St. Thomas vs Oyster River
September 17, 2012

St. Thomas hosted rival Oyster River in a rematch.
The Bobcats come to St. Thomas at 4-1 with their only loss coming in the season opener against the Saints.
Last season Oyster River defeated the Saints on their home turf, However everyone knows records don't matter when these two teams play.

St. Thomas took the field with Ben Mardin in Goal.  The Defense was Noah Schwaegerle, Sebastian Olsen, Brian Ellis and Guy Kassas.  The Midfield was Evan Surprenant, Bryan King, TJ Tetreault and Tommy Griffiths.  Jon Nartiff and Eric Eames were up top as Strikers.

About 3 minutes in Oyster River was awarded a corner kick.  This would be the only one they would get all game.  Mardin was able to punch it out and the defense cleared it away and began a counter.

During the next four minutes the Saints would get 5 corner kicks and it was like practice.  Each time the headers would just barely miss or get tipped over the bar by the Bobcat keeper

About 10 minutes in Xavier Quinn went in at outside mid.  While Andrew Marino went in at Striker and John Sweeney went in for Defense.

Scott Lamoureux, Aaron Dubois and Jared Ham went in to spell the defensive back line.  Both teams fought hard for control of play, but St. Thomas appeared to control possession.

The Saints would get another four corner kicks for a total of nine in the first half.  Even with all the great chances the Oyster River Defense and Keeper were able to keep the ball out of the goal.

Tony Kassas went in at Striker to add his size to the Attack in the box.

With seconds ticking away and the clock long stopped at 2 minutes on the scoreboard the battles were getting more fierce at midfield.  King went up for a header and banged heads with Connor Grove who ended up injured on the play.  The referees called the end of the half as the trainer went out to tend to Grove.  Dover Fire and Rescue came with their Ambulance and halftime was extended while they cared for Grove and took him to the hospital.

 

Halftime came with the score 0-0 St. Thomas had outshot the Bobcats 4-2.

 

In the second half Oyster River came out strong trying to win the game for their teammate.

 

The Bobcats were controlling possession, but each time the Saints defense or Mardin came up big to stop their attacks.  Oyster River was able to put six unanswered shots on goal over the next 20 minutes.

 

The Saints were not totally on the defensive though.  With quick counter attacks they were able to keep testing the Bobcat defense.  Both Nartiff and King had shots that looked like they were going in from our angle on the bench, but were just wide.  A number of times the Oyster River keeper came way out to scoop up through balls.  He was taking big risks but was able to send the ball back into the Bobcat attack hoping for big rewards.

 

At 44:42 King sent a back pass to Tetreault who was about 35 yards out and off to the side.  Tetreault trapped the ball and sent a rocket back into the box.  The Bobcat Keeper had come off his line misjudging the ball that looked like a chip into the box, but actually kept rising into the far top corner of the net. TJ Tetreault had scored his first varsity goal, and what a big moment to do it in.

St. Thomas fell back and defended for the final 5 minutes, but came out on a counter.  The Ball got up to Nartiff who broke down the right side of the field.  Beating two defenders and the Keeper who came out to stop him, he sent the ball across about three yards in front of the net.  Eames just barley got to the cross but tipped it wide.  It was a phenomenal effort by Nartiff.

The clock ticked down and the final whistle blew the Saints had earned the sweep of the series this season.

Ben Mardin had 8 saves in the net for Saints and earned his second shut out.

St. Thomas will finally get some practice and rest the rest of the week.

Then travel to Pembroke Academy on Tuesday 9/25

Read Foster's article by Al Pike here

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