On Saturday afternoon, the Bears strode off of Fitch Field, shaking their heads after a 3-7 defeat at the hands of Our Savior, their PSAA East Division rivals. On Monday afternoon, they roared their rebuttal with a 5-4 win on enemy soil to thrust themselves back into division title contention. The silver lining to Saturday’s loss was that it was a non-league match-up. Yesterday’s match mattered, and the result left the Brook just a draw away from sharing the top spot in the East Division standings.

The Bears were hungry to redeem Saturday’s result and forced the early action, but their shots found two posts in the first 10 minutes before the Pioneers capitalized for an early 1-0 lead. Despite falling behind again to Our Savior, who scored in the opening minute on Saturday, the Bears showed their mettle by knotting the score at 1-1 when a heady play from John Chang resulted in a stolen pass from the center back and an assist to Ian Blunt. Our Savior recaptured the lead, but Owen Sobel equalized when he dribbled through four defenders, dropping two of them, before finishing the goal. The Pioneers responded again to carry a 3-2 edge into the break.

In the second half, the Bears showed their championship pedigree by scoring the first two goals to take the lead. Blunt notched his second score when he finished a cross from Devin Saraniero, then Mo Romeus caught Our Savior’s keeper sleeping with a 25-yard chip shot that sailed in for a 4-3 lead. The Pioneers responded minutes later when a controversial penalty kick was awarded with just 10 minutes remaining that allowed the home team to tie the score for the fourth time. It could have been a crushing blow for the Bears, but they responded one minute later when Blunt capped his hat trick by dribbling past the keeper and tucking away the eventual game-winner. The defense ensured the lead stood up. Blunt’s hat trick was his first since a wild Senior Night comeback vs. Knox on Oct. 20, 2017.

With the win the Bears improve to 5-1-1 in PSAA play with one game remaining while Our Savior falls to 5-1 with two games remaining. The Bears close the regular season on Friday night with a Senior Night match-up vs. Knox. A win for the Bears and one tie or loss for Our Savior would give the Brook at least a share of the East Division crown. At the very least, the Bears have assured themselves of a home quarterfinal match on Thursday Oct. 17 against an opponent yet to be determined.

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