Lafayette 6 St. Amant 1

[Ghandi]

St. Amant's goal came off of a pk. I'll write a summary later.

[hdkjga]

Good game for about 50 minutes. Lafayette had the better of the opportunities. Josh Menard was awesome this game. He and Ellender worked their side all game. Truth be known the entire team played well. Not their best performance but good. St. Amant looked a step slow a lot of the time. You can tell St. Amant is coached well because they look for the open man and can pass well when they need to. I think the difference between them and the other top 10 teams is the speed of play and the ability to maintain control of the ball in close quarters. St. Amant played well and will continue to get better.


As for the game Lafayette scored about 15 minutes in, then 25 minutes in and then got a PK with about 7 or 8 minutes left in the half. 3-0 at halftime. The first 10 minutes of the second half was a frenzy by Lafayette where they put 3 goals in real quick. At this point Lafayette pulled 10 field starters off and put in the subs. The game was fairly even from there on and St. Amant got a PK with 5 minutes left. Final was 6-1

[coachray40]

H--thanks for the compliments. Was proud of the Gators efforts, but had to realize that the talent was tilted in the other direction. Was disappointed with the refereeing--thought that it could have been better both ways.

Actually the Pk was in injury time of the first half-thought we were going to get to half at 2-0, and we could make some adjustments. No such luck. We hung well early, but the size and speed difference wore us down as the game progressed. I was very impressed by Lafayette's physical strength--they rode us off the ball all day. I was very happy with my goalkeeper Jake Savoy. Jake played the best game I have seen him play today, and it was his last as he is a senior.

Menard is awesome--was very impressed with him. Especially the goal he scored in the second half where he just flipped the ball up over the defender and nailed it on the volley--sweet goal. We had marked him with a freshman all day, and I thought our kid did well to hang with him as good as he did.

I also want to praise Coach Belfour for the quality way he handled the game. Laffy got a three goal flurry 10 minutes into the second half to put the game away, and as soon as the last one went in, he immediately pulled his starters(we pulled many of ours too). I have been openly critical of coaches who run up the score, as it CAN be prevented. Belfour did it right, and ended up making the end of the game a good chance for both teams to play reserves and gain valuable experience. I appreciate the classy way he handled the game.

[coachray40]

Ghandi--I didnt get to chance to say hello today, and I missed you after the game. Good game bud. Wish we would have had chance to do a meet and greet.

Enjoyed meeting lhssoccerfan today--had a great conversation with him after the game for about 45 minutes. Meeting quality people like that is what makes this sport so great. hdkjga--where were you dude? I would have liked to have said hello.

Also, many thanks to the folks at Lafayette HS for treating us so well today. Ya'll were very gracious and respectful to me and my players before and after the game--testament to the quality of your program

[lhssoccerfan]

After meeting Coach, I want to again express my respect for his character as well as his detailed knowledge of the game. Rarely do you run into a Coach who has the insight and objectivity to realistically analyze a game that his team lost.

His boys demonstrated the utmost respect and sportsmanship during and after the game. There were several instances following collisions during the game where his players offered their hand to assist an opposing player to get up.

I also would like, although Coach would never use this as an excuse, to add that many of the St. Amant players were underclassmen. Watch out, they will continue to improve and will be a force to be reckoned with in coming years...

I salute you Coach...you definitely "earned" my respect...as well as your players.