The Vermont Wildcats came to Millville needing a victory to clinch the Lakes Region title.  SPS was hoping to play the spoiler.  Knowing that VA were a technical side that had scored numerous goals, the game plan for the Big Red was to keep quality shape, press together, win balls on the bad touch and counter quickly.  SPS did just that for most of the first half.  The Big Red back three; Pat Ricca, AJ Zoltowski and Matt Baptiste, made good decisions as to when to step and wide players Blake Truchon, Nikita Duncan and Iago Arango also took away wide spaces forcing VA back into their own half.  Toughness and talk by Theo Quan and Seb Beech helped as well.  Vermont did get a half chance in the box after a misplaced SPS clearance, and the loose ball was chipped over keeper Leo Colinet's head for a 1 – 0 lead.  Over the final twenty minutes, SPS earned a few more chances.  Seb Beech struck a clean ball from 25 yards out.  Shortly after that, Beech served a corner kick to Zoltowski whose header just missed.   The Big Red kept the pressure on earning three corner kicks in a row.   Down 1 – 0 as the half came to a close, SPS still had 45 minutes to even the score. 

The second half the Big Red came out believing they could change the outcome of the game.  While patience, shape and discipline were important there was also a need for urgency to win tackles and second balls.  VA continued to have a majority of the ball, but they found it hard to play against the feisty Big Red.  A Zoltowski free kick with twenty-five minutes to play landed perfectly to the foot of Seb Beech on the back post.  A clean strike on frame forced a great save by the Wildcat keeper to maintain the VA lead.  With nine minutes to play there were some tough tackles on the SPS goal line which resulted in a penalty kick for VA.  A confident strike doubled the lead for the Wildcats.  SPS kept pushing and with three minutes to play, off another corner kick, Pat Ricca rose above the crowd and won a clean header that went inches over the bar.  The Big Red would not make the comeback they had hoped for, and in the end, fall to a talented VA side 2 – 0.

The Big Red will close out the 2025 season with a final home contest this coming Saturday against Brewster Academy on Hunt Field where they will pay tribute to the seven sixth-formers who have contributed so much to the program.  Hope to see you there.

Go Big Red!