The St. John’s Jesuit soccer team scored a win for the ages Wednesday night.
The Titans beat Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 4-3 in a shootout in the Catholic High School League’s Bishop Championship game, doing so while playing with eight players on the field for nearly 70 minutes of game time due to three red cards.
Let’s revisit how they did it, courtesy of Michigan Soccer Network.
Great chances
The game almost did not reach a shootout. With less than two minutes left in regulation, in all-out-attack mode, St. Mary’s had a short shot hit the crossbar and bounce out.
St. John’s Jesuit, despite being three players down, was still able to generate a few chances, nearly scoring in double overtime from 45 yards out on a free kick, which would’ve been its second long-distance goal of the matchup.
First shootout
After neither team scored in double overtime, the game went to its first shootout, which St. John’s could be seen celebrating after surviving the three-player disadvantage. Eddie Heywood, Tiernan Loisel, Luis Pino Jr., and Quinn Wiklendt each scored for St. John’s.
St. Mary’s had a chance to secure the victory and avoid its third loss of the season, but team leading scorer Gabe Richer’s attempt hit the crossbar of the football goalpost above the soccer crossbar.
Watch the full first shootout here:
Sudden death shootout
The game went to a sudden death shootout. If the first team to kick scores, the opponent has to answer to keep the game going.
St. John’s got the first attempt again. Abed Taleb stutter stepped and booted it just under the crossbar, followed with an emphatic pump.
For the win
An all-time classic of a game came down to one kick.
Sam Karrick of St. Mary’s, also the football team’s kicker, sent a waist-high shot toward the right post. St. John’s goalkeeper Benjamin Zetocha, who suffered a leg cramp earlier in the second overtime, made a diving save with his left hand, and the celebration with the St. John’s student section began.
Whew.
“I’m so proud of our kids,” St. John’s coach Claudio Cabrera said after the match. “They deserve this win, and the way that his happened is the cherry on top of the cake.”
First Published October 5, 2023, 5:03 p.m.
