St. Francis gets in the win column

By Gary Larsen

St. Francis is off the schneid.

A Drew Mascari hat-trick and an additional whale of an offensive day put in by Adam Fetter not only gave the Spartans their first win of the season, the two combined to score the team’s first goals of the season.

“That was definitely frustrating,” Mascari said of the Spartans’ seven-game scoring drought to start the year. “We hadn’t scored a goal since summer league so it was nice to finally get that first one.”

Spartans assistant coach Chris Payton ran the show for St. Francis in Saturday’s game against visiting Montini, and he was naturally happy to see his players get rewarded after its rocky early start.

“They’ve been working hard in practice, we’ve seen improvement since the season started and they’ve kept their heads up,” Payton said. “They really have gotten better in every area of the game and they’re starting to get to know one another on the field.”

The young Spartans benefited from a Mascari-Fetter connection throughout the contest. Fetter assisted on all three of Mascari’s goals and scored one himself on a feed from Kyle Wood.

“We’ve started connecting more and more with each other in practice,” Mascari said of him and Fetter. “It’s just taken some time. We’re all working hard and learning how each other play.”

The Spartans started six sophomores and two freshmen on Saturday, and while they may take their lumps against the big dogs on the schedule, the sophomore Fetter embodies the skill and future potential present in Wheaton.

The Spartans sent chances far and wide of Montini’s net through much of the first half, including a shot that Mascari sent off the crossbar. “It felt like a matter of time,” Mascari said.

Two minutes before the break, Fetter slotted a ball from right to left in the box to Mascari, who finished on it to get the monkey off the Spartans’ backs.

“Finally, we’re putting some pressure on but we still struggled to score in the first half,” Payton said. “Once we got that first one the guys got more confident not only in their shooting, but also in their overall play. In the second half we were much more aggressive.”

“Once the first one went in, we were fine,” Fetter said.

The Spartans held the lion’s share of possession throughout the second half, with Fetter pumping in his goal in the 45th minute to give his squad a 2-0 lead.

Fetter fed Mascari in the 57th and 62nd minutes as the Spartans solidified their first win of the season.

Payton applauded the play on the outside of midfielders Wes Dorman and Dave Kaminky.

“Wes has stepped it up in terms of playing strong defense on the outside, and that’s what we’ve been looking for from him,” Payton said. “He’s also been a nice threat offensively.”

Sophomore goalkeeper Ryan Suerte posted his first shutout of the season with Saturday’s win, and he has been rock-solid in net throughout the year.

“He’s always been strong,” Fetter said of Suerte said. “You can’t stop some of the goals we’ve given up this year. He’s always been a good goalie.”

While dealing with injuries and searching for chemistry in back, the staff at St. Francis got solid performances on Saturday from defenders Kyle Wood, Danny Wright, T.J. Kliebhan, and Matt Bonner.

“Kyle did a nice job sweeping for us and taking charge of things in back,” Payton said. “Danny and T.J. played well on the outside and we moved Matt from sweeper to stopper because we like him as an offensive threat, too.”

Perry Poulos, Jon Mifsud, and Anthony Farace rounded out the Spartans’ starting lineup on Saturday.

Man of the match: Drew Mascari

By Gary Larsen

Too much Drew Mascari and Adam Fetter.

Montini bused into Wheaton on Saturday and had to deal with a St. Francis team that was hungry -- downright starving -- to put a few goals on the scoreboard.

Fetter and Mascari combined on three of the goals earned by the Spartans in a 4-0 victory over the Broncos, with Fetter assisting and Mascari finishing on all three.

“They’ve been connecting pretty well throughout the season, but today it finally seemed to gel,” said St. Francis assistant coach Chris Payton. “Practice has gone well but to make it work in the game is a step forward.”

The Spartans pressured Montini throughout but it wasn't until the 38th minute that Fetter slid a ball through to Mascari, who finished from 10 yards out to score the team's first goal of the season.

Fetter fed Mascari twice more in the second half and netted a ball of his own on a feed from Kyle Wood.

“I think the goals will start coming now,” Fetter said. “We’re starting to gain confidence. We just have to keep working.”

“Passing, defending, shooting – we’re getting better in every part of the game,” Mascari said. “We just need to keep working on communication and heading. We missed a lot of 50-50’s today and we have to start winning those.”

Starters vs. Montini