Westminster C. solid in 4-0 win over St. Edward
St. Edward coach Tim Brieger was looking for positives after Westminster Christian whitewashed his Green Wave for the second time this season. Warriors coach Mike Richardson didn't have to look too hard to see the half-full glass.
Jon Reid had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Beachler added 2 assists as the Warriors prevailed 4-0 in nonconference action at Greg True Field.
Brady Huddleston, Dan Graves, and Pierce McKenna also scored for the Warriors (2-1-1).
"We're really just looking to get better and better each game," said Richardson. "We're trying to get the guys to do things they didn't do last year. We've got to learn to play two ways. Last year a lot of the success came from just dumping the ball and defending."
The Warriors were playing for the first time in 12 days after last Thursday's scheduled game with Timothy Christian was first postponed, then canceled.
Westminster beat the Wave 6-0 earlier in the year. Brieger took consolation from the fact that, not only was the final score closer, but the Warriors' first 3 goals were "very unusual."
"Westminster is solid," said Brieger. "They're such a quality program. So we said, let's play our game, composed. We've got to try to disrupt their game a little bit. And we were doing that, then they get those 3 goals."
Huddleston scored first after Wave keeper John Duggan was drawn out to one side. Reid found Huddleston with a centering pass and the net was wide open.
Graves then scored on a shot that bounced off the back of a St. Edward defender.
Reid then made it 3-0 on a breakaway. Duggan came far out and deflected the ball, but it got through to Reid who then had a clear path to the goal.
Westminster played most of the first half in the St. Edward end, firing 4 other solid shots on Duggan and missing a couple of others just wide.
Miguel Martinez gave St. Edward (1-5) its two best scoring opportunities. His long free kick was a rocket that Warrior goalkeeper Scott Sutarik had to dive to stop. Sutarik made another nice save on a shot by Martinez just before intermission.
Most of the second half was played in the midfield as neither team generated many chances. McKenna closed out the scoring with 28 minutes left to play on an assist from Ryan Beachler.
Westminster had one more golden opportunity but Duggan, with help from his defense, thwarted it. Reid rifled a shot from the left side that hit the far post. The defense stopped one rebound attempt, and Duggan corralled one final shot.