Seminary’s 1-2 Punch Sparkles Again Forwards Brian Dempsey And Gareth Phillips Combine For 5 Goals And 3 Assists As The Blue Knights Roll Into Class A Final.
By KEVIN KEARNEY [email protected]
Tuesday, October 30, 2001 Page: 3E
WILKES-BARRE TWP. – Throughout the regular season, Wyoming Seminary soccer
coach Paul Burg relied on forwards Brian Dempsey and Gareth Phillips to
provide the offensive spark.
“Usually, a team will key on one of them, and that allows the other to get
free,” Burg said of the duo.
In Monday’s District 2 Class A semifinal game, though, Dempsey and Phillips
both had their way, leading the Blue Knights to a 6-2 victory over Seton
Catholic at Betzler Fields.
Seminary will play the winner of today’s Mountain View-Bishop O’Hara
contest for the district title. The championship game will be at 2:30 p.m.
Thursday at Ralston Field.
Dempsey and Phillips combined for five goals and three assists as Seminary
led throughout. Rich Eckman also played a key role for the Blue Knights,
scoring a goal to go with three assists.
“Playing on a field as wide as this, there was a lot of open holes and we
were able to get a lot of breakaways,” Dempsey said.
Seminary spent the majority of the game in Eagle territory, recording 32
shots on goal to Seton’s eight.
“We passed well and we controlled the ball,” Burg said.
The Eagles drew within one early in the second half. Charlie Rogers got
control of the ball after a deflection and slipped it through the goal from 15
feet out, cutting the lead to 3-2 with 29:57 to play.
The Blue Knights, however, quickly answered. With 28:31 left, Dempsey
scored from 5 feet out after being set up by Phillips, booting it past the
outstretched arms of goalie Steve Baker to increase the lead to 4-2.
“We saw (Seton) before and we knew what to expect,” Dempsey said. “We
love to see good competition.”
The Blue Knights took a 1-0 lead 12 minutes into the game, as Dempsey took
a pass from Eckman, beat two Seton defenders and scored from 10 feet out.
Seminary took a 2-0 lead with 15:53 left in the half, as Phillips took a
header from Eckman and kicked the ball in from 12 feet out.
Three minutes later, Seton’s Mike Sawinski took a pass from Ryan O’Haire
and broke away from a group of Blue Knights before scoring, cutting the lead
in half.
Dempsey answered with a penalty kick to give Seminary a 3-1 lead heading
into halftime.
“We played hard all year, and it pays dividends, like today,” Burg said.
Leading 4-2, Seminary closed out the scoring with goals by Phillips and
Eckman.
