St. Anne’s wallops Western

St. Anne’s-Belfield seems to have stumbled on to a simple formula that works pretty well.
The Saints disposed of Western Albemarle in much the same fashion that St. Anne’s did Woodberry Forest on Saturday - jump out to a big lead, stay patient on offense and let a solid defense take over. The procedure worked again as the Saints rolled over the Warriors 13-4.
On Saturday, Harry Snyder’s six goals led the Saints. This time out, Jack Thomasson played the role of finisher for St. Anne’s, pouring in seven goals and an assist.
“He’s a smart kid around the goal and fearless as well,” said St. Anne’s coach Doug Tarring. “He’ll take a beating and get to the goal.”
Owen Van Arsdale had three assists and a goal himself, with two of his dishes going to Thomasson.
Thomasson’s output included a third quarter tally where the attackman hauled in a pass from defender Howie Long at the opposite end line. As Thomasson leapt for the ball, Western goalie Cody Peters came out of the crease to help defend. When the St. Anne’s senior came down with the ball, he quickly spun and buried the shot in an empty goal.
The goal atoned for another potential Long assist on a bounce pass off the turf in the first half that Thomasson sailed over the goal.
“I just had to make up for the last one,” Thomasson said. “I had to give him that assist.”
The goal put St. Anne’s up 9-2 and appeared to be a backbreaker for the Warriors, who were already struggling to gain and maintain possession after the break. But things had already gotten out of hand for the Warriors (9-4) in the second quarter.
A rash of penalties on both sides created a pace that favored the methodical Saints, and they capitalized, building a 7-2 lead after the game was deadlocked at 2-2 after the first quarter.
“I think that kind of fell into STAB’s hands because they could control the ball a little better than we could,” said Western head coach Hunter Price.
The anticipated battle between Virginia commitment Long and Notre Dame-bound attacker Max Pfiefer seemed to go decisively to Long. Pfiefer managed a pair of goals, but both came in man-up situations when the Saints were forced into a zone defense.
“Long really took away top-side for Pfiefer,” Price said. “He really couldn’t get his hands free.”
Quin Sweeney had a pair of goals for Western, too, but the Warriors didn’t get much production from anyone else. Matt Galvin, a talented Western attacker and senior midfielder Mack Schwoebel were both held scoreless by the St. Anne’s defense.
“They smothered our top two attackmen and made other guys beat them,” Price said. “And other guys didn’t beat them.”
Zach Starsia had 10 saves to lead the Saints in goal and was active throughout the defensive zone on slides and ground balls. St. Anne’s-Belfield dominated ground balls 49-30.
Snyder had a pair of goals and an assist to help spark the Saints attack. Scotty Wiseman and Andrew McCullough were strong on faceoffs and also notched a goal each. Chapin Speidel had a goal and a pair of assists.
St. Anne’s will wrap up the regular season on Thursday against Covenant at 7 p.m. before entering the T.I.L.T. state tournament on Tuesday. Western takes on Collegiate Friday at 7:30 p.m. before entering Jefferson District play Tuesday.