Irish snap Cardinals’ streak

October 19, 2016 at 12:05a.m.

STRUTHERS

Ursuline senior goalkeeper Bryce Blazek was in first grade the last time the Irish boys soccer team defeated Cardinal Mooney.

Tuesday at the Simon Soccer Complex, Blazek played a big role in Ursuline’s 3-0 victory over the Cardinals in the Division II playoffs, their first victory over their archrivals since 2005.

“I was just waiting for the clock to count down,” said Blazek, adding that snapping the streak is “huge. It’s wonderful.

“You don’t [normally] get to see that many people come out to this sport,” Blazek said of the crowd support. “You get a nice rush, you get a tingle in the back of your head, you feel like the [football, baseball and basketball players]. It’s really nice.”

In their regular-season game, the Irish scored first then watched the Cardinals storm back for a 3-1 victory. This time, the Irish pounced for two goals in the first 15 minutes then added another early in the second half.

“They started fast, they caught us off-guard,” Mooney coach Thomas Beck said. “As many chances as we created [late], it’s finishing that matters. If you don’t put the ball in the back of the net, you’re not going to win.

Seven minutes into the game, Brendan Faloon used his head to knock a rebound off Mooney goalkeeper Brian Sharp into the net. Patrick Conway took the initial shot.

“I usually miss when it goes off my foot, it goes over the net — they call it ‘a Faloon,’” said the senior forward, calling the victory “the greatest accomplishment we could have, especially in the playoffs.

“Hopefully we keep this run going.”

Conway said he was aware that Faloon was in the middle awaiting a chance. “Brendan always makes great runs down the middle,” Conway said. “I knew he would be there.”

Eight minutes later, Nick Beike scored an unassisted goal for a 2-0 lead. He estimated he was about 22 yards from the goal.

“I looked at the wall and saw I could put it around it,” Beike said. Three minutes into the second half, Conway scored on a breakaway set up by Guy Kaho. “[Guy] always plays that kind of pass,” Conway said. “Sometimes it works out in the best way possible.

Down three goals, the Cardinals (3-12-2) surged to dominate play in the final 30 minutes.

Blazek recorded four saves, according to Ursuline head coach Roy Schmidt.

“He had four good, quality saves,” Schmidt said. “I don’t count the punch-outs [as] saves. They’re brilliant work but basically it’s called doing your job.”

The biggest save Blazek made came with about 20 minutes remaining in the game as Mooney’s Patrick Brennan fired a shot from about a dozen feet away. Blazek used both hands to secure the hard shot.

“Bryce has worked real hard, hand-speed has been wonderful,” Schmidt said. ”Bryce came out a little bit and cut off the angle well.”

Schmidt said the Irish (6-8-1) are as healthy as they have been all season. They’ll play at Hubbard on Saturday.

The Cardinals had eight seniors playing their final game: Brennan, Justin Parkins, Christopher Perry, Ben Trgovcich, Kyle Jones, Nick Blasko, Andrew Engartner and Jim Brown.

“I told these guys on Senior Night that I was blessed to come in [as head coach] with this group of seniors,” Beck said. “They exemplify the values and the qualities that the Mooney soccer program is about.

“They are great leaders.”