The first twenty minutes of action was back and forth, with neither team allowing  two much concern for their backlines. It was around that time that when defensive  midfielder Jack Griffin collided with a St. Louis player, resulting in a bloody forehead  for Griffin. With blood spreading to his jersey, Griffin was forced to temporarily come off the pitch to attend to his cut and change into a clean uniform.

While playing a man down, the Demize did not let the intensity dwindle. In what was the perhaps the best run of play all night, Devon Newport carried the ball down the  left flank, eventually cutting in towards goal. Newport, James Thomas, and the St.  Louis goalie all met around the corner of the six-yard box where a sequence of shots and rebounds took place. Thomas was able to place a bouncing ball past the St.  Louis keeper and into the far side of the net.

The one-nil lead was all that the Demize defense needed to secure three points  against the in-state opponents. Yuta Nomura was on his game again and added to  his franchise record with his fifth shutout of the season, putting him number 1 for  the nation for the PDL. Nomura made four saves for the Demize, in what happened  to be a heavy second-half St. Louis attack.

Griffin returned to the field with a bandage wrapped around his head and a different jersey number, but was effective for the rest of the match, which he played until the final whistle. Due to a scheduling change, the Demize will next return to action on Tuesday, July  1st in Springfield to host Thunder Bay.  

Coach Henry’s comments on the game:  I thought the boys gave a fantastic  performance today. Every player had a significant part to play in this win. I thought  our speed of play was much better than it was the last time we played St. Louis  and we stuck to our game plan for the whole 90 mins. Our mentality going into the game was spot on. Players like Jack were willing to play through a severely gashed  forehead in order to walk away with the win.  Sam Fitzgerald had one of his best  games for us tonight and it's a shame we have to say goodbye to him as he goes  back to England to play for Salford. It's not easy to play against St Louis who apply a lot of pressure and serve some dangerous balls into the box but Yuta was fantastic  again tonight and now finds himself as the #1 guy in the nation for shutouts