The Saint Xavier men’s soccer opened conference play last week and did so with a bang.
The Cougars traveled to Joliet for a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference match against the University of Saint Francis (Illinois) and walked away the victor in a 6-3 contest last Wednesday.
It was a track meet early on, with the Fighting Saints finding the back of the net in just the third minute for a 1-nil lead.
But Saint Xavier’s offensive modus operandi in that match (and hopefully for all conference play) was to score early and often.
In the 13th minute, junior forward Marco Gutierrez was in the box, scavenging what he could. Finally, the ball made its way to him and he made Saint Francis pay with an equalizing header into the back of the net.
Saint Francis answered to regain the 2-1 advantage, but that sparked a new game plan for the Cougars: get the ball to freshman midfielder Ricardo Aldape.
Aldape would finish the game with three goals after having scored just one in the first seven matches of the season.
His first came in the 31st minute. Aldape took a long shot from 20 yards out but caught the lower right corner of the goal to equalize the score at 2-2.
Little more than a minute later, the Saints regained the lead on a shot from in close, but Aldape was not done with his breakout day.
It just took a little more time for him to fully find his rhythm.
In the 62nd minute, Aldape took a feed from junior defender Dan Cordes and found himself with an open goal to shoot at from the right side. He did not disappoint, again equalizing the score at 3-3.
But Aldape was not satisfied with the tied score.
Gutierrez got him the ball in the 76th minute and, from 22 yards out, Aldape drained another into the lower right corner to complete the hat trick and give the Cougars all the offense they would need for the victory.
Just to be sure, though, Cordes scored a goal of his own a minute later on a feed from senior defenseman Rene Leon, and Aldape got on the assist side of things to set up an 84th-minute goal by senior midfielder Tom Lojek that capped the scoring in the 6-3 win.
Saint Xavier got the better scoring chances with 21 shots (10 on goal) to Saint Francis’ 10 shots (four on goal).
Those shots came almost as freely in the next game for Saint Xavier, but not with the same level of success.
The Cougars played their homecoming game Saturday against Holy Cross College and wound up with a nil-nil draw in double overtime.
Saint Xavier completed the game with 16 shots, seven of which were targeted on goal.
Holy Cross had 12 shots with six directed at the goalmouth.
Neither team would find the back of the net, but both defenses and goalkeepers came to play.
Cougar keeper AJ Pfatschbacher stopped all six shots, while Brian Aldrich of Holy Cross kept all seven he faced out of the net.
Holy Cross got the better of the chances in the first 10-minute overtime period. They were awarded a pair of corner kicks in succession, but they could not capitalize.
Pfatschbacher continued to stonewall Holy Cross in the second overtime period.
He faced a pair of shots and a corner kick in the final two minutes of play, but he kept his team in the game.
The Cougars now have a 3-5-1 overall record, but they have begun their conference play with confidence. They have a 1-0-1 mark in their brief CCAC schedule to date.
Last year, it was in conference play that the Cougars shone, so they will look to continue the strong start with a home Saturday match against Purdue University Calumet. Then it is on the road for a romp against Trinity International University.
The Saint Xavier-Purdue Calumet match will begin at 2 p.m. at Bruce R. Deaton Memorial Field.
Tim Carroll
Senior Sports Editor
About Post Author
