Memorial boys make bold statement with 8-0 beatdown of Bishop Guertin

NASHUA, NH — On paper, it should have been a competitive match between two of the teams jockeying for position atop the Division I boys soccer standings. In reality, Manchester Memorial sent a loud message to other title contenders, dismantling Bishop Guertin, 8-0, Tuesday afternoon in Nashua.

It was the fourth straight win for the Crusaders, who now sit tied atop the D-I standings with Nashua South at 6-1-0. The lone blemish on the Panthers’ record came last week, with a 5-1 loss against Central.

Memorial and Central (5-2-0) will meet Thursday night, under the lights at Gill Stadium, with more than just city bragging rights on the line.

“We’ve just got to play soccer, right? We’ve just got to play soccer. Eighty minutes, we’ve just got to knock the ball around and see what happens,” said Memorial Coach Jerold White, keeping true to his philosophy of not placing too much emphasis on any one regular season game. “We know what we’re capable of. Last year and this year, too, we’ve told them they just have to work together and communicate.”

Memorial’s rout of Bishop Guertin (5-2-0) was as shocking as it was brutally efficient. The Crusaders raced to a 4-0 lead before the game was 15 minutes old. Senior Payton Auprey had a pair of goals in the early onslaught, including what proved to be the game-winner in the 3rd minute, off a feed from Artur Moura (2 goals, assist).

Dollby St. Louis doubled the lead in the 6th minute. Fans were still trickling in and setting up chairs along the sideline, as Auprey (8th minute) and Moura (14th minute) pushed Memorial’s lead to 4-0. With that fourth goal, Memorial had matched their goal total for the previous four games … COMBINED.

“We played a couple of games that were 1-0, where we thought we should have had a couple of extra goals,” said White. “We were able to put it together today. All the little things they’ve been working on in practice. It kind of paid off today.”

Bishop Guertin managed to stop the bleeding for the rest of the half but were never able to sustain any type of attack. The Crusaders controlled the midfield and dominated time of possession. What few times the Cardinals managed to make a push into the attack zone, the defense of Nicholas Lodding, Thomas Egan and Evan Hines formed a an impenetrable barrier, making life easy for keeper Sergio Teruel (3 saves).

Memorial continued its offensive barrage in the second half. Moura netted his second goal of the game on a brilliant individual effort in the 59th minute to make it 5-0.  Moura fielded a pass in the attack zone, used his body to shield the ball from the defense and rifled a left-footed kick into the far corner of the net..

Junior Brayden Merchant came of the bench to score twice, with Omar Anguiano adding his second and third assists of the game.  Nowras Mostafa tacked on a late goal to account for the 8-0 final.