GLEN CARBON – Even homefield advantage couldn’t help the Father McGivney High School boys soccer team get past its postseason rivals Columbia.
The Griffins hosted the Eagles Saturday night in the IHSA Class 1A Glen Carbon Sectional championship and lost 2-0 thanks to a goal in each half from Columbia’s Chanse Frierdich.
The Eagles win their third straight sectional title while McGivney still searches for its first.
It was the fourth year in a row that Columbia ended McGivney’s season.
“Not something that we’re proud of,” McGivney head coach Brett Schubert said. “I know the boys are disheartened by this; especially having gotten them in the regular season. We had dreams of doing some big things tonight and we just ran into that roadblock that is Columbia.”
It was a rematch of last year’s sectional championship, one that Columbia rallied from a two-goal deficit to win 3-2 after overtime.
McGivney won this year’s regular season meeting with Columbia, the first time in program history, but couldn’t manage to pull the double in the postseason.
It was a cold and rainy Saturday night in Glen Carbon for the sectional championship.
But the Griffins didn’t seem phased by that. Neither did Columbia’s goalkeeper Eli Thebeau.
McGivney had two golden opportunities within the first six minutes of Saturday’s game, but Thebeau was there to answer the call.
Will Rakers had his shot saved in the fourth minute, and luckily the Columbia netminder held onto it because Owen Weisert was on the doorstep to clean up the potential rebound.
A couple of minutes later Weisert had a chance of his own thanks to a well-placed through ball from Graham Baker. His left-footed shot was saved out for a corner. A headed attempt from the ensuing corner went just high as McGivney was left scratching its head wondering how it didn’t find the back of the net.
“What a game by their keeper, huh? First 10 minutes, that’s what we wanted to do, come out flying. We had our opportunities, some good shots, but man, some even better saves by their goalie,” Schubert said. “I think if we get one of those, it’s a complete different game. And the ball just didn’t go our way.”
McGivney owned the first 20 minutes of the game but had nothing to show for it.
Instead, against the run of play, Columbia would score first in the 22nd minute.
On a dangerous counterattack, Luke Dewilde found Frierdich who hit a left-footed shot into the upper right corner, leaving McGivney keeper Patrick Gierer with not much opportunity for a save.
The Eagles nearly doubled the lead in the 36th minute from a long throw in, but Gierer came up with a great double save to keep it a one-goal game heading into halftime.
About 25 minutes into the second half, Dewilde drilled the post from around 25 yards out.
As the game remained close and the rain began to subside, it got more physical. Meeting for the fourth straight postseason, these teams aren’t fond of each other.
The game relatively kept its cool, however. Nothing phased the Eagles, who are trying to make it back to the state tournament for the third straight year.
They kept things rolling when Frierdich grabbed his second of the game in the 77th minute with an outside of the boot shot that stunned Gierer to make it 2-0.
Schubert gave credit to Columbia but knew his side should’ve found the back of the net.
“But that’s how it goes sometimes on these wet nights,” he said. “All it takes is one opportunity, one shot, one goal. That’s something we were trying, hoping we would have our conversion rate better so that we wouldn’t be behind the eight ball, and anytime we get those opportunities against a good team like Columbia, you have to take them.”
It was the fifth time this season McGivney had been shutout. The Griffins’ campaign ends at 21-5-1, it’s most successful season to date.
The Eagles improve to 21-5-3.
They will play Rochester (12-9-1) on Monday, November 3, in the Raymond Lincolnwood Super-Sectional at 5 p.m.
The Rockets started the first half of their season rather slowly, getting off to a 4-9-1 start, but they’ve since won eight straight.
MaxPreps has Rochester ranked at No. 8 in IHSA Class 1A.
McGivney was the top-ranked team in Class 1A while Columbia was second.
