Immediately after the final buzzer and whistle sounded, St. Anne’s-Belfield senior Lee Parkhill let loose a simple cry “Six-Seed boys! Six-Seed.”
This six-seed is going to the state title game after dismantling No.2-seeded Paul VI 5-2 in the VISAA Division I semifinals Friday evening at the University of Richmond’s Robins Stadium.
“PVI was kind of chirping before the game, going ‘how’s that six-seed taste’,” said STAB longstick midfielder Rob Schotta. “I think we showed them what a six-seed can do.”
The Saints certainly did, with a defense that’s never played together in a state final four game playing like they’d been in four of them. While the Saints returned Schotta and Parkhill, a shortstick defensive midfielder, and goalie Eric Buhle, their trio of close defenders, Kareem Johnson, Gideon Elron and Pierce Bower was completely rebuilt this season. After surrendering 13 goals to the Panthers in the regular season meeting, a 13-12 overtime loss for the Saints, STAB’s defensive unit flipped the script with a lockdown performance in the semifinals.
“Those guys have been lights out the last several games,” said STAB coach Bo Perriello. “To think we could hold a team like PVI to that many goals, if you’d told me before the game I would’ve certainly liked our chances.”
Schotta helped set that tone early with a relentless takeaway just outside the restraining box that eventually led to Joe Robertson’s first goal in the later stages of the first quarter. Schotta threw a trio of checks, including a one-handed attempt and eventually dislodged the ball. Parkhill picked up the ground ball and pushed it forward for the goal.
“As long as our defense can keep them just scoring minimal goals, with what all our offense can do, we’ve done our job,” Schotta said. “The defense we just tried to set the tone and the offense gets going.”
Schotta finished with seven ground balls to lead the Saints in that category while Bower picked up five and Johnson snagged three. According to the STAB statistics keeper, the Saints held a 31-10 advantage on ground balls.
Robertson provided the bulk of the Saints’ offensive output, with STAB taking advantage of scant opportunities as they won just three of 11 faceoffs and faced long. Robertson scored twice in the first half to push the Saints to a 3-1 lead at the break, then assisted on a third quarter goal that put the Saints up 4-2. The assist came on a tremendous feed to Brodie Phillips that sliced through a three defenders across the formation.
Phillips finished with an assist to go with his goal while Josh Reiss and Phillip Robertson rounded out the goals with scores of their own. The elder Robertson did a solid job of running the offense and keeping the pace right where the Saints wanted it. They needed long possessions at certain times to give the defense a chance to recover, and they got those when they had to have them.
“Last time we played them we were able to get out to a big lead and yet we didn’t really value the ball as much so they were able to make a big comeback and eventually win in overtime,” Perriello said. “So we really wanted to focus on not allowing that to happen again. We played with a lot of poise and composure down the stretch.”
STAB will face St. Christopher’s, who upended Collegiate in the other semifinal, Saturday at 3 p.m. at Robins Stadium.
