JACOB ROTH, NATE FAHEY AND MATT FOLDESY LEAD THE WAY AS THE WILDCATS DEFEAT OLENTANGY LIBERTY, 4-2, AND NOW STAND ALONE IN OHIO WITH FIVE STATE SOCCER TITLES.
BY EDDIE DWYER, COPYRIGHT NOVEMBER 2011
COLUMBUS, OHIO - As he huddled with his team in front of the scoreboard end of Crew Stadium, Saint Ignatius head coach Mike McLaughlin '85 delivered a message that not only reflected on Friday night's dramatic and record-setting victory, but touched on something the Wildcats can carry with them the rest of their lives.
"Ten percent of life is what happens to you and 90 percent of life is how you handle what happens to you," said Coach McLaughlin, just moments after his gifted and resilient players rallied to a 4-2 victory over Powell Olentangy Liberty in the Division I state championship match of the 36th annual OHSAA Boys State Soccer Finals.
Saint Ignatius, playing with a fearless passion over the final 40 minutes, handled what happened to them in the early going on Friday night by displaying the credentials one associates with a nationally recognized program.
The Wildcats, who closed their challenging 2011 season and playoff run at 22-1, now hold a special place in the OHSAA record books as the only boys' soccer program in Ohio to win five state championships. They are also the only program to win all five of their titles in Division I, boys or girls. Saint Ignatius was making a record fourth consecutive appearance in the big-school title match.
"It was just all about how they feel inside," said Coach McLaughlin, who watched his team rally from a 2-1 halftime deficit in what was a 40-minute stretch that saw the Patriots from Olentangy Liberty control the tempo.
"This is kind of the way it has been for us all season, our games have been challenges," McLaughlin continued. "And to their testament, their credit, they solved the challenges. On a stage like this, in this stadium in front of a big crowd, there is a lot of pressure. But they found ways to bring it back. For some reason, we've been a second-half team all year and it held true again tonight."
Coach McLaughlin, who completed his 17th season as his alma mater's head coach, has now guided Saint Ignatius to five state championships in the past eight seasons. The Wildcats were also the best of the best in Ohio in 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2010 and won national titles in 2005 and 2010. McLaughlin has a career record of 287-39-33, a mark that includes a 76-12 success rate in the postseason.
"I feel like the luckiest coach on the earth to have worked with so many amazing kids," McLaughlin said, after Wildcats Athletic Director Rory Fitzpatrick '88 placed all five of the OHSAA state championship trophies in front of the team as they posed for a championship picture. "I'm so proud to be part of such a great tradition with so many phenomenal human beings like my assistant coaches Jim Brennan '85 and Joe Popelka '84. It's amazing what those guys do, what we all do."
What the 2011 Wildcats did in the second half, said standout junior defender Jacob Roth, was clean up the their defensive play in the middle and apply the pressure that should have been there in the first 40 minutes.
The Patriots (16-3-3), who hadn't advanced out of district play until this season, jumped out to a 1-0 lead on an authoritative shot by junior forward Jared Robinson with the match not 10 minutes old. Twenty-two seconds later, Saint Ignatius responded with a goal by its outstanding senior midfielder/forward Matt Foldesy. It was Foldesy's 20th goal of the season.
A University of Akron recruit, Foldesy is one of only three Saint Ignatius soccer players to have more than 40 career goals and 30 career assists. He joins Al Musca and Coach Popelka.
Olentangy Liberty, playing with a lot of confidence in the first half, regained the lead on a goal by junior midfielder Sam DeRoy off a perfectly executed 2-on-1 at the 11:39 mark.
It stayed that way until the second half, when the Wildcats, behind their trademarks of pressure defense and possession domination, tied the score on a goal by unflappable junior midfielder Nate Fahey and settled the issue on two goals by Roth. Let it be said that Fahey and Roth closed out their rock-solid postseason play in style.
"It's unbelievable, nothing better," said Roth. "We had to nail it down for the seniors."
Fahey knotted the score off a crowd-pleasing goal less than three minutes into the second half.
"It was a great ball from Jake (Roth) and I had the right touch,' Fahey said. "I put the ball inside my foot like we're taught, and then, back post. There was nothing more the goalie could do. It was perfect."
Five minutes later, Roth made a quick reaction steal, passed to Foldesy and Foldesy returned the favor with a picture-perfect assist that resulted in Roth's first goal and Saint Ignatius' first lead.
With senior goalie Brendan Cash, who was pictured on the cover of this year's state-final program, leading the way, the Wildcats' defense locked down. Roth, responding to a deflection from a Foldesy corner kick, sent home the sealer with just over 13 minutes remaining.
"The beauty of the season is that you get kids chances to get out and play, and Jacob (Roth) hardly played much at all during the regular season," said Coach McLaughlin, whose program will enter the 2012 season on a 17-match winning streak and having won 45 of its past 46 matches. "He just kept working and he came up huge in the playoffs. He changed games for us in the back.
"And Nate (Fahey) has always been dangerous and explosive. The goals just weren't going in for him earlier in the season. But he just kept going and that was kind of our theme this year. We just kept going and going."
Fahey, who will be one of those players counted on to keep the tradition going next year, said the five state championships set the Wildcats apart.
"It's a huge thing," Fahey said. "The program has put in so much time over the years and we've been pushing for this all year. This team deserves it. We went out and battled every day and it feels great to be rewarded in such a special way."
*IN CLOSING, A BIG CONGRATULATIONS GO OUT TO COACH MCLAUGHLIN AND MATT FOLDESY, WHO HAVE BEEN SELECTED TO COMPETE IN THE FIRST ANNUAL HIGH ALL-STAR SOCCER GAME ON DEC. 10 IN BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA.