"I could kind of see a gap developing," Muench said. "I knew from the position I was at, I wasn't going to be able to get to the ball. So I was thinking, 'Where do I go?' The goal. So I stood on the line and, what do you know, the ball came to me."
"It feels great," said Cherry Hill East coach Karl Moehlmann, who is retiring after 24 seasons and who led his team to its first Coaches championship since 1989.
Cherry Hill East scored in the third minute of the game, after Andrew Adler played a through ball to Jake Faford. Faford played the ball toward the net, but it caromed back to Adler, who played it into the empty net.
"That opened up the field a lot more for us," Adler said. "It was huge. We were protecting the lead, not them."
Cherry Hill East took advantage of an extra midfielder to control the play in the first half and hold its lead.
"We wanted to get more possession in the midfield because we play with five midfielders and they play with four," Moehlmann said. "Also, we wanted to cut off some long balls with our midfielders. It worked pretty well."
Moorestown, which pressured Cherry Hill East in the second half, could not defeat the Cougars' defense.
"We played a strong second half, but they just managed to pack it back and keep us out of the goal," Moorestown coach Mike Sutcliffe said. "They put as many guys behind the ball as possible, and it was successful. We generally score. We don't normally get shut out."
Moorestown managed to put 15 shots on goal, but Cherry Hill East goalkeeper Steven Oberlander came up big in a shutout effort.
Oberlander "was stellar," Muench said. "Balls in the air usually worry us, but today he was punching them, he was making great saves, he was all over the place."
Cherry Hill East 10-1
Moorestown 00-0
Goal: Andrew Adler.
Saves: CHE-Steven Oberlander 15; M-JT Bretschneider 11.
Contact Nick Carroll at ncarroll@phillynews.com, or follow on Twitter @NickJCarroll.
