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Every team in the Wyoming Valley Conference hit the midway point of the 2009 season this week.
Several headlines have consisted of Coughlin’s Brian Suchoski or Wyoming Valley West’s Joseph Schmid going wild with goals. The two are running neck-and-neck atop the conference in points as Schmid leads all scorers with 19 goals and 40 points. Suchoski is a close second with 16 goals and 36 points through Tuesday.
The best story of the first half of the season, however, has been the closeness of teams in Division II.
After play Tuesday, five of the nine teams in the division have just two or three losses and the division appears to be the taking.
“The easiest way to describe this is it’s probably a senior-laden conference,” Pittston Area coach Pat O’Boyle said. “We have seven seniors and I guess when you put that many talented players out there, it’s going to even the playing field.”
The Patriots are tied atop the division with Lake-Lehman at 6-2.
Berwick (5-2-1), Meyers (5-3-0) and Hanover Area (5-3-0) aren’t far behind the leaders. Defending champion, Nanticoke Area and GAR are still in contention with 3-4-1 and 2-4-2 records, respectively.
Crusaders Cruising
Led by Suchoski, Coughlin has been having a tremendous season offensively racking up 31 goals in seven games. Perhaps the most surprising stat of the Crusaders’ season is they have only allowed three goals and have pitched four shutouts, including ones against offensive powerhouses Dallas (29 goals) and Wyoming Valley West (26 goals).
Dating back to the last eight regular season matches of 2007, the Crusaders have gone 26-3 in their last 29 regular-season games.
The closest Coughlin (7-0) has come to losing this year was a season-opening 2-1 win over Tunkhannock and 1-0 victory against Dallas on Sept. 14.
Football being football
It’s odd to see soccer teams scoring more points than a football team, especially this late in the season. But in 2009, eight soccer teams have outscored a Wyoming Valley Conference football team.
Coughlin (31), Dallas (29), Wyoming Valley West (, Lake-Lehman (29), Meyers (27), Pittston Area (27) Hanover Area (26), and MMI (22) have tallied more points than the Tunkhannock football team, which has only scored 20 points through four games.
Closing in on a milestone
With his 40 points this season, Schmid has 194 career points in four years with the Spartans, an accomplishment that hasn’t been seen very often since the WVC adopted the current divisional format approximately 10 years ago.
“He’s a guy that just wants to win. If you called him and told him that number, he would probably have no idea,” Valley West coach Aaron Littzi said. “He has 19 goals in seven games that’s something that hasn’t been seen in quite a while.”
Schmid has been held scoreless in two games this season and scored one goal in a 1-0 win over Hazleton Area. He has, however recorded three, four, five and six goals in the four other contests.
Before the season, Schmid accepted a scholarship to play soccer at the collegiate level for Division I Villanova. He had offers from several other prominent D-I programs but opted to stay close to home. He will also join cousin, Bill McGuiness with the Wildcats. McGuiness graduated from WVW in 2008.
No more streaking
MMI Prep entered the Wyoming Valley Conference in 2008 and endured a rough season going 0-16. The Preppers were also outscored 78-25 in those contests. The losing streak ended at 18 with a 5-4 win against Wyoming Area on Sept. 11. And through eight matches this season, the team has already scored 22 goals, which is the eighth-highest total in the WVC and more than nine other teams in the conference.
Alexander Van Hoekelen leads the way for MMI with 11 goals and 24 points. He is tied with Hanover Area’s Matt Lukachinsky for second-most goals in D-II.
Pittston Area’s Danny Scatena leads the division with 12 goals and 28 points.