Victory!

Last night we had our first non-tournament soccer match of the season. I'm delighted to say that Vandalia Vandals fell to the St. Anthony Bulldogs on Bulldog Field. Well done, boys!

Our coach wrote up the following for the local newspaper:

The St. Anthony High School Soccer Team hosted the Vandalia High School Vandals in Varsity and Junior Varsity soccer matches.

In the Varsity game the Bulldogs opened scoring when Riley Westenforf passed to Doug Field who then passed it back to Westendorf who placed an outside shot into the corner of the goal. St. Anthony led 1 - 0 until about the 15:00 minute mark when Doug Field placed a "direct, free kick" past the waiting Vandalia goal keeper. The free kick was awarded after a Vandalia player pushed off a St. Anthony player. The foul resulted in a 2 - 0 lead for St. Anthony.

Riley Westendorf scored again on a cross from Michael Kabbes when the ball deflected off of a Vandalia player. Vandalia then posted their first goal when a St.. Anthony player accidentally stopped the ball with his hand inside their penalty box. When a team commits a foul or hand-ball inside their own penalty box, a penalty kick is awarded to the opposing team. The ball was placed 12 yards from the goal and it was one vs one, Codey Norris (Vandalia) vs Gary Hanner(St. Anthony). Codey Norris shot a driving shot to Gary Hanner's right side which was too much for the senior goal keeper.

St. Anthony later added three more goals from John Kay, Michael Kabbes, and Aaron Wall to end the match St. Anthony 6, Vandalia 1.

The Junior Varsity Match was an evenly matched bout between the same schools. St. Anthony was able to squeak out another victory for the JV squad led by sophomore Ryan Willenborg and Junior, Hayden Esker.

St. Anthony's next match is this Thursday at 4:30 Varsity and 6:00 Junior Varsity against East Richland. Come out and support the 2009 St. Anthony Soccer Team.