Saints defeat Tigers

WOODBERRY — Sitting on 399 career wins, it seemed only fitting that Doug Tarring would pick up victory number 400 against a longtime rival like Woodberry Forest.

“When I look back at the 31 years I’ve been coaching, I’m pretty sure I’ve played against [Woodberry] the most,” Tarring said.

The Saints got more than a handful on Friday afternoon from a young Tigers squad, but behind an outstanding show from Owen Van Arsdale and Andrew Crockett, they walked away with the win, 14-9.

STAB jumped out to a comfortable 6-1 lead early in the second quarter, but a handful of penalties allowed Woodberry to crawl right back into the game.

“Honestly I wasn’t surprised,” Tarring said. “They could have easily dropped off early in the game but that’s an inspired and well-coached team that’s trying to make their way into the state tournament.”

St. Anne’s faced a bizarre situation late in the second. With starting goalie Austin Geisler out because of an injury he suffered while trying to score and backup Mark Hargove sitting out a one-minute penalty, midfielder Michael Morris had to defend the cage.

The Tigers (6-7, 2-4 Prep League) made the most of their second frame man-advantages, cutting the deficit to two goals before Griffin Burke tied the game at 7 on a pair of scores early in the third.

But just six seconds after Burke tied the game, the Saints (12-2, 6-0) put things out of reach by going on a 5-0 run in a four-minute stretch.

“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to STAB,” said Woodberry coach Brian Hemming. “They’ve got a lot of talent and are well-coached. They did some smart things later in the game. Where it was a one or two goal game, all of sudden they were able to make it a four-goal game and we’re back to where we were in the first quarter. Against a team like [St. Anne’s], late in the game that’s hard to make up. But we didn’t lose for lack of effort or heart.”

Burke and teammate James Malm scored six of the nine Tiger goals. Malm also had two assists.

Crockett led the way on STAB’s third-quarter scoring spree by netting three of his four goals in just over two minutes.

Van Arsdale assisted two of those goals and led all passers with five feeds to go along with two scores of his own.

“Lately I’ve been finding [Crockett] because he always seems to be open,” Van Arsdale said.

“I feel like at the beginning of the year, chemistry was going to be one of the deciding factors in how well we could do,” Crockett added. “And right now, as you can see, the chemistry has definitely picked up.”

Up by four in the fourth, St. Anne’s never faltered, and Hargrove and the STAB defense withstood the Tigers’ attack.

And while the 400-win mark is a nice milestone for Tarring, his Saints are just one win away from their first-ever Prep League championship.

“[Coach Tarring] has had teams with losing records, or teams that have won state championships, but he’s never had a team win the Prep League championship,” Van Arsdale said. “It’s nice to be on that team.”