St. Thomas Aquinas JV Boys Soccer vs. Con-Val Cougars.
The Saints played host to Con-Val on their first rainy afternoon of the season.
Game Captains Patrick O'Brien and Max Olsen went out and won the toss so St. Thomas chose the dryer end of the field to defend in the first half. Had it not been for the rain and wet field conditions it would have been a beautiful fall day to play soccer with the foliage changing. Instead it turned out to be a game that would leave its marks on the home whites that would challenge washing machines.
There was a steady drizzle all game, but no heavy rain. Coach put the camera away so it wouldn't get ruined.
Patrick O'Brien and Kevin Schneider started as strikers. Richard Howard, 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 defended the net for the Saints.
The game started with both teams testing their footing on the field and learning that a wet ball did funny things.
2:58 into the game Con-Val took their first shot, a high arching one from their outside mid, just after he crossed the center stripe. It came down under the cross bar into the net to put the Cougars up 1-0. It was the kind of shot no one expected and no keeper could defend against. Everyone just watched it as it seemed to take forever in its path. A goal that quick into the game would normally deflate a team, but the Saints were not about to give up.
10 minutes in the shift changed with Faisal Gurwala and Tom Carroll going in as Strikers. Brian Sullivan and Justin Guilbert at outside mids. Matt Roginski went in for Campolo at Stopper.
O'Brien came out covered in mud after an attempt to beat the Cougar keeper in a race to the ball.
At 12:02 Collins stepped up from fullback and intercepted the ball from the Con-Val attack. He took a blast from about 45 yards out and sent a high arching shot down under the cross bar into the back of the Con-Val goal to tie the game 1-1. I think it was just yesterday in practice that Bryan said "I play defense so I don't score goals". Unfortunately Coach Suleski didn't catch this momentous occasion on film.
The game seemed to intensify from that point as both teams fought to break the tie. There were tense moments throughout as both teams attacked and defenses held or keepers made great saves.
At the 20 minute mark Rignoli, Howard, O'Brien, Schneider and Campolo went back into the game.
Perreault was playing a great game at sweeper being tested more in this game than ever before. Olsen and Collins were stepping up and stopping Cougar attacks and shutting down outside runs. Campolo and Roginski were keeping the ball in our offensive half of the field.
At the 30 minute mark Gurwala, Carroll, Sullivan, Guilbert and Roginski returned to the pitch.
The Saints offense was working well even in the unsure footing. The Con-Val keeper was being tested constantly. Howard, Guilbert, Rignoli and Sullivan were playing well keeping the game to the outside for St. Thomas and shutting down the Con-Val outside attack.
At 39:40, only 20 second before halftime, The cougars caught St. Thomas pulled up too far on the attack and broke through on a counter attack that scored to put them up 2-1.
The half ended with the Saints behind on the scoreboard, this was not something they were used to. St. Thomas had out shot Con-Val 10-5 in the first half.
In second half the Saints started off with the steady defense of Perreault, Olsen, Collins and Campolo. Midfielders Howard, Stone, Phontharaksa and Guilbert. Carroll and Schneider as Strikers.
St. Thomas came out wanting to win. They jumped on the attack right off the kick-off. They battled around midfield and then Stone sent a lead pass to Carroll who ran after it as the Cougars keeper came off his line charging to get to the ball first. The Keeper slipped in the mud and fell as the ball got by him. He reached up and tried to trip Carroll as he went by. Tom kept his balance and got the shot off putting the ball in the empty net. This tied the score 2-2 and momentum was now on the St. Thomas bench.
The referee took some time talking to the Cougar Keeper. The foul committed on Carroll is one of the automatic red card offenses. When the last defender commits a foul to stop an obvious goal scoring opportunity he is supposed to be red carded and removed from the game. Whether the goal is scored or not. The referee chose to verbally warn the Con-Val keeper. This was a major change in the game. If Con-Val had lost their starting keeper and had to play a man down the Saints would have been in a very good position to win the game.
Play got more physical as both teams tried to break the second tie.
Around the 10 minute mark, Rignoli, Sullivan, Roginski, O'Brien and Gurwala went back in the game.
The Cougars sent a through ball past the St. Thomas defense. Perreault was off after it being chased by a Con-Val player. Perreault got to the goal line a few steps ahead and trapped the ball. The cougar player couldn't stop on the wet field after getting to speed and slid and knocked Perreault down. The referee talked to him about the late hit.
At the 20 minutes mark Howard, Guilbert, Schneider, Campolo and Carroll went back in the game.
St. Thomas seemed to played better in the second half against the Cougars, but Con-Val had a small striker that they called "Shorty". He would draw a lot of sympathy fouls from the referee when he would go up against Roginski or Campolo. Even I felt bad once when he ran into Roginski and bounced off like he hit a brick wall. Of course the referee awarded a foul to Con-Val.
With ten minutes left in the game O'Brien, Gurwala, Roginski, Sullivan and Rignoli went back into play.
Play got even more physical between the two teams as both fought to score.
Phontharaksa, Stone and Roginski were having a great game controlling the midfield and making offensive runs and defensive saves.
McBride was having a great game in between the posts for St. Thomas. Coming off his line to cut-off a lead pass or catch a arching cross. He made quite a few game saving plays.
Con-Val committed a foul giving the Saints a free kick from about 22 yards out. Coach Suleski saw that they were slow in setting up and told O'Brien to take a quick kick. His shot went just wide of the cross bar
At 34:46 the Cougars broke through and scored to put Con-Val up 3-2.
St. Thomas wasn't about to give up and pressed the attack with a fever. Con-Val committed another foul giving the Saints a free kick from about 20 yards out at 38:06. O'Brien capitalized while the Cougars were off guard and took the quick shot scoring to tie the game up 3-3.
On the following Kick-off Con-Val brought the ball up into the St. Thomas end. "Shorty" took a dive in the box next to Roginski and the Referee called the foul and awarded the Cougars a penalty kick with about 30 seconds left in the game. "Shorty" lined up to take the kick. A penalty kick should almost be an automatic goal, so the excitement level seemed to drop on the Saints bench as they thought the referee had just handed Con-Val the game.. The Cougar kick hit the cross bar, it just pinged off the cross bar. St. Thomas cleared out the rebound and the game ended in a 3-3 tied.
The Referee only had time for one 10 minute period of golden goal overtime.
The Saints came out tasting a goal. They fought hard moving the ball into the Cougars end. Phontharaksa got a great shot on goal and O'Brien was able to put one on that the Con-Val keeper saved during the overtime.
The ten minutes ran out with the neither team able to score and the game ended in a 3-3 tie.
The Saints out shot the Cougars 21-19. Coming from behind three times during the game to tie up the score shows what a great team this group is and how much desire to win they have.
St. Thomas travels to Oyster River next Wednesday for a rematch.