The St. Anne’s-Belfield boys soccer team got goals from five different players Wednesday night in a 6-1 blowout of visiting Tandem Friends.
The victory improved STAB’s record to 5-1-1 on the season.
The Quakers (3-2-3) drew first blood 14 minutes in when Daake Brown blasted a free kick from the left corner and it deflected off the hands of STAB goalie Cooper Allen. Tico Fossi was there for the rebound and put it past Allen for a 1-0 Tandem lead.
The score stayed that way until the 30th minute when the Saints pulled even. Alex Bertone scooped up a long pass sent into the box from near midfield and beat Tandem goalie Tommy White to level the score. But that wasn’t all from the STAB attack in the first half. Barely two minutes later, senior captain Hank Gregg found the back of the net to put the Saints ahead for the first time in the game. St. Anne’s took that lead into halftime.
“I think this year we can get an attack from a lot of different players, and we don’t have to rely on just a couple of guys to score all our goals.” STAB coach Rob Lane said. “I think that makes us a really dangerous team.”
The Saints used a similar flurry in the opening minutes of the second half to turn the game into a rout. In the 52nd minute, Gregg found Bertone in the middle of the box and Bertone put home a nifty sliding shot to make it 3-1. Three minutes later, Harry Gould found himself all alone on a breakaway and beat White for a 4-1 lead.
St. Anne’s extended that lead further still with just over 20 minutes remaining as Kurt Bertone took a shot from the left side of the box and it deflected off the crossbar behind White and sneaked into the net. It was an illustration of the offensive domination from the Saints, who outshot Tandem 10 to five on the evening. The Quakers managed just one shot after halftime.
Freshman Andy Wood put the icing on the cake for the Saints when he found the back of the net with 3:20 remaining for the final margin. The last several minutes of the game was played by reserves on both sides.
“As we go into the second half of the season we start playing a lot of games back-to-back,” Lane said. “Making sure everyone is able to contribute is so important. When we get to the playoffs we need anyone to be ready at any given time.”
Allen shook off the early goal to keep the Quakers away from the net for the rest of the game. He recorded four saves for the Saints. White also totaled four saves for Tandem.
The Saints return to action Friday against Woodberry Forest. Tandem faces Virginia Episcopal in its next game.
