Thursday, September 27

On a hot Wednesday afternoon, the Blue Storm varsity men’s soccer team hosted West Virginia’s Berkeley Springs High School for a 4:30 home game.  The weather turned a bit later in the day, and because of a potential threat of lightning, the game was called by the officials with 17 minutes left to play and with the Storm ahead 5-0.  But the Storm’s scoring effort began early, as senior Logan Craig passed a ball up to David Strider ‘08 who scored low and to the corner with only 2:53 elapsed.

The ball was often intercepted in the air, rather than on the ground, and there were more head balls (61) than in any other game, seeming to reflect both teams’ responses to varying degrees of lack of good control in delivering the ball.

The second goal came at 16:20 elapsed when defensive player McArthur Gill ‘09 fed a long cross from the wing to El Salvadorian sensation Valentín Quan Miranda, who executed a low drive past the Berkeley Springs goalkeeper to make the score 2-0.  However, with 23:40 left to play in the half, Mercersburg did not seem to maintain appropriate levels of intensity and head coach Peter Kempe addressed the issue directly to his players at half-time

The second half began and ended well, proving that the players agreed with their coach and his exhortation to “step it up out there.”  With only 8:10 elapsed in the second half, Valentín Quan scored his second goal from a combination play with David Strider.  Soon thereafter (within one minute), Valentin Quan won a tackle and blasted the ball again into the net for his third goal of the day.  The final goal was scored by Logan Craig, who earned his goal by winning a cross from teammate and Hamburg native Joshua Rosenblat ‘08 at 10 minutes into the second half.

The wind began to pick up and the sky darkened quickly as leaves blew all over the field.  With 17 minutes left to play, the referees decided to end the match as lightning was spotted over the horizon.

Today’s game is only the second time this season that the Blue Storm has executed more forward passes (73) than lateral (or back) passes (61).  Joey Roberts ‘11 led this effort with 13 forward passes.  Senior captain Ethan Strickler had the most lateral passes with 10.

The 4-0 victory brings the team’s record to 4-2-1.  The Storm now prepares for its next match, an away game against Lawrenceville Academy on Saturday, September 29 at 2 p.m.  It is the Storm’s second league contest in the MAPL (Mid-Atlantic Prep League).

--by Heather Prescott; photos by Rob Shabb ‘09