Middlesex hosted St. Sebastian's on their Parents' Weekend and earned a 3-1 victory with an inspired performance against a determined and aggressive Arrows side.
Middlesex had three players score the first goals of their careers on the day and the backline of senior captain Philip Skayne and junior Teddy Rausch were strong with one exception in the 26th minute. After an errant pass out of the back was seized upon by Seb's forward Matthew Guarino he evaded a lunging stab of a tackle and summarily punished the mistakes with an emphatic finish into the top corner. That knotted the score at one after sophomore Brian Powers, (who had a great battle with the talented and industrious George Price in the midfield all day), overlapped to pick up a flick from junior Ben Franks at the top of the box and juggle the first touch off of his thigh to volley home with his second touch to open the scoring in the 13th minute.
Junior Sean Pensavalle had a great chance to score in the 29th minute when Skayne served a ball to him unmarked at the back post but his one time finish went wide of the nearby post. Pensavalle was involved again just before halftime when his service was driven into the box and mishandled for an opportunistic Franks to finish for the 2-1 lead in the 43rd minute.
Middlesex had a great second half performance and Skayne hit the crossbar in the 54th minute on a run out of the back followed by a Franks effort that just curled over the upper corner of the goal in the 57th minute. In the 84th minute senior David Rengpraphun scored with his head from close range on a service from freshman Jivan Purutyan to seal the three points.
Before the final whistle went there was excitement as St. Seb's fashioned a golden chance from 12 yards out that produced a wonder save from sophomore Dan Carlson in the Middlesex net. The Arrows' forward pounced on the rebound to finish but was flagged for being in an offside position when the shot was taken.
Both sides should be congratulated for an exemplary display of sportsmanship and competitive play.
