Courtesy of Saint Ignatius' outstanding Assistant Coach Joe Popelka '84 and posted by Mr. Eddie Dwyer

From Coach Popelka: Both JV squads played to 1-1 ties.

The Varsity side though was able to bring home a 3-0 victory over the Liberty Patriots, improving now to 8-0-1.  On another sun-drenched fall afternoon, the Cats traveled to meet the always solid Patriots, the school that we played in both the 2011 and then 2014 State Championship seasons.

The Wildcats struck in the 9th minute when senior Stephen Milhoan delivered his tenth goal of the season with a 30m strike on a free kick. Later in the half, in what has become a positive trend over the last couple of matches, senior Thomas Hogan once again provided a spark off the bench as he tallied his sixth goal of the campaign in the 24th minute. Milhoan started the action by driving a low shot that the Liberty keeper was not able to handle. The alert Hogan narrowly beat the keeper and another defender to the rebound at the penalty spot and found the back of the net. The Cats led 2-0 at halftime and limited the Patriots to just one shot for the half.

The Patriots came out after halftime in a new formation and with renewed energy, and grabbed a bit of the momentum away from the Wildcats. Yet, senior keeper Lodge Dils, in his 30th career start, kept a clean sheet aided by the steady back four defenders, Tommy Patacca, Patrick Strauss, Adam Haas, and Matt Trickett.

The Cats added one more goal in the 77th minute when freshman Everett Shorey hit a shot that once again was parried away by the Liberty keeper.  Unfortunately for the Patriot faithful the ball bounced to Milhoan who drove the ball home for his second tally of the afternoon.  Milhoan's goal also was the 60th of his career.

For the match St. Ignatius took 25 shots to the Patriots' 8.  Dils made two saves to the 11 saves by the Liberty keeper.

The Cats will play again on Friday night at Wasmer Field (7 PM)  against traditional national power Junior Billikens of St. Louis University High.