Late comeback lifts St. Andrew’s over defending champ Aquinas
BOCA RATON — St. Andrew’s looked like it was down and out with 20 seconds left.
After dominating St. Thomas Aquinas for the majority of their regional semifinal contest, the Scots allowed five straight goals to fall behind 7-6 with less than a minute remaining. With 20 seconds left and the season on the line, St. Andrew’s orchestrated some late-game magic reminiscent of the program’s glory days.
With seven seconds left, Matt Adams connected with Carl Klepper for the tying goal to send the game to overtime at 7-7.
After a crucial ground ball by Louie Adams on the overtime faceoff, the Scots called timeout, setting up the late-game heroics. Feeding from behind the net, Adams hit a cutting Anthony Molle who fired in the game-winning goal to top two-time defending state champion Aquinas 8-7.
“I knew it would be a perfect pass, because Matt Adams does it better than anyone else,” Molle said. “I just got it and finished it.”
“We’re used to being counted out. We weren’t expected to be here. We’ve overcome adversity every time, and that just proves the resiliency of this team and what we’re about.”
With the win, the Scots advance to the regional finals for the first time since 2015. St. Andrew’s will host Belen Jesuit with a spot in the state semifinals on the line. The Scots, who won 14 of 17 state titles from 1994-2010 are seeking their first championship since 2012.
For St. Thomas, the loss broke a four-year streak of state tournament appearances and stopped its dream of a potential statetitle three-peat.
It was just the third meeting between the teams in the past seven seasons. The rivalry hit a boiling point in 2012 when a Raider player sucker-punched a Scots attackman in St. Andrew’s lopsided second round win. Since that incident, the schools have refused to schedule each other in the regular season.
The teams last faced off in the 2015 state semifinals, with St. Thomas exacting revenge on the Scots.
In front of standingroom-only crowd at Don Jones Memorial Field, St. Andrew’s surged to a 4-0 first-half lead. Klepper, Molle, Nick Yi, Michael Lizzio all scored in the first 24 minutes to give SA the lead. St. Thomas tacked on one just before halftime on a goal from C.J. Borodiak to cut the lead to 4-1.
St. Andrew’s pushed its lead to 6-2 late in the third quarter, before the Raiders mounted a comeback. Aquinas scored five straight goals, with Kevin Justice scoring the tying goal and Brock Gonzalez putting STA up 7-6 with 1:07 left.
“They dug down deep when we had to,” St. Andrew’s coach Tony Seaman said. “Matty [Adams] can find people, man. He’s been unbelievable all year, and he did it again.”