Pa. boys’ soccer notes

Chestnut Hill Academy midfielder Sam Lane took a long pause to let the question sink in - as if he'd never even considered the answer he was trying to come up with.

With Inter-Ac League play starting this week, Lane is like most members of the six teams beginning their quests for the league boys' soccer title.

They just have no time to think about personal goals.

"Yes, I've scored a lot of goals, and that's great for me, but it's all about the team right now," Lane, a senior, finally responded when asked to evaluate his own hot start.

"It's great to be able to contribute and score all of these goals, but I really could not care less about stats. If we want to do well this season, it has to be all about the team."

Lane's six goals and three assists helped Chestnut Hill (5-4) weather a nonleague schedule that included matches against some of the best teams in the Catholic and Central Leagues.

Chestnut Hill is generally considered merely a contender in an Inter-Ac that has no clear favorite, which is saying something considering the Blue Devils have wins over St. Joseph's Prep and Archbishop Ryan, and a narrow 2-1 loss to Strath Haven.

"If you look at the nonleague schedules for most teams in the league, a lot of them have beaten good teams," said Chestnut Hill coach Joe DiSalvo, whose team includes three freshman and three sophomore starters.

"This has the potential to be one of those leagues that's just going to be open until the end of the season. The winner could be a surprise. But we're just eager to go out and restore the great tradition that Chestnut Hill has."

Malvern Prep (7-2) and Haverford School (4-1-2) enter league play with the deepest rosters in the Inter-Ac. But the loss of goalie Max Kurtzman (broken patella) and defender Alex Beatty (broken tibia) - both Division I recruits, though Beatty will play lacrosse at Princeton - put a question mark over what should have been the Fords' greatest strength.

Defending champion Germantown Academy (3-3-2) is young and relying on the leadership of senior midfielders Nick Zaharchuk and Mike Markovitz.

The Patriots' nonleague schedule was highlighted by a 3-2 win over Archbishop Wood and a 9-0 victory over Valley Forge Military.

"I think we have just as good of a shot to win the league this year as anybody," said GA's first-year coach, Chris Fehrle. "It's going to be intense competition every game, whether we're playing the best team in the Inter-Ac or the worst team. There are no pushovers in this league."

Running the gauntlet. After a stretch of games that resembled more of a miniature state tournament than the middle of a regular season, Lower Merion senior midfielder Michael Lemonick had something of an epiphany.

"Our ties against Upper Dublin and La Salle could have easily been wins," said Lemonick, a senior who recently committed to play for Navy next season.

That thought is a telling one regarding La Salle, the No. 1 team in the state.

In the past two weeks, Lower Merion (5-1-3) endured a grueling stretch of games starting with a 2-0 loss to Central League rival Conestoga and including a 2-0 win over Unionville.

The Aces were mercifully given a chance to breathe Monday when their match against Strath Haven, The Inquirer's No. 3-ranked team, was postponed because of rain.

The break gave Lemonick a chance to reflect on his team's 1-1 draw with the Explorers on Saturday.

"We battled them the entire game," he said. "I would say that at no one time during the game did it feel like there was a distinctly better team on the field."

Nick Severini, Lower Merion's first-year coach, also said he has been pleased with his team's efforts this season.

"We want to play meaningful games every game," he said. "And aside from the result, we're looking for the kids to come out and compete, improve every game, and play the way that we want to play."

The Aces' loss to Conestoga likely will cost them a fourth consecutive league title. But, at this pace, Lower Merion could end up being one of the most dangerous runners-up in the state tournament.

Holding steady. The 1-1 draw with Lower Merion was not enough to knock La Salle out of the top 10 in ESPN's national poll.

The Explorers (9-0-2) fell from the eighth spot to 10th this week.

The goal scored by Lower Merion was the first netted against La Salle in five games. As expected, The Inquirer's No. 1 team has been dominant this season, outscoring opponents by a combined 33-4.

Father Judge (10-2) also appears in the national poll, at No. 27. The poll did not take into account Judge's 1-0 loss to Holy Ghost Prep on Monday.