
#1 St. Thomas Shows Maturity in 15-7 Win Over #12 Barron Collier
Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in Uncategorized.
It was an intriguing matchup on paper.
Two undefeated teams . . .
One looking for respect, one continuing it’s path to repeating.
Throw in a history of meeting in the FHSAA Final Eight a couple of times, with some great finishes.
But only one team is #1 in the state . . . and that team showed why last night.
There’s a sense of confidence in STA’s play. This group has not lost a regular season game since March 22nd, 2014, when they lost 12-6 at FHSAA state champ Lake Highland Prep.
That’s 1,087 days ago . . .
That’s pretty good.
The only losses since then were to Benjamin in the 2015 state semis and the 2016 state finals.
Winning breeds confidence.
They graduated a lot of pieces from last year, maybe more than anyone.
But this is not an inexperienced team . . . even if you look at the first names . . . Nicholas and CJ for example . . . players who seemed to have stepped in for older siblings and are growing rapidly. Of course, there’s still Kevin and Jimmy, and Alex and Brock, and Joey and the rest. Sounds like an Our Gang cast. Doesn’t play like one though.
And they really know how to play together.
Looking solely at the statistics it wasn’t a 15-7 game. Faceoffs were 14-12, shots 32-30, on goal 21-19 and turnovers 15-13. Penalties were only 4-3.
But the cumulative does not tell you WHEN those things occurred.
STA led 8-2 at the half and Barron tried to make a run in the 3rd, as they started to take over the faceoff battle. But every time they sought momentum STA was there with the response. BC was never able to cut it below 5 goals after midway through the second quarter. STA got off to that lead because of a 3:30 span from the late 1st quarter into the early second and that held up the whole game. And when it was necessary, STA won 5 of 7 faceoffs in the 4th to keep the lid on things.
Maturity.
It’s not only about a young man coming of age, it’s also about a program doing so too.
I don’t know if STA repeats this year . . . PV was my pick before the season and the path still is tough. Pine Crest or Stoneman in the 1st round, SA or Oxbridge in the second, Jupiter or Benjamin in the semis and Ponte Vedra, et al, in the finals.
But whoever can beat them, they will have to BEAT them . . . it’s hard to see this team beating itself.
I really look forward to seeing how they fare on Long Island next weekend.
And the biggest takeaway is that there is one team at #1 deservedly and one team at #14 that is pretty much right where they belong for now, pending future results. Not that it is bad to be there, at all. A nice team but a little short right now in the ability to win a state title, like so many other teams in that range of the polls.
The game itself came down to a few things.
The biggest issues were that Barron’s midfield struggled to break down the STA midfield defense in the first half and that allowed STA’s long poles to not have to slide early, taking away a good amount of BC’s spot up shooters. On defense, BC’s long poles had a hard time with STA’s off ball movement, as Jimmy Harrington scored six goals, almost all of them right near the crease after he evaded his defenders. In the second half BC was able to start to chip away, particularly Connor McGraw, who showed a slickness to get his hands open and a laser of a shot and that combo gave him 5 goals and the only assisted one was an EMO feed to the wing where he could step into it.
I know it seems strange to say but I thought Kevin Crowley had a bit of an off game . . . until I tallied up the 4G/2A he produced.
So much for that observation.
I did notice that a couple of times STA’s offense fell into the trap that the BC matchup zone baits . . . don’t try to curl from behind if you want to shoot. It’s like a Venus Fly Trap. And sure enough, the ball carrier was swallowed up.
STA played both goalies in a time sharing approach and they came up with 12 saves versus BC goalie’s Jackson Lucarelli’s 6 and the difference was the open crease looks.
STA’s offense finished their inside looks and BC never really got them.
Pretty much the game right there.
Harrington opened the scoring at 9:43 as he took Brock Gonzalez’s right GLE feed on the left crease for the easy one timer to the open side. Seven seconds later Crowley was fed by Ryan Izquierdo off a popped faceoff win as he found Crowley on the wing for the step down to the top right corner. Barron got on the board at 3:11 as Pat Mahoney worked behind the net and found Tad Demale cutting down the left alley for his left hand shot to the right side of the net. Only 13 seconds later Nick Yovino popped a faceoff forward and found Gonzalez all alone on the crease for the low shot and 3-1. Then Gonzalez and Harrington teamed up again at 1:11 as Brock’s behind left pass found Harrington all alone in front for the tap in and with 34 seconds left Crowley took a feed on the left and darted to the middle with the face dodge and finished low from in front for 5-1 after one.
30 seconds into the second, on EMO, Harrington fed Kevin Justice on the low left for the right hand shot to the low short side for 6-1. BC got one back at 8:33, also on EMO, as Mahoney found McGraw low on the right wing for the left hand rip to the far side. STA then scored twice in 64 seconds to make it 8-2 at the half. After a turnover near midfield Yovino dashed down the middle and found Harrington all alone on the left crease for the open goal and at 5:27 Crowley worked behind the net and Harrington cut to the right crease for the against the grain pass and the open look at the crease to end the half.
McGraw made it 8-3 at 7:55 as he worked from right GLE up the wing and his left hand bounce shot kicked up into the top short side. Harrington again stemmed the tide from the crease as Yovino darted down the right alley before finding him all alone for 9-3. BC trimmed it again on EMO at 4:52 as he cleanly picked off a clearing pass on the ride and was able to beat everyone to the net from the back right corner for the open goal. Crowley answered at 3:34 as he came out from behind and spin dodged to the left crease for the low shot . . . a move I’ve seen a few times before over the last two years. Harrington closed out his scoring at 1:37 to make it 11-4 as CJ Borodiak went down the right alley and fed Harrington on the wing for what is probably the longest shot I’v seen him take, to the low left corner. With 55 seconds left, McGraw again worked the right wing, and his spin dodge to the right gave him a path to the net and his left hand hit the low short side for his fourth and we went to the 4th quarter at 11-5.
BC cut it again to 5 at 8:04 as McGraw showed the versatility of his game by dodging left from the right wing and hitting the top left corner for 11-6. But only 30 seconds later Michael Costello again stemmed any momentum change as he went from the left wing to the middle and found the top left with a bounce shot for 12-6. Jake Scuderi made it 5 again as JJ Andino fed him alone on the left wing from behind and he walked in before hitting the low short side at 4:34. But that was it for BC as STA closed out the game with 3 goals to make it 15-7. Crowley from Borodiak at 4:22, followed by Yovino scoring on a right alley shot after receiving the clearing pass from Ryan Leary, which I will credit an assist to on the play and at 1:02 Costello taking Crowley’s feed on EMO.
STA is back in action on Friday, hosting St. Edwards and Barron Collier travels to Lely before finishing off a tougher slate of games to end the season.
Team Statistics
Faceoffs: STA 14-12
Shots: STA 32-30
Shots on Goal: STA 21-19
Turnovers: STA 15-13
Penalties: STA 4-3
Individual Statistics
STA
Jimmy Harrington 6G/1A
Kevin Crowley 4G/2A
Michael Costello 2G
Nick Yovino 1G/3A
Brock Gonzalez 1G/2A
Kevin Justice 1G
CJ Borodiak 2A
Ryan Izquierdo and Ryan Leahy 1A each
David Madrill and Ryan Leahy combined for 12 saves
BC
Connor McGraw 5G
Tad Demale and Jake Scuderi with 1G each
Pat Mahoney 2A
JJ Andino 1A
Jackson Lucarelli with 6 saves
Note: Glad to see Sean Mahoney back in action!
Thanks to Coach Crowley and Coach Sivillo for talking to me before and after the game