A GREAT START TO A NEW SEASON AND A VARSITY CAREER.
MATT FOLDESY'S MEMORABLE NIGHT HIGHLIGHTS A DOMINANT PERFORMANCE BY COACH MIKE MCLAUGHLIN'S WILDCATS.
By Eddie Dwyer
Copyright, August 2010
As a full moon was making a glowing appearance near the Lorain Avenue goal in Wasmer Field on Wednesday night, Saint Ignatius' soccer team was putting the finishing touches on a performance of starlight proportions.
And no one shined brighter than Wildcats' junior forward Matt Foldesy.
Foldesy, playing in his first varsity high school game, scored four goals in helping Saint Ignatius to an 8-0 victory over University School in the season opener for both teams.
In putting together an impressive display of relentless defense and attacking, yet unselfish offense, the Wildcats showed everyone in attendance why they are again ranked among the nation's best, why ESPN Rise chose them as one of the Top 5 teams of the decade and why they continue to be a program that will make a serious run for state laurels every season.
“I didn't realize it was as strong as it is,” said a smiling Foldesy, referring to his left foot, which produced two of his goals. “I'm a right-footed player. Fifty-fifty, so not bad, not bad.”
Saint Ignatius head coach Mike McLaughlin '85 couldn't find anything bad about his team's opening-night effort, as the Wildcats ran, passed and defended their way to a 3-0 lead by halftime.
Junior defender Zach Martin got the offensive fire started by scoring off an impressive header with just six minutes and 14 seconds gone in the first half.
Controlling the field and the time of possession, Saint Ignatius made it 2-0 on Foldesy's first varsity goal at the 17:57 mark and, just 28 seconds later, sophomore forward Tyler Sanda tallied the 'Cats' third goal.
The first half also featured an outstanding save by junior goalkeeper Brendan Cash, who dove full extension to his left and, with one hand, knocked away a shot by University School's senior midfielder and captain Tom Poplar, who was coming full speed on a breakaway.
“Completely reaction,” said Cash. “He shot it and I figured I got to go for this, because I don't want to give up a goal in the first game. So I went all out and luckily I was able to get my hand on it. It wasn't as clean as I would have liked, but we'll take a save.”
It was Foldesy's show for most of the second half, as he came up with his second and third goals in a span of less than two minutes. After sophomore defender Nate Fahey made the score 6-0, Foldesy rocketed home number four with 25:46 remaining to be played.
Senior midfielder Phillip Buzzelli finished off the eight is great night by scoring with 14 seconds left.
“You have to play with an energy, an excitement and a passion,” said Coach McLaughlin, who has guided the Wildcats to three Division I state championships (2004, '05 and '08), a national championship in 2005 and a state runner-up finish last season. “We wanted to do that from the first moment of the game, and we did.
“We want to try to dominate teams, when we have the ball and we don't have the ball. And we did it for 80 minutes. And that's the first game of the season, so you hope it is going to be there and you hope that we can keep it tuned in like that for 80 minutes. Because we didn't do that in the preseason for 80 full minutes.”
And what did the coach think of Foldesy's dream night?
“We're going to set up and try to create things as a team and do things as a group,” Coach McLaughlin said. “But then when you get an individual who can do things special by himself, nothing matches tonight. That's a game changer, a difference maker. It was nice to see him out on the field.”
The Wildcats will now gear up for the annual Jesuit Cup Tournament, which will be played on Saturday and Sunday at Toldeo St. John's Jesuit High School.