Boys Soccer Beats GFA to Reach FAA Final

The Boys Varsity Soccer team won an enthralling semifinal match against Greens Farms Academy on Thursday, November 8, to advance to the FAA tournament final for the first time since 2009.

St. Luke’s got off to the perfect start taking a 1-0 lead after just 15 minutes. Max Mitchell ‘20 coolly finished from 12 yards out after a Phil Platek ‘20 shot had been parried by the GFA goalkeeper.

The Storm doubled its lead just three minutes later when Bear Crystal ‘20 slotted home from the penalty spot after Jake Kavan ‘21 had been bundled over.

The score remained 2-0 with the home team controlling much of the game until the final ten minutes. The Dragons had hit the crossbar minutes before, pulling a goal back through Zach Liston with 9:55 to play.

The goal set up a tense end to the game, and GFA thought they had tied things up with just two minutes remaining. Their celebrations were cut short though as the goal was ruled out for offside.

The Storm then controlled the last two minutes of the game to see out a hard-fought win.

Head Coach Ryan Fairhurst was ecstatic following the final whistle. “I’m very happy for this group of players," he said. "They deserve to be in the final and delivered when needed. The game was a funny one. I thought we should have been out of sight by the end of the first half but we missed a few good chances. The team showed a new grit about them today when GFA scored and, hopefully, we can tap into this on Saturday against a strong Hopkins team.”

The Storm will now face the number 1 seed, Hopkins School on Saturday, November 10 at 1:30 in the championship game in New Haven.