St. Xavier goalkeeper Clayton Allen can’t get to the ball but it goes wide right. Watching it is Collegiate forward Nick Zanchi.
22 October 2016
For the first 18 or so minutes Saturday afternoon at Br. Thomas More Stadium, the second-ranked Collegiate Titans and the fifth-ranked St. Xavier Tigers were locked in a shotless, scoreless defensive struggle.
And in the blink of an eye — or a few blinks, because it took just 52 seconds — a pair of bench players the highest-scoring team in the history of boys prep soccer in Kentucky flexed its offensive muscles.
Reserve freshman forward Cal LeDoux and backup senior attacker Nick Zanchi scored on consecutive shots in the 20th minute to send the Titans past the Tigers, 2-1 for the championship of the Seventh Region Tournament.
“That’s a huge advantage and a huge momentum swing,” said Collegiate coach Nick Wozniak. “Speaking for St. X, when you get one goal scored against you, it’s defeating. But when we were able to knock another one in within a minute, it’s such a blow.”
LeDoux’s goal, his 12th of the year, came with 20:55 left in the first half when St. Xavier’s goalkeeper misplayed a grounded pass intended for one of his defenders. LeDoux intercepted the pass and scored easily into the unmanned net.
“Score. Just put it in the back of the net,” LeDoux said of his newfound fortune.
St. Xavier had another goalie misplay in the 32nd minute, but the Titans couldn’t get a shot off.
Before the Tigers (15-5-5) could even regroup after LeDoux’s heads-up play, the Titans (23-1-1) struck again. A defensive breakdown and immediate Collegiate counterattack ended with Titans junior Absher Abdi crossing the ball to Zanchi, who tucked away his 15th goal of the year.
“We commited the cardinal sin of turning one mistake into two,” said Tigers coach Andy Schulten. “It was just two deep of a hole for us to get out of.”
LeDoux’s and Zanchi’s goals were the Titans’ 156th and 157th of the season, 12 more than the state’s previous team single-season scoring record set in 2007 — coincidentally set by none other than St. Xavier.
Abdi’s assist, his 10th of the year and Collegiate’s 95th of the season, allowed the Titans to tie Danville’s 1995 squad for second on the KHSAA’s single-season team assists list.
“I just did what I’m taught to do in training. I passed the ball to the midfielder, they get it back to me and I just cross it in like I’m told,” Abdi said. “Take one touch and hope that somebody’s in there and get it to whoever’s in there so they can score and do their thing.”
St. Xavier, the winningest boys soccer program in state history, didn’t take its first shot until the 56th minute. That one was high, but the Tigers had two more attempts in the next 10 minutes which were either saved or collected.
Even though the Tigers had been frustrated by the Titans’ defense, Schulten kept imploring his team to believe.
“I told the boys at halftime that if you don’t believe that something magical can happen, then you don’t need to be out on that field,” Schulten said. “Those boys, they gave me everything that they could.”
After watching the Titans come up with some magic in the first half, the Tigers conjured up their own in the second. Bennett Moorman scored on a penalty kick in the final two minutes to give St. Xavier some much-needed life.
“When we were able to sneak one in there in the last minute, I thought that this was going to be one of those classic things that we’re going to remember forever, but it just wasn’t meant to be,” Schulten said.
Saturday put an end to one of the metro area’s most-intense rivalries this season. The visiting Tigers handed the Titans their only previous loss on Aug. 18, 3-1 before the Titans turned the tables, 2-0 in the 26th District Tournament championship Oct. 13 at Male.
Jackson Geer, Evan Konnermann, Exra Sanford and Cameron Wheeler were the Titans’ four All-Tournament Team selections, while Trent Ennenbach, Andrew Klem and Lucas Mudd earned the honors for St. Xavier. Also making the team were Asher Benge and Noah Wilcox of Christian Academy, Cameron Smith and Tanner Stevens of Trinity, Giovanni Arena of Atherton, Dylan Barth of Manual, Lukas Derrico of St. Francis and Zab Justiano of Ballard.
The Titans, who upset top-ranked Trinity in the region semifinals, are slated to host the Sixth Region champion at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the first round of the KHSAA Boys Soccer State Tournament. The Butler Bears played the Southern Trojans later Saturday for the Sixth Region’s state tournament bid.
“We want to win the big one,” Wozniak said. “The All ‘A’ was beautiful, and this region, I said the other day is murders’ row and it truly is. You have four of the top six teams in the state and just to get through this region is challenging to say the least. We’ve done that, but we’ve got a goal.
Tuesday will be the the Titans’ first home game in over a month and first in 13 games since a 5-1 victory Sept. 17 over another State-bound team in North Hardin. But it might not be a true home game for Collegiate, which doesn’t have lights and state tournament opening-round games are mandated to kick off at 7 p.m. When the Titans last appeared in the state tournament, in 2011, they played 5th Region champion Central Hardin at the nearby Assumption Green.
Regardless of where Tuesday’s game gets played, the Titans hope there are three more games and two more weeks on the pitch.
“We want to win the state title and we’re trying to put ourselves on the map nationally as well and let everyone know that we’re here to stay,” Wozniak said. “It’s been a fun ride and we don’t want it to end.”