Just four days clear of the winter break, the St. Andrew's 1st Soccer Saints shook off the rust and jumped right back into action at the inaugural Can-Am Winter Showcase at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York.
With plenty of NCAA coaches toeing the sidelines, SAC opened the weekend out-chancing their opponents 3-to-1, but ended up on the wrong end of a 1-0 scoreline, at the hands of the Syracuse MLS Next U19s. Midfielder Enzo Han '27, forward Adam Popatia '26 and centre back Michael Madeiros '27 had standout performances on Saturday for the Saints.
On Sunday, SAC assistant captain Jarel Ndombele '26, just back from a one-month UK training placement, was a terror on the wing and up top and was twice denied by some outstanding goalkeeping, as the Saints dropped a second 1-nil decision to the Northwood U19s, who wrapped up the fall season as Sports Illustrated's number one ranked prep school in the US. SAC's defensive intensity did a great job at frustrating Northwood, and in the match's final 20 minutes the Saints were relentless in attack, but once again failed to find the back of the net.
Also shining against Northwood was energetic winger Dylan Mahoney '27, left back Merek Husack '27 with his consistent delivery of quality balls into the danger zone, Nick Alexander '27 through his steady defensive play and set piece contributions and Heris Ziai '27 with his box-to-box effort in the middle of the park.
In the tournament finale, SAC rotated their line-up and came out of the gate with some heavy legs en route to a disappointing 3-2 defeat to the North York Academy. Winger Safeer Ahmad '27 and Ziai scored for the Saints.
Over the weekend, both SAC goalkeepers were steady, with Raistlan Evans '27 denying a point blank chance versus Syracuse and Joseph Corsetti '28 making two big stops early in the second half versus Northwood to keep the Saints in it.
Despite the three narrow losses, the Syracuse and Northwood performances were definitely another big step forward for SAC 1st Soccer — clearly cementing the Saints as a squad that can compete with North America's top preps schools and academies. And SAC put those super efforts together, while missing captain Josh Henriques '26 (due to illness) and leading scorer and fall MVP Jayden Walters '26 (away on a university visit).
SAC's next tournament event will happened in February at the LouCity Academy Showcase in Louisville, Kentucky, with more top level scrimmages coming soon.
Stay tuned . . . Go Saints!
