St. Thomas to meet
Hollis Brookline
in
NHIAA Semi Finals
Thursday November 1, 2012
The Saints are going to the Semi Finals. It is the third time in 7
years for Coach Suleski, It is the second time in 4 years for Noah
Schwaegerle and Evan Surprenant. They were called up as Freshmen to fill
out the varsity play-off roster. That's not much experience when you
hear Hollis Brookline was there last year and has 10 returning starters back
from that team that lost to Lebanon.
This season we had what I believe was the hardest schedule of any team in division 2. Once you get to the play-offs records don't matter. It all comes down to which team can come together and play their best soccer. As we have witnessed in this tournament - seeding doesn't matter.
We have had to work very hard this season to over come
a lot things that normal teams don't have to worry about - but I'm OK with
not being a normal team...
This is a great time to still be playing soccer.
Here is a pre game interview with
Noah Schwaegerle and Evan Surprenant
during Tuesday night practice at Portsmouth High School.
(see it here if it doesn't load in your browser)
From Foster's:
H.S. soccer: STA relishes its underdog role
By John Doyle Wednesday, October 31, 2012
DOVER On paper, it looks like a slam-dunk ticket to
the Division II championship game for the Hollis-Brookline High School boys
soccer team. The No. 1 team in the state playing a Cinderella No. 12 in the
semifinals? Thanks for coming, St. Thomas, and enjoy it while it
lasts.
Except there is ample reason to believe St. Thomas can
win on Thursday night (6 p.m.) when the teams meet at Stellos Stadium in
Nashua.
Were coming in as the underdogs, said the teams
defensive anchor, senior Noah
Schwaegerle. Its nice to have a nice underdog story going into the
playoffs. No one expects you there. It all comes down to how strong your
team is, how everyone communicates with each other.
Its more than just a general feeling of confidence that any 12-seed would have upon advancing to the semifinals that has the Saints believing they can beat the top seed on Thursday. The Saints are the 1 in the Cavaliers 13-1-2 record, winning 4-1 when the two clubs met in Hollis on Sept. 27.
I definitely think they were (taking us lightly), Schwaegerle said. I
think we took them by surprise. We went out there with the better mentality.
We knew we could win.
Hollis-Brookline was undefeated at 5-0-3 going into the first meeting with
the Saints (8-7-3), and had only surrendered eight goals in that stretch.
The Saints were 3-4-1 and having a tough time finishing games, having led
1-0 at one point in three of their four losses.
I told the players that Hollis-Brookline was already considering us a win
and looking past us, Suleski said.
Effectively marking the Cavaliers striker and center midfielders, the
Saints took a 2-0 lead at halftime, the first team to lead Hollis-Brookline
after the first half.
We talked about playing the second half like the score was 0-0, Suleski
said. We talked about the need to keep the pressure up and not let them
score. They were a good team and we couldnt let them back in the game.
Bryan King scored in the second minute to put the
Saints up 3-0. The Cavaliers scored a late goal, but St. Thomas scored
another and held on for the win. The Cavaliers returned the favor 19 days
later with a 2-0 win in Dover.
Suleski is nevertheless confident, noting that the Saints still hold an
aggregate 4-3 lead in the series.
We will have everyone available to play, we know what we need to do and we
just need to execute, he said. We scored the most on them the entire
season. We just need to work together unselfishly like we have all season
and keep finishing.
A win by St. Thomas on Thursday would be its second over a higher seed in
the tournament. The Saints opened with a 2-1 win at No. 5 Trinity in the
preliminary round. In fact, all six lower seeds in the prelims pulled off
upsets, including No. 9 Portsmouth, No 10 Coe-Brown and No. 11 Oyster
River.
Suleski believes the Saints schedule, packed with teams that pulled off
first-round upsets, make them an unconventional 12th seed.
Playing Portsmouth twice and Oyster River twice and
Coe-Brown twice, I wasnt surprised when the four of us moved on, Suleski
said. We all played each other and we played hard games. A lot of us didnt
play the teams that didnt make the playoffs, so it put us in a good
position.
It still gives the Saints a sense of satisfaction,
however, to be a double-digit seed crashing the semifinals.
We had a losing record, St. Thomas striker
Jon Nartiff said. Well keep surprising
people. Were ready to win. A few more hard practices. Everyone just staying
together, working together, keeping our heads, just working hard.
The Saints are searching for their first trip to a
tournament final since 2008, when they lost 3-2 vs. Hanover. St. Thomas last
won a boys soccer title in 1994, when it beat ConVal 2-0.
The winner of tonights match gets to play in Sundays
championship at Southern New Hampshire University against No. 2 Windham or
No. 14 John Stark. The final is at 4:30 p.m.
Manchester Union Leader
Excerpts from Eric Emmerling's Corner Kicks Blog:
Eric Emmerling's Corner Kicks: A mix of everything
October 30, 2012
Two Cinderella teams, a historically stingy squad and seven defending champs are among the remaining teams in the quest for a state soccer championship.
DIVISION II CINDERELLAS: When the St. Thomas of Dover boys claimed the 13th
seed in the Division II tourney, school officials figured there was no way
the Saints (8-7-3) would play host for another game this season and packed
away the goals and team benches.
And then, all six first-round tourney games (the top two seeds drew byes)
were upsets. St. Thomas, with a 2-1 win over No. 5 Trinity of Manchester,
played host to No. 13 Plymouth in the quarterfinal round. The Saints won,
earning a trip to the semifinals to face top-seeded Hollis/Brookline
(13-1-3).
Bryan King tallied the first goal in both tourney victories and has three
postseason goals overall. Simon Smith scored the game winner against
Trinity. It was his first-ever varsity tally.
In fact, the Saints were the only team to defeat the Cavaliers during the
regular season. Top-seeded Hollis/Brookline's won eight straight since the
loss, outscoring the opposition 27-5.
Fourteenth-seeded John Stark of Weare (9-9) also advanced to the semifinal
and will dance with No. 2 Windham for the first time this season tomorrow at
Nashua's Stellos Stadium.
"I'm a little surprised with our run, but we've been building momentum over
the past couple of weeks," said John Stark coach Jeff Vogt. The Generals had
to beat Lebanon, Pembroke and ConVal of Peterborough on the road just to
qualify for the tourney.
Josh Morin's tallied three overtime goals this season, including the golden
goal in a double-overtime quarterfinal win over Oyster River. Serge Boucher
has contributed some clutch shots while keeper Mike Prindiville has been
miserly in net.
Division II was, by far, the most competitive division during the regular
season. Forty-six percent of the games were settled by one-goal margins and
18 ended in a tie.
Return to 2012 Photo Page
Return to 2012 Team Page
goSTAsoccer.com
home page
St. Thomas Athletics main site
St. Thomas Aquinas High School
197 Dover Point Road, Dover, NH 03820 603-742-3206
Copyright 2003-12