Junior keeper Matt Lingerman and his 29 career shutouts hail from Bustleton. PHOTO COURTESY OF CATALANOSTUDIO.COM
As Michael Kirby attempted to mentally prepare himself for the biggest kick of his life, he played out the two possible outcomes in his head.
Tied at 1 late in the first half of the PIAA Class AA state championship game against Lancaster Mennonite at Hersheypark Stadium on Nov. 15, a handball in the goal box had set up a dramatic penalty kick for Kirby, the senior captain and top offensive threat for Holy Ghost Prep. As he approached the designated spot inside the 18-yard line, Kirby let his mind wander.
“My first thought was, ‘What if I miss? How will I come back from that?’ ” Kirby said during a recent chat at the school, almost a week following the state title game. “But then I thought, if I make this, then there’s no way we’re going to lose. That was the thought that stuck. Going into this season, I told everyone that no matter what happened, we’d overcome the obstacle, whether we had to go under it, over it or right through it.”
With his confidence teeming, Kirby buried his penalty shot, giving the Firebirds a 2–1 lead that ultimately became a 3–1 victory. It was Ghost’s second consecutive Class AA state crown, and for Kirby, who grew up down the street from the school but spent his first two years of high school at Archbishop Ryan, the moment meant everything.
“I felt like the luckiest kid in Pennsylvania two years ago, coming from Ryan into such a welcoming, talented team,” Kirby said. “I can’t get much luckier, with all the support I found here. This season … I can’t even describe how it feels to repeat. It makes you feel like you can do anything.”
Kirby, who left high school in the Northeast to go to Ghost, found some strong allies with ties to the neighborhood. His head coach, Ken Lawson, grew up right behind Ryan and went to grade school at Our Lady of Calvary; although he played soccer at Ghost and graduated in 1992, Lawson is still an Academy Gardens resident. In addition to Kirby’s coach, his starting goalkeeper, junior Matt Lingerman, hails from Bustleton. Together, they led the Firebirds to a 19–4–1 overall record, including a District One title and come-from-behind wins in the state semifinals and championship game.
“Northeast Philly has always been a big part of my life,” said Lingerman, who played club soccer for Fox Chase while growing up. “Like Michael, a majority of my friends went to Ryan or Judge, and Holy Ghost was the school I knew least about. But I came to the open house and I shadowed here, and I realized it was where I wanted to be.”
Together, Kirby, Lingerman and Lawson did something no other soccer team has ever done at the school, winning two state titles in a row. Lawson said perhaps his two star players were too young to know any better to know about what they just accomplished, but that fact was not lost on him.
“The two of them make me look good,” said Lawson, who just completed his fifth season as the program’s head coach. “I’ve been around a lot of good teams at this school, some who never won a district or state title; these guys have done it two years in a row. I don’t think they even understand what they’ve done. They can’t understand how hard it is yet to do what they did, but I do. To be honest, I didn’t know if we could do it again, but from the first day of practice these guys said we would be back, so it’s a credit to them. It says a lot about their drive and commitment.”
Kirby led the team with 22 assists in addition to the 15 goals he provided on offense, while Lingerman had 13 shutouts in goal, bringing his career total to 29 with still another year to play. After graduating a plethora of seniors after the 2013 state title, Lawson wasn’t sure the 2014 squad had what it took to repeat, but his squad proved its mettle.
“It validated them,” Lawson said. “To win another proves what they did last year was not a fluke. It’s incredible. Michael has matured and grown tremendously since he got here into the top offensive threat in the state, and Matt is going to be the best goalie to ever come out of this school. What they did, it just makes it more enjoyable to see them achieve what they wanted to. It’s exactly why I wanted to come back and give back here. The school grabs you and becomes your family.”
Kirby admitted he was still wrapped up inside his own introverted shell when he came to Ghost as a junior, keeping his head down and not saying much. However, the acceptance he was met with — as well as the success the Firebirds enjoyed on the field — brought him out of his cocoon and turned him into a team captain in 2014.
“I came into this season knowing I had to be the guy, the captain and number one leader of our team,” Kirby said. “I told everyone on the team coming in that I wasn’t going to accept losing. I had to help us to the best of my ability. Over time, I just talked to more people and this place became another home for me. I would do anything for these guys. I’m always there for them.”
Added Lingerman: “It might sound funny, but coming into preseason I knew we had a chance, mainly because Michael showed that leadership ability from the beginning. He wanted this second one more than anything, and for three months the only goal was to win a state title. We believed all along that we were good enough to do that. Winning two in a row, it’s unbelievable. There are hundreds of teams in the state, and we’re the best two years in a row. It’s humbling.”
And while Lingerman will be back again to go for a three-peat in 2015, Lawson and company were still savoring this one.
“They were down and they came back,” Lawson said. “My hats are off to them. It’s a tremendous accomplishment.”
One that Kirby will never forget.
“I’m still close with my friends at Ryan,” he said. “They knew and understood that I had to do what was best for me, and that was to come here. It was the best decision ever, because now when you come here, it’s not, ‘Oh, maybe we can win.’ It’s, ‘We can do this, because that’s who we are.’ This is what we do … we win.” ••
Head coach Ken Lawson, now in his fifth season at the helm of the Ghost soccer program, is an Academy Gardens resident. PHOTO COURTESY OF CATALANOSTUDIO.COM
Michael Kirby (left) played his first two seasons at Archbishop Ryan before transferring to Holy Ghost, winning two Class AA state titles in two years. PHOTO COURTESY OF CATALANOSTUDIO.COM
Twice as nice: The Holy Ghost Prep Firebirds did not let an early 1–0 deficit in the Class AA soccer state title game get the best of them, rallying to score three unanswered goals in a 3–1 win over Lancaster Mennonite in Hershey on Nov. 15. PHOTO COURTESY OF CATALANOSTUDIO.COM
