Boys soccer | Saint Stephen's earns signature win against Palmetto
BRADENTON -- The buildup to Wednesday's game against Palmetto reminded Alex Virgilio of the same game two years earlier. Saint Stephen's hyped itself up for that meeting in early January 2014. The Tigers are a perennial power in Manatee County and the Falcons wanted to make a statement.
They lost by seven goals.
"We got clobbered," Virgilio said.
For the first time since the 2014 debacle SSES met PHS, once again at the Moore Athletic Complex at Turner Fields on the campus of Saint Stephen's Episcopal School. The feeling was similar. Seven minutes in, Virgilio found the back of the net. Twenty minutes later, he scored again. Finally, he and the Falcons got their redemption with a 2-1 win in Bradenton.
"It was kind of like a pride game for us," Virgilio said.
Wednesday's win was SSES' first against Palmetto since 2012, ending a three-game losing streak to the Tigers.
Saint Stephen's (7-1-2, 3-0 Class 1A-District 7) entered the game with nearly three full weeks of rest. The Falcons hadn't taken the field since a win against Orlando Lake Highland Prep on Dec. 17 and executed their game plan brilliantly to knock off PHS.
Palmetto (11-8-1, 5-2-1 Class 4A-District 11) commanded possession and racked up shots on SSES' net because of it. Saint Stephen's packed in, forcing the Tigers wide and setting up counter-attack opportunities. In the fifth minute, it got the Falcons a pair of looks off a corner kick. On the seventh, it gave Jonathan Boyd a chance to fire a low through ball to Virgilio for the first goal of the game.
"He covered every blade of grass, won every tackle," SSES head coach Marc Jones said of Boyd, his captain. "He basically led the team to victory today."
Antonio Colacci set Virgilio up for the second goal in the 27th minute after a more deliberate counter. The junior's second goal also doubled as Saint Stephen's third and final shot on goal of the game. PHS, meanwhile, peppered goalkeeper Chris Morrish with 10 shots on goal, including a 31st-minute tally by forward Jorge Morales to pull Palmetto within one.
The Tigers possessed the ball for nearly the entire final 10 minutes of the first half as Morrish turned aside three shots. When the Falcons fended off this flurry without surrendering the lead, they entered halftime with confidence they could finish off a signature win.
"We were proud of ourselves of course," Virgilio said, "but we knew they had the capability to score more."
PHS never managed another run like the one it ended the first half. Palmetto's next three shots all came from outside the box and SSES began to sustain longer possessions.
During the final six minutes, the Tigers found two prime opportunities, including a point-blank look by Morales from a tricky angle. Both times, Morrish made the save Saint Stephen's needed for its third straight win.
"It's been a great season for us," Jones said. "This is without a doubt the highlight."
This story was originally published January 6, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Boys soccer | Saint Stephen's earns signature win against Palmetto ."