Averaging 4.7 goals a game in a storybook season, a shutout was the last thing St. Edward expected in its first appearance in the boys soccer state finals.
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But instead of finding the net, the Green Wave found only frustration on a cold and windy Friday night as Monmouth-Roseville snagged a 2-0 victory in the Class 1A semifinals at EastSide Centre.
“I guess if you’re going to get shut out, it might as well be in the state semifinals,” St. Edward coach Tim Brieger said. “But hats off to those guys. They played a helluva game.”
Senior forward Gilberto Vazquez scored a goal in each half as Monmouth-Roseville (21-3-3) advanced to the 5 p.m. Saturday championship game against Alton Marquette (16-6-3), a 5-0 victor over Acero/Garcia.
St. Edward (26-2), whose only other loss was 5-1 to Fenton in its regular-season finale, will play for its first state trophy in the third-place game at 3 p.m.
Senior midfielder Will Gaston said the Green Wave will be ready.
“We’ll come out swinging,” he said. “That’s what we do. We have a lot of pride.”
“I’m so proud of our guys,” Brieger said. “We’ll be fine. That’s (Monmouth-Rosville) a well-balanced team. They are senior-laden and don’t make a lot of mistakes. You have to capitalize on your chances, and they did and we didn’t.”
The first half was a defensive struggle until Vazquez scored off a header on a centering pass from Erick Suarez at 31:51 past St. Edward goalkeeper Evan Sajtar.
Then, with the Green Wave turning up the offensive pressure in the second half, Vazquez got loose for a breakaway at 72:58 for the clincher.
“We’re a team where scoring can come from a lot of different places, and (Friday) it was Gilberto’s turn,” Titans coach Aaron Sikorski said.
St. Edward forward AJ Franklin is two goals shy of the single-season state record of 71 set by Gordon Tech’s Robert Meschbach in 1976.
But after a quiet first half, Franklin was twice denied from point-blank range by Titans goalkeeper Edgar Mora Sanchez.
“Their goalie had two phenomenal stops on AJ,” Brieger said. “That was impressive.”
Sophomore forward Josh Johansen sailed a shot just over the crossbar midway through the second half for St. Edward. Teammate Jackson Godfrey was just wide on a sliding attempt from the left side a few minutes later.
The Green Wave, who trailed in only three games all season, outshot the Titans 12-10. Franklin, who has 138 career goals, and Gaston accounted for eight shots.
Jim Haas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.