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Futbol Cats Tie Tough Summit Squad

Summit rolled into Westminster on Tuesday to clash against the Cats on their home turf. After a back and forth battle, the teams left the field with the conclusion of a scoreless tie.

The first half saw the ball spending nearly all of it’s time in Summit’s offensive zone. However, Westminster’s stifling, veteran-heavy defense beautifully countered Summit’s explosive offense. The Cats only managed one shot in the first half.

The highlights came on a fantastic save by Brandon Beat off the head of Summit Senior Eric Gernstein. Also in the first half, Frankie Sacco drew some cheers from the crowd as he spun through two Summit defenders, keeping the ball the whole time.

The first part of the second half saw more of the same, with Summit’s speedy offensive being countered by Westminster’s rock solid defense. However, later in the half and almost an hour into the game, Westminster made a move.

WCA Juniors Erik Bergman and Frankie Sacco caught the Summit defense off guard. Bergman sent a beautiful pass down a quarter length of the field to a streaking Sacco who had 2 men to beat. Sacco settled the ball and sent a high powered shot towards the goal that was saved by Summit goalie, Peter Baker. This was the second of Westminster’s two shots on goal in the game.

Westminster controlled the ball a bit more in the final minutes of the game but never were able to get close enough to send the ball past the goalie.

Coming into the game both teams shared similar resumes. Both team’s had started undefeated (5-0 Summit; 4-0 Westminster) but had lost their most recent game. Each team had also featured multiple shutouts early in the season.

“We expected Summit to be very fast and move the ball quickly. They are a very good team so we focused on the defensive side of the ball.” Said Nathanial Sems, a sophomore in his second year on Varsity for WCA.

Even with the ball being in Westminster’s zone so frequently throughout the game, the seniority once again showed up in their Defense. Connor Dolan, Teddy Bacon, and Will Wetzel all played very well, even with having to mark one of the top scorers in the area, Summit’s Billy Hency.

“Our defense played great,” said Sems. “We worked a lot in practice with how to contain them and not letting them score. We knew that no matter what, if they didn’t score, we couldn’t lose.”

With both teams ranked among the top teams in the Metro Area in STLhighschoolsports rankings in the past week, it was sure to be a close game. Both teams wanted the big win, but Westminster claims that a tie is fine with them.

“Every time we play, we obviously want to win, but Summit is a great team and we competed hard, so I think we are satisfied,” claimed Sems.

The Futbol Cats have another game at home tomorrow against Timberland.