Birmingham, Warren

Brother Rice soccer team scores late in first half, rolls to 3-0 win against De La Salle

By Mike Moore
C & G Sports Writer

» click to enlarge « Photo by Patricia O'Blenes Brother Rice's Ryan Washeleski controls the ball in front of De La Salle's Chris Ruebelman. Rice scored late in the first half and went on to a 3-0 victory. Photo by Patricia O'Blenes Brother Rice's Ryan Washeleski controls the ball in front of De La Salle's Chris Ruebelman. Rice scored late in the first half and went on to a 3-0 victory.

BIRMINGHAM — A goal came first.

Then, a spectacular save.

From there on out, the Warriors owned the night.

In the first meeting of the season, the Birmingham Brother Rice soccer team let a 1-0 lead disappear against Warren De La Salle in what eventually ended in a 1-1 tie.

On Sept. 25, Rice took another step toward qualifying for the Catholic League playoffs with a commanding 3-0 victory.

“This was a huge win,” Rice coach Barry Brodsky said afterward. “We had scored eight goals all year, so to score three against a real good team like De La Salle was awesome.”

After a back-and-forth first half, Rice freshman Cameron Panley slipped behind the DLS defense and scored with 2:36 remaining in the half.

De La Salle had its best scoring chance just seconds later, but Michael Thut stopped a point-blank shot and kept the game 1-0 at the break.

Panley added his second goal 90 seconds into the second half, and junior Mike Stroud added the third goal on a penalty kick with roughly 20 minutes remaining in the game.

“I really think that first goal kind of changed things,” Brodsky said. “Playing into wind, I would have been happy at 0-0 at halftime. So to get that goal right before the half was huge. Then Mike made that great save, which he’s done all year.”

“You could almost see it before the game started. We just weren’t into it,” De La Salle coach Reid Friedrichs said. “It could have been 1-1 at halftime or 0-0, but I think the result was going to be what it was, because we weren’t on our game. We just didn’t have it.”

Rice, 5-1-4 overall and 3-1-1 in the Central Division, travels to play at Rochester Adams Sept. 27 before closing out league play Oct. 2 at home against Novi Detroit Catholic Central.

De La Salle falls to 10-1-6 overall and 2-1-2 in league play.

The Pilots are at Livonia Stevenson Sept. 27 and the home for the University of Detroit Jesuit Oct. 2.

You can reach C & G Sports Writer Mike Moore at mmoore@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1038. Follow Mike on Twitter.