It was a cold night under the lights Tuesday at North Penn, as the Boys Soccer season came to an end, losing 1-1 (5-4) to Ridley on penalty kicks in the Knights’ playoff opener. Despite a plethora of opportunities, the Knights could not take the game in regulation.

“I would say that they agree that we’re the better team,” said Knights coach Paul Duddy, “but in soccer, the better team doesn’t necessarily win.”

Early on, Ridley took advantage of a defensive standstill to put in a goal in the middle of the first half, putting them up 1-0. The Knights finally answered with a goal by Drew McMenamin to tie it up with 16:44 to go in the second half.

“They played real good defense,” coach Duddy commented on Ridley, “Normally, we can get behind teams with our speed. But we just couldn’t do that tonight.”

A chippy end to regulation gave way to an intense overtime, with neither team getting any advantage.  Both overtimes shared a similar story, with no lead taken by either team.  The game entered penalty kicks which would ultimately benefited Ridley, scoring goals on all 5 of their attempts. North Penn’s first four attempts succeeded however, the final kick went high above the crossbar as the Knights playoff run and season came to an end.

“It’s a great group of young players. I’ll miss not being out here training tomorrow,” Duddy said of the North Penn team that went 14-3-2 this season.

Even as the lights went out at the soccer field Tuesday night, the North Penn Men’s’ Soccer team completed a season to be proud off.