St. Xavier eliminates Trinity, will face Collegiate in Seventh Region boys soccer final
For the ninth straight season, the St. Xavier High School soccer team will play for a Seventh Region championship.
The Tigers got goals from Max Newman, Henry Frank and Beckham Murrow and dominated rival Trinity, 3-0, on Tuesday night in a Seventh Region Tournament semifinal at Collegiate.
In a matchup of the state’s top two teams in the Maher Rankings — Trinity at No. 1 and St. X at No. 2 — the Tigers were the ones left standing in front of an estimated crowd of 3,000.
St. X (19-3-3) will face No. 4 Collegiate (18-2-2) in Thursday’s 7 p.m. final. The Tigers have a 4-4 record in the previous eight regional finals.
“The Seventh Region is like wading through a minefield,” St. X coach Andy Schulten said. “Anybody can beat anybody on a given night, and we respect that. I think we reach our best soccer … and hope to be peaking around the regional final.”
St. X and Trinity had played to a 2-2 tie during the regular season, but Tuesday’s rematch was a one-sided affair.
Newman’s goal in the sixth minute — deflecting off a Trinity defender — gave St. X a 1-0 lead.
“To be honest, I got kind of lucky,” Newman said. “I saw the ball bouncing in the box and stuck my foot out. Then I looked up and it was in.”
Schulten praised the play of Newman and fellow senior Liam Eisner.
“Second half, I couldn’t take them off the field,” Schulten said. “It wasn’t anything they did with their play. It was their organization. They made the right decisions all over the field. It was great.”
Frank’s goal came on a sensational shot at the 17:45 mark of the first half and gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Murrow’s goal on an assist from Stone Work made it 3-0 at the 28:38 mark of the second half.
St. X is 6-0-2 against Trinity in their last eight meetings, including four in the Seventh Region Tournament. The Shamrocks haven’t defeated the Tigers since 2018.
On Thursday, St. X will attempt to beat Collegiate for the third time this season. The Tigers beat the Titans 3-2 in last week’s 26th District final.
“It’s really difficult to beat a quality team three times in a year,” Schulten said. "It seems like every one of our matches against Collegiate comes down to the final minute. … It’s a loser-leave-town match, so I’m expecting it to be awesome.”
Collegiate 3, Ballard 0
Nick Harshaw didn’t add to his eye-popping assists total Tuesday night, but the Collegiate senior had a helping hand in getting the Titans on the scoreboard first in their Seventh Region semifinal.
After Quentin Owen earned the Titans a penalty kick by getting fouled in the box, most everyone expected Harshaw to take the kick.
But Harshaw gave way to sophomore Thomas Weinrich.
“I was walking up, and (Harshaw) was like, ‘You want to take it?’” Weinrich said. “I was like, ‘(Heck), yeah.’ There’s no reason I wouldn’t. Just stepped up and slotted it away.”
Weinrich’s goal with 33:31 left in the second half gave the host Titans a 1-0 lead on their way to a 3-0 victory over Ballard.
Collegiate is seeking its first regional title since 2019 and has a big chance behind a pair of senior leaders in Harshaw and Jafet Figueroa and junior goalkeeper Crew Hartlage.
Harshaw ranks second in the state with 27 assists.
“I’ve said all along that Nick Harshaw is the most unselfish player I’ve been around,” Titans coach Chad Wozniak said. “Letting Thomas step up and take that penalty kick just shows that this is a very unselfish team. When we play that way, we’re hard to beat.”
Figueroa scored off a rebound with 5:49 remaining to give Collegiate a 2-0 lead, and Weinrich scored his second goal of the match with 12 seconds left.
“I thought in the second half we played our style and had more of the run of play,” Wozniak said. “But the first 15 minutes of the game we were on our heels. Credit to Ballard for that. … We knew this was going to be a battle.”
No. 22 Ballard finished 11-6-5.
More high school soccer: Sacred Heart, Assumption to play for Seventh Region girls title
Reach Jason Frakes at jfrakes@courier-journal.com and follow him on X @kyhighs.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: St. Xavier beats Trinity, reaches 7th Region title match 9th time in row
