On Wednesday, October 28, the Saintt Xavier men’s soccer team would travel to Bourbonnais to play Olivet Nazarene University. The Cougars would dominate their opponents in large part thanks to a dominating performance by one of their players.
From the very beginning of the game, midfielder Kamil Szczesniak looked like he was going to be a difference maker in this game as he would get a prime opportunity to score within the first two minutes of the game.
This play would rub off on the other members of the team is the cougars would dominate the beginning of the game. This domination would yield results as Szczesniak would score a goal in the 20th minute of the game to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead.
The Cougars would continue to dominate the possession of the ball, and score yet another goal in the 32nd minute to extend their lead to 2–0. This goal would also be scored by Szczesniak for his second goal of the game.
With all the momentum him on his side, Szczesniak would do something special. In the 40th minute, he would score another goal for the hat-trick, a rare feat where a player score three goals in one game. This goal would send the Cougars into halftime leading Olivet 3-0.
In the second half, the Cougars would get off to another fast start and once again dominate play. In the 58th minute, the cougars would score another goal, this time off the foot of forward Marco Gutierrez. That would be the last goal of the game, as well the Cougars’ defense would shut down Nazarene for the rest of the half to complete the shutout victory.
Besides Szczesniak, the Cougars’ defense also played a huge role in their victory, only allowing three total shock the entire game. With the win already under their belt for the week, Saint Xavier would look to continue their stellar play when they returned home to play in their final game of the season. That game would have added significance as it was also “Senior Night”.
On Saturday, October 31, the Saint Xavier men’s soccer team would spend their Halloween night on the pitch against conference foe Robert Morris University. This night was also special due to the fact that it was the regular season finale as well as “Senior Night” for all the seniors on the team.
The Cougars would take the lead early and expand on that lead in a dominant second half effort. The Cougars would take control of the game early on, dominating the possession and the scoring chances. The early aggressiveness of the Cougars’ offense would work in their favor, as defender Farai Tsingano would score a goal in the 18th minute to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead.
After the goal, Robert Morris would attempt to come back and tie the game. However, a save by goalkeeper Frank Valle would retain the 1-0 lead for the Cougars. From there, the cougars would retake control of the game and create multiple chances to extend their lead.
They were not capitalize on these opportunities though and the game would go into halftime with the Cougars leading 1–0. At the start of the second half, the Cougars would extend their lead to 2-0 after midfielder Ricardo Aldape scored a goal in the 51st minute. That goal would give them the momentum they would need for the rest of the half.
They played with a lot of energy and were very aggressive in their attack. In the 62nd minute, midfielder Kamil Szczesniak would score his fourth goal of the week to extend the Cougars lead to 3–0.
Despite this big lead, the Cougars were unrelenting scoring once again in the 73rd minute to give themselves a 4–0 lead. The goal scored by Aldape, his second of the game. Just four minutes later, the Cougars would score once again to all but seal the game with a 5–0 lead.
The goal was scored by forward Marco Gutierrez. Robert Morris would score a last minute goal to make the score 5-1, but the game would end with the Cougars winning in convincing fashion. With the two wins this week, the Cougars end their regular season with a record of 11-7 and a conference record of 8-4.
Their great regular season earned them the third seed in next week’s CCAC men’s soccer tournament and they will host their first game on Saturday, November 7.
John Romando
Senior Sports Editor
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