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Wildcats slow those Mustangs down!

By Eddie Dwyer, 08/30/12, 12:00AM EDT

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Saint Ignatius remains unbeaten by defeating Strongsville, 4-1, in the area's soccer headliner on Thursday night.

Nate Fahey starts and finishes the offensive output, Colin Cleary and Alec Nagucki also provide key goals and the support from the Student Body and their sign-carrying friends was outstanding.

By Eddie Dwyer, Copyright August/September 2012

Strongsville, Ohio - Wearing a smile almost as bright as the late August moon that watched over Foltz Field on Thursday night, Saint Ignatius junior midfielder Colin Cleary talked about how the Wildcats were able to overcome the momentum the Strongsville Mustangs had established late in the first half.

"We passed and possessed the ball more, and good things happened for the offense," said Cleary after Saint Ignatius turned back the Mustangs, 4-1, in what was a matchup of the No. 1 (the Wildcats) and No. 3 teams in the area coaches poll.

Sounds pretty basic, doesn't it?

Well, don't try telling that to Strongsville's highly successful veteran coach Tobey Cook or, for that matter, any coach in Ohio whose program has faced Saint Ignatius recently.

When it comes to controlling time of possession and thus wearing down an opponent, mentally and physically, no team in the state does it better than Saint Ignatius. And the numbers support that statement.

The Wildcats, winners of a record five Division I state soccer championships, including back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011, have not lost a game to a team from Ohio since the 2009 big-school state championship game (1-0 shootout to Gahanna Lincoln). With Thursday night's victory, Coach Mike McLaughlin's program improved to 5-0-0, extended its winning streak to 22 consecutive matches and has now won 50 of its past 51 matches.

"We started strong against a club that we could see in the state tournament," said Coach McLaughlin '85 of Coach Cook's Mustangs. "But we left a lot of other opportunties on the table in the first half, and you can't do that against a team of their caliber. They adjusted defensively and made it difficult for us to get through, but we did it."

Playing what assistant coach Joe Popelka '84 described as the strongest first 20 minutes of the young season, Saint Ignatius took a 1-0 lead on a goal by standout senior forward and co-captain Nate Fahey with 28 minutes and 24 seconds remaining in the first half. Savvy senior defender Jacob Roth assisted on what was the first of Nate's two goals on Thursday night.

With the matchup less than four minutes old there was a significant delay. Wildcats promising sophomore defender David Sisson went hard to the ground and suffered what was reported as a possible break or fracture in one of his forearms. The Strongsville medical staff did an outstanding job treating David and he was carted from the field to the parking lot where he met his mom.

With Saint Ignatius' defense keeping the Mustangs under control, Cleary came to the fore by scoring what he said was his first varsity career goal. Cleary also credited the smooth over-the-top pass from senior co-captain, midfielder and Bowling Green State University recruit Ty Sanda, who assisted on the goal that pushed the Wildcats' lead to 2-0 with 13:20 to go in the first half.

Strongsville, which lost for the first time in four outings this season, got itself and its faithful back in the game by scoring with 1:09 left in the first 40 minutes. Senior midfielder Andres Waag did the honors for the Mustangs by powering home a rebound. Cleary said he was impressed with the play of Strongsville's midfielders and added that Waag is an old friend of his.

Determined to recapture the control they had in the first 20 minutes and getting solid play in goal by gifted sophomore Mikal Outcalt, a Strongville resident who finished with six impressive saves, the Wildcats closed the show in the final five minutes.

Hard-nosed junior midfielder Alec Nagucki scored off a penalty kick at the 4:55 mark and, with just 6.2 seconds remaining, Fahey was money again. His second goal came off an assist from veteran midfielder Nick Taljan.

Up next for the Wildcats is a trip to Shaker Heights on Wednesday. The junior varsity game will be at 4 p.m., and the varsity match is scheduled for 6.

JV STANDS 4-1: Responding to Sunday's setback in the annual Jesuit Cup Tournament, the Wildcats' junior varsity rode goals by sophomore defender Matt Nigro and sophomore forward Nick Malik to a 2-0 victory over Strongsville's jayvees. Freshman midfielder Mitchell Ford, in what was a display of unselfishness and savvy, assisted on Malik's goal.