With wins against both local and statewide competition, and now formally ranked No. 2 in the St. Louis area, the St. Louis U. High soccer team is now full steam ahead after defeating No. 3 Lindbergh, Springfield Glendale and St. Mary’s (rankings according to GSV). The team found strength through its defense in these games, which hasn’t allowed a goal in the past week.

Glendale

As the weather in St. Louis started to cool down, the SLUH soccer team started warming up. First up after their tough loss in penalties to Marquette was Glendale. A top team from Springfield, Missouri, the Jr. Bills had high hopes to use Glendale’s three-hour bus ride against them by wearing them out with stout defense. A fantastic four, the typical starting backline for SLUH has consisted of freshman Will Journagen and juniors Andrew Wolf, Carson Hall and Andrew Chalmers. Their lockdown defense combined with reliable play out of the back has been the grounding force for the Jr. Bill side so far this season.

Defense came into play early as the Jr. Bills had early trouble keeping possession of the ball, relying upon the aforementioned backline to take the ball back from Glendale.  Midfielders and forwards on both sides struggled to connect on long balls for fast breaks.

“Both teams were organized, which made it hard for us to break them down. High school soccer in general is kind of has a frantic pace regardless if you like it or not,” said head coach Bob O’Connell. “I think for most of that game, I don’t know if either team would have said that they possessed it a whole lot. I thought they were pretty dangerous trying to switch up their point of attack. Ultimately, we were able to collect so many of their balls because of our shape and when we got the ball, we went from there.”

Finally, as the Jr. Bills started to control the ball more, junior James Barry lobbed a ball over the top of the Glendale defense to junior Henry Sanders, who deftly put the ball past the keeper, who had come out of his den to challenge the play. With 30 minutes to spare in the first half, the Jr. Bills found this a crucial break from the monotonous play so far in the game.

The Jr. Bills’ backline held solidly until the last few minutes of the game, when Glendale cracked the Jr. Bill back four. Thankfully, sophomore goalkeeper Cole Chambers’ aggressive positioning outside of goal extinguished two fast break chances. 

With four minutes in the game, a Chambers attempt to clear a ball fell on the foot of a Glendale player. With no goalie in net, it looked like a sure goal for Glendale, but the 40-yard shot went several feet wide of the goal along with Glendale’s best chance of getting a draw. Nerves shaken, the Jr. Bill side became more possession conscious for the final minutes. Glendale didn’t have a single shot for the rest of the game, leaving SLUH with morale high and a significant 1-0 victory.

 

St. Mary’s

A challenging 1-0 win over Glendale left the Jr. Bills hungry for goals, and what better place to find treasure than a dragon’s den? A top team from the St. Louis area, and competing in Class Four, the Jr. Bills had a better reputation and standing than St. Mary’s, a Class One soccer team. 

However, from the opening whistle, St. Mary’s put up a fight. The Dragons took advantage of the Jr. Bills’ small stature, and  found that being aggressive and handsy was the best strategy to jump the skill gap between the two sides. 

Fighting a dragon is never easy, and SLUH struggled for the opening 15 minutes to break past St. Mary’s backline. With subs handy, O’Connell brought off almost the whole starting lineup in hopes of giving bench players a chance to prove themselves, and prove themselves they did.

Sixteen minutes in, a long pass from junior defender Adam Traschel to senior John Hasemeier gave the Jr. Bills some space in the middle of the field to work with. Hasemeier turned and fired a pass to senior Luke Ruyle who, after possessing the ball for mere seconds, slid it to senior Caleb Bircher, who seized the first goal of the day from the Dragons.

Once the  Jr. Bills had poked the Dragon, the goals to start spewing. Only a few minutes later, Hasemeier put a cross into the box that senior Max Tieber rolled back for freshman Grant Urban, who rocketed the ball into the back of the net. 

Seconds later, sophomore Javi Vigil made a run down the left side of the pitch and laid the ball back to the top of the eighteen for Sanders, who launched an absolute missile into the bottom right corner to give the Jr. Bills their biggest lead of the season: 3-0. 

The scoring didn’t stop there, as before half Vigil had a vision for his own goal and after receiving an impressive trivela pass from Sanders, beat a defender with his pace and put the goal past the keeper into the net.

“Sanders' leadership has helped organize the team against lesser teams when sometimes it’s difficult because you aren’t as focused thinking you're going to breeze by the teams,” said Wolf. “Those are the times when we really need to focus on how we play in order to get better and he has helped us keep that focus and organization.”

As goals started to come, St. Mary’s play became more aggressive to the point of becoming dangerous. Before the halftime whistle, they were issued their first of three yellow cards, much to the happiness of SLUH as they were tired of the rough play that had happened so far.

