Wheeler boys beat St. Bernard and win ECC Div. IV soccer title

Montville — Joe Purtill, St. Bernard boys' soccer coach, admitted late Monday afternoon that the just-completed loss didn't have as much to do with his team's shortcomings as it did with Wheeler's diligence.

Scott Pion scored twice for Wheeler in the first 8 minutes, 51 seconds and the Lions rolled to a 4-0 victory over St. Bernard to clinch the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division IV title for the second straight season. Both teams were unbeaten in the division and tied each other 2-2 in their first meeting on Oct. 1 at Wheeler.

"After every goal I said, '0-0,'" Pion said. "Last time (a 4-3 win Friday over Plainfield) we were up 2-0 and they came back. We started to dog it. That's why I said, '0-0.' We didn't want to tie. We wanted to win (the division) with a win. I just tried coming out as strong as possible."

Pion headed in the first goal on a throw-in from the left side by Ian Spracklin just 2:42 into the game. He then made it 2-0 on a perfectly executed weave down the field by the Lions, taking a ball from Matt Pierce and beating the crowd to strike a ball that landed inside the far post.

Wheeler made it 3-0 with 6:30 left in the half when goalie Bowen Baker drove a goal kick all the way to Spracklin at the other end of the field. Spracklin got behind St. Bernard goalie Martin Arvidson and scored.

Wheeler is 8-4-1 overall and finished 7-0-1 in Division IV. St. Bernard is 6-4-3, 5-1-2.

"We don't get enough credit for what we have and what we do," said Wheeler coach Joe Mendonca Sr., in his 21st season, who has a total of 19 players in the program at the Class S school. "... They have a passion. Once they get a taste of winning, they want to always win.

"I have seven seniors with freshmen and sophomores on the back line, seniors in the midfield and a sophomore up top with Ian. They're hard-working kids."

Mendonca gave an example of his team's will to win. Senior defender Aidan Cameron had never played soccer before coming out for the team as a sophomore — "he works very hard," Mendonca said.

Wheeler added its final goal 16:00 into the second half when Spracklin crossed a ball from the left and Pierce was there to receive it. Wheeler outshot the Saints 18-8. Arvidson made seven saves and Baker had five for Wheeler.

"They took the game to us early," Purtill said of Wheeler. "They were ready to play today. It's a credit to them."