BRANTFORD _ Soccer games are generally low scoring except when the St. John's College Green Eagles and the Assumption College Lions get together. The Eagles overcame 3-0 and 4-1 deficits Tuesday afternoon to defeat the Lions 8-4 at John Wright Soccer Fields as the Brant County high school boys' soccer season got underway.
The Eagles' victory avenged an 11-4 loss to the Lions in last season's championship game.
``There's a lot of competition and the players are very competitive,'' said Lions co-coach Peter Polillo of the high scoring games.
``There's a lot of skill on the field when these two teams play,'' added Tom Mercante, also a co-coach with Assumption.
The Eagles' dynamic scoring duo of Mike Lenda and Jack Przednowek tore the Lions' defence apart.
Lenda scored four goals, Przednowek got three goals and Wes Whitlock added one goal.
Przednowek, who appears to be faster than a speeding bullet, set up Lenda for a couple goals with accurate passes and he also assisted Whitlock with a long throw-in from the sidelines.
Kyle Kerry scored two goals for Assumption. Derek Smith and Rich Yeoman scored one goal apiece.
Assumption jumped into 3-0 and 4-1 leads in the first half as the Lions played with a strong wind at its back.
Goals by Lenda and Przednowek late in the first half started the Eagles' comeback.
St. John's dominated the first 20 minutes of the second half to score five unanswered goals.
``We (Lions) just fell apart and that's something we're going to have look it,'' said Polillo. ``In the first 20 minutes of the second half, we just watched St. John's play.''
``In the first half we had a lot of giveways, we were creating chances but giving them away,'' said St. John's coach Peter Pomponio. ``In the second half we marked tighter and once we got the lead, the rest of the half was built on momentum.''
Pomponio credited Jeremy Johnson and Przednowek for playing strong defence against Assumption star Raf Moniz.
Pomponio was also pleased that practice sessions last wekk also paid dividends.
``We worked all week on finishing (scoring opportunities),'' Pomponio said. ``We had four sessions last week and on three of the four we worked on finishing and it paid off,'' Pomponio said.