PEABODY — Wednesday night’s boys soccer clash between Catholic Central League rivals Fenwick and St. Mary’s belonged to the Crusaders.
Sean Kern and Ryan Noci led a fluid offense with two goals and two assists each in Fenwick’s 6-0 win over the Spartans at Donaldson Stadium.
“We haven’t beaten St. Mary’s in a while,” Fenwick coach Tony Enos said. “Winning in this fashion, they’re pretty excited about it. The guys did a nice job. They’ve been working hard.”
Max Elwell scored once and logged one assist. Jameson Martinez added one goal to round out the scoring.
“They carried out the system of play that we laid out,” Enos said. “We kind of had an idea what St. Mary’s would do from years past. We watched the tapes from past games. In doing that we put out a system of play to exploit what we were seeing. It seemed to work.”
The Crusaders were sharp defensively too. Fenwick goalie Liam Foley made three saves for the shutout.
“We have a strong backline and we have depth, particularly in our outside backs,” Enos said. “Our kids have speed. They’re all good with the ball. They all have skills. They get up inside the attack and do well.”
St. Mary’s falls to 1-4 on the season.
“Fenwick scored early and we started flat,” Spartans coach Mike D’Agostino said. “They’re a fast team and they move off the ball. They played very well. Tony has a very good program this year with a lot of talent. Speed wasn’t on our side and they move very fast.”
Fenwick wasted no time setting the tone. Martinez fired a clean shot into the back of the net just 36 seconds into the night, putting his Crusaders up 1-0 out of the gate.
“That takes a team out,” Enos said of Fenwick’s swift start. “We’ve had that happen to us. It’s tough. Boys tend to lose heart real quick if you give up a goal in the first minute.”
Fenwick nearly added to its lead on a corner kick a few minutes later but St. Mary’s dodged the bullet and settled down for the next 10 minutes.
Then the Crusaders picked up steam again. Kern scored his first goal of the night in the 13th minute, bumping the lead to 2-0. Noci made it a 3-0 advantage 15 minutes later when he sent an arching shot past the outstretched hands of Spartans goalie Matt Gallego.
“Matt’s goals were some tough goals,” D’Agostino said, “but he made some great saves too. We didn’t perform offensively. We didn’t do the things we did in practice to get shots on net. But Fenwick was a faster team and we weren’t ready for that.”
Kern capped the half with his second score of the game and Fenwick carried a hefty 4-0 lead at recess.
Elwell’s tally 18 minutes into the second half put Fenwick ahead 5-0. Noci’s second goal of the contest, with less than five minutes to go, sealed the 6-0 win.
“Ryan’s a sophomore and a very skilled player,” Enos said. “He plays club for me at Aztec. Last year I had Ryan play JV virtually the whole year just so he could get playing time. I knew if he played varsity he wasn’t going to see the ball a lot. This year he’s a varsity starter.”
St. Mary’s hopes to bounce back with a win Friday (3:30) when it hosts Peabody. It’s one game at a time from here on out as the Spartans aim to progress.
“We’re building off this,” D’Agostino said. “I started two eighth graders and a seventh grader in this game. I put an eighth grader in net to finish the last 20 minutes of the game and (Jacob Guarino) made some great saves. Building for the future’s what we’re looking to do. We’re here to guide them and have the upperclassmen lead the way. Nobody likes to lose but it’s building off that and building strength.”
The Crusaders (3-1) host Malden Catholic Friday (3:30).
