LYNN — Behind a solid team defensive performance and a great game from junior goalkeeper Nick Pappas, the St. Mary’s boys soccer team earned a 1-0 win over Malden Catholic at Manning Field Monday afternoon.
“All-around good performance by the guys out there tonight,” said St. Mary’s coach Mike D’Agostino. “We were a little shaky on offense throughout the game, but our defense is where we really played well today and that’s what got it done for us.”
The lone goal was scored by junior midfielder Matt Connolly on assists from junior Thiago DeOliveira and freshman Jackson Nickolau. But the real story of the game was the play of the defense. Olu George, Majak Wol, Greyson Pane, Ryan Ramsay and Connor Mackey all played well on defense, while Pappas earned the shutout in his first career start.
“Great job by Pappas tonight, it was good to see him earn that shutout,” D’Agostino said. “Now both of our keepers have a shutout on the year, so that’s a pretty good way to start the season.”
The Spartans (3-0) came out and got on the board early. After battling back and forth for possession over the first few minutes of action, St. Mary’s took control of the ball in their own end of the field. Nickolau moved up and sent a pass to DeOliveira, who then slipped a great through-pass to Connolly for a top-shelf goal with 34:36 on the clock.
“We got the momentum going in our favor there, starting with Jackson’s great ball to get them moving,” said D’Agostino. “And Connolly did what we need him to do as the outside mid, he put the ball in the net.”
The Lancers got a few scoring opportunities of their own in the first half, including two quality chances on corner kicks. Each time, either Pappas or the Spartan defense was able to turn the ball away.
St. Mary’s almost added a second goal on a corner with about 10 minutes left in the half, but the header from senior captain Richie Mateo bounced off the crossbar.
Malden Catholic got more aggressive in the second half, pressing the St. Mary’s defense to try and force a mistake. But the Spartans held strong, and George made a couple of key plays in the back end late in the game to keep the Lancers from getting clean runs at the net. Pappas also came up big in the final minutes, making two big saves to seal the victory.
Now at 3-0, the Spartans are looking to improve their consistency on offense and keep up the intensity on defense.
“We’ve got a lot of talent here, but we’ve got to work on some things,” said D’Agostino. “We’re scratching and clawing right now to get things done, but the guys are working hard. Once we get the momentum going in the right direction, I think we’ll be fine.”
The Spartans will host Bishop Fenwick at Manning Field on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
