ALTON – The Althoff Catholic High School boys soccer team remained perfect in the Gateway Metro Conference after a convincing 4-1 win over the Marquette Catholic Explorers Thursday afternoon at Glazebrook Park.
Nate Pitre scored two top-tier goals, one of them coming relatively early on in just the ninth minute. He picked a pass off from the Marquette defense, beat a few defenders, and unleashed a left-footed shot to the side netting to make it 1-0.
Nash Johaningmeyer doubled the lead in the 22nd minute when he crashed the net, putting it away off of Marquette keeper Chase Kopp’s rebound.
Six minutes later, Pitre scored a goal of the season nominee. He let another left-footed shot go, this time from a bit farther out, that rocketed into the upper left corner of the goal, unstoppable for Kopp.
The score would be 3-0 headed into halftime.
“Obviously, a couple really good shots from Nate Pitre tonight. When shots like that go in, it makes the night easier,” Althoff head coach Skip Birdsong said.
“We knew Marquette would be a tough challenge for us, just like they were last time. Score ended up how it did, but the game itself was pretty even, back and forth.”
Luke Smith nearly ended up on the scoresheet a couple of times during the game. In the fourth minute, his right-footed curling free kick dinged off the crossbar and stayed out. Eight minutes into the second half, he put a header just high of the goal from a corner kick.
Marquette would claw a goal back thanks to Maicol Gonzalez in the 65th minute, but shortly after Johaningmeyer grabbed his second, the team’s fourth goal of the game, to get to the final of 4-1.
The Explorers have now lost nine straight to Althoff. Marquette last won on September 7, 2019, a 4-2 win.
Althoff won this season’s earlier meeting by a 4-2 scoreline, a game where Marquette head coach Brian Hoener thought his team gave a better effort.
“It’s kind of late in the season, and sometimes you get a stinker every once in a while from an effort standpoint,” he said. “But that’s a really good soccer team, and when you’re not at your best, they’ll make you pay for it, and we weren’t at our best.”
“First half, we weren’t very engaged,” Hoener said. “I didn’t think our work rate was great in the first half, and they definitely exposed that.”
The Crusaders definitely took it to Marquette with ample scoring opportunities in the first 10 minutes.
“Our work ethic in the first half was really good,” Birdsong said. “Proud of them for that. And we stayed in it in the second half, but the first was really good.”
Althoff has now won nine in a row, most of which are against some stiff competition.
The win streak started against GMC rivals Father McGivney (14-3-1), then Triad (8-4-1), then Columbia (13-5-2). The Crusaders then beat Marquette twice and two Southwestern Conference giants, O’Fallon and Belleville East, along the way.
Althoff is now 15-2-1 on the season and 5-0 in the GMC. Marquette slips to 11-6 and 3-5 in the conference.
