ALTON – The Marquette Catholic High School boys soccer program holds itself to a high standard.
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So when the Explorers hosted Maryville Christian on Saturday afternoon at Alton Public School Stadium in the IHSA Class 1A regional championship, they expected to win.
“This is a proud program,” Marquette head coach Brian Hoener said. “We call on them to play in big games, even with four freshmen starting, and they’ve done that.”
The Explorers beat their constantly improving Gateway Metro Conference rivals 3-0, ending the Lions’ season at 13-9-1.
Marquette moves on to the Glen Carbon (Father McGivney) Sectional semifinals on Tuesday, October 28, where it will take on top-seeded Columbia (19-5-3) at 7 p.m.
A game that Marquette is looking forward to.
“That’s the way it should be. This time of year, you’ve got to beat good teams,” Hoener said.
“We’re excited for the opportunity to keep playing. We know Columbia is well-coached, they have a ton of athletes, we know they have a winning pedigree, but we’re going to show up and make sure we take pride in our program and give it our best shot Tuesday and just see what happens.”
Columbia has been Marquette’s Achilles heel since dropping back down to Class 1A. The Eagles have ended the Explorers’ season in the past two years.
Last year was a heartbreaking 2-1 loss after a penalty shootout in the regional final.
“Last year, it was tough for us,” Marquette senior forward Cameron Golike said. “We played Columbia close, took them all the way into PKs. I think we’re ready to come back and give them what they deserve for stealing it from us last year.”
Golike netted two second-half goals against Maryville Christian in Friday’s regional final. Maicol Gonzalez scored the game’s opening goal in the 35th minute.
Golike leads the team with 21 goals now.
“I love these big moments,” Golike said. “I love playing out here on this field. I’m so thankful for the program and my teammates. I think we all knew what was going on coming into this game. We already lost to them earlier this season. We just wanted to come out here and prove that that was a fluke and that we can play with anybody.”
Maryville Christian previously beat Marquette 1-0 back on September 4. It was the Lions’ first win over Marquette in program history.
It took a full team effort from the Explorers to make sure they didn’t suffer the same fate in the regional.
“You want your leaders to lead, and your experienced seniors to lead,” Hoener said. “Cameron had a monster game; Maicol had a monster game. Chris [Hankins] did a fantastic job in the backfield for us, locking things down. And TJ [Elisaia] in the middle was a workhorse for us.”
“We made plays offensively when we needed to,” Hoener continued. “We didn’t give them too many chances, but the chances that we did give them, our freshman goalkeeper (Chase Kopp) stepped up and made some saves. Couldn’t be happier for this team.”
The Explorers had scoring chances early on throughout the first half, but just couldn’t capitalize on anything. Golike’s shot went just high and left in the 18th minute. Gonzalez nearly headed in a cross from James Fischer, but that effort was also too high.
Elisaia walked through most of Maryville Christian’s defense and had a close-range shot stopped by keeper Cole Pritchett. It was arguably his best save of the game when he pushed the ball off the post and out for a corner in the 25th minute.
It seemed like it might not have been Marquette’s day, but it didn’t back down.
“We had possession, we just weren’t creating many clear-cut scoring chances,” Hoener said. “But I knew if we kept knocking on the door, we might wear them down a little bit.”
“There was a moment where we started to go a little too direct