Friars Upset Mount St. Mary’s

On the evening of September 14^th, the Dominican Friars of the House of Studies took a victory over the Mount Saint Mary’s seminary soccer team. The Friars began this season bolstered by the addition of eight new first-year brothers, amounting to their best squad assembled thus far in their short tenure of organized competition. The unity of their religious profession was also evident from their common black uniforms – hand-me-down Providence College jerseys, acquired by a generous donation from the fellow friars in New England. Playing against a highly organized team, with the setting sun beaming directly into their eyes, the Friars indeed looked initially bewildered. Among the defenders, Br. Aquinas Beale deserves special mention, playing his position at sweeper in a bulwark manner. Impeccable support on defense also came from first year contributors: Brs. Irenaeus Dunlevy, Paul Clarke, Augustine Marogi, and Constantius Sanders. With the Mounties’ advances frustrated especially by the stellar play of goalkeeper Br. Jonah Teller, the Friars’ confidence was soon buoyed up, and they began to play with composure and with some of the synergy proper to the charism. Soon it was halftime. The sun had set beyond the campus mountains and their towering golden statue of the Blessed Virgin. Then twilight began to work its magic. The Friars took the field in the second half with gratitude for a tied score and “hope against hope” for some chance of advance. Instead of playing in their own defensive third (as in the first half), the Friars began to make offensive forays into scoring territory, with multiple shots on goal and opportunities in the box. Brs. Jacob Bertrand Janczyk, John Dominic Bouck, Antoninus Samy, and Timothy Danaher all made important plays in transition, pushing the ball up the field and generating opportunities. With twenty minutes remaining in the game, Brs. Gregory Pine and Athanasius Murphy held converse together at midfield concerning their prospects: “We need to score in the next five minutes.” “Yup.” And with fiat-like execution, it was to be so. In their next offensive attack into the box, a clear shot rang off the foot of Br. Gregory and went careening into the arm of a Mountie defender. The whistle sounded, and the Friars were awarded a Penalty Kick – an unobstructed shot from twelve yards out. Br. Athanasius was elected to take the shot. The whistle blew, and he buried the shot, off of the goalkeepers extended hand and into the left corner of the net. The Friars erupted with cheers for their 1-0 lead. From that point, they never turned back. Coach Kress called out to his team over the uproar, “I need ten minutes of good defense!” And so it went. The Friars kept their nerves and successfully held off the final barrages, winning key challenges for the ball and clearing it away from their end of the field. And when the minutes at last expired with the last scraps of daylight, the Friars walked off the field with their heads held very high, this victory improving their season record to 2-0. The brothers gathered on one knee, and in the backdrop of the dying sun behind those blue and purple hills, they sang together the O Lumen, that age-old beloved chant to their Holy Father Dominic, who watches over his brothers both at prayer and at play — Br. Gregory Maria Pine, OP

✠