Goals in the second half from Tieber and sophomores Paddy Byrne and Luke Schuman sealed the game for the Jr. Bill side, as they took their biggest victory of the season by far, 7-0.

 

Lindbergh

Following the big win, the Jr. Bills faced their best opponent of the year so far, the Lindbergh Flyers. The Flyers, ranked third overall in the state, had recently beat the CBC Cadets 6-0 and weren’t worried about the Jr. Bills. However, SLUH came to play, showing off their young talent all game long. 

SLUH knew they would need to play a mostly defensive game in order to keep Lindbergh from running away with another brutal win. The Jr. Bills possessed the ball extremely well in the first half against such a strong team. Lindbergh has proven their status as one of the best teams in the state through their dominant offense. 

“Lindbergh was a strong team, likely one of the best that we will play this year. We kept our shape, moved the ball, and worked hard,” said senior captain Nicholas Hammond. 

The first half was full of opportunities from both teams. Lindbergh took their first shot in only the sixth minute which was soon followed by a near miss from junior James Barry. Barry took control of the wing, beating his defender for most of the game.

Despite questionable reffing and a yellow card for both the Jr. Bills and the Flyers, the first half ended 0-0. A last second free kick for SLUH from about 10 yards outside the box left them just out of reach of the first score of the game.

Entering the second half, both teams were hungry for a goal. SLUH came out dominating their side of the ball. Making runs and getting plenty of good looks at the goal, they seemed to be much more confident in possession. 

“Our defensive formation didn’t allow for many strong Lindbergh attacks, and the team collectively did a great job of keeping us in control of the game, especially throughout the second half,” said junior Andrew Chalmers. 

However, after even more controversy, including a yellow card for shooting the ball after the whistle and a called back goal, the game remained tied 0-0 at the end of regulation leading the Jr. Bills to their third overtime of the season in only their fifth game. 

 

“The Lindbergh game was definitely a tough matchup, but we outplayed them, especially in the second half. Our defensive formation didn’t allow for many strong Lindbergh attacks, and the team collectively did a great job of keeping us in control of the game,” said Chalmers.

Their overtime against Chaminade in the first game of the year ended with celebration and positivity, so the Jr. Bill hoped to finish the Flyers off in the same manner. Both the first and second ten minute halves of overtime, however, looked strikingly similar to the rest of the game. A few opportunities from both sides of the ball, somewhat scrappy play, and more questionable reffing led to a 0-0 tie at the end of overtime. 

This meant a second set of penalty kicks for the Jr. Bills in their last three games. Many players still struggling to overcome their most recent and only loss of the season against the Marquette Mustangs saw this as an opportunity for redemption. 

The Jr. Bills had the honor of taking the first penalty kick, which junior Andrew Wolf buried. After Lindbergh responded with a goal sophomore Luke Sherman struck the goalpost. Lindbergh followed with a goal to go up by one. 

Junior Henry Sanders, a varsity veteran, was up next. Feeling little pressure, he found the back of the net to keep the Jr. Bills in the game. Once again, however, Lindbergh followed with a goal. 

After a long game filled with some frustrating calls, Byrne also scored his PK, and then senior goalie Henry Neff made an amazing save to keep the shootout tied with only one to go. 

Taking the last PK for SLUH was Vigil, who has proved to be a dominant force for the Jr. Bills this year. Vigil was clutch under pressure, forcing the Flyers to respond, which they did. 

Forced into extra PKs, freshman Will Journagan took the sixth shot. Despite being a newbie to the program, Journagan found the back of the net like his teammates before him. Again, Neff made an amazing play on the ball to win the game for SLUH on the sixth PK after a scoreless game. 

“Neff had two amazing saves and nearly had a third,’ said Hammond. “I think we won because of him.”

“When I am in a PK I always try to psych the shooter out by moving side to side and acting kind of crazy. My old club coach taught me that at a young age. I saw number 9 open his hips so I thought he would probably go outside and I got a little lucky and guessed correctly. After the save it was just a bunch of emotion, I threw up the ball and rushed over to my teammates and celebrated a hard fought win. It was great to get that win because I didn’t even know I was going to play until day of. I also have trained with the other goalie on Lindbergh so it was a little bit extra special to get the win over him,” said Neff. 

 

Looking Ahead

Last night, the Jr. Bill side faced Webster, where they _______. This Saturday, the team plays against Kirkwood at home before starting play in the annual CBC tournament. In the tournament, the Jr. Bills face Vianney on Tuesday and CBC on Thursday.

“We obviously want to beat our conference opponents, but I think the messaging has always been this year and the last few years: how do you improve each week,” said O’Connell. “You get to play three quality teams who we know about historically. At the end of the day, did we do the little things and have the quality to beat quality teams. We’re just excited to see where we are at.”