Saints claim Prep match

Any coach that understands the game of soccer will tell you how critical it is to be alert defensively.

Fortunately for St. Anne’s-Belfield, Christchurch didn’t keep its guard up on several occasions, and it cost the Seahorses dearly.

STAB took advantage of Christchurch’s lackadaisical defense as they managed to tally two goals including the game winner in the 85th minute to earn the Saints a 2-1 victory.

“Crazy game. It was back and forth,” said St. Anne’s coach Mark O’Donnell. “Tension at the end. It was just a great high school soccer game.”

The first half featured a few chances, most coming from STAB. It appeared as if the Saints (9-5, 3-3 Prep League) were going to put one past the goalie, but nothing every materialized.

The second half was a different story.

As the temperature dropped, STAB came out with no intensity for the first five minutes. After that, the Saints turned up the heat.

Even with the brilliant play in the midfield, it was a defensive error that allowed STAB to go up 1-0. After a kick from Christchurch’s goalie, midfielder Jay Everett perfectly headed the ball over an opposing defense that was caught off guard.

From there, Dustin Baellow ran on to the ball, took a touch and fired a shot that hit goalkeeper Mark Rhodes right in the hands and ricocheted into the back of the net.

“Jay played a beautiful ball and we just put it in,” said Baellow.

The clock continued to roll as both teams went in search of a game-changing play.

Christchurch (7-7-1, 3-2-1) looked to draw even with their opponents as STAB looked to put the game away, and the Seahorses found the net 24 minutes after.

On another defensive error, this time by St. Anne’s, Turner Humphries received a high through-ball off a set piece that caught the left side of STAB’s defensive line napping.

Humphries took a touch towards goal and carefully placed it over Carl Carpenter’s head to level the score in the 83rd minute.

“We committed a foul. Our heads go down for a second and they play it behind our backs and number 10 makes a great goal,” said O’Donnell.

With close to 10 minutes to go, it appeared that the teams would finish the game with a draw, but St. Anne’s caught the Christchurch defense sleeping again.

Midfielder Mike Abel played a beautiful one-touch pass to the corner of the field, where Baellow earned his second assist of the game.

“I saw Dustin out of the corner of my eye. I knew he was fast enough to get to the ball and play it across,” said Abel.

The streaking forward played a driven ball on the ground just out of the reach of Rhodes. At the far side of the goal was Logan Pehanick, who redirected the ball into the back of the net for the late winner.

Most credit in soccer is given to the offense, but it was the St. Anne’s defense that shined throughout.

Max Skinner controlled the entire right side of the field playing simple balls to his wide midifielders. The junior played a tremendous game, shutting down everything that came his way.

“We just flowed, passing back and forth. We frustrated them by knocking the ball away a lot,” he said.