PENNSVILLE — Ayden Ellis scored on a 35-yard free kick with 5:13 left in the match and Woodstown scored twice in the final 14 minutes to finally shake Pennsville 5-4 in an intense season-opener for both teams.
The Wolverines could never seem to shake their hosts until the end. Woodstown held leads at three different times in the match, but each time the Eagles tied it.
“We were really close on scoring many opportunity, but just couldn’t put it away,” Woodstown coach Darren Huck said. “They ended up taking advantage of some mistakes we made in the back to go up and then my guys showed a lot of heart and a lot of grit and kept working.”
The Eagles looked like they had all the momentum after Lucas Cooksey and Sam Hassler scored in the first two minutes of the second half to give Pennsville its first lead 4-3 and Lachlann Hooks was turning back the Wolverines in the goal.
Jake Lewis got Woodstown’s equalizer with 13:56 to play and then Ellis won it with his second goal of the match on the free kick.
“I thought the second half we played a lot better and we had the ball down at our end most of the time, but scoring goals is not easy,” Huck said. “We found a way to score a couple goals late and pull out the victory.”
Nick DiTeodoro also scored a pair of goals for Woodstown. Hassler scored twice for Pennsville. Justin Muchaca’s header off a Cooksey corner kick was Pennsville’s other goal.
Both teams had shots hit the pipes in the first half that could’ve been their second goal. Pennsville’s John Sassi hit the cross bar midway through the half and Woodstown’s Ethan Cotton banged one off the right post seven minutes later.