St. Michael Boys' Soccer Moves Within Striking Distance of Repeat

The St. Michael-Albertville boys' squad moved a half-game out of first place in the Mississippi 8 Conference, behind Buffalo, with a 3-2 win over Rogers last night. 

The Knights, after a scoreless second half, got a pair of goals from offensive leader Justin McLain en route to a 3-2 win. 

That pulled St. Michael-Albertville into a position where it could overtake Buffalo for the conference lead, if it can get a win vs. the Bison on the road next Tuesday. 

"We definitely have our work cut out for us, but we felt we let that first matchup with them get away. They got a nice goal on a set play, and we just weren't finishing our chances," Dewey said. 

The Knights will be a bit of a different team than they were the first meeting. McLain, who was battling an injury, is now at full strenght. That moves Winn Nyanseor, a fellow senior, back into the role of creator, vs. scorer. 

"I think having Justin out for a while showed us we can score in different ways-that we don't need to rely on one guy. But Justin's thrived in that scorer's role for two seasons. He's getting back into it now." 

The gauntlet of the Knights' toughest stretch of the season began, actually, last Tuesday with a 4-0 thrashing on the road at Monticello. The Knights edged Rogers, and have Burnsville on the docket Monday before heading to Buffalo for that all-important game. 

"The idea is to be in great shape when we get to the postseason, and we'll continue to work. I guess it'd be nice to be at home through that stretch. We just have to take care of things and make that happen," Dewey said. 

Monday's home game vs. the Blaze begins at 5 p.m. at the soccer field, located by the STMA Community Educaiton building.