TOWN AND COUNTRY • Like his teammates, St. Louis University High's Brian Bement simply refused to be denied Thursday night.
After failing to convert on a handful of quality scoring chances, Bement put the finishing touch on the Junior Billikens' 3-1 victory over CBC, scoring with just over six minutes to play in the CBC Tournament contest.
"I figured if I kept working and creating chances, one would eventually go in,'' Bement joked after notching his fifth goal of the season. "I wasn't really frustrated, probably because we were winning. Any time you can beat CBC, it's special. And because I play club with a lot of their guys, it's even more special.''
SLUH, the defending CBC Tournament champion, improved to 4-2 overall and to 1-1 in the round-robin event. CBC, the defending Missouri Class 3 state champion is 1-2-1 and 0-1-1.
"What a difference a couple of days can make,'' SLUH coach Charlie Martel said, referring to his team's 1-0 loss to Vianney Tuesday in the opening round at CBC. "Honestly, I didn't recognize our team out there tonight. We played with intensity from the opening whistle, we played great defense and we scored three beautiful goals.''
The Junior Bills started strong. Less than a minute in, Cadets' keeper Nick Lenkman came off his line to deny Bement on a breakaway.
Two minutes later, Bement hit the goal post.
SLUH took the lead in the 11th minute. After beating his man in the right corner, Ryan Merrifield crossed the ball to Ben Emnett, who scored on a one-timer.
In the 51st minute, Emnett came up with a steal at midfield and fed the ball to Bement, who set up Merrifield for a 2-0 SLUH lead. After Bement's goal made it 3-0, CBC broke the shutout with 4:40 to play when Carson Leach converted a through pass from Mike Pavlisin.
DeSmet 2, Vianney 1 • Scott Russo knocked in a pass from Patrick Conroy with just under eight minutes to play as the Spartans won Thursday's early game. DeSmet, 2-0-1 overall and 1-0-1 in the tournament, went up 1-0 midway through the opening half on a goal by Louis Berra. Josh Hubert scored just before halftime for Vianney (2-1-1, 1-1).
The round-robin event wraps up Saturday night, with DeSmet taking on SLUH at 5 p.m. and CBC and Vianney meeting at 7 p.m.
