St. Thomas Aquinas JV Boys Soccer vs. Oyster River Bobcats
The Saints played at Oyster River in their second to last regular season game.
Game Captains Jon Campolo and Collin McBride went out and lost the toss, so St. Thomas kicked off to start the game.
Patrick O'Brien and Faisal Gurwala 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 St. Thomas taking the ball right down through the Oyster River defense and getting off a shot that just missed scoring in the opening 30 seconds.
Around the 9-minute mark, Howard was fouled at midfield as he passed the ball up to the strikers. The referee called the foul late and Howard had to leave the field to be tended to by the trainer. Brian Sullivan went in and the referee spotted the ball up by the Oyster River 18-yard line. It turned out the referee wasn't calling a foul, he was stopping the play for the injured player to leave the field. Since St. Thomas had clear possession they got an indirect free kick from where the ball was at the time play was stopped. This is a High School rule difference from FIFA where the game would be restarted with a drop ball. O'Brien took the kick which sailed over the cross bar missing by inches.
An unknown photographer took this shot of Coach Suleski getting an ace bandage out of his medical kit for holding ice on Howard's knee.
Less than a minute in Sullivan had to come out after blocking a hard pass to break up a Bobcat attack. Sully took one for the team and needed to recover. Justin Guilbert subbed in for the outside mid position.
10 minutes in the shift changed with Kevin Schneider and Tom Carroll going in as Strikers. Matt Roginski went in at midfield. The numbers of subs on the bench were dwindling.
Both teams made quick counter attacks as the game was very fast paced.
12:26 in Oyster River scored to take the lead.
The remainder of the half was played very physical with both teams working the ball well against each other.
The half ended with the Bobcats up 1-0 over St. Thomas.
The sun was very bright coming across the field. It was difficult to see from the bench side.
St. Thomas took the field for the second half. McBride was in net, Perreault, Campolo, Collins and Olsen were on defense. Sullivan, Stone, Phontharaksa, and Rignoli were at midfield. Gurwala and O'Brien were on the point.
At 4:41 the saints made a counter attack when Campolo stepped up to intercept a Bobcat pass. He sent it up to Stone who touched it to Phontharaksa on the give and go. Stone took the ball back and sent it to O'Brien who crossed it back. Stone slammed it into the back of the onion bag. It was text book passing and moving. (Just like a drill we did in practice on Monday...) This tied the game up 1-1.
Long shadows started to cross the field as the sun started to set. It was a beautiful fall afternoon for soccer.
The Saints mark up before a defending an Oyster River corner kick.
At 9:05 Sullivan got a pass out wide on the wing and sent it across to Gurwala who made a few moves and put it by the Bobcat keeper to put the Saints up 2-1.
10 minutes into the second half Carroll and Schneider went in as strikers. Guilbert and Roginski entered at midfield.
14:00 minutes in Oyster River tied the score. It appeared the striker bumped McBride as he came out to scoop up the ball knocking him away. The Referee was on the other side of the play and didn't make a call. this tied the game at 2-2.
The next ten minutes saw some very intense soccer as both teams fought hard to break the tie.
At 27:59 the Bobcats scored after fighting through the Saints defense to take the lead 3-2.
St. Thomas fought back hard and at 35:56 Gurwala scored his second goal of the game after intercepting a pass out from the Oyster River defense. This tied the game up 3-3.
Four minutes later the referee ended the game with the score tied 3 all.
The Referees only agreed to two 5 minute periods of golden goal overtime.
Gurwala and O'Brien went in at strikers, Guilbert, Stone, Phontharaksa and Rignoli played the midfield. Campolo, Olsen, Collins and Perreault took up their defensive positions. McBride was between the posts holding his ground.
The Saints took the kick off and just like the first half they carried the ball through the Oyster River team and as a square pass was sent to Gurwala inside the 18 yard line he was fouled. He was hit so hard that he was lifted up off his feet and landed on the ground on his side. Coach was waiting for the Referee to call the foul and award the PK, but there was no foul called.
Oyster River made a quick counter attack and sent a pass across the 18-yard line to an open player who took a hard shot. McBride came up with a great save to keep the overtime going.
At 3:58 into the first period Oyster River scored to win the game 4-3.
This was a very physical game between two evenly matched teams. Each team had 12 shots on goal, however the Bobcats were called for 9 fouls to the Saints 5. Coach seemed to think that staying up late and watching the Red Sox games might have played a part in the teams need for more subbing than usual.
There is a possibility that these teams could meet again in the final game of the JV Tournament. We all hope Richard Howard will be alright to play by then.
St. Thomas hosts the Coe Brown Black Bears on Friday for their last regular season game.