Bruins, Raptors continue to kick around top spot

By TOM CHEREDAR, Staff Writer
tched@williamsonherald.com

Brentwood’s soccer team continued its winning ways this week, shutting out Hillsboro 5-0 Monday behind two goals by Bradley Jacobs in a District 11-AAA quarterfinal win.

At the end of the regular season, the Brentwood soccer team has the first seed Thursday after defeating evenly matched rival, Ravenwood (9-2-3) who took the second.

The Bruins had an early lead eight minutes into the first half when freshman striker Nick Desalvatore scored from a pass from Kevin Greiner.

Two minutes later, Bruin midfielder David Dermody scored another goal following a corner kick giving them 2-0.

Yet, the game’s pace did not slow in the second half.

Ravenwood’s goalkeeper Jonathan Emkes made several key saves that kept the game competitive throughout the match.

The Bruins had 18 shots on goal deflected by Emkes.

The game had intensity that went beyond simple rivalries since it was the District 11-AAA No. 1 ranked Raptors’ Senior Night. And with the Bruins record being so evenly matched (12-1-2) trailing not far behind.

“We weren’t getting to where we needed to,” said Ravenwood Coach Charlie West. “A team like this is aggressive. They beat us to the ball.”

The victory marked the fifth consecutive time Brentwood has had the No. 1 seed.

“We did it the hard was this year,” said Bruin Coach Mike Purcell. “We lost one and tied one. A tie wouldn’t have done it.”
“So we absolutely had to win tonight,” Purcell said. “We didn’t have a choice.”

The Bruins sole loss of the season was April 24 against Centennial (STATS), which ended in a 0-1 shutout. The results were crucial to determining the district title winner and ultimately who would be top seed in the tournament and could have determined a much different start.

“It just goes to show you there’s a lot of parities from top to bottom in the district this year,” Purcell said of the loss.

The Bruins and Raptors were to play in the District 11-AAA semifinals after press time on Wednesday. Look online Thursday for results of the game. 

Posted on: 5/10/2007