BEAR — Last season, Caravel ended Saint Mark’s boys soccer championship dreams with a win over the Spartans in the DIAA Division II title game. The Spartans got a measure of revenge during this regular season with a 2-0 win over the Buccaneers, but for good measure, they knocked Caravel out of the tournament with a 1-0 victory Nov. 11 in this year’s quarterfinal round.
The game’s lone marker came in the 75th minute after Saint Mark’s, the sixth seed, was awarded a free kick that was met with some controversy. Charlie Manelski got credit for the goal, which went in off a sliding Caravel defender.
The play began when the referee blew his whistle to signal a free kick approximately 45 yards from the Caravel goal. Bucs goalkeeper Alejandro Marte, believing his team had the kick, ran out to take it. But the Spartans were kicking, and they quickly put the ball into play, trying to beat Marte to the goal. The kick hit a Buccaneers player and bounded away.
The referee had blown his whistle, however, because the Bucs were not 10 yards from the spot of the kick. The second kick was headed out of the 18-yard box, right to a Spartan who sent it to Manelski. He turned and fired a shot toward Marte, who stopped it but could not hold on to the ball. A Bucs defenseman came sliding toward Marte, and he slid right into the ball, which found the right side of the net.
Spartans goalkeeper Ryan Betts was solid all night, and he was called on to make one stop as Caravel, the third seed, pressed in the final minutes.
The Spartans had much of the possession in the second half, but the first half belonged more to Caravel. The Buccaneers countered the Spartans’ long-distance game with quick advances and short passes, waiting for openings to fire the ball toward Betts. On most of those opportunities, the Spartans did a good job disrupting the Bucs, but Caravel had chances.
In the 12th minute, a crossing pass rolled through the crease. Marte initiated a counter a few minutes later that resulted in a save for Betts. The keeper made a diving stop after a turnover led to the shot. The Bucs’ Finlay Lum missed just high on a left-footed blast in the 26th, and he was stopped by a sprawling Betts in the final minute of the half.
The best chance for the Spartans in the opening 40 minutes came in the 38th. Dan Otlowski took a throw-in down the left side and spotted Nathan Hughes in the 18-yard box. Hughes took the pass and spun around to shoot, but Marte made a diving stop.
Betts made a sliding stop in the opening minute of the second half, but his offense would control the ball most of the 40 minutes. Kieran O’Connor missed wide on a shot in the 42nd, and Marte thwarted a chance by getting to a loose ball in the box before Connor Gebhardt could generate a kick.
Betts kept the game scoreless with a few superb saves late, including a diving stop on Lum in the 72nd. He made two more stops after the goal, and a Buccaneers shot went high and through the football uprights.
Final statistics were not available early Sunday morning. The Spartans (11-5-1) will meet No. 2 Wilmington Friends on Wednesday at Abessinio Stadium at 6:30 p.m. Caravel finished the season 9-6-1.
All photos by Jason Winchell.
