Brother Rice opens season with shutout win

Updated: March 22, 2011 4:30PM

For 40 minutes in its season opener against Providence Catholic, Brother Rice stayed aggressive and kept attacking Celtics goalie Brian MacNamee.

After a half, though, the Crusaders had nothing to show for it, with MacNamee making save after save.

All it took was one goal Monday for the Crusaders to finally open the floodgates.

Brother Rice kept up the pressure, scoring four goals in the opening 20 minutes of the second half on its way to a 5-0 Catholic League Blue win.

"We've got a nice team," Brother Rice coach Nick Markulin said. "We're not big, but we're very technical and we're smart. We just have to play smart, stay patient and keep the ball down."

After a first half that saw 15 total shots without the ball finding the net, Crusaders forward Noel Barragan finally put one past MacNamee.

Jordan Rand fielded the ball off a free kick and passed it right to Barragan on the left side of the box. The forward put the ball into the left corner for Brother Rice with 36 minutes left in the second half.

"The first half we were piling on shots and just weren't putting them in," Barragan said. "We knew we had to push (in the second half) because we didn't want it to drag on."

The Crusaders kept up the momentum, including defender Greg Healy making a play forward from the backline.

In a scrum in the box, MacNamee was able to deflect a shot but fell to the ground in the process. Healy came up with the deflection in front of the goal and knocked the ball into the net.

"Playing defense, I know our offense is good," Healy said. "(The shot prior) was a great kick, but I was in the right place at the right time. Providence's defense is pretty good, so you've got to take your chances."

Brian Kane and Rand (with an assist from Kevin Kozek) both added goals before the 20-minute mark as Brother Rice pulled away.

With under two minutes left, Roy Espitia scored the Crusaders' fifth goal.

Goalkeeper Moises Ortiz (3 saves) exited with seven minutes to go into the game, Kevin Myren completing the shutout.

A Celtics squad that lost eight of 11 starters from last year's sectional runner-up struggled to muster many scoring chances, with Brian Cichon putting two shots on goal. MacNamee finished with 11 saves.

"We did lose a lot (from last year)," Providence coach Dan Potempa said. "We kept our level in the second, and they elevated their play. When you play a good team like that, you can't do that."

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