CADE — Episcopal School of Acadiana recorded its first win of the boys’ soccer season Wednesday, a 6-0 shutout of St. Martinville that was spurred on by a hat trick from Evan Lipari.
ESA played host to the Tigers, looking for a victory after an early season defeat to Lafayette High. The Falcons are trying to rebuild the program following the departure of multiple seniors last year, and despite a slow start to the game, ESA coach Adam Glover was happy with his team’s performance.
“When we move the ball well, simple two-touch, three-touch soccer that I want us to play, we look great,” said Glover.
“It’s still early days, still not overly happy in the sense of the way we played in spells. Defensively I thought we didn’t do great in the sense of commanding, winning aerial battles, but we take the win and move on.”
The Falcons used the size of their home pitch, which is larger than what many teams in the area are used to, in order to stretch the play against the Tigers.
“This field is not nice to play on for the opposition in the sense of it’s long and it’s wide,” said Glover. “We have that for a reason; we have a lot of players who like to play with speed.”
Lipari impressed for the Falcons, scoring three goals. Luke Crochet, Felix Osborne, and Brennan Gabourel each scored one goal apiece.
While his team was on the losing side of the match, St. Martinville goalkeeper Daylan Savoy had an excellent game, making numerous saves against the Falcons. Were it not for his performance, the game could have hit the 8-0 mercy rule by halftime.
Both teams will play in the annual Copa Acadiana tournament hosted by Beau Chene High School this weekend. ESA played NISH in the opening game of the tournament on Thursday. St. Martinville’s first match will be today against Erath. Kickoff will be at 7:15 p.m. All games will be played at Moore Park in Lafayette.