GLEN CARBON - "Anytime there's a plaque to play for, you want to make sure you play well and I think we did a good job of handling business today," Marquette Catholic boys soccer coach Brian Hoener said after a 4-1 road win against catholic rivals Father McGivney Tuesday afternoon.
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This game was Marquette's seventh game in nine days, going 5-2 during that span.
Hoener was proud of his team's ability to dig deep.
"We've been on a pretty heavy load of soccer - maintaining focus and maintaining energy, especially after a big win last night."
They beat Columbia 4-1 the night before.
With the win over the Griffins Marquette improves to 13-5 on the season, but more importantly outright wins their conference.
The Explorers are a perfect 5-0 in conference with a game still to be played against Metro-east Lutheran, a team they beat 10-0 earlier this season.
Hoener gave credit to McGivney calling them a well-coached team and a program that is only getting better. He acknowledged that they were going to be a tough team to beat.
The Griffins went into that game against Marquette on an eight-game unbeaten streak.
'We knew it would be a tough match and it was," Hoener said.
Goals were scored by Quinn Copeland who had two, Jude Keller with one and the other being an own-goal. Charlie Fahnestock had an assist. His brother Will made two saves in goal.
The lone McGivney goal came from senior forward Daniel Gierer in the 62nd minute to make it 4-1.
Now, the Explorers look forward with only three regular-season games remaining. They'll take on MEL and Waterloo on the road before coming back home to Gordon Moore Park on Wednesday, October 12th at 6 p.m. against Belleville East on Senior Night.
Looking past that into the first round of the postseason, they will take on Jerseyville at Triad on October 19th at 7 p.m.
It seems like if the Explorers expect to win a Regional Championship, they will most likely have to go back through Triad. They played one another last Saturday with the Knights coming up with a big 6-1 win.
"That's the benefit of our schedule. We're going to see some tough teams in the playoffs but we should be ready," Hoener said. "We've seen tough teams all year long."
The Explorers have played the likes of O'Fallon, Edwardsville, Althoff, and Triad. While those games were all losses for Marquette, they still prepared them for the future.
They'll have another couple of difficult tasks on their hands with Waterloo and Belleville East as the Explorers head down the stretch of the regular season.
As for Father McGivney, they wrap up their regular season tomorrow, October 6th at 4:30 p.m. against Maryville Christian on the road.
They await the winner between Wood River and Roxana in their opening round of the postseason on October 12th at 4 p.m. at Roxana.
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