The St. Louis U. High soccer team traveled down to their bitter rivals at De Smet Jesuit High School this past Thursday. Following an intense leadup to their match, the Jr. Bills narrowly lost to the Spartans 2-1, adding their second loss to De Smet out of the four losses of the season so far. Then on Saturday, SLUH looked to gain positive momentum heading into districts with a statement win over an MICDS team with a poor record. 

De Smet had a packed home crowd as it was their last home game of the season. SLUH’s crowd also did not disappoint as many faithful students made the journey to watch their brothers in battle. The game was a complete chess match as both teams struggled to make progress on offense. Frustration started to build up from both sides, and players started to get chippy. Both teams complained to the officiating crew that not enough was being called and that more cards needed to be given out before someone got hurt, but these complaints seemed unnoticed as players continued to push the limits on what would earn them a booking. 

With four minutes left in a scoreless game, senior captain Lucas Hammond had one of the Jr. Bills’ best chances of the game as he took a free kick from just outside the box which sailed just over the crossbar. Then a minute later De Smet won the ball in their own box and went coast to coast and to score the first and only goal of the game off of a back post header with a mere two minutes left in the game. The Jr. Bills fell to 17-4, with two of their four losses coming to their Jesuit rival. 

“If we play (De Smet) in the playoffs we will be more than ready for them,” said senior captain Kevin Cooney. “Both times we played them we gave them easy chances and that won’t happen again.” 

The game started slow as the Jr. Bills looked sloppier than usual and struggled to complete passes. Then to make matters worse, MICDS took a shocking lead following a corner kick. However, this goal may have provoked the Jr. Bills as just two minutes later they finally got their first goal of the game thanks to a powerful finish from junior captain Grant Locker following an effective run and cross from freshman Henry Sanders to tie things up. 

However, once the game was tied, the Jr. Bills once again struggled to attack and break down the deep MICDS defense. In response, the Jr. Bills moved junior captain Christian Thro from his normal center back position up into the midfield and further moved a midfielder into the attack to put more pressure on the Rams. With just a minute left in the half, senior Jack Hulett received the ball on the back post and put the Jr. Bills up one heading into half with a calm finish past the Rams’ goalkeeper.

“It was a great relief to score that goal against MICDS,” said Hulett. “The game was closer than it should’ve been and the goal was an energy boost to keep the team on track.” 

Though the Jr. Bills had the lead at half, they were certainly unsatisfied and were looking for a more dominant second half performance. Just six minutes into the second half, Johns Hopkins commit Hammond put the Jr. Bills up two with a forceful volley. Even with an early second half goal and a two-goal lead, the Jr. Bills still looked sloppy to their standards. 

With 27 minutes to play MICDS made things interesting as they scored a header following a free kick to make it a one-goal game. Now, the objective of the game turned away from getting a dominant win to simply getting the win. While the Jr. Bills did hang on for the 3-2 win, their performance created many worries with districts just around the corner. 

“We had a bad warmup, and it resulted in sluggish play on the field,” said senior Davis Ragan. “We weren’t concentrated on set pieces and gave up easy goals. We had the talent to beat them in a much more favorable manner.” 

The Jr. Bills will take on Hazelwood Central at Chaminade on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 3:30 p.m. for their first game of districts. 

“We’re excited to see how far we can go, practice has been very intense and energetic heading into the weekend. Everyone is looking to step up now and especially focusing on our fitness and our finishing in the final third,” said Ragan.