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Spartans getting results and gaining confidence By Matt Le Cren
That was evident literally from the start. Jamie Pigott scored just 11 seconds into the game and found the back of the net again 1:24 later and the Spartans cruised to a muddy 5-1 victory. Pigott’s first goal was remarkable because Guerin (0-10, 0-6) kicked off. But Adam Fetter quickly stole a back pass and slid a pass to Pigott, who got to the ball on the left post just before Gators keeper Connor Hudson. “We were trying to keep focused and [not] underestimate them,” Pigott said. “I wasn’t expecting [to score that quickly]. It just happened. Adam had a great play and got in there and got the ball and I just made a run to the outside and he played a through ball. It was kind of at my feet, kind of an awkward kick but it sneaked through there.” Fetter and Kyle Wood assisted on Pigott’s second goal and the Spartans (5-15-1, 4-4) had a rare two-goal lead with 38:25 still left to play in the opening half. “One of the best things is we came out early and scored a goal in the first 11 seconds, which is nice because so often this season we get off to a slow start and get behind,” St. Francis coach Chris Payton said. “So for once it’s nice to get off to a quick start.” The quick start was just a sign of things to come as St. Francis poured it on against the overmatched Gators. The Spartans made it 3-0 at the 26:44 mark when Pigott passed from the right end line to Andres Pena, who went top shelf from 10 yards out. Then with 12:44 remaining Perry Poulos fired a 20-yard bullet into the top right corner of the net for a 4-0 lead. Payton then began substituting liberally and played his stars in different positions for the rest of the contest. It was a sign of how much the Spartans have improved of late. After going scoreless in its first eight games, St. Francis has tallied 18 goals in its last four contests, including five in each game of its current three-game winning streak. “I think the biggest thing is the chances we’ve had we’ve actually capitalized and scored,” Payton said. “The previous games that we’ve lost, close games, we’ve hit the post, we’ve hit it just wide, goalies have made great saves. Now we’re taking advantage of those chances. “So I think the players are really starting to come into an offensive zone where before in the first half of the season we didn’t have much confidence in ourselves, we were timid and a lot of times we weren’t taking our shots. Now we have confidence that even if we don’t score we’re going to make good things happen; we’ll get a corner kick or a rebound.” Pigott, one of just two seniors on the team, attributes the improvement to increased maturity. “I think that lately we’ve just been acting more like a team,” he said. “We’ve definitely been finishing more of our chances and I think the big key for us is we’ve been getting a lot of numbers up [into the attack]. That’s really important for us because I think earlier in the season we were kind of trying to stay back and be defensive and now we’re getting more offensive-minded and it is showing. We’re connecting some better passes and getting the ball out wide which we know works real well for us. We used to always pound it down the middle and didn’t get any results.” The only negative result for the Spartans in this contest came with :06 left in the first half when goalie Ryan Suerte came out to play a ball and slipped and fell in the mud. Guerin’s Eduardo Linares ran around him and put the ball in the empty net to ruin Suerte’s bid for his third shutout of the season. Suerte ended up with three saves for the Spartans, who enjoyed a 29-4 shot advantage. Anthony Farace finished the scoring at the 6:01 mark of the second half when his seven-yard shot from the left side was knocked into the net by a Guerin defender. “We’re starting to jell at the right time,” Payton said. “If you peak too early in the season and fall off it’s not good. The Rock Island tournament [four games in two days last weekend] was real beneficial for us. It got our guys a lot of playing time against good teams, similar teams [to the ones] that we’ll face in the [state] tournament.” |
Man of the match: Jamie Pigott By Matt Le Cren
As one of only two seniors on the team, St. Francis forward Jamie Pigott shoulders a lot of responsibility. He did it well Thursday night, scoring two goals and assisting on another to lead the Spartans past Guerin 5-1 for their third consecutive victory. “He was injured for a while, but he came back and picked up where he left off,” St. Francis coach Chris Payton said. “The nice thing about him is he’s a great leader. He makes the people around him better. One of the great things about a forward like him is, not only does he create chances but he makes people around him better. And he creates opportunities for them.” Payton said Pigott and sophomore midfielders Adam Fetter and Drew Mascari have keyed the late-season surge. Fetter assisted on both of Pigott’s goals, which came in the first 1:35 of the game. “It seems like me and Adam connect really well,” Pigott said. “He gets a lot of assists. He’s a good distributor and it’s nice to have somebody like that to give people the ball.”
St. Francis starters 1 Ryan Suerte So. GK
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St. Francis wasn’t about to show visiting Guerin any mercy in Thursday night’s Suburban Christian Conference match in Wheaton.