Under the bright lights of the Upper School (US) turf surrounded by students, parents, and faculty, Boys’ Varsity Soccer (BVS) dominated St. Sebastian’s with a 4–0 win in their first Independent School League (ISL) game of the season.
“It was a hard-fought contest,” BVS player Jacob Brown ’20 said. “Both teams played very gritty soccer. But in the end, the BB&N knights came out on top in a rout, four–nil.”
The September 27 evening game kicked off with an audience of about 50 huddled together on the bleachers watching the teams trade possession of the ball for the first few minutes. Shortly into the first half, when Jon Klein ’21 scored the first goal—his first ever in an ISL game—the crowd had grown to 100. A goal from Matt Thompson ’21 followed, and soon cohorts of students were joining the crowd by the minute.
“At the beginning, [the team] didn’t come out as strong as I would have liked,” spectator Sam Whitney ’21 said, “but I think toward the end [of the first half] we dominated possession.”
The crowd had grown to 150 by the middle of the first half when a strong shot from Malcolm Barclay ’20 brought the score to 3–0. Right before halftime, Jon scored a second time, the final goal of the game, and the knights on the bleachers—over 200 at that point—rose to their feet and cheered.
“I’ve really been enjoying [the game],” spectator Priya Devavaram ’21 said at halftime. “It’s the first game I’ve gone to this season, so I’m really excited for more.”
When BVS stepped onto the field for the second half, a few starters had taken seats on the bench to give other players a chance to get in the game.
“I thought the fact that it was a really high scoring game was a great opportunity for the bench players to get in the game and prove themselves to the coaches and show themselves in front of an audience,” spectator Alexi Melki ’21 said.
Although neither team scored in the second half, the knights continued to fight hard, applying pressure on defense and continuing to take shots. At one point, players headed the ball three times in a row without it touching the ground. In the final 20 minutes of game, the crowd came down from the bleachers and lined up at the edge of the field, cheering as the clock counted down.
When the referee blew the final whistle, spectators clapped as the team huddled on the field celebrating.
Malcolm said scoring the third goal of the game was a highlight for him.
“I usually don’t score,” he said, “so it was nice to get a rush of adrenaline. It was really nice to see all of the players get in at the end. It was a whole-team effort.”
BVS player Carson Eckert ’22 said the team has been improving already this season.
“In this game specifically, the ball movement was executed very well,” Carson said. “We should work on our defensive positioning a little more because we were kind of getting caught up sometimes throughout the game—otherwise, I think we played well.”
Team Manager Virginia Mutz ’20 said she thought the match was a valuable victory for BVS.
“This was really their first time kind of destroying the competition,” Virginia said. “It’s really good going into the rest of the season. I think they needed this win.”
BVS Head Coach and Middle School Math Teacher Jesse Sarzana, who began his 20th year coaching at the school this fall, said the game was significant as the team’s first ISL win of the season.
“The goal was to play well, compete, score some goals, and not allow any goals against [us],” Mr. Sarzana said. “Mission accomplished.”
BVS held a record of 4–2–3 when this paper went to press. They travel this afternoon to play Rivers and will head south on Saturday to play Milton.