With families on the sideline and temperatures close to 70, the Big Red hosted the Penguins of Cushing Academy on the nicest day of the fall.  SPS put together many moments of quality ball on this day and at the same time it is one they believe they could have come away with a victory by taking care of a few more details.  The game began evenly with both teams looking to possess the ball in midfield.  The Big Reds best chance came fifteen minutes in as a Pat Cooley '25 20 yard strike forced the Cushing keeper into an excellent diving save.  With the possession building, SPS found success when Randy Fu '25 played Blake Truchon '26 through on the flank.  Truchon drove to the net and hit a hard ball on frame which the keeper could only parry to a waiting Will Iller '25 who banged the ball into the back of the net.  The Penguins would not go away five minutes later dropped a ball in the box and some miscommunication in the back resulted in an own goal.  The Big Red regrouped and began to take control of the match using the wide spaces very well.  This created room in the middle of park and with 8 minutes to play in the half Iler slipped a thru ball to Nolan Chen '28 who pushed beyond the Cushing back line and needed to be pulled down in the box for an SPS pk.  Cooley stepped to the line and comfortably made it a 2 – 1 game.  Minutes later it would be Noah Levy '28 who created a brilliant one touch chance inside the six only to have it stopped by a miraculous Cushing keeper save.  The halftime whistle blew with the Big Red holding the 2 – 1 lead.
 
The second half saw SPS continue to maintain possession, but they did not create as many dangerous chances as they would have liked.  Cooley had a chance in tight that missed by inches while Fu played a long cross field ball into Ryan Ham '25 who pushed is hard shot just over the bar.  Midway through the half the Penguins took advantage of a pair of small mistakes and a failure or two to clear some bouncing balls in the box and earned a penalty kick.  The spot shot evened the game at 2.  SPS regrouped and created more chances.  At the 2:30 mark the home sided earned another penalty.  This one was stopped by the Cushing keeper.  In the ensuing play, SPS was able to roll the ball across the Penguin goal line but had no one there to tap it in.  Alas, the Big Red left the field feeling they left some points on the table.  
 
After a well-deserved long weekend break, SPS returns to campus on Tuesday and prepares for the second half of the season.  First up - the Huskies of New Hampton on Wednesday.
Go Big Red!