Recapping the fourth week of fall sports at East

As we enter the home stretch of the fall seasons, some marquee matchups took place this week, including plenty of drama from across all of the sports. From playoff games to exciting moments, this week showed that no pandemic can stop the thrill of sports.

Boys soccer took home 2 wins and a draw behind powerful performances from Jordan Grossman (‘21), Jakub Semelko (‘23) and Luke Luehrs (‘21). Against Seneca, Grossman would net two goals off of corners, while Robbie Awaida (‘21) scored another with a wonderful assist from Hugo Campoverde (‘21). Luehrs and Simon DeGroot (‘21) would secure the other assists. Seneca fought to hold off the East pressure, but the lethal Cougars attack and the stellar back line protecting goalkeeper Matt Mueller (‘21) proved too much to handle for the Eagles.

Senior Jordan Grossman poses for the camera after his two-goal performance against Seneca. (Courtesy of Lin Asari (‘21))

At Cherokee on Wednesday, the Cougars would dominate for 78 minutes of play, only conceding a controversial penalty kick in the final two minutes, leading to a draw after a scoreless overtime. Semelko scored a stunning goal in the first half with the assist from Awaida. Semelko took a touch onto his right foot and fired from distance, placing the ball out of reach for Cherokee’s keeper. Mueller played solid in net all night, and he was the reason the draw did not turn into a loss.

On Saturday, the boys took on West Deptford in an early-morning affair. The game, taking place during Halloween’s dawn, provided its fair share of highlights, but it took a lone goal by Luke Luehrs with a pass on a silver platter from Semelko to seal the deal.

The boys face off against Winslow and Cherry Hill West in two much-anticipated games.

The girls soccer team took on Seneca, Cherokee and Cinnaminson in a week with more ups than downs. At Seneca, the girls would leave with a hard-fought 3-2 loss, Katie Quarry (‘22) and Lizzy Sommeling (‘23) providing the goals. The game would be very tight until Seneca was able to take over late in the game.

On Wednesday, East mounted a comeback that fell just short at home against Cherokee.

Cherry Hill East Girls Varsity Soccer loses 3-5 to Cherokee on October 28th

On Friday, at home against Cinnaminson on a cold, wet afternoon, the girls took home a thrilling 2-1 win. Sommeling and Quarry would once again secure the goals, while Sommeling and Carly Drumm (‘22) recorded the assists.

The girls face Winslow and Cherry Hill West next week.

The girls tennis team took home two massive wins this week, defeating Williamstown and Rancocas Valley in the first two rounds of the NJSIAA Southwest A Group 4 quarter and semi-finals. East, the one seed, defeated Williamstown in straight fashion, sweeping them with a 5-0 victory. Julia Chan (‘23) and Elliana Tonghini (‘22) won with no matches dropped, while the duos and Sophia Liu (‘24) dominated as well.

Sophia Liu prepares to serve the ball against Williamstown in the quarterfinal round of the NJSIAA southwest Group 4 tennis tournament. (Courtesy of Tyler Leomporra (‘21))

Against Rancocas Valley, who upset Cherokee in the previous round, the girls would once again prevail 5-0. The duos of Pavlenko/Zhao and Shi/Wang took over their matches, and the girls advanced to the finals on Monday. (Season recap coming soon).

The Field Hockey team faced Our Lady of Mercy Academy, Seneca and Cherokee this week. Aubrey Demurjian (‘21) would record a hat-trick in a 4-3 win over OLMA, while Tori Jeffery (‘21) made plenty of saves. The other two games saw East lose 20-1 against Seneca and 9-0 to Cherokee, two of the best teams in South Jersey.

Field Hockey faces Delsea and Cherry Hill West next week.

Football would lose 28-0 against West on Halloween, but it was a vital game not for its score, but for the venue itself- East.

Cherry Hill East hosts first battle of the boot against Cherry Hill West

They face Hightstown next Friday.

The cross country teams ran in the Camden County meet this Saturday, running pretty well, but below their regular standards this year.

The boys and girls will race in the state sectionals on November 14.

That is this week in review, tune back next week to see the recap of one of the final weeks of fall sports. Champions will be crowned, legacies will be forged and memories will be made this upcoming week, so don’t miss it. And as always, ROLL COUGS.