By Allen Kha / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
With the match knotted at one-a-piece through 60 minutes of play, Tandem Friends’ first-year coach Craig Brannan lamented on the sideline, “There’s no such thing as luck in sports… there’s no luck in this game.”
St. Anne’s Belfield begged to differ, however. Despite starting off shaky in defense and being outplayed for a substantial portion of the match, the visiting Saints (1-2) defeated dispatched their crosstown opposition 2-1.
The Badgers (1-1) started the game off promisingly, utilizing their technical skill to grab a majority of the possession, shake an inexperienced STAB back line, and create early offensive sequences. Junior forward Josh Connelly had the first real chance of the match five minutes in, linking up with senior forward Ollie Tennant on a superb one-two sequence from the midfield up to the final third before Saints goalkeeper Carl Carpenter smothered Connelly’s finish.
Connelly made up for the missed opportunity in the 10th minute with the game’s first goal. After the Saints’ back line cleaned up a Tandem offensive move and passed the ball back to their goalkeeper, Carpenter rushed to the top of his box and threw the ball down the middle of the pitch hoping one of his midfielders would latch on.
Connelly, however, got hold of the distribution. Recognizing that Carpenter was far away from his goalie line, Connelly placed a beautiful weighted shot from nearly 35 yards out that glided over Carpenter’s extended fingertips.
“That was a wonderful goal, and we really controlled the game for that stretch. We lacked in the final third, however, despite having possession,” Brannan said.
“We’re implementing a new system here with me being [a first-year coach at Tandem], and we’re encouraging our talented players to attack. We just didn’t finish when we could have in the first half, and fell short on the little things like set pieces.”
That goal turned out to be the Longwood-bound keeper’s only mistake of the night. Despite being onslaught with shots on target — Tandem had over 10 in the first half and 29 in the entire game — Carpenter held his own in goal and increased in presence as the game progressed.
“He was big for us,” STAB coach Rob Lane said. “The game started a little tough [in the first half], but he made great saves and we reorganized at half-time. We eventually held more possession in the second half and grew into the game, but [Carpenter] played a huge role in the win… This game helped pick our head up.”
As they grew into the game in the second half, the Saints finally caught their break in the 60th minute.
After the Badgers committed a foul, junior captain Mitch Spessard booted the free kick from his own half towards the opposing goal. The Tandem goalie was caught up in the set piece play being executed in his box, however, and was caught out of position as the ball sailed in over his outstretched fingertips.
The Staints added the winning goal 10 minutes later when Spessard scored another spectacular goal from 30 yards out, off of an ill-timed defensive clear.
Tandem pressed in the final 20 minutes — shifting their tactics to push more men forward — but ultimately couldn’t find another goal.
Lane was satisfied with his team’s result, saying: “When you have possession, opportunities will come, and create other opportunities. This is a good game, a win, going into Covenant on Friday.”
Spessard added: “We could have played better, but we won and got the result. We have an inexperienced back line, but our goal did a great job and we [gained] more possession as the game went on. We made some good substitutions [after halftime] and grew from there.”
Badgers coach Brannan, however, lamented his team’s loss.
STAB travels to Covenant for a 4 p.m. Friday game. Tandem plays host to Fork Union Thursday afternoon at 4:30 p.m.
