Saxony Lutheran opened its boys soccer season with a 4-2 victory over the St. Mary’s South Side Dragons.
The Crusader defense went to work early, clearing a heavy St. Mary’s attack which included a shot on goal in the first minute that was saved by goalkeeper Austin Fulford, a breakaway from St. Mary’s sophomore Chase Selby that ended up just offside, and a cleared corner in the third minute.
After the early defensive stand, Saxony forward Liem Nations, a sophomore from St. Vincent, found the back of the net for the Crusaders first goal of the season.
The defense was again tested when Fulford was caught out of the net in the 11th minute, a St. Mary’s strike on the empty net was cleared by Saxony’s Finley McQuay who had to change directions quickly and slide in front of the net to make the stop.
St. Mary’s controlled possession for most of the rest of the first half but could not find a score, despite five shots, three of which were off target and two were saved by Fulford.
With just under six minutes before halftime, Saxony senior Colton Cissell scored his first goal of the season to make the score 2-0 in favor of the Crusaders at the break.
Three minutes into the second half, the Dragons were able to cut the score in half with a goal from senior Jack Assani, seconds after Fulford saved a shot from sophomore Patrick McDaniel.
Despite giving up the goal, the Crusader defense was solid throughout the opening minutes of the first half, clearing several corners, including three in the span of two minutes, and blocking shot attempts to keep the lead at one while the Dragons continued to dominate the possession.
In the 48th minute, Nick Chambless gave the Crusaders some insurance with a goal, bringing the lead back to two goals at 3-1. Cissell followed with his second goal of the match to make the score 4-1with fifteen minutes remaining. All the while, the Saxony defense continued fighting off a hard charging and speedy St. Mary’s offense.
The Dragons were able to turn their offensive pressure into one more goal from freshman Sam Albin with 7 minutes remaining, but this would be the last chance the Dragons would get, as the defense played keep away for the closing minutes, clearing a few more long shots from the St. Mary’s strikers.
The 4-2 victory for Saxony was in sharp contrast to the 8-0 loss they suffered to the Dragons a year ago.
Assistant coach Garrett Fritsche, filling in for an out of town head coach Chris Crawford, praised his team for the preparation and hard work they put in to beat the tough opponent.
