BEDFORD — Belmont High went 560 minutes without letting in a goal, a run carried the Red Raiders from the regular season to the Division III semifinals on Wednesday night.
Once the dam broke, however, the goals flooded in. Ninth-seeded Belmont fell to No. 5 St. Thomas, 5-1, at Bedford High School as its campaign came to a close.
The Red Raiders (11-5-3) had one of their more memorable late-season runs in recent years. They beat Fall Mountain in the first round and upset undefeated No. 1 Gilford, 1-0, in a stunning quarterfinal game on Saturday.
Mike Foley, Belmont’s 26th-year head coach, knew the challenges of facing the defending champion Saints (15-4-0). Coming down from the emotional high of beating Gilford and then having to win at a neutral site, late at night after the early semifinal went to double overtime, was a big ask.
“They came together only about a month ago. We finally turned a corner and went, ‘OK, we’ve figured this out,’ ” Foley said. “This senior group has been the backbone of what we’ve been able to do.”
The Saints scored on a breakaway with only 2:29 remaining in the first half to get on the scoreboard.
Belmont faced pressure all game and aimed for long balls on the counterattack to break it. That pressure finally got to the Raiders on a strong shot by St. Thomas sophomore Brady Pollock, who placed the ball to the far post. Belmont senior goalie Ryan Monasky got a hand to it but not enough to keep it out.
Immediately after, Belmont senior forward Niko Smith had a one-on-one chance to score the other way. St. Thomas sophomore goalie Eli Koelker closed it out well and made a big save.
Foley thought if Belmont had tied the score 1-1 at half, it would have been a much different ballgame.
The Saints’ second goal came nine minutes into the second half by junior Ryan Dyer. Again, Belmont had a breakaway chance that sophomore forward Evan Martinez just shot wide. Saint Thomas added to its lead on two free kicks by senior Phillip Redder and another long shot from sophomore Camden Murphy.
Belmont’s lone goal came from Martinez with 10 minutes remaining, but by then the score was only cut down to 4-1.
“We never could possess long enough up front to maintain any kind of continuity. The fact that we had two breakaways that we couldn’t convert makes a big difference,” Foley said.
