Newman vs. St. Martin's

[Tellme]

This weekend I had the pleasure of watching what are in my opinion the two best rivalries in soccer in the city of New Orleans. The Jesuit/BM rivalry game was quite exciting and I was pleased that my prediction turned out true. BM goalie definitely the MVP.

Then this morning I went over to Newman to watch St. Martin's, my choice for #1 ranking and state champs this year, defeat Newman 1-0 in a hard fought game. Again this did not disappoint. St. Martin's got a goal about 25 minutes in and just played defense the rest of the game. I give Newman credit though, they kept plugging away. The goal just never came for them. It was quite easy to see that Newman just wanted to play kickball which played to their advantage on the poor surface, but in the end, St. Martin's held onto their lead. It was a real pleasure to see two teams fight as hard as they did (You could feel how intense the rivalry was). Great Game between two good teams.

Overall I really enjoyed watching these 4 rivals play so hard this weekend, so thanks to those players. Good luck to all of them the rest of the season.

[PutMeInCoach2]

Out of the Nola website on their newspaper





St. Martin's Preston Emory scored in the 27th minute, and the Saints held off numerous scoring opportunities by Newman for a 1-0 victory in a District 6-III game at Lupin Field.

"Our defense played well," St. Martin's goalkeeper Brian McCormick said.
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Asked whether he ever dreamed St. Martin's (13-3 overall, 2-1 in district) could shut out rival Newman on its home field, McCormick said: "I had no doubt. We've been playing well the last couple of weeks."

But it wasn't easy.

Newman outshot St. Martin's 23-11.

"It was one of those days when the ball wouldn't go in," Newman coach Gerry Mueller said.

Emory scored the only goal when he made a run past a Newman defender who slipped, sprinted into the left side of the penalty box and tapped a shot past Greenies goalkeeper Crutcher Reiss into the left corner of the goal.

"In a good game like this between two teams, one little mistake can be the difference in the game," Mueller said.

Newman (10-3-2, 2-1) outshot St. Martin's 15-4 in the second half.

Greenies freshman Michael Harris and Joshual Wainer misfired on a volley in the middle of the penalty box in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Sophomore Preston Fant had a sliding shot from the top of the penalty box that went right to McCormick at 69 minutes.

Newman senior Andrew Darlington missed wide left on a shot in the goal box at 73 minutes and missed wide right on a header at 74 minutes. Senior Tyler Palacios missed wide right on a header in the penalty box at 77 minutes.

McCormick went to the ground to punch away the ball from a Newman attacker, and the St. Martin's defense cleared the ball out of the penalty box in the last minute of the game.

"Our defense stayed compact, we manned up on their players, and we played hard and physical," Saints defender Neej Patel said.