GLEN CARBON - It was Senior Night when the Father McGivney Catholic High School boys soccer team hosted the Civic Memorial Eagles. And boy did they deliver.
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Senior midfielder and captain Owen Terrell scored both of the deciding goals in a hard-fought, back-and-forth game with CM.
He broke things open in the 8th minute when the Griffins were awarded a penalty after a tangle-up with the goalie. It was deemed a foul and the PK was given.
Terrell stepped up and put it into the bottom left corner. With the keeper diving the wrong way, that goal made it 1-0 relatively early.
Senior goalie Sam Chouinard was called upon a few minutes later to make an incredible save for the Griffins. A well-paced shot was heading into the upper corner but Chouinard leaped across the goal and pushed the ball out of bounds. It was the best save he made during the game and it kept his team in the lead, momentarily.
After a series of events inside the box the ball bounced up and hit a Griffin defender in the arm. It was deemed an intentional handball inside the box meaning a PK for the Eagles this time.
Instead of the area's leading goal scorer, senior forward Bryce Davis, stepping up to the spot, the Eagles sent up senior defender and captain Joey Aiello. He scored easily and gave the Eagles life in the 26th minute. It was his fourth goal of the year.
McGivney would have a few more chances the other way in the final minutes, but it stayed all tied up heading into halftime.
10 minutes into the second half the Griffins were awarded a free kick in a dangerous area. The ball was set up right outside the 18-yard box a little bit off-centered. Terrell and senior defender/captain Daniel Gierer stood over the ball in the 50th minute.
It was Terrell to take and he scored off the direct free kick as he curled the ball past CM's diving keeper. He regained the lead for the Griffins with his 11th goal of the season.
The final half-hour played out as things got a little chippy between the two teams. Regardless, the goal scoring was over and it finished 2-1 McGivney. They've now won four of their last five and are on a roll heading toward the post-season.
McGivney knew that CM was a quality team and they knew that Davis was one of the best forwards in the area right now, but according to Griffins' head coach Matthew McVicar, they stayed true to their game plan.
"We put a system in, worked on it in practice yesterday, and I think it worked well for us today," he said.
He mentioned that the idea was to man-mark Davis and even put two defenders on him when necessary. It was sophomore defender Spencer Sundberg's job to keep Davis quiet and he was successful. Chouinard gave him credit for that postgame.
"He did a really good job keeping him from scoring," Chouinard said about his teammate Sundberg.
"We wanted our best defender on their best forward," McVicar added.
McVicar gave credit to the Eagles calling them a "well-coached team" but said that "everything worked out in our favor today."
The win brings Father McGivney to 9-6-2. They've only lost one game on their home field which was a 6-0 setback against Triad about a month ago.
Now they have a ton of momentum heading down the stretch. Their next game will be against Gibault this evening (September 30) at 6:30 p.m. out at Oerter Park. Their last home game will be against Marquette Catholic on Tuesday, October 4 at 4 p.m.
As for the Eagles, they'll look to bounce back after just their fourth loss of the season when they take on Breese Central tomorrow at 11 a.m. at Hauser Field.
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