The Saints traveled to Hollis Brookline to face the unbeaten Cavaliers.  In their first 8 games they had only given up 5 goals.  Known as a strong defensive team with a fast striker, Hollis Brookline was the last undefeated team in the division.

St. Thomas was coming off a tough loss to Pembroke where everything seemed to go against us.  We just couldn't do anything right in that game.  We outshot the Spartans but couldn't finish on numerous chances.

We worked on finishing drills and possession in practice.  We worked on moving the ball to create space.  We game planned how to mark their fast striker and get by their defense.

The Saints took the field with Ben Mardin in Goal.  The Defense was Noah Schwaegerle, Sebastian Olsen, Brian Ellis and Aaron Dubois.  The Midfield was Evan Surprenant, Xavier Quinn , Eric Eames, TJ Tetreault and Jon Nartiff.  Bryan King was up top as our lone striker.

St. Thomas won the toss and chose to defend the downhill goal so they would be attacking downhill in the second half.  We were planning on a close game and hoped that attacking downhill would help tired legs in the second half.  Who knew we would be so wrong.

The Saints came out marking well and possessing the ball and moving it through the midfield.  The game was fast paced and had that high pressure feel to it.

9:30 in to the game the ball went out of bounds on the far side of the field about 20 yards from the goal line.  Surprenant took the throw and sent a high long throw into the box that found Nartiff's head and it was flicked up over the Hollis Brookline keeper and into the net.  St. Thomas was on the board first.

Andrew Marino went in at outside mid while John Sweeney and Guy Kassas went in at defense in what would be the first of many subs to keep everyone fresh.

Simon Smith went in at outside mid to keep up the pressure.  The Saints were marking and stepping up well and frustrating the Cavaliers by not allowing them to build up any attack.

19:15 saw King break with the ball towards the right side of the goal and crossed it back to Nartiff who rocketed a shot by the Cavaliers keeper for his second score of the day.

Scott Lamoureux and Jared Ham went in to spell the defense and add fresh legs to the back line.

Noah Guilfuchi went in at outside midfield to keep the speed up on the outside.  Beau Patteson went in as the lone striker and added great pressure to the Hollis Brookline back line.

 

Halftime came with the score 2-0 The St. Thomas had outshot the Cavaliers 5-4.

 

In the second half the Saints took the kick off and it was quickly lost in the Hollis Brookline end.  Before they could bring it out King stole the ball took it towards the right side of the goal and crossed it. The ball went through the box and got by everyone as it was coming out the back side Eames came racing towards the back post and tapped it by the diving Cavalier keeper to score with only a Minute and 32 seconds off the clock.  St. Thomas was up 3-0 at 41:32 and everyone was feeling it.


Simon, Guilfuchi, Lamoureux and Ham all saw time in the midfield to keep control of the ball.  The Saints were really keeping the Cavaliers off balance with their tight marking all over the field.

61:25 saw a ball go through the box and start to roll out of bounds across the goal line near the 18 yard box mark.  Quinn hustled to get to it and was able to turn and send it back out.  The ball made it out over the 18 and kept going into midfield.  Brian Ellis raced from his defensive position at the midfield line and struck the ball about 35 yards out.  The high arching shot was coming down on goal but from the bench was looking a bit wide.  The ball struck the ground at the left post and "pinged" into the net.  Ellis had his first varsity goal and put the Saints up 4-0.

Kassas and Sweeney were defending well stepping up and keeping the Cavaliers from their offensive third of the field.  Andrew Marino was using his speed well at outside mid coming back and supporting the defense.

At 65:24 Jake Laurent of Hollis Brookline  was able to beat Mardin and the St Thomas defense for a Cavalier goal.  The score was now 4-1 but the Saints were still feeling the supremacy they had earned with their play.

Patteson was back in at Striker and working well to keep Hollis Brookline from building up any type of easy counter attack. 

With 10 minutes remaining a Hollis Brookline player broke through the right side with the ball and went in one on one against Mardin who came off his line and made a fantastic save denying a second Cavalier score.

Olsen, Dubois and Schwaegerle were playing very strong in front of Mardin.  As the clock ticked down the St. Thomas defense had stuck to their game plan and shut down Hollis Brookline's fast striker.

Ben Mardin had 9 saves in the net for the Saints.  Linds Cadwell had 8 saves for the Cavaliers.

 

St. Thomas will host Milford on Tuesday at 4pm.

From Foster's:

High school roundup:
St. Thomas boys upset Hollis-Brookline

Friday, September 28, 2012

Hollis Brookline — Jon Nartiff had two goals as the St. Thomas Aquinas High School boys soccer team
knocked off previously unbeaten Hollis-Brookline 4-1 on Thursday in Division II.

Eric Eames and Brian Ellis also scored for the Saints (4-4-1).
Nartiff's first goal was a header off an Evan Surprenant throw-in.
Bryan King, TJ Tetreault and Xavier Quinn also had assists.

Portsmouth Herald

St. Thomas 4

Hollis/Brookline 1 

Hollis - Jon Nartiff scored a pair of goals, one a header, to help the Saints hand Hollis/Brookline its first loss of the season in Division 2. 

St. Thomas improved to 4-4-1 and also got goals from Eric Eames and Brian Ellis.

Evan Surprenant, Bryan King, T.J. Tetreault and Xavier Quinn all recorded assists.

STA Goalie Ben Mardin recorded nine saves, including a breakaway.

 

Manchester Union Leader

 

St. Thomas 4, Hollis/Brookline 1

 

In Hollis, Jon Nartiff struck for two goals while Eric Eames and Brian Ellis each added one to hand the Cavaliers (5-1-3) their first season loss.  The Saints improved to 4-4-1.