Yes, Prep was up 2-1 over District 2A-AAA rival St. Michael’s at halftime at the Christian Brothers Athletic Complex on Thursday, but the Blue Griffins gave up a goal to the Horsemen just before the intermission whistle.
Before taking the field for the second half, Brill gave a speech to the rest of the Blue Griffins about playing a poor first half.
“We had a mentality at halftime that we were losing the match,” Brill said. “We really weren’t happy with the way the first half went. We weren’t working the ball around well.”
While the score didn’t change in the second half, the Blue Griffins walked away with a 2-1 win and sole possession of first place in 2A-AAA.
Brill, who scored one of Prep’s goals on a shot just over the head of Horsemen goalkeeper Chris Legits as he ventured too far out from the goal, thought both of the Blue Griffins’ goals were not the result of good offense.
“Those two goals were individual efforts, they weren’t team goals,” Brill said.
It is not uncommon for the Blue Griffins (11-2 overall, 7-1 District 2A-AAA) to express disappointment, even with a lead. If Prep is not playing the way it expects, then someone usually speaks up.
“We have high standards for how we want to play,” Prep head coach Hersch Wilson said. “If we don’t meet those standards, we’re going to talk about it, both at an individual and a team level.”
The Blue Griffins might have thought their two goals were not up to their standards, but St. Michael’s (8-5, 5-1) chalked them up to luck.
The Horsemen controlled possession for most of the match, but their strikers just could not find the white nylon of the net.
“They played perfect today,” St. Michael’s head coach Merritt Brown said. “We just got incredibly unlucky, twice. You don’t like losing a match that you feel you deserved to win. I thought we controlled the tempo, the pace of the match, the shots, the passing, but we weren’t able to convert. It’s frustrating when they do everything that you’re telling them to do and you come up with a loss.”
Besides the fact that this match was for first place in the district, it is also a cross-town rivalry match where players that are normally friends become foes.
“It’s our favorite [match], by far,” Wilson said. “These are always really close. They go at it on the field, and then they’re friends afterward.”
A lot of the players on both teams play on the same club teams. Regardless of their pre-existing relationships, both teams come into this match with unfriendly intentions.
“It’s not friendly when we’re on the field,” Brill said. “But off the field some of us are really good friends.”
Even though these two teams have a strong rivalry, that’s not was has Brown upset.
“It hurts more because it’s a district game,” he said.
The Horsemen will have a chance to avenge the loss when the two squads meet again on Brennand Field on Oct. 14.
Brill believes that the Blue Griffins are better than what they showed on Thursday and hopes to show the Horsemen what they look like at full speed when they meet again.
“We haven’t played to our full potential yet this year,” he said. “I think they’ll see that when they come to Prep.”
