Photo by Jeff Harwell
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Calvert Hall’s soccer team has a 7-hour bus ride home Saturday, but will be making that trip gleefully, as the Cardinals defeated Cleveland St. Ignatius (Ohio) 4-2 Saturday afternoon.
Trailing 2-1 in the second half, Calvert Hall scored two goals in the span of 2:50 to tie and then take the lead.
Senior Ben Madore scored the tying goal after a St. Ignatius turnover with 11:22 left in the game to make it 2-2. It was the second goal of the day for the Penn State commit.
“I put all the trust in my players,” Madore said. “They gave me great balls and without them I wouldn’t have been able to score. I am just happy to come out and score two goals against such a great team.”
And then with 8:32 left, it was an unlikely goal scorer who gave the Cardinals their first lead of the game. Senior Gabe Glikin took a shot with his right foot that looked like the St. Ignatius goalkeeper might be able to track. But the ball deflected off a St. Ignatius player and found the back of the net.
“I don’t score goals very often,” Glikin said. “I saw the shot and I took it and when it took that deflection and went into the goal, I was like ‘praise God man, one finally went in.'”
Senior Tyler Flynn added to the Cardinals lead with under four minutes left to give Calvert Hall some breathing room.
St. Ignatius took a 2-0 lead in the first half on a pair of goals from senior Zsombor Onodi.
But Calvert Hall answered the second goal almost immediately as Madore found the back of the net just 22 seconds later to cut the lead to 2-1 with 12:05 left in the first half.
And then at the half, the Cardinals were reminded by their coach to keep fighting through.
“We talked at halftime that we have to put forth the effort,” Calvert Hall head coach Rich Zinkand said. “In the second half, we got back to doing what we do best.”
The two teams came into the game ranked as two of the top four programs in the country as St. Ignatius is ranked No. 2 by the United Soccer Coaches and No. 3 by prepsoccer.com and Calvert Hall was ranked No. 2 by prepsoccer.com and no. 4 by the United Soccer Coaches.
That’s why Calvert Hall wanted to schedule this game – to play some of the best competition around the country.
“We have been waiting for this game our whole season, we had this marked on our schedule,” Madore said. “We knew this team is a great team and I am so proud of my guys.”
As for that long trip home? Leaving with a win makes it a little easier.
“It’s never an easy ride but it will make it a lot better with a win today,” Zinkand said.
Photo Gallery (photos by Jeff Harwell)
.