On December 17th The SA 2025 team faced off against Hills in the final Sunday of pool play in the Boys HSWL. This matchup featured two teams that were both 2-0 entering the game with a chance for one of the top seeds going into the playoffs. The first 20 minutes of play were back-and-forth and saw Hills hold a slight 4-3 lead going into halftime. The second half is where the momentum was fully in favor of the Friars as they outscored Hills 6-0 to come away with a 9-4 victory and conclude pool play 3-0.
The standouts for the Friars in this game included UNC commit Gary Merril who showed why he’s among the top 2025s as he led the team with four goals. Luke Breslin the Lehigh commit has also continued to be key in the Friars success this winter as he tallied three goals in the game. The Friars ability to shut out Hills in the second half was due to their goaltender Sean Forde the Utah commit who was in the net for the final 20 minutes.
In the first half which Hills held a slim lead, players that contributed to their strong first half included James Bruno who scored two goals, UNC commit Anthony Raio, and Ryan Chung who each scored a goal. Despite the loss Nico Ghicas the Air Force commit had the advantage at the face-off X going 8/14. Once again Hills saw very stout goaltending from Sal Santoro who made 13 saves with a 59% save percentage.
The victory for the Friars gives them a first round bye going into the playoffs in January, while Hills will face the Firebirds at 6:30pm on January 4th.
