ALTON – Since becoming IHSA-sanctioned in the Fall of 2022, the Maryville Christian High School boys soccer program has been on a constant incline, improving season over season.
This year has been no different, as the Lions improved to 13-8-1 after Wednesday’s 5-0 win over sixth-seeded Breese Central in the IHSA Class 1A Alton (Marquette) Regional semifinals played at Alton’s Public School Stadium.
The third-seeded Lions move on to Saturday’s regional final against the second-seeded Marquette Catholic Explorers, which will be at 11 a.m.
“Yeah. I would say so,” Lions’ head coach Jacob Jones said when asked if this is his team’s best season.
“We started off in the Christian Conference, which we had a lot of success in, but since moving to the IHSA, I’d say this is our most successful season. We’ve played some really good teams, had our first win over Marquette as a program.”
That win over Marquette was four years in the making.
The Explorers and Lions first played on September 24, 2021, before Maryville Christian was an IHSA participant, but it still played the local private schools like Marquette, Father McGivney, and Metro-East Lutheran.
The next season, Maryville Christian would join the IHSA and the Gateway Metro Conference, where it would play all those schools twice a year.
Marquette won the first seven meetings, but the Lions made school history by beating the Explorers 1-0 earlier this season on September 4.
Now they’ll meet again in the regional final on Saturday, which is exactly what Jones wanted.
“I want Marquette, we want Marquette,” he said. “We like playing tough competition. That’s what’s going to make us better, make this program grow. We look forward to playing them.”
Marquette beat eighth-seeded Trenton Wesclin 8-0 in the other semifinal.
“I think we have a really good chance,” Jones said regarding the upcoming game. “We beat them the first time at home, then they beat us 3-1 on their home turf.”
It didn’t take long for the Lions to grab the lead Wednesday night against Breese Central.
In an all-around unfortunate sequence in the fourth minute, Maryville Christian’s Judah Amsden collided with Central’s goalkeeper and was eventually given a yellow card for the challenge. Central’s goalie had to leave the game due to injury and never returned.
The Lions took advantage of this situation and scored 30 seconds after the restart.
Jonah Christian ran onto an inch-perfect over-the-top through pass and made it 1-0 early on. Oliver Witt doubled the lead in the 24th minute.
Central nearly got one back, but a chance from a corner kick ricocheted off the crossbar in the 32nd minute. The Lions would take a 2-0 lead into halftime.
Christian grabbed his second and the team’s third goal of the game in the 48th minute. Amsden found the back of the net in the 61st minute, and Maverick Mayes put the icing on the cake in the 75th minute.
It was Maryville Christian’s ninth shutout of the season.
No matter what happens on Saturday, the Lions will still finish with a second straight winning record as the team looks to continue building into the future.
