CAMDEN — Saint Mark’s and Tower Hill needed overtime to decide their regular-season soccer matchup back on Sept. 13. For much of their rematch on Nov. 12 in the DIAA Division II semifinals, it appeared that bonus soccer would be necessary once more.
But an interception by Brayden Wrinn of a Hillers attempted clear late in their game resulted in the lone goal of the evening, and the third-seeded Spartans are headed to the Division II state championship game after a 1-0 victory at Legacy Field at Caesar Rodney High School.
Wrinn (St. Mary of the Assumption Parish) stepped in front of a Hillers header in the 77th minute and sent the ball left to his brother, Connor. The Spartans’ Nate Hughes got through a pair of Tower players and into the 18-yard box. He passed the ball back to Gabe Arick (St. Mary Magdalen Parish), who moved it to Brayden Wrinn. He moved across the middle and nearly lost his footing, but he regained his balance and sent a 20-yard laser into the left side of the net past Hillers keeper Liam Lemole.
Tower Hil, the 10th seed, had two free kicks in the final two minutes, but neither were successful, and Saint Mark’s secured a berth in the state championship game for the third time in the past four years.
The Spartans will play Sussex Academy, the top seed. This will be the third straight season the Spartans and Seahawks have met in the postseason. Sussex Academy defeated Saint Mark’s in overtime in the 2023 championship game and last year in penalty kicks in the quarterfinals.
Before Wrinn’s goal, the teams had some good chances and a few great ones. The Hillers had a shot in the 11th minute that whizzed mere inches above the crossbar. Lemole kept the game scoreless on several occasions, including with a diving stop in the 27th.
The Spartans controlled play in the second half leading up to the goal. They had five corner kicks in an 11-minute stretch, one of which required two spectacular stops by Lemole. Tower Hill snuck a corner kick in the middle of that time, but the resulting shot went wide.
Saint Mark’s improved to 14-2-1. The Hillers finished the season 9-7-2.
Tickets for Saturday’s championship are available at www.gofan.co/app/school/DIAA.
