St. Thomas Aquinas JV Boys Soccer vs. Monadnock Huskies
The Saints traveled to Swanzey, NH, a 2 1/2 hour ride across the state, to play the Monadnock Huskies.
Thanks to Bill Fennimans Dad for getting us a nice C&J Trailways bus to take the trip on. It was better than the St. Thomas yellow school bus.
The bus was supposed to leave at 12:30 - Coach told everyone at practice that we had to be at the school then, but when we were driving off on the start of our trip Bryan Collins got a cell phone call from Chris Rignoli saying he was caught at the tolls and was just getting to Dover Point Road. Personally Coach Suleski thought we would just have to pass by him, but Coach Devereaux said we could stop. We pulled over on the dirt area near New Bellemy Lane and Chris parked his car next to the no parking sign and off we went. Coach called the Dover Police from the bus and told them to come and ticket the car, actually he asked them not to, but we'll have to come up with some way for Chris to pay.
We headed to the Trailways Bus Station in Portsmouth to pick up some coolers of ice for drinks, but the AC unit in the bus went out and they were worried about the electrical system, so we played Chinese fire drill and swapped buses.
Game Captains Patrick O'Brien and Max Olsen went out and lost the toss so St. Thomas kicked off in the first half.
Patrick O'Brien and Faisal Gurwala started as strikers. Brian Sullivan, Andy Stone, Jamie Phontharaksa, and Chris Rignoli went in at Midfield. The Saints defense was Jon Campolo, Max Olsen, Bryan Collins and Gabe Perreault. Collin McBride took up his usual spot as keeper.
St. Thomas came out strong against the Huskies and controlled the ball well. The Defense kept the ball in the Monadnock end so the offense could work the attack.
The Saints defense marks up.
Collins stops an attempt by the Huskies to penetrate the Saints defense.
10 minutes in the shift changed with Kevin Schneider and Tom Carroll going in as Strikers. Richard Howard and Justin Guilbert at outside mids. Matt Roginski went in for Stone at midfield, but Phontharaksa also came out. St. Thomas played a man down for about 30 seconds when coach Suleski happened to notice six players on the sideline instead of five. Phontharaksa was hustled back in at the next substitution. You'd think by now we would be better at subbing.
Sullivan works the ball through midfield to Phontharaksa
At 28:03 Bryan Collins took a shot in the face that closed his eye, so he came off the field and Guilbert took up his spot at fullback.
McBride punts out the ball after scooping it up. It was one of four times he touched it all half.
The first half ended in a 0-0 tie, but the Saints had out shot the Huskies 8-3
Collins was OK to play again after having a break until the half.
Monadnock kicked off to start the second half and that was probably the last time the ball crossed into the Saints half of the field. St. Thomas proceeded to attack the Huskies keeper with a vengeance. They peppered him with shots and he kept making saves to keep his team in the game.
Rignoli closes down a Monadnock player.
Phontharaksa puts a move on the Monadnock defender.
Schneider and Carroll work the overload offense.
Towards the end of the game the Huskies started to stall the clock and packed all their players in front of the goal to keep St. Thomas from scoring. Since they weren't winning, it appeared they were playing for a tie.
With 30 seconds remaining the Saints positioned themselves for a corner kick. Gurwala sent a nice high arc across to the back post where it was headed by O'Brien, it hit the cross bar on the under side and appeared to go into the net, but the Referee said the Huskies keeper saved it. It was a great play by both teams.
St. Thomas out shot the Huskies 12-1 in the second half, but couldn't put one by the Monadnock keeper.
The captains went out again to toss the coin for golden goal overtime.
Monadnock took the kick and the Saints quickly stole the ball. It was brought down field with a nice series of passes. It was sent to Gurwala who made a few moves to get free around the right corner of the 18-yard line. He took a shot that went up over the keeper into the back left corner of the net. Scoring the "Golden Goal" at 1:13 into the first 10 minute period.
St. Thomas nets its second overtime win this season.
All the Saints played well during this game, they are really working great together as a team. They are at their peak with three games left in the season before going into the year end round robin tournament. It is really enjoyable watching this group out on the field. The next three games are all against tough opponents, two of which have beaten us earlier in the season.
St. Thomas hosts Con Val next Friday.