St. John’s Prep puts it all together, knocks off Weymouth in Div. 1 boys soccer tournament

WEYMOUTH — The St. John’s Prep boys soccer team is finding its groove just in time.

The No. 17 Eagles seized the momentum early and never relinquished it in a 3-0 win over No. 16 Weymouth on Saturday to open the Div. 1 tournament and earn a berth in the round of 16.

Sophomore Graham Kramer struck four minutes in, senior Matt Patturelli added another late in the first half and senior captain James Gikas sealed it midway through the second as the Prep kept steady pressure on the hosts.

“We have had inconsistency throughout the season, but when we have play consistently and the way that we know how to play, we get the result we want,” said Gikas. “I think now that we have figured out our formation and how to play our game with each other, I don’t see any room for inconsistency the rest of the season.”

Kramer, a JV call-up who has worked his way into the starting lineup, lit the fire. Fellow striker Ryder Vigsnes was dispossessed trying to attack the goal and Kramer found the ball teed up for a shot following in support and drilled it under the bar for a 1-0 edge.

“We’ve had plenty of games where we have produced a number of chances and we finally put them away, and that first goal is just huge,” said St. John’s Prep coach David Crowell.

It looked like that might be it for the Eagles (11-4-4) for the first half despite a number of opportunities, but with four minutes remaining Alex Borland flicked a ball to Patturelli, who touched it with the outside of his right foot past Weymouth goalie Tyler McInerney for a 2-0 advantage.

It stayed 2-0 at the break only because of a robbery of Vigsnes by McInerney. But Gikas solved him for a dagger in the 56th minute, taking a pass from Vigsnes and guiding it inside the far left post for the final 3-0 margin.

“Felt amazing,” said Gikas. “When you hear (the Weymouth student section) heckling you, it’s nice to put one away.”

Joey Waterman registered the clean sheet in net, doing the majority of his work on a series of Weymouth corner kicks in the second half, tipping a pair of dangerous ones over the bar before snatching a third. Will Minor had an outstanding performance anchoring the defense at center back.

“It’s the best 80 minutes we have played all season,” said Crowell. “We are pretty young. We only start four seniors, it’s been a season in progress, so I’m really, really happy today obviously.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3qa65xD