On Wednesday, November 11, the Saint Xavier men’s soccer team would play a CCAC tournament semifinal game against Saint Ambrose University. The Cougars would pick up the win in this one thanks to some timely offense and a fantastic game by their goalkeeper.
The game would start out slowly for both teams, as neither would be able to record a shot until the 13th minute of the game. From there, the pace of the game would pick up and the first shot on goal would come in the 20th minute off of the foot of forward Orlando Tapia.
The momentum of getting their first shot on goal would snowball over the course of the next five minutes and would culminate in a goal for the Cougars. The goal was scored by forward Mike McLaughlin from 20 yards out.
Desperate to answer, the upstart Bees would attempt to tie the game in the 31st minute with their first shot on goal of the game. Saint Xavier goalkeeper Frank Valle would not allow this to happen by making the save and keeping his team in front 1-0.
A late first half shot on goal by Tapia and a yellow card on Saint Xavier forward Marco Gutierrez would be the last notable events in a first half that saw the Cougars lead 1-0 throughout its majority.
The second half would start out much differently than the first half, as Saint Ambrose would give everything they had in order to keep their season alive. Shot after shot was fired towards Valle and it seemed as though he would eventually let up the tying goal very early in the second half.
But, Valle’s resolve would shine as he would make three saves between the 48th minute and 61st minute to keep the Cougars ahead 1-0. That would prove to be vital as just a few minutes later, forward Roger Ciszewski would score off of a turnover from five yards out to extend the Cougars’ lead to 2-0 with almost 34 minutes left to play.
The Bees would continue their offensive onslaught after the Cougars’ goal, dominating the time of possession and getting multiple shots on goal. But, Valle would continue to make save after save and prove himself to be the best player for Saint Xavier on this day.
Due to his dominant effort and the timely goals by Ciszewski and McLaughlin, the Cougars would advance to the CCAC tournament final with a score of 2-0. Under constant pressure throughout the game, Valle was easily the star of the game, recording a seven save clean sheet.
With the win, the Cougars were within one game of qualifying for the NAIA playoffs. They would have to get through the #1 seed in the conference tournament, Roosevelt University.
On Saturday, November 14, the Saint Xavier men’s soccer team would travel to Toyota Park in Bridgeview, IL to take on Roosevelt University in the CCAC tournament final.
The Cougars would score first, but would give up the lead late in the game to end their season in heartbreaking fashion. The first half of the game was dominated by Roosevelt, as they would possess the ball more than the Cougars and would get more shots toward the net.
This was to be expected as the Lakers were the #1 seed in the CCAC tournament and the #20 ranked team in the NAIA. Despite this though, the Cougars withstood their opponent’s onslaught in the first half with the combination of good defense, a little bit of luck, and the stellar play of goalkeeper Frank Valle, who would record four first half saves to keep the game tied at 0-0 after one half of play.
The Cougars would come out of halftime motivated to win, and this showed in their play as they would record multiple shots on goal within the first five minutes of the second half.
Roosevelt would respond with their own flurry, but once again the great play of the Cougars’ defense would keep the game tied at 0. This would be crucial for the Cougars, as they would play the role of opportunists and capitalize on the counterattack in the 60th minute to take a 1-0 lead.
The goal was scored by midfielder Ricardo Aldape. With the Cougars up so late in the game and with the stellar play of Valle and the Saint Xavier defense, you had to figure that they were on the verge of winning the CCAC conference tournament and moving on to the NAIA national tournament.
However, disaster would strike as the defense and Valle would eventually relinquish their lead in the 80th minute. With the game now tied at 1-1, the Cougars would look to go on the attack and re-take the lead that they had scratched and clawed their way to get.
In the 84th minute, substitute Elliot Kettle would have a prime opportunity to give the Cougars the lead once again. His shot would go high though and the game would remained tied at 1.
This miss would prove to be costly, as Roosevelt would score in the 85th minute to put the Cougars down 2-1. With little time left, the Cougars would get one more opportunity to at least tie the game and send it into overtime.
In the 87th minute, the Cougars’ lone goal scorer, Aldape, would get the ball on his feet and would take one final shot to see if the Cougars could extend the game. His shot would go high though, and the Cougars would lose in heartbreaking fashion by the score of 2-1.
Despite the loss, the Cougars’ season should be viewed as a major success as they would finish the season with a 13-8 record and a conference record of 7-4.
John Romando
Senior Sports Editor