Boys Soccer Standings

The Paul VI Panthers hosted the St. Mary’s Ryken Knights on Thursday night in an important WCAC conference game under the lights. With both teams looking to improve on their standing in the ultra-competitive conference, the Panthers seemed to have just a slight edge all night, and were able to pull away with the hard-fought 2-1 victory. After taking a 2-0 lead early in the second half, they withstood some tough pressure from the Knights, but were able to hold on for the win, avenging a close 3-2 loss earlier in the season to the same team.

“They may not be doing that great right now, but they are a very dangerous team,” said Panthers’ head coach Matt Leiva of his team’s opponents following the game. “They have a few very good players, so it does feel good to get the win. We just have to keep amassing points and that’s what we are working for right now.”

From the very start, the Panthers took a strong majority in possession, creating a few good chances but none quite tough enough to test Joseph Laco in the Knights’ goal. PVI freshman midfielder Kennedy O’Shea was repeatedly creating some excellent opportunities for his teammates with some threatening balls in, but nobody could get on the end of them. The entire half was for the most part a tough midfield battle, in which neither keeper had to face any truly dangerous shots.

However, with just under five minutes remaining in the half, Panthers forward Alex Gosnell stole the ball from a careless defender in the back four, ran into the penalty area uncontested, and just barely managed to squeeze the ball under Laco for the first goal of the game. From there the Panthers were able to hold out until the half to go in with a 1-0 lead, perhaps deserving more from some of the dominating play they had created.

As Leiva emphasized working even harder in the second half during his team’s halftime talk, his Panthers responded perfectly. Pushing forward early rewarded them with a corner kick, a set piece that had been working well for them throughout the game. This time it worked to perfection, as Ozzy Mckenzie was able to connect on Kennedy O’Shea’s out-swinging ball in, and his half volley flew past the on looking goalie and in to the bottom right corner of the net.

While a 2-0 lead two minutes in to the second half felt much more comfortable for the Panthers, the Knights were by no means prepared to go down without a fight. As they began to get some of their best play moving forward, they too began to look as though they could get something going. Their efforts were not in vain, as Michael Raley put in a long free kick for the Knights, which Christopher Lawrence was able to get a flick on, putting it into the bottom right of the goal. The Knight’s first on target shot of the game had resulted in a score, and suddenly the game seemed much closer.

The Knights continued to push forward, more hopeful from their recent success, and were nearly able to tie the game up six minutes later, as Raley fired a beautiful 20-yard shot which got over the leaping arms of Richie Golinowski in the Panthers’ goal, but it smashed against the crossbar. Both teams seemed to suddenly be getting a little more into the game, and the intensity picked up a level.

Physicality seemed to be a new factor too, as the ref had to hand out a total of three yellow cards for some rough tackles. PVI knew that they had to focus on retaining the ball and trying to work with the clock on their side. As they completed this successfully, a sigh of relief could be felt from the team and attending fans, as a nervy final few minutes finally ended as the referee blew his final whistle.

“Since our tie against Gonzaga earlier this week, our team has really been doing a lot of soul-searching,” commented Coach Leiva after the game. “It’s been a tough time, but as you can see our boys have decided to come in now and really commit to the cause.”

Coach Leiva also added that it was a major goal of his team to obtain a top-four finish in the conference, and that goal took a turn for the better on Thursday night. Paul VI is now in third place in the WCAC with the win, but applied some pressure to Good Counsel and DeMatha as they now hold a 4-4-2 conference record (4-5-2 overall). The Panthers will look to further improve on this when they travel to St. John’s next Tuesday to take on the struggling Cadets.

Meanwhile, St. Mary’s Ryken drops to 2-4-2 in the conference with the loss (3-5-2 overall), but will certainly not be giving up yet as they also continue to strive for a greater playoff seed.