Norwin boys soccer rides scheme change to top of section

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, September 24, 2018 | 7:48 PM

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After Norwin boys soccer dropped its season opener to Seneca Valley, an outlier on the Knights’ record so far this season, it was time for a change.

Coach Scott Schuchert shuffled his formation, going somewhat old-school with a 3-5-2 set, a slight tweak and one that probably went unnoticed to the untrained eye. But the subtle change has had significant effects. It has made senior-led Norwin an offensive force and turned it into a serious contender in Class AAAA.

Senior Jake Nebinski moved to the center as a “holding” midfielder, the wings spread out and the scoring load was lifted some from senior standout Carter Breen — and the Knights took flight.

“It was a tough game on the road,” Schuchert said of the loss. “When you play early in the season, you’re looking for certain things and who to put where. You learn from it.

“Seneca Valley dictated the pressure. We want to be the team dictating the pressure.”

Fifth-ranked Norwin (7-1-1, 5-0-1) sits alone at the top of Section 3-AAAA. Since the 2-1 loss, the fifth-ranked Knights have outscored their opponents 43-8. They tied rival Penn-Trafford, 1-1, on Thursday.

“We’re functioning all together as a unit,” Schuchert said. “And we’re seeing the results. Everyone knows their roles, and we have that senior leadership.”

Breen, the flash-speed forward who also kicks for the football team, was expected to be the go-to scorer. By and large, he still is, with 18 goals and six assists. But he has had plenty of help in the early part of the season as a number of teammates have visited the net. Thirteen players have scored for the Knights.

Senior Zach Ullum has 11 goals and seven assists, and sophomore Ian Brown has contributed seven goals and five helpers.

The idea behind the speed factor is to use it to wear teams down and take that anticipated jolt of second-wind energy to keep the scores coming.

“Change is good,” Nebinski said. “We seem to have more power in our offense with three in the back. We feel like in the last 20 minutes (of games), we can overwhelm teams.”

Schuchert was hoping his team’s offensive ability and speed would shine through, and it has. He said Breen might be the fifth- or sixth-fastest player on the team, and that’s saying something.

He said this group has “six or seven” potential college-level players.

“Carter needed that consistent help,” Schuchert said. “What we have done is make the fast teams look slow and cause matchup (problems). That attacking third part (of opponents) has to decide who they want to mark. It may not be Carter now. Teams are playing scared on the ball.”

Ullum is healthy again, which is another big plus. He also has been a scoring threat.

“We’re not playing as individuals like we did in the past,” Ullum said. “It’s more team. We have a lot of seniors so the chemistry is there.”

The emergence of players like junior Matt Federovich at midfielder has given the Knights a physical presence that complements the finesse ball movement.

“He’s a beast athlete,” Schuchert said of Federovich. “He’s a ball-winner, and he runs box to box. We need that kind of player.”

Senior Gabe Tygielski also has played well an an enforcer, doing some of the heavy lifting alongside Federovich and Nebinski.

Uniquely, the Knights have played three goalkeepers in seniors Kyle Krotec and “Gameday” Ray Yanez and freshman Andy Yanez.

“We’re fortunate to have so much talent there,” Schuchert said. “They all have played well for us.”

Bill Beckner is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Bill at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.

Tags: Norwin