Mishawaka Marian boys soccer repeats as semistate champion with 3-0 win over Leo
CHESTERTON — Soccer can be a funny game sometimes.
One minute, Leo looks like it’s going to tie the game.
The next minute, Mishawaka Marian is celebrating a goal at the other end of the field, taking a 2-0 lead with a spot in the Class 2A state championship game on the line.
With Knights goalkeeper Noah Balyeat out of position, Leo junior Joel Dillingham seemingly had a wide open net. At the last second, though, Marian defenseman JJ Oliver moved in the way, getting his foot on Dillingham’s shot attempt with 31:30 to go in the second half.
Less than a minute later, the Knights were on the counterattack, with freshman Manuel Ramirez burying a shot to put his team up, 2-0, with 30:40 showing on the game clock.
Marian would add another goal late to finish off a 3-0 win of Leo, giving the Knights back-to-back Class 2A Semistate championships. They will play Evansville Memorial in the state title game next week after Memorial knocked off Brebeuf Jesuit, 2-1, in the southern semistate game Saturday.
“Sometimes, in soccer, you can get crazy momentum changes,” Marian coach Ben Householter said. “I know when we played Northridge, we had a goal called back, and two minutes later they came back and scored on us. It’s just strange, but we knew if we could get (our passes) wide, we’d have a shot to score on them.”
More boys soccer from Saturday: Bethany Christian is state bound for the first time
Saturday night’s game played out similar to the regional final for Marian (19-2). Just like against West Lafayette last week, the Knights were playing into the wind in the first half.
They also finished the half ahead, just like they did in the 2-1 win over the Red Devils. This time, it was a 1-0 advantage for the Knights, as Lions goalkeeper Isaac Smith was aggressive on a play, coming far out of his net. He misplayed the ball, which allowed Marian senior Reid Gillis to take aim at the open goal.
From about 30 yards out, Gillis floated a shot just below the crossbar and into the back of the net to put Marian up, 1-0, with 26:55 remaining in the first half.
The other Leo-Marian game from Saturday: Knights fall to Lions in girls 2A Semistate title game
“To get that one against the wind — I got to admit, I thought it was going to go over, but I was happy it went in,” Householter said. “Leo then had to start playing the long ball. I knew if we could get out of the half with the 1-0 lead and then have the wind, it was going to be a lot more difficult for them to play those long balls.”
Marian capitalized on Leo’s aggressive nature again for its final tally, with senior Michael Boepple breaking free and scoring with 6:37 to go in the contest.
What does the semistate win mean to Householter?
“It means we’re going up,” quipped Householter, referencing his team will move up to Class 3A next year given its back-to-back semistate titles. “But yeah, it feels very good. These guys have worked so hard all week. I’m so happy for them. They’ve had a goal all year, and one of them was to get back to here. It’s not easy. It’s never easy to win a semistate.”
For senior Marco Aguilar, its validation for the hard work the Knights have put in since last year’s state finals loss to Brebeuf Jesuit.
“It’s unexplainable,” Aguilar said. “We’ve been working for this for the past, I don’t even know how long. Since the summer, we’ve been saying, ‘We got to go back, we’ve got to finish what we started.’ Last year didn’t end the right way or the way we wanted it to end. We were certain and we were sure that we would come back harder this year. We have to take back what we lost last year.”
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Mishawaka Marian boys soccer repeats at semistate with win over Leo
