Unbeaten Scheck Hillel, Netty Silberman too much for Posnack in soccer Region quarterfinal

Undefeated host Scheck Hillel moved one game closer toward accomplishing its goal with a 3-1 win over Posnack in a Region 4-1A quarterfinal on Thursday night.

“We haven’t lost a game all season. Our expectation is to be state champion,” Scheck Hillel coach Ben Magidson said.

Senior Netty Silberman netted a hat trick in his final home game for the Lions (14-0-1).

“It’s great [having Netty]. He’s amazing,” Magidson said. “He’s been starting since he was in ninth grade here. He’s my captain. He’s just amazing.”

Silberman opened the scoring in the 38th minute on a breakaway down the left side of the field. Silberman cut inside past one defender and curled the ball into the top right corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.

Despite having one goal on four shots in the first half, Silberman thought he could do more in the second period. Magidson agreed and changed the Lions’ formation to give his star more space.

“We understood that our best player was in the wrong position. We gave him more time to roam around and be able to be a creative player,” Magidson said. “And by him doing that he set up other players and he was able to score three goals himself.”

The adjustment paid dividends early with Silberman netting his second goal 12 minutes into the second half. Silberman gathered the ball 25 yards out and struck a perfect shot into the top left corner of the net.

“I got an opportunity outside the box. I saw the keeper to his left side so I hit it to the top left corner. Luckily, it was a beautiful goal,” Silberman said.

Senior Leon Almosny drew a penalty kick five minutes later that Silberman took to complete his hat trick. Silberman left Posnack goalkeeper Shawn Kerzer frozen with a rocket to the bottom left corner of the net.

“It feels good [getting a hat trick],” Silberman said. “It was a great team effort and we’re closer to what we ultimately want: states.”

Posnack (4-6-2) avoided the shutout in the final two minutes on a penalty kick goal by Max Freund. The Lions held the Rams to just five shots on the night, the majority of them coming from far outside the penalty box.

Scheck Hillel will play the winner of Westminster Academy and Miami Country Day at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

▪ Region 4-3A Quarterfinal — Mourning 2, American Heritage 0: American Heritage offensively controlled the ball with passing and speed, but failed to focus for the full 80 minutes, falling to Alonzo & Tracy Mourning High 2-0.

The Sharks’ (13-2-2) defense bent often, but didn’t break, especially in the first half. The Patriots (16-3-5) dominated possession 65 percent to 35 pecent and had two scoring chances miss a wide-open net.

“It’s the first game we decided to go to a new formation,” said Sharks head coach Luke Schlehuber of his 5-2-3-1 formation. “We call it ‘park-the-bus.’ ”

In the 50th minute, Camilo Rojas put Mourning on the board when he curved a free kick from 22 yards out into the upper left.

Eight minutes later, John Ostanin sent in a routine bouncing ball from 34 yards out, but Heritage keeper Jonathan Gomez took his eye off it as he went to his left to pick it up, and it squirted into the net.

Patrick Hannau made five saves, watching nine other shots miss the goal for the shut out.

MIKE STEINBERG

This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 11:22 PM with the headline "Unbeaten Scheck Hillel, Netty Silberman too much for Posnack in soccer Region quarterfinal."