By Mr. Eddie Dwyer, Copyright Credit September 2016
FROM CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY'S KRENZLER FIELD - In what was a night of firsts for some of the program's younger players and two "own goals" by Saint Ignatius' outstanding Head Junior Varsity Coach and Varsity Assistant Jim Brennan '85, Saint Ignatius made all of the key adjustments in the second half.
The two-time defending and record seven-time State Champion Soccer Cats improved to 4-0, extended their winning streak to 20 matches and pushed their unbeaten streak to 40 consecutive matches.
The current winning streak began with Coach Mike McLaughlin's 'Cats winning their final 16 matches of the 2015 State and National Championship season and the unbeaten streak dates back to the State Championship fall of 2014.
The "own goals" for Coach Brennan on Thursday are part of a Saint Ignatius tradition that started about 20 years ago, a tradition that says any goal that is accidently knocked in by the opponent is automatically credited to Coach Brennan.
Taking advantage of Saint Ignatius being too fast and frantic in its offensive possessions during most of the early going on Thursday night, Solon found itself trailing just 2-1 entering the second half.
Currently ranked second in the nation and No. 1 in the state and the region, the Soccer Cats took a 1-0 lead on an authoritative unassisted blast by reigning Ohio Player of the Year, All-American senior forward Steve Milhoan.
An Xavier University recruit, Steve now stands third on Saint Ignatius Soccer's all-time career goals list with 51. He surpassed Wildcats Hall of Famer David Maier '01, who had 50 career goals. Maier still holds Saint Ignatius' record for goals in a season with 45.
The Wildcats' career leader in goals is Pablo Aycenina with 76 (1998-2001).
The Comets of Coach Ryan Greenhill, who now stand 0-2-1 on the season, knotted the score at 1 on a goal by senior forward Jonathan Margheret with 17 minutes and 48 seconds remaining in first half.
While there is no doubting Margheret's hustle and effort, a Saint Ignatius turnover and its inability to get back on defense opened the offensive window for the Comets.
The Wildcats, who are seeking what would be a record third consecutive OHSAA State Soccer Championship this fall, held the 2-1 led at halftime thanks to senior midfielder Thomas Hogan's first Varsity goal and the first Varsity assist by freshman midfielder Matthew McLaughlin. Matt is a son of Coach McLaughlin '85.
"Slow the game down, slow it down," Milhoan yelled entering the halftime break.
Coach McLaughlin, one of the premier coaches in the nation, shared the same sentiment.
"The best team in the world can't win by playing at a pace of a million miles a minute," Coach McLaughlin said while addressing his team at halftime. "Offensively, the first half was frantic. It was not clean soccer. We want to be quick, but skillful."
The Soccer Cats got the message and then some as they came out and played like Ohio's best of the best in the second half.
First it was senior midfielder and Brown University bound Johne Vrablic going unassisted for a 3-1 lead. Then came the first of Coach Brennan's two "own goals," followed by a goal from freshman forward Everett Shorey off an assist from senior defense Tommy Patacca.
Senior midfielder Kevin Callanan made it a 6-1 game with an unassisted effort and, after the second Coach Brennan special, the 'Cats closed out the scoring on Matt McLaughlin's first Varsity goal, which came off the first Varsity assist from junior defense Alexander Rohr, and an unassisted goal by sophomore forward Kory Nekoloff. It was also Kory's first Varsity goal.
Matt McLaughlin's first Varsity goal was scored at the goal in the scoreboard end of Krenzler Field, right where his bothers were standing behind the goal. The McLaughlin family celebration was on!
Saint Ignatius outshot the Comets, 25-4, limiting Solon to just one shot on goal in the second half. Wildcats senior goalkeepers Lodge Dils and Max Heath each had one save.
"We're still learning who we are as a team," said Coach McLaughlin. "Hopefully the defensive part comes first and I think we've been defending well. But it's going to take time to sort out what we do offensively. And as we sorted it out tonight we were able to put a bunch of goals together, once we started to see who are the open players, started to relax and play at our pace, not their pace."
FROM STEVE MILHOAN: "We came out strong and got that early first goal and then they answered pretty well in a short amount of time. It threw some of our guys for a loop and we started playing right into their (Solon's) game. We just had to slow it down, and once we slowed it down the goals started coming. We listened to Coach, he told us to slow the ball down. It's a simple game, keep the ball on the floor and keep it rolling. I think we did just that in the second half."
COACH BRENNAN'S JUNIOR VARSITY A WILDCATS IMPROVE TO 5-0 BY DEFEATING THE JV COMETS, 4-0.
The JV Side took a 1-0 lead as the sun was resting on the press box side of Krenzler Field.
Freshman defense Gavan Richards did the first honors of the night off an assist from sophomore forward Kory Nekoloff.
Coach Brennan's model of consistency program made it 2-0 with 13:21 remaining in the first half, as sophomore midfield David Vrablic was money off an assist from sophomore forward Henry Curtis.
The young, but oh so promising JV A pushed its advantage to 3-0 on an unassisted goal from Curtis at 7:45 of the first half and freshman midfield Kyle Folds closed out the scoring with an unassisted effort in the second half.
Solon's Junior Varsity is now 0-2-2.
All three of the 'Cats' JV A goalkeepers, junior Ryan Mark, sophomore Cooper Ilg and freshman Peter Van Euwen, combined on the shutout.