The No. 3 St. John’s Prep boys soccer team (19-0-1) won 2-1 on Wednesday, putting on a show in front of a raucous crowd at Glatz Field to eliminate the No. 19 Milford Hawks (12-5-2) and advance to the Elite 8 of the division 1 state tournament against Concord-Carlisle.
With seemingly every touch, the hometown faithful roared in what was an energetic, fast-paced win for the Eagles. St. John’s Prep captain Alexander Borkland scored the lone goal early in the first half, sending a laser through traffic and into the upper-right corner – much to the student section’s delight.
“Once the tournament gets going, the kids start showing up, but it’s great for our kids. It builds them up and it psyches them up,” St. John’s Prep Head Coach David Crowell said. “It’s awesome.”
Less than two minutes in, the Eagles’ Jake Vana had a chance in the slot, sending a leaping shot off the crossbar on a ball that was too high for Milford goalkeeper Lucas Fernandes to jump at. Shamus Flaherty then got a chance from the right portion of the box for St. John’s Prep, but his wrong-footed shot attempt was saved.
Moments later, the crowd went wild. A loose ball found Borkland who capitalized and gave Prep an early 1-0 lead.
St. John’s Prep goalkeeper Ioannis Andrikoploulos did his part to keep it that way, stopping two consecutive Milford drives into his chest and falling to protect the ball on each.
Then it was Aithan Bezansno’s turn, catching eyes in the midfield after leaping high to collect, control, and carry out the ball for a Prep entry.
With 18:40 remaining in the first half, the Eagles’ Michael Bertinato deked his way through two defenders, protecting the ball beautifully to draw a penalty. Callum Rigby’s free kick curved high and to the left, however.
With less than 15 minutes remaining in the first half, everyone’s jaws dropped. A Milford player shot from the slot, but Andrikoploulos leaped to get a hand on the ball before it landed behind the net. The Eagle lead stayed at 1-0 with Andrikoploulos pumping up the crowd following the highlight.
The score remained 1-0 at the half, and the Eagles were 40 minutes from flying to the Elite 8. Prep’s off-ball movement led to many chances in the first half, something Crowell says is always a top priority.
“It’s [off-ball movement] something we work on all year, all the time,” Crowell said. “We knew that if kids were willing to do the dirty work, play on the opposite side of the ball, that we could do something special.”
Minutes into the second half, Prep junior Chance Prouty impressed with a no-look pass off the bottom of his cleat to a teammate running to his left. Despite the Eagles losing possession moments later, an early second half spark was provided.
Milford captain Artur Tome had a golden chance to score the equalizer. A blooper found its way through traffic and landed right in front of him, but Tome couldn’t get all of his foot on the ball and watched it roll slowly into Andrikoploulos’ arms.
Craziness followed as Prouty got a breakaway for St. John’s Prep, but Fernandes came out of the Milford net to interfere. The ball rolled to Rigby who sent it quickly on net, but Milford’s Saverio Fulginiti blocked it to bail out his keeper. Things stayed 1-0.
Prouty delivered a cross minutes later to a streaking Vana, but the quick pass went past everybody and out of bounds.
With just 13 minutes until advancement, Milford’s Kaua Felipe De Souza Pereira sent a header on goal, but not with much speed. The ball bounced once and into the waiting arms of Andrikoploulos.
Milford fought hard and competed until the end, but the Prep starpower was too much to overcome. The Eagles flew higher than the Hawks, and the final score read 1-0.
“They’re [Milford] very, very aggressive defensively. They’re just tenacious,” Crowell said. “It was a lot of fun.”
