Trending
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the third part of a five-part series revealing the best boys soccer games of the 2010s.
Just nine games remain to be revealed as part of the area's Top 15 boys soccer games of the decade. The list just keeps on getting better and better as we go with games that lived up to their billing.
The one thing every game in this installment features is South Williamsport. From district contests that were close, to a historic program win back in 2010.
The countdown of Nos. 9-7 begins with a district semifinal showdown between a perenniel district power and a team coming off a state semifinal berth.
9.) South Williamsport 2, Millville 1, 2011 DISTRICT 4 CLASS A SEMIFINALS
Millville is always one of the district's top teams in Class A. The Quakers have been established as a great program for the longest time.
In 2011, Hunter Rosenberg, Cody Beach, Ryan Foran and the rest of South Williamsport's squad went up against perennial power Millville in the district semifinals and came away with a great 2-1 victory to reach the district final.
Beach and Foran came up with two big second-half goals for the Mounties for the win.
Andrew Sinegra took an early lead for Millville in the first half and the Quakers went into halftime with the 1-0 advantage. Ten minutes into the second half, Beach struck to tie the game. Eight minutes later in the 58th minute, it was Foran who scored off a Rosenberg assist to take the 2-1 lead.
The Mounties played great defense the remainder of the game, preventing Millville from scoring an equalizer.
In fact, the Mounties midfield and defense shut down Millville for majority of the game, holding the Quakers to just three total shots on goal.
"With Hunter up front, they have speed and athletic ability that we can't match," Millville coach Brian Fought said after the game.
8.) Wellsboro 3, South Williamsport 2 (OT), 2015 DISTRICT 4 CLASS A QUARTERFINALS
What do you think of when you think about what makes a great soccer game?
Outstanding play? A clutch kick? A game coming down to the wire?
Check all three for this one.
Tied at 2-all, Wellsboro senior Tucker Worthington trotted out to take the Green Hornets' penalty kick with just 39 seconds left in overtime. The senior sent it toward the right post to seal the win and propel Wellsboro to the district semifinals, 3-2, in an exciting overtime thriller.
"I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't nervous, but I had a lot of faith in him," Wellsboro coach John Shaffer said.
Wellsboro led 2-0 at the half, but South Williamsport didn't hang its heads and kept fighting, eventually scoring two in the second half in a 10-minute span to tie it up. Dawson Prough scored both of Wellsboro's goals and Dominick Threeton and Donavan Keen came up big for South to tie it up. Keen's came on a penalty kick as well.
Connor Reasner played big in goal for South Williamsport, coming up with nine saves against a potent Wellsboro offense.
"This game certainly represents how hard they fight on the field and how close they are as a group of kids too," South Williamsport coach Mike Rodgers said. "We looked at the scoreboard at halftime and said 'we've been in this positon before, we've come back and tied the game before. Lets go ive it all we have and do it.'"
7.) South Williamsport 2, Mountain View 0, 2010 PIAA CLASS A QUARTERFINALS
This would be the last game the Mounties won in that remarkable 2010 campaign. South Williamsport had a ton of talent all around on this squad, including brothers Hunter and Dakota Rosenberg.
The Mounties defeated Mountain View, 2-0, and advanced to the state semifinals for the first time in program history. The Mounties (20-4) scored a goal in each half.
Fun fact, the 2010 season was also the first time that South Williamsport ever advanced to the state tournament.
"This is quite a ride we've had," South Williamsport coach Jamie Bloom said. "We've been on the road since our district game, and it is uncharted territory. We're just taking one at a time."
What a ride it was.
Prior to this season, South Williamsport never advanced out of a district quarterfinal and here the Mounties were in the state quarterfinals and advancing to be one of the state's final four teams standing.
This was a solid game that tested both defenses and goalies. Mountain View held a 15-13 shots advantage and both Mountain View goalie Chris Hermann and South goalie Cain Dudek recorded six saves each.
In the first half, the Eagles held an 8-2 shots advantage.
South Williamsport had Logan Yerger up top in addition to Hunter Rosenberg, and a defense that was anchored by Dakota Rosenberg. Both Yerger and Hunter Rosenberg came up big in this game with goals as Brandon Johnson had an assist on both.
The Mounties were a fun team to watch in 2010, and while they fell in the next game in the state semifinals to come up just shy of getting to a state championship, the quarterfinal win is one of the program's most memorable in terms of what it accomplished.