St. Anne’s-Belfield cruises past Covenant

Playing for the second time in less than a week, St. Anne’s-Belfield and Covenant butted heads one last time this year in the first round of the VISAA playoffs.
The result of Tuesday’s game wasn’t much different than Thursday’s, as after a tightly played first quarter, the Saints went on to score 17 unanswered goals to beat the Eagles 21-5.
“I thought our guys really responded well after the first quarter,” said STAB coach Doug Tarring. “Championship situations are different than regular season play. To Covenant’s credit, they played well to open the game, but our guys got settled in and Scotty Wiseman taking face-offs, that really created the scoring run.”
Chapin Speidel and Andrew Crocket each had monster second halves for the Saints. The two finished with four goals apiece, and each had second-half hat tricks.
“We just got beat by a better team” said Covenant coach Dave Breslin. “It really was just as simple as that.”
STAB opened the third quarter with a furious pace, scoring seven goals in six minutes.
“Our offense just started clicking [in the second half],” Speidel said. “We can score in a hurry. We get a lot of easy opportunities in front of the net and we’ve been able to finish and that’s what great teams do.”
Connor McCullough put the Saints out front 3-1 on a pair of goals in the first quarter.
“With the amount of guys we have that can score we get certain matchups,” McCullough said. “Whoever has the match up gets to go, and it happened to be me for a little while early on.”
But Eagles seniors Andy Colberg and Luke Heinsohn tied the game just before the end of the frame.
“They took the momentum there for a little while,” McCullough said. “But it shifted back in the second half.”
Down by 10 goals midway through the third quarter, the Eagles offense finally put together some quality possessions, but any comeback hopes were immediately squashed when STAB goalkeeper Austin Geisler made a trio of saves.
“Austin was Austin in the second and third quarter,” Tarring said. “We feed off of his ability to stop the ball. Everyone gets excited. One thing about Austin is that he creates possessions because there are no rebounds or second opportunities.”
The loss not only ends Colberg’s and Heinsohn’s storied high school careers, but it also marks the end of Breslin’s tenure at Covenant. The Eagles coach is heading down to Georgia, but with a heavy heart.
“There’s just so much joy and pride — I feel blessed to have been able to be a part of this program, this school and this area,” Breslin said. “The sad thing is that we’re done. We’re a really tight-knit team and we’re done. That’s what’s sad, that’s what’s tough.”
After taking a year off in 2007, Breslin guided the Eagles to a Division II State Championship last year, and help the Eagles transition into Division I this year by making the eight-team playoff field.
“I’ve got nothing but joy in my heart,” Breslin said. “I’ve got no regrets. And the STAB players were so gracious walking through the line [at the end of the game], wishing me luck. That’s what it’s about. That spirit of sportsmanship, I really appreciate it. It’s been great here in Central Virginia.”
In a rematch of last year’s championship game, the Saints will play at Collegiate in the semifinals on Friday at 5 p.m.