half.
At halftime Hershey FC head coach Rich Bryan must have little a fire in the Hershey players as they came out ready for a fight. You could see that they were not ready to stand down. At the start of the second half the game became more physical. Both teams wanted the win, and neither team was going to back down.
West Chester’s Owen Slack earning the first caution of the night in the 61st minute. Hershey FC’s Brady Olsen was not too far behind, earning his caution in the 66th minute. The game became a battle of will. West Chester’s Leor Hecht was cautioned in the 73rd minute, and Callaghan Walsh pick one up in the 80th minute.
Then Hershey FC finally found their stride and put in their first goal of the night. Hershey FC’s Jason Goldfeder threw the ball into the box, finding Brain San’s head for the goal in the 85th minute. It was a beautiful throw and an even better finish for Hershey’s first goal.
You could see Hershey wanted it more than ever with only five minutes left on the clock. Hershey kept pressing for another chance, and they finally got it in the 90th minute. On a quick counter by Hershey, San was able to find the back of the net with an assist by Brady Olsen. This tied the game up 2-2 when the ref announced an additional five minutes of play.
Both teams now wanted the win, and the final 5 minutes was frantic. Both teams fought for one more goal, not conceding anything to the other team. One last caution was given to West Chester’s George New in the 96th minute, and shortly after the game was over.
It was a beautiful night for soccer and both teams did not disappoint. The fans were treated to a wonderful game with two passionate teams.
Bryan shared his thoughts on his team’s performance and the match as a whole.
“I feel that the identity of the team is taking shape, and you can’t count us out,” Bryan concluded. “With this game over with, we have just finished three games in seven days against very good opponents and more than shown what we are about. We took our punches today and found a way to regroup and get a point that we more than deserved across the 90 minutes. There is more to come from this group as the squad returns to full strength and more players return from the injury table. We will be looking forward to a week of no games before we welcome Torch into town.”
Photos Provided by Hershey FC
