Dolphins fall to Crusaders 9-7

Due to a late surge by Pensacola Catholic High School ladt Friday night, the Crusaders walked away with a 9-7 victory over the Gulf Breeze High School Dolphins in a physical first match of the season between the two conference opponents.
Both teams opened the first quarter on the offensive, with early opportunities thwarted at each end of the pitch. The Crusaders broke through in the 5th minute, with a nice shot by Eric Buer from around 12 meters out that went right by Dolphin goalie Cole Foster and into the back of the net.
Gulf Breeze equalized in the 8th minute when T.J. Durst scored after a long feed pass from the defense. Nick Daly had a close shot one minute later, but it went over the goal and out of bounds, unknowingly setting up Durst for his second goal of the night. Durst brought the ball back in play, wrapped the crease and fired a high shot from close range to beat Jack Bartowski and put Gulf Breeze up 2-1.
The Dolphins’ defense did well in the first quarter to close down a relentless Pensacola Catholic offense, who repeatedly set up around the box and forced Foster to make saves in order to keep his team in the lead. Durst earned a hat trick in the 17th minute off an assist from Noah Haas, who would score a goal for himself a minute later to put his team ahead of the competition 4-1.
Gulf Breeze held the lead for the majority of the match and seemed to dominate Pensacola Catholic’s defense in the first half. The Dolphins had trouble in the midfield however, which was contested well by the Crusaders who succeeded in creating plenty of chances on goal, but failed to finish the opportunities.
Alex Knight brought the Crusaders stampeding back in the second half, scoring within 30 seconds of the third quarter after he won possession of the ball, spun around Nick Valetto and fired off a bounce shot from around the eight-meter mark that found the back of the net. Michael Mann found Nick Mann with a feed pass directly in front of the crease, to set up Pensacola Catholic’s second goal of the quarter and make the score 5-3.
The Crusaders were much stronger in their tackling and stick checking in the second half, which made it more difficult for the Gulf Breeze offense to retain possession and led to more counter attacks by Pensacola Catholic.
The Dolphins retained the lead 6-4 heading into the final quarter of the match, but four goals within the first five minutes from Buer and Knight put Pensacola Catholic up 8-6 and secured the district win for the Crusaders.
Gulf Breeze dropped their first game of the season and sit at a 2-1 record, while Pensacola continued their unbeaten streak and hang on to the 4-0 overall record. The Dolphins next match is at home and is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday against Lincoln High School from Tallahassee.