Merlo’s goal sails into net to beat DeSales

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Cardinal Mooney's Joe Merlo

The top-ranked team in Division II lost to Mooney, 1-0.

Vindicator staff report

STRUTHERS — Columbus St. Francis DeSales coach Domenic Romanelli said that even Spider-Man wouldn’t have been able to stop Joe Merlo’s goal that gave Cardinal Mooney’s boys soccer team a 1-0 victory Saturday night at Valley Sports.

Merlo collected a pass from Leo Hicks and hit his target with 18:22 remaining in the game against the state’s No. 1-ranked team in Div. II.

Mooney (11-2) was ranked No. 3 in Div. II. DeSales dropped to 11-3.

Initially, Hicks got the ball from Merlo, dribbled about 25-30 yards, then gave it back.

“He gave it to me, then ran to the back post,” said Hicks, a senior center-midfielder. “I heard him yelling and saw there was no one backside but him, so I just got it back to him.

“We wanted to come out hard and get the shutout. We’ve been ready for this game since the beginning of the week.”

Merlo said he momentarily thought about passing the ball off, but didn’t.

“He [Hicks] crossed it backside to me and I was looking to pass. But I wanted it really bad, so I put the shot up in the upper right ninety.”

The pass from Hicks took one bounce, then Merlo tapped it up with his thigh, then volleyed it in the upper right corner of the net past a sprawled-out Chris Weisgarber.

“Our entire team wanted this so bad,” said Merlo. “It was in our hearts tonight. We’re still undefeated at home after beating the No. 1 team in the state. We wondered how we could compete with the top teams.”

Coach Larry Lencyk said the victory was another all-around effort.

“We just thought they were getting a little bit tired, so we substituted,” he said. “We’re pretty deep so we were able to bring people off the bench.”

Hector Hernandez was one of those making a difference via substitution.

Hernandez, a senior whose roles include forward, attacking midfielder or defensive midfielder, said his job Saturday was not to let an opponent score.

“They were a great team,” said the hard-running Hernandez. “We were expecting them to come out hard. Since we scored, we couldn’t let them get back in our heads.”

Defender Robby Fox had his hands full.

“They were very tall and hard to beat in the air, but we stepped up a lot better than we had in the past few games,” he said. “They were fast and we needed to keep up. We were constantly on our toes and had no letdowns.”

To contend with such pressure, Fox said that heart made a difference.

“Once they started getting tired, we had to keep pushing and pushing and tire them out,” he said. “Then we finally found a mistake they made and got a goal.”

Romanelli, who was ejected for inappropriate language at 8:56, said the game had a tournament atmosphere.

“Anybody could have opened it up anytime,” said the DeSales coach. “That first goal was critical and it gave them a little bit of emotion. We probably played worse after we gave one up. Usually, it doesn’t work that way, but we lost to a great team and I’m sure we’ll see them back in Columbus in November.”

Adam Ellis got the start in goal, but Weisgarber, who only played the second half, usually starts.

“We had some personal issues, so Adam got the go-ahead tonight,” Romanelli said.

The Stallions’ previous two losses were to Upper Arlington and Worthington Kilbourne, both Div. I schools.