When St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes’ David Solomon got tagged with an illegal stick penalty late in the second quarter, a three-minute, unreleasable, it appeared St. Anne’s-Belfield was about to make a run.
The penalty, which could have kickstarted a St. Anne’s-Belfield offense that was sputtering after a fast start, instead ended in a missed opportunity with a turnover and a pair of penalties on STAB cutting short the advantage.
“I think those things are sometimes a mixed bag,” said STAB coach Bo Perriello. “There’s a lot of pressure to score when you do that and there’s a momentum shift back if they’re able to kill that penalty. But at that point there was still plenty of time to go in the game.”
STAB never could get things going again though, falling 13-8 to SSSA, the squad they beat in the state championship game last year by a single goal.
SSSA has a lot of momentum going right now, and St. Anne’s-Belfield ran into that wave after STAB got a quick start from the opening face-off while jumping out to a 3-0 lead. The Alexandria school beat nationally-ranked Boys Latin last Saturday and is off to a 5-0 start on the year, and an adjustment to how they’re using Solomon, a star attackman and Maryland commitment, is helping fuel their offense.
SSSA brings Solomon, the All-Met player of the year, out of the box during transition rather than leaving him down on attack at all times. The shift gives the junior a better look at the field, though STAB’s Charles Schreck, gave him all he could handle. Still, Solomon almost single handedly erased STAB’s early 3-0 advantage with two goals and an assist in a span of five minutes.
“It gives him a little more flexibility—it’s just a little easier for him to work the field and it makes matching up a little more difficult,” said SSSA coach Andy Taibl. “There isn’t any specific reason for it other than we think it’s the way that helps our team.”
It didn’t help STAB that they picked up several penalties during that run that led to extra-man opportunities for SSSA. St. Anne’s was plagued by penalties all night, including the critical infractions when Solomon was tagged with the illegal stick.
“I think we had nine penalties and we gave up six man-down goals,” Perriello said. “We give up that many man-down goals it’s going to be tough to win. And it’s not just the man-down goals, but the amount of defense we had to play that tired our guys out.”
Even after failing to capitalize on the illegal stick, STAB was only down by a goal, but SSSA pushed the lead to four with a three-goal run that started the second half. Predictably because of the kind of night STAB was having, a man-up situation ignited the spurt, with Peter Milley burying a goal with 6:48 to play in the third. Solomon then followed with two more goals to make it 9-5 SSSA and when STAB tried to get a quick answer, Ben Levy came up with a monster stop in goal for St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes.
Milley finished with five goals while Solomon managed four and a pair of assists.
STAB eventually strung together a pair of goals early in the fourth that cut SSSA’s lead to two when Owen Van Arsdale scored off a Hobey Jiranek pass and then Van Arsdale found Tim Werner, who stepped in for the injured Andrew Crockett on attack, for another goal. But a three-goal spurt by SSSA ended the comeback attempt.
There’s a good chance it won’t be the last time the two squads lock up, as they may be on a collision course for a meeting in the playoffs, and STAB won’t get much time to dwell on the loss anyway. St. Anne’s plays Culver Academy out of Indiana Saturday at 5 p.m.
