St. Thomas Aquinas JV Boys Soccer vs. Kennett 9-8-04
St. Thomas boarded the bus after early dismissal to head north for the ride to Kennett and their first away match of the season. The remnants of hurricane Francis was raining down on Boston and heading north. It looked like it would be a wet game, but we arrived at Kennett ahead of the front. We just barely had enough time to stretch before the start of the game. There was no time for a warm up shooting drill.
Game Captains Jon Campolo and Brian Collins went out and lost the toss, but got the choice of field we wanted as Kersage picked their side.
The Saints took the pitch with Faisal Gurwala and Jason Suleski on the points as strikers. Midfielders Brian Sullivan, Justin Guilbert, Jamie Phontharaska and Chris Rignoli. Collin McBride in Net; Gabe Perreault at sweeper; Max Olsen and Brian Collins as fullbacks and Jon Campolo at stopper on defense.
St Thomas started out on the attack against the Eagles. 3:42 into the game Rignoli assisted Gurwala on the game opening goal.
The Saints settled in to control the field with strong defense and great midfield ball movement. St. Thomas began to shell the Kennett Keeper with shot after shot. While on the other end of the field, Saints keeper McBride began to feel like a spectator.
Pat O'Brien and Tom Carroll entered as Strikers, Richard Howard and Kevin Schneider replaced the outside midfielders. Andy Stone went in at Fullback and Matt Roginski went in at Stopper for St. Thomas. Adam Bermingham sat out a few shifts to rest up an ankle injury.
After the substitution Coach Suleski looked over at the crowded bench and realized too many players had come off the field. The center midfielders had also come off because they got used to being substituted for. They were quickly rushed to the centerline, but play did not allow a chance for them to re-enter the game. the Saints continued to play two men down for a good three minutes. Kennett was able to get their first shot on net which McBride quickly snapped up. Finally the ball went out of bounds and St. Thomas was able to get back up to strength.
Bermingham went in with the third shift of players and played like there was no problem.
At 24:31 Gurwala, using his head, flicked a pass across the goal mouth to Bermingham who scored to put the Saints up 2-0.
At 27:10 Bermingham returned the favor by assisting Gurwala with his second goal to put St. Thomas up 3-0.
The Eagles mounted a few more attacks that were quickly shut down by the St. Thomas defense. Perreault got to show his speed at running down attackers as the defense was pulled up so far that there was plenty of room in the back field.
More excitement was added to the game as the Conway Scenic Railroad passenger excursion train ran past the field with bells ringing.
Halftime came with the Saints 3-0. They had out shot the Eagles 18-1.
The second half started with the St. Thomas taking advantage of the down hill
slope of the field. Howard and Stone were on as Strikers, Carroll,
Phontharaksa, Suleski and Schneider at midfield. Collins and Olsen at
fullbacks. Roginski at Stopper and Perreault at Sweeper.
3:07 into the game Suleski stole the ball from a Kennett player and made a move to space, which allowed him time to tee up a shot that rocketed into the net through the upraised arms of the Eagles Keeper. This unassisted goal put the Saints up 4-0.
At 5:07 into the second half Schneider sent a pass to Stone who buried the shot for the games 5th goal.
At 14:39 Gurwala assisted to O'Brien for the Saints 6th score.
The Conway Scenic made its return trip in the second half.
At 30:12 Bermingham took a shot that hit the post and bounced out, but O'Brien was there to hammer in the rebound for his second goal and the games final score.
In the last part of the second half Coach Suleski let players move to positions of choice. Collins got a shot at Striker.
The Eagles did get a few offensive runs and even two more shots on goal to test McBride, but the game was pretty much an All Saints show.
The Saints out shot the Eagles 28-3 and scored 7 goals. Kennett took 12 goal kicks during the game which meant another 12 shots went off goal.
The game ended with St. Thomas 7 and Kennett 0. Collin McBride chalks up his first JV shut-out in net.
On the ride home the Team stopped at McD's in W. Ossipee to Celebrate with the Varsity who also won.
You can see Coach Devereaux is amazed at how much the players put away.
The Saints travel to Bow High School on Friday.