Holy Cross men’s soccer and Saint Mary’s soccer both continued their conference slates with a pair of games on Saturday and Tuesday. The Saints suffered a hard-fought defeat on the road against St. Ambrose before dominating Calumet at home. The Belles were handed their third straight conference loss by Adrian, but snapped that losing streak with a draw against Albion.
Saints split conference matches
Holy Cross has struggled to find consistency in Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference play throughout the season. That up-and-down play continued this week, as the Saints (5-7-3) split a pair of conference games to push their CCAC record to 3-3-2.On Saturday, they travelled to Davenport, Iowa, looking to get back in the winning column against St. Ambrose after having tied in their previous two outings. For most of the game, though, it looked like they might be on their way to a third consecutive draw.
The Saints opened up the scoring when junior forward Kevin Vidana found the back of the net off an assist from junior forward Isaac Filippo just five minutes after play began, but the Fighting Bees had an answer. St. Ambrose’s leading scorer, Zac Monnet, leveled the score in the 32nd minute with his third goal of the season.
That 1-1 score would hold until halftime, and through most of the second half as both defenses buckled down. However, the scoring drought would give way to a flurry of goals down the stretch. St. Ambrose took their first lead of the game in the 78th minute, but the Saints had a quick answer. Not done after scoring the team’s opening goal, Vidana assisted junior forward Juan Perez to make the score 2-2 with less than 10 minutes to play.
The match appeared headed for a draw, but the Fighting Bees’ Hayden Newton scored the game-winner with just 10 seconds remaining to earn a dramatic victory for St. Ambrose and leave the Saints with a painful defeat.
Despite the loss, Holy Cross was able to regroup quickly and played their most complete game of the season on Tuesday against another conference foe, Calumet. Just like against St. Ambrose, the Saints got on the board first, albeit much deeper into the match. In the final minute before halftime, Filippo assisted freshman midfielder Dominic Castillo’s first career goal to give Holy Cross the edge.
The Crimson Wave evened the score shortly after the break. But from that point on, it was all Saints. Three days after his late goal against St. Ambrose nearly secured a tie for Holy Cross, Perez scored again to break the tie against Calumet, with Filippo picking up his second assist of the day. Just three minutes later, Filippo would score one of his own with an assist from junior defender Martin Von Thun.
Perez’s second goal stretched the Holy Cross advantage to 4-1 in the 70th minute. After assisting Perez’s goal, sophomore forward Amos Gborie scored one shortly after to give the Saints some extra insurance, with Von Thun setting him up. When the final whistle blew, Holy Cross emerged with a 5-1 victory, winning with their largest scoring output and largest margin of victory of the season to date.
The Saints will look to build on the win when they host Saint Xavier in their final home game of the season on Saturday.
Belles earn first conference point against Albion
Following an impressive start to the season, Saint Mary’s took a bit of a step back as they began play in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The Belles (6-6-1, 0-3-1 MIAA) were held scoreless in their first two conference matches, and they were unable to snap that streak on the road against Adrian on Saturday.Saint Mary’s limited the Bulldogs’ scoring opportunities throughout the game, as Adrian managed just two shots on goal over the 90 minutes. However, they made good use of their chances, converting both of those shots into goals to win 2-0.
The Belles had the first chance to score midway through the first period, but senior defender Holly Skrip’s shot was saved to keep the match even. In the 36th minute, Adrian’s Rylea Mougrabi found the back of the net to put the Bulldogs ahead. Their lead was doubled shortly after halftime on a goal from Leah Homan.
Saint Mary’s junior midfielder Grace Barresi nearly answered soon after in the 58th minute, but her shot to the bottom left corner of the goal was saved. The Bulldogs were ultimately able to retain that two-goal advantage, winning their third straight conference game and posting their third straight shutout.
Entering Tuesday’s home matchup with Albion, the Belles were in dire need of a positive result to avoid starting conference play 0-4, and they got just that. The Britons were the aggressors in the game’s opening stages, taking a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute.
But unlike in their previous MIAA matches, Saint Mary’s had an answer. Freshman midfielder Margaret Slove launched a shot from outside the box that glanced off the right post and into the net, tying the score at 1-1. The goal was Slove’s 10th of the year and the Belles’ first in three games.
The game would remain level for more than 40 minutes before junior forward Izzi Linus scored an unassisted goal to put the Belles in front in the 69th minute. Their lead was short-lived, however, as Albion tied things up on a penalty kick less than two minutes later. Neither side could break through for a winner over the final 20 minutes, and the game ended in a 2-2 draw, a promising result for the Belles as they look to climb the conference standings during the final weeks of the regular season.
Saint Mary’s will be on the road for their next two games, facing Kalamazoo on Saturday and Olivet the following Wednesday.
