SPC creates soccer history

St Patrick’s College’s 1st XI Soccer team made history on Wednesday April 20, recording its first win over St Kevin’s College since 2006.

The 16 selected players of the First XI could be forgiven for travelling to Melbourne with 10 years of defeats at the hands of St Kevin’s in mind. This was not apparent.-

Comprised mostly of Years 11s and 12s who have played together for some years, and some very talented Year 10s, the team going into this clash was mature, unified and confident.-

Starting with a 3-4-3 formation proposed by coach Mr Tony Beggs St Patrick’s, anticipating a traditionally strong opposition, dominated the game with effective passing and most of the possession from the starting whistle.-

Despite a few threatening surges on the left, covered well by Vice Captain Jake Selby, St Patrick’s opened the scoring in the seventh minute compliments of Ben Hutchins, who together with Jack Gaffney showed grit and toughness in their continuous forays into the St Kevin’s back line.

This also earned Gaffney his first goal of the match at the 11th minute.-

A few corners to St Kevin’s appeared threatening but were quickly dealt with by our strong defense.-

The rest of the first half was characterised by Captain Miles Baker and fellow midfielder Marco Farrell’s marauding around the midfield, mostly smart passing and a number of strong and fast plays up both the left and right wings.-

Gaffney scored his second goal at 30 minutes.-

It was around this point that the general distinction between the two sides became clear: St Kevin’s were either jogging after the ball or scrambling for it, where St Pat’s were valiantly cruising around the pitch, owning the ball, and nothing could stop them.-

With a comfortable 3-0 lead after the hard work of the first half, St Patrick’s lowered the tempo somewhat in the second.-

However, the likes of Josh De Voogel, Braden Baker and Brandon Lauton made continuous thrusts forward up the left and right wings, while defender Jude Jeandet distributed the ball well as part of this combination.-

A few St Kevin’s opportunities through several corners were to no avail.-

Goalkeeper Henry Wines led a disciplined defense throughout the match.-

Gaffney landed his third goal, a penalty, in the 29th minute after being knocked over in the box.-

This was closely followed by our fifth goal, when De Voogel and Mitch Ralston worked their way into an opening in the St Kevin’s defense, Ralston scoring to make it 5-0.-

After some great defending in the back line, Trent Moodley moved forward and was tripped just on the line of the box, leading to a contentious free kick, followed by several more shots on goal but without success.-

A last minute onslaught by St Kevin’s earned them a penalty in the 40th minute. This effectively sealed the final, memorable result at 5-1.

Overall it was a fantastic team effort and a fine example of hard work and a positive attitude paying off.-

Best on ground: Jack Gaffney, Miles Baker, Marco Farrell, Brayden Baker, Brandon Lauton and Jake Selby.

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