New Hope-Solebury bulding toward something special

The Lions rolled to a 6-0 win against Calvary Christian to pick up win No. 8 on the season.

NEW HOPE — It’s shaping up as a special soccer season at New Hope-Solebury. To be sure, nearly half the regular season remains but the pieces are in place for something extraordinary.

The Lions picked up their eighth victory of the season Tuesday afternoon, rolling to an easy 6-0 decision over visiting Calvary Christian All the scoring came in the first half. Justin Kruse and Devon Smith scored two goals each. Declan Curran also scored; the sixth and final tally was an own goal.

The final margin might have been wider if not for the work of sophomore Isaiah Jean Baptiste in the Calvary Christian net. He made eight saves before leaving the game with 15 minutes remaining with an apparent injury

At the other end of the pitch, the hosts limited the Cougars to just one shot, which came in the 68th minute.

New Hope-Solebury, which reached the Class 2A state tournament last fall, now stands at 8-3 on the season. Their three losses came against Central Bucks East, Central Bucks West (on consecutive days) and Pennridge.

The Lions have had a relatively easy time of it against Bicentennial League competition but senior midfielder Caleb Herring one of the team’s captains, says he and his teammates have become adept at maintaining their focus, regardless of the opponent.

“Our coaching staff does a good job of making sure we have the right mindset going into games,” he said. “Not overestimating teams and making sure we’re playing the best we can.

“Not just pounding goals in but playing soccer and (maintaining) possession of the ball and keeping the ball. We don’t want to destroy teams, we want to get better as we go throughout the season.”

Herring, was playing soccer by the time he was six. He plays for the Ukrainian Nationals as well as his high school and notes that he sees the game differently than he did when he first entered high school.

“I would say I’m definitely looking at the field differently,” he said. “For high school, I play a more offensive position whereas for club I play a defensive position. Today I played defense but I just like the two aspects of the game, and it’s allowed me to really look and see where I am on the field and kind of open my game and look at passes differently and open the ball up and let me teammates score.”

Herring takes his responsibilities as a captain seriously including helping his younger teammates adapt to the high-school experience; on and off the pitch.

“During school I make sure kids are doing the right thing,” he said, “not screwing around. I talk to the freshmen and make sure they’re welcomes to the team and make sure their grades are up. That’s important here. We don’t want players representing us with bad grades.”