By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — With just two losses in their first 11 games, the St. Charles Comets have stamped themselves as a top 10 ranked team in their division and a factor in prep soccer.

The lesson learned Monday for these Comets, however, was that others have noticed too — and bring the effort to match.

St. Charles controlled most of the second half but couldn’t punch in a go-ahead score as visiting Runnels played the Comets to a 2-2 draw in a non-district contest.

The Raiders (6-6-1) scored a pair of goals in the first 13 minutes of play, putting SCC behind the eight ball.

“I liked that we didn’t stop fighting, but we can’t let teams jump on us like that,” said SCC’s Nicholas Roussel, who scored the Comets’ first goal.

Said St. Charles coach Sean LeBlanc, “It goes to show, the longer you let a team hang in, the more confidence they build. This became a dogfight. We’re still learning how to win and give that consistent effort every single day.”

Seven minutes into the first half, Grant Fink put Runnels ahead 1-0 on a short range kick.

Six minutes after that, Joseph Fairley scored off a corner kick to push the advantage to 2-0.

“We felt if we got off to a good start, we wouldn’t be chasing as much,” Runnels coach Chris Stevens said. “We knew they were a good team and it would be vital to get up. We did a nice job pushing it through the midfield on the first goal. And on the second, we’ve been working on our corner kicks in practice, and that score settled us. I think it settled (St. Charles) down as well, because they started putting pressure on us from there.”

But SCC (8-2-2) answered less than a minute later when Roussel scored on a close range goal to make it 1-0.

“Albert (Hane) did a great job getting it down the sideline, and I was able to finish off the pass,” Roussel said.

With 9:30 remaining in the first half, Hane scored in the box off a pretty pass at an angle from Andrew Rodrigue.

“After (the early goals), I thought the boys played well,” LeBlanc said. “But it was kind of a case of too little, too late.”

After halftime, SCC controlled the ball on the Runnels end of the field. But while the Raiders weren’t able to stage many offensive counters, the Runnels defense kept SCC from generating too many open chances. Hane, Rodrigue and Roussel each had near misses on goals around the midway mark of the second half. In the final minute, the Raiders thwarted a St. Charles throw-in, and punched the ball into the other end of the field to preserve the win.

“We gave up a couple of good shots, but overall I felt we stayed out of danger,” Stevens said.

SCC 3, PARKVIEW BAPTIST 0 — The Comets scored a big district win Saturday when they bested the Eagles via shutout.

Albert Hane scored two goals and Andrew Rodrigue added another for SCC.

For Hane, the three goals in the past two games have been the continuation of a stellar season, one that’s seen the senior already top 20 goals scored.

“He’s been hot all year long,” LeBlanc said. “He’s having an incredible season. Our guys have done a good job feeding him the ball in good position to score. He’s being patient, attacking and finishing.”

LeBlanc said the win over Parkview was one of his team’s better performances this season.

“Probably our best game since we faced Lutcher (Dec. 12), LeBlanc said. “We played a good possession game, passed it well and in terms of decision-making we were solid.”