St. Thomas vs Souhegan
October 11, 2013

Photos from the game by Xavier Quinn:

St. Thomas was coming off their first win of the season against a similar injury depleated team from Milford.  The Souhegan Sabers were coming in at 6-5 and in the middle of the division 2 standings.  The Saints tied the Sabers in their only meeting last season during a night game at Souhegan. 

St. Thomas took the field with Brock Crowley in goal.  The defense of Aaron Dubois, Scott Lamoureux, Andrew Savage and Matt Baker.  The Midfield consisted of Beau Patteson, Tommy Griffiths, Bryan King and Liam Sweeney.  Forwards were Eric Eames and Lance Thibodeau.  Thibodeau was making his varsity debut being called up from the JV team along with Joshua Gasper to help the injury/sickness ridden varsity roster.

The Saints took the kick off on the overcast afternoon.  Both teams fought back and fourth in the midfield for control.    At the 4 minute mark King took a shot from about 25 yards out that looked like it was headed for the goal, but just missed causing screams from the crowd and bench to turn to groans.  On the ensuing goal kick St. Thomas won the ball at midfield and sent a ball down the sideline to a streaking Thibedeau who went in on the Keeper and his shot was mishandeled by the Saber keeper and the ball rolled free to Eames who quickly put the Saints on the board 1-0 at 4:22 into the game. 

Andrew Marino,  Peter Ferrin and Ryan Kelly entered the game for the Saints.

At 9:56 the Sabers scored to tie the game up.

The game became a battle of midfields and each team worked to control the ball, working to test each others defense.  At 24:30 King took a pass from Griffiths made a turning move to free space and sent a rocket shot into the upper corner beating the Saber keeper to break the deadlock and put the Saints up 2-1.  The teams would play harder with defenses stepping up and thawrting offensive build up.  Savage and Baker were controlling the outside with very close marking.  Josh Gasper, Leeland LaRochelle and Michael Bernier  all saw time at outside midfield to keep the attack fresh.

The score remained 2-1 as the half ended.

In the second half the Saints came out to meet a charged up Souhegan team that was no stanger to close games.  Down but not out the Sabers scored at the 47:10 mark of the game to tie up the score at 2 all.  The Saints were determined to keep their winning streak alive and quickly took control at the kick off.  It was send back to Savage on the outside D and sent up to Sweeney, who touched it in to Griffiths, who sent it to King, who sent a through ball to Thibedeau, who beat his defender.  Thibedeau raced in and sent a shot up over the Saber keepers shoulder into the back of the net for his first varsity goal.  The whole play took 30 seconds.  St. Thomas had the lead back 3-2.

At the 53:00 mark Eames took a cross pass from Thibedeau and put it into the net for an insurnace goal.  The Saints were now up 4-2.  Souhegan never let up and the game became even more fierce. 

At the 71 minute mark Baker stepped up from the back line and carried the ball across midfield.  He took a shot that the Saber keeper just tipped over the cross bar earning a corner kick for his team. 

Brock Crowley earned his second win in net with 4 saves.  The Souhegan keeper made 4 saves also.

St. Thomas improves to 2-8 while Souhegan is 6-6

The Saints travel to Goffstown on Tuesday for the first of three next week.

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