SXU Athletics
It is a scientific fact that cold weather means slower kinetic energy.
But cold weather cannot seem to slow down the energy of the Saint Xavier men’s soccer team.
The Cougars have played their best, most consistent soccer of the season in the month of October.
Entering today’s contest against Cardinal Stritch University, Saint Xavier is 4-1 this month. In those four wins, the Cougars have allowed a total of…wait for it…ZERO goals.
In those four wins, the offense has not lacked, either. That is right, the Cougars have 13 goals. When a team outscores opponents 13-0, that team is going to win matches.
Two of the most impressive matches came recently for the men’s soccer team, who picked up a 3-0 victory last Tuesday at Calumet College of Saint Joseph and a 6-0 trolling of Trinity Christian College at home on Saturday.
The win against Trinity Christian gave Saint Xavier a smooth 7-7-1 overall record and a 5-2-1 mark in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference.
The CCSJ match did not appear to be an offensive masterpiece on the surface, but while the volume of shots was not there, the efficiency was.
Saint Xavier finished with nine shots, five of which were on goal. The CCSJ Crimson Wave answered with 10 shots, but only four were on net.
Senior goalkeeper AJ Pfatschbacher made good on the few stops he had to make, earning his third shutout of the season. His fourth would come later in the game against Trinity Christian.
Sophomore midfielder Kamil Szczesniak got the scoring started with a goal in the 39th minute off a feed from senior Xavier Corona.
The Cougars’ team points leader, junior forward Marco Gutierrez, tallied in the 50th minute on an assist from senior midfielder Brandon Simoes.
The Cougars’ scoring came to an end in the 76th minute, when senior Tom Lojek buried one past opposing keeper Johnathan Brenner to seal the victory at 3-nil.
It looked for a while that the Trinity Christian game might be quite similar to the game against the Crimson wave, with the Cougars scoring only once in the first half of play.
The second half played out much differently, though, and the Cougars struck for five goals in the final period.
Senior defenseman Rene Leon had a great game on the attack. He got the scoring started for Saint Xavier with his header off a corner kick that junior midfielder Erik Ramirez took.
Leon struck again early in the second half with his second goal of the game and the season. This time, Gutierrez got the assist on Leon’s header goal.
After Leon’s second goal, the pitch really opened up for the Saint Xavier attack.
Junior defenseman Peter London got in on the offensive act with an unassisted goal off a rebound that followed a blocked shot in the 51st minute.
Gutierrez added to his team-leading point total with his previous assist and back-to-back goals in the 59th and 71st minute. Gutierrez’s first goal came via an assist from Ramirez.
The second Gutierrez goal came on a corner kick from Simoes, who got the ball to sophomore defender Erik Diaz. Diaz got the ball to Gutierrez in front of the net, and the forward scored his seventh goal of the season.
Gutierrez now has 18 points. The next closest Cougar, freshman midfielder Ricardo Aldape, earned his 13th and 14th points on an 87th-minute goal that extended the lead to 6-0. Aldape’s goal was unassisted from about 15 yards away from the goal.
The Cougar offense proved too much to handle for the Trolls. Saint Xavier finished with 19 shots. Fourteen of those shots were on target.
Though the attack of Saint Xavier was clearly the story, the marking was also outstanding.
The Cougars allowed just eight total shots. Only three of those were directed toward Pfatschbacher, and he was able to make the stop on each one. Freshman keeper Frank Valle played the final 17 minutes in net and did not need to make a single save.
Saint Xavier is trending in the right direction as the CCAC tournament approaches rapidly.
The Cougars play tonight at Deaton Memorial Field at 7 p.m. They then have some time off before traveling to Roosevelt University on Nov. 1 and hosting Robert Morris University at 7 p.m. on Nov. 5 to close the regular season.
Tim Carroll
Senior Sports Editor
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