St. Anne’s-Belfield’s boys soccer team knew they had to keep Girma Fekadu-Baker under wraps to knock off Covenant. But even when he doesn’t score, Fekadu-Baker can make things happen.
The senior striker for the Eagles blasted a shot just four minutes in that bounced off the STAB keeper’s hands and Alec DeJong swept in and cleaned it up for a goal.
From there, Covenant rolled, beating the Saints 4-1 with Fekadu-Baker credited with four assists and a goal in the victory.
Michael Colberg, Brandon DeJong and Fekadu (on a penalty kick) scored the other three goals on the night to help spark a talented Covenant team to the win.
“That first goal was key, we’ve been working a lot on movement off the ball,” said Covenant coach Bryan Verbrugge. “We try to build a multi-faceted attack that’s not just through Girma and it’s nice to see some other guys get involved.”
For the Saints, that early mistake snowballed as the defense both sputtered and struggled to clamp down on the Eagles while STAB’s offense failed to break through until late in the match. Fritz Berry finished off the single goal for the Saints.
“(It’s) unfortunate that Girma gets a shot and there’s a rebound and they’re able to put it in,” said STAB coach Rob Lane. “We didn’t respond as well as I’d hoped and we started pressing a little more and that led to a couple of other goals. It’s the break that leads to the other bad breaks.”
The Eagles built a 3-0 lead before the break with Fekadu-Baker connected on a penalty kick right before the break.
Covenant moves on to take on another local foe, Tandem Friends School, next week while the Saints attempt to bounce back while STAB hosts Fork Union Tuesday.
