Box Score STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – On a day in which the Franciscan men's soccer team honored its seven seniors, it was Dan Binette to lead the Barons to a 4-1 victory over AMCC opponent, Hilbert, Saturday afternoon.
Binette scored a pair of goals on the day to lift the Barons to 5-9-1 on the year and 2-4 on the season. Hilbert fell to 3-9 on the year and 2-4 in league play.
Down 1-0 just past the halfway mark of the opening period, sophomore
Leo Herrmann drew a foul inside the penalty area to set up a penalty kick for the Barons. Senior
John Imbimbo has been as sure footed as you can be on PKs for the Barons throughout the year and once against connected as the goalie dove right and he went left to tie the game at 1-1.
With about 10 minutes to play in the first, Binette made his first appearance on the field and sparked the FUS offense. "Dan Binette is looking at his last games as a senior at Franciscan and has always brought us a lot of energy off the bench," remarked head coach Ward Rogers. In a scrum in front of the net, Imbimbo started the barrage of shots at the Hilbert goalie with an attempt blocked before Joe Duran narrowly missed a goal with a ball wild. Junior Joe Francis' shot hit the post and Binette corralled the ball to send it past the goalie to give FUS a 2-1 lead.
"Its important to come up with results when someone puts the effort on the field like Dan."
The Barons took the 2-1 lead into halftime.
Looking to extend the Barons came out of the break strong with five shots in the first 10 minutes. The Baron defense did its part, keeping the ball away from sophomore keeper
Thomas Dosedel as the Hawks managed just three shots in the entire second half.
"It was a good team win," commented coach Rogers. "We have defenders that play like center middle fielders. A good defender is a good 1-on-1 player ad we have guys that can play well at defense and then help push the ball up field like midfielders.
With the defense playing well, the midfield and forwards were able to create scoring chances and finish for a comfortable 4-1 win.
Herrmann found Francis on a clean breakaway with a nice cross and Francis put the ball in the upper corner just inside the near post for a 3-1 Baron lead.
Binette finished off his stellar day as he took a cross from Herrmann and shot it into the upper corner for his second of the game and third of the season.
The Barons celebrated not just their victory following the game, but the career of the seven seniors who helped the program turn a corner.
"You get attached to these guys after coaching them for four year," remarked coach Rogers. "To have guys like Edwin de St. Aubin, Jace Vansteenburg and John Imbimbo dedicated to changing the culture of the team, the change happens."
"We wanted to start playing more controlled soccer, work on possession and keeping control of the ball and get away from shooting at will soccer and these guys really helped to build that for us."
"Its tough to do that with where the team was when the seniors came in but as Michael Sherman develops and guys like Binette and Tim McNamara give us quality minutes off the bench things good things happen. Edward Huber is a great asset to the team as well. He never complains and just played good quality soccer."
Though looking at the standings this could have been considered a 'must win' game for the Barons, coach Ward looks at it with a different approach. "We play for a different reason than just results. We play every day to glorify God and we do that by playing to the best of our abilities. Its important to approach each game with a need to win but we know we can give thanks for our abilities with wins and by playing the best soccer we can."
The Barons host Pitt-Greensburg in the final regular season game at home on Wednesday at 2:00 pm.
