Waterford picks up tough victory at St. Joseph

Three-goal win belies how close game really was

OGDEN — The scoreboard read 3-0, but top-ranked Waterford readily acknowledged afterward that its critical away win over No. 3 St. Joseph wasn't that easy.

Far from it.

St. Joseph more than matched its Region 14 opponent for large stretches of the game Tuesday afternoon, but the Ravens came up with the goods — two goals from midfield extraordinaire Spencer Linsley and another from Chris Biscupovich — en route to a 3-0 victory.

"They had hard luck today," said Waterford coach Bob Capener. "I mean, it was not a a 3-0 game. I think we're a little more experienced, a little quicker."

The game's decisive exchange came 10 minutes into the second half.

St. Joseph winger Andrew Reed appeared to have equalized the score at 1-1, but as he turned to celebrate, he realized the referee's assistant had raised his flag for offside.

Three minutes later, Linsley scored for the second time, putting Waterford up 2-0.

And there was no way back for St. Joseph after that.

"That was a huge shift," said Capener.

From the opening whistle, both teams were forced to deal with miserable weather at St. Joseph, which is nestled against Mount Ogden. The Jayhawks' field held up quite well, but frigid temperatures, along with torrid rains and gusting winds, made conditions almost unbearable.

"My only fear was frankly hypothermia," said Capener. "I'm talkin' to these kids at halftime, and we huddled them close together for some male bonding. And they were just shivering. My sweeper, who's got no meat on him, was just shaking.

"And I'm going, 'You know. I'm gonna quit talking. You guys just pack it in and do whatever you need to stay warm.'"

Despite the conditions, Waterford did enough to get three critical away points in its quest to win Region 14 and eventually the state title.

"We haven't played everyone yet, but this team is definitely the biggest challenge in our region," said Linsley. "And to come out with three (points) on top of them is huge."

On the other hand, St. Joseph left fully aware — if it didn't already know — that it can play with the Ravens.

"It's an even game," said St. Joseph coach Derek Tate. "I think every time we play it's gonna come down to who gets the better run of play, whoever gets the better bounces that day. Today it went their way. We'll see what happens next time."

In other soccer action:

REGION 1

LAYTON 2, CLEARFIELD 1: The Lancers won their second away game in Region 1 action.

WEBER 1, NORTHRIDGE 0 (OT): Zach Read scored the winning goal for Weber in overtime as the Warriors defeated the Knights. Lucas Bigelow got the shutout in goal.

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