SIMLEY suffered the first defeat of the campaign when St Thomas Academy Cadets scored a last-gasp winner to snatch a 2-1 victory.
In their second Classic Suburban Conference game of the season, The Spartans endured a horrible opening to the game and should have already been behind when The Cadets Ben Lemay headed home from a free kick on 18 minutes.
St Thomas piled forward and looked to kill off Simley and had a number of chances to do so.
However, against the run of play Simley found an equalizer when Austin Monsrud slalomed his way around three challenges before finishing to the net after 33 minutes.
This gave the Inver Grove school a foothold in the game but they were fortunate not to find themselves behind minutes later when The Cadets were awarded a penalty. Lemay stepped up to strike but his shot was well saved by Nathan Spores down to his right as Simley hung on to the 1-1 scoreline at the half.
This trend continued in the second period as St Thomas piled forward in search of the winner.
They were finally rewarded when that man Lemay turned creator as he danced passed two challenges before slipping a perfect pass through for the striker to finish and give St Thomas a deserved 2-1 win.
This result ensured Simley fell into sixth place in the coach’s poll but they redeemed themselves on Tuesday with a fantastic win over 2009 State Champions, Mahtomedi Zephers.
Despite a shaky start The Spartans hit the front on 21 minutes when Luke Simmer played George Knowlton through who coolly finished when bearing down on goal.
It could have been two but Kellen Asmundson was adjudged to have been offside when put through on goal as Simley had to be content with a 1-0 advantage at the break.
Simley were in the ascendency and they did make it two just five minutes after the restart when Tom Atkins tapped home from close range.Atkins was on hand to cap a commanding second half display when he netted the third with 15 minutes to play and extend the Simley record to 5-1-2.
Next up for Simley is the big one – a showdown with local rivals South St Paul Packers.
Head coach of The Spartans, Noel Quinn, explains that there will be more than just local pride at stake when the two clash, as the outcome will have a huge bearing on the seedings for the playoffs.
“We’re looking forward to the game, but will have to play at our highest level if we are to beat the Packers,” he said.
“They have a strong team this season and won’t want to lose again to Simley. If we win this match then it gives us the bragging rights for the rest of the year so our players need to be ready.
“There really ought to be no need for me to motivate the players for this one.”
