Saints varsity boys soccer dominated rival Tower Hill 5-1 on Thursday, September 11, improving to 3-0 on the season. Of the five goals scored, three came by way of two Saints new to the varsity roster. After being down 0-1 for most of the first half, new sophomore Max Newman ’28 scored, forcing a tie heading into halftime. 

Post-half, the Saints kept the pressure on, with multiple attempts on goal. With 16 minutes left, Alvin Xie ’26 scored from the edge of the box. Less than two minutes later, Jacob Smith ’28 followed suit with a goal. 

Up 3-1 with five minutes remaining, Newman took a corner, allowing Smith to nail a header into the back of the net for his second goal. The Saints weren’t done yet: with less than two minutes on the clock, Calder Lopez ’26 slid a goal into the back left corner.

Fired up after his big game, Smith took the time to acknowledge some of the varsity players that inspired him. “I didn’t make the [varsity] team last year, but I was close,” he says. “Liam [Robinson ’26] and Calder [Lopez ’26] saw that and they pushed me not just to keep working to make it to the team, but to really make an impact when I got here. They really are the motivation and standard for the whole team." 

How’d that first goal feel? “I was ecstatic," Smith says. "I ran toward the sideline and saw the school community cheering, and it just made me want to keep going. And after that second one, it was just insane.”

It also made him hungry for more. “We plan to keep rolling, keep our win streak going, and make it to the championship,” he says. “We plan to win this year."

“Starting 3-0 sounds good, but we’re on to the next one and have to move forward,” says head coach Ben Horgan ’19, adding, “We might need to work on our goal celebrations, though.”

Looking for more on Saints soccer? Delaware Online caught up with Smith and Newman post-game.