Mount St. Joseph High School midfielder Van Danielson took a few moments to appreciate the opportunity to be back on the soccer field in an interscholastic match, especially on such a crisp, Halloween morning.
Danielson is one of 19 seniors on the Gaels’ roster. After months of uncertainty because of COVID-19, which had already canceled spring athletics, their fall season finally got underway Oct. 31 against visiting Archbishop Curley High.
Danielson scored the game’s first goal and also had an assist in Mount St. Joseph’s 3-1 victory at John M. Plevyak Field in its opener in the newly formed Catholic League.
The match was the product of maneuvering and negotiations. While the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association opted not to sponsor fall sports, the six Catholic schools in the A Conference – Curley, Archbishop Spalding, Calvert Hall, John Carroll, Loyola Blakefield and Mount Saint St. Joseph – agreed to form a league for the 2020 season.
Teams in the Catholic League will play each other twice for a 10-game schedule, with the top four teams qualifying for the playoffs, which will include three rounds, including the championship.
“When we heard we were not going to be having a (MIAA) season, it was very disappointing,” Danielson said. “We knew this was going to be a good year for us, so it was definitely a disappointment for a long time, but we kept hope and we’re glad to be out here.”
No fans were allowed, so parents cheered from Frederick Road, which overlooks the Gaels’ stadium.
Despite starting the season nearly two months later than usual, the quality of play between Curley and Mount St. Joseph was mostly solid. Their players had kept active, even though they were not able to practice with their high-school teammates until about two weeks ago.
“All of my guys had been playing club ball so it wasn’t really an issue of knocking off the rust,” Curley coach Barry Stitz said. “I think the biggest challenge is that mentally they all seemed resigned to the fact that we wouldn’t be playing this season. Then, fairly quickly, the Catholic League came together and within a couple of weeks we’re lining up for games.”
The Gaels showed their experience against a much younger Curley squad by controlling the run of play for the opening 10 minutes. Danielson provided a 1-0 lead eight minutes into the game when his shot from about 16 yards deflected into the goal.
The Friars quickly regrouped and had a couple of chances to tie, but were thwarted by Mount St. Joseph senior goalkeeper Dominic Jones, who had three saves in the first half.
The Gaels took a 2-0 lead with 5:36 remaining in the first half when Danielson sent a low cross at the top of the penalty area, where Sean Thompson executed a perfect dummy run that allowed Miles Lam to slot the ball past Curley freshman goalkeeper Joe Yakim.
Curley cut the margin 2-1 on a header by Landon Berger off a cross by Zachary Sutherland.
Curley had several chances to tie the game in the second half, but it was the Gaels who capitalized and put the game away with just under 10 minutes remaining. Lam’s corner kick into the middle of the penalty area found Brian St. Martin, who headed the ball past Curley goalkeeper Michael Caulkins, who took over in the second half and had a couple of point-blank saves to keep the game close.
It was a big week for St. Martin, the son of Mount St. Joseph coach Mike St. Martin, as he committed to play at the University of Maryland, a national power which he has won three NCAA titles since 2004. In College Park, he will be reunited with his brother, Brett, a junior with the Terps.
“Very excited to commit and just get back out here playing high school again,” Brian St. Martin said. “After a long wait, we’re all excited to get back.”
Mike St. Martin has coached many of his senior players at the club level since they were 10 and 11 years old, so there was a sense of relief to get them on the field for their final high-school season. He didn’t finalize this year’s team until four days before the opener.
“I am fortunate that many of my guys are playing club so they have been going strong for the last few months,” the Gaels’ coach said.
On the other side, Stitz said, “We have a fairly young lineup and some of our juniors, it’s their first year on the varsity level. We’re playing a senior-heavy team that has a lot of guys with polish on them and have done real well on the club scene. The speed of play is fast and they’re physical and they play strong and they play hard. As the game wore on, our guys got sort of used to that speed of play. That’s what you want to see from a team.”
Neither Mount St. Joseph nor Curley had any players test positive for COVID-19 leading up to the opener.
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