PEABODY — The Bishop Fenwick Crusaders boys soccer team fell 6-0 in its battle with the Bishop Stang Spartans Wednesday at Bishop Fenwick High School.
While his team took a tough loss, Crusaders’ Head Coach Julius Pertillar says he wants his team to stay positive.
“The message is to stay positive, stay focused. We just have to play better soccer; we are a very young team, so we are going to go through the fire – through a process like this,” said Pertillar. “If they are too emotionally attached to the game, then you will feel a burn, but if you understand there is a learning and growing process, then you will stay focused.”
It was all Spartans early and often as they had a beautiful scoring chance from senior Carter Dennis on a nice run down the left sideline just 30 seconds into the game. They followed that up with another excellent chance on a long ball to junior Spencer Menard.
Although Bishop Stang was knocking on the door of taking an early lead, the Crusaders seemed to steady themselves and play some excellent defense for a majority of the first half. However, as the Spartans kept mounting chances, it was only a matter of time until they finally broke through, and that is just what they did.
With just over 26 minutes remaining in the first half, Bishop Stang got on the board with a goal from Senior captain Nico Ferreira. Ferreira scored his goal on a header from a nice cross by Dennis on a corner kick to take the 1-0 lead.
A mere five minutes later, the Spartans extend their lead on a goal from senior John Brum, who benefitted from a pass from senior Jake Landers to make the game 2-0 Bishop Stang.
In the waning moments of the first half, Bishop Fenwick was lucky to only go into halftime down two goals as Dennis shot a rocket of a ball that ricocheted off the inside post but never crossed the goal line.
Unfortunately for the Crusaders and their fans Bishop Stang continued to pour it on and extend their lead. Just about a minute into the second half, Dennis got his redemption from the first half and scored to give the Spartans a 3-0 lead.
As the game continued, the Spartans stretched their lead even more with two more goals from Ferreira, which gave him a hat trick, and one from Dino Psichopaidas to ice the 6-0 victory.
Even losing by a six-goal deficit, Pertillar said his team did a lot of good things and had some bright spots. One of those bright spots was sophomore goaltender Danny Rowan who made some great stops, including a nice diving save in the first half.
“My goalkeeper is doing a fantastic job; he is working on his distribution. He is already a fantastic shot-stopper, so now I am teaching him how to read the game and understand the flow of the game,” said Pertillar.
Pertillar also mentioned a lot of the young players on his team do not play soccer year-round and are making tremendous strides in their development.
As Bishop Fenwick’s season rolls on, Pertillar mentioned that his team would focus and work on basic things like first touches to improve.
“Just having a basic first-touch that is clean and being able to get the ball off your foot cleanly and it requires a lot of practice,” said Pertillar.
The Crusaders will next go on the road to battle Masconomet Friday, Sept. 16, at 4 p.m.
Michael Coughlin Jr. can be reached at [email protected].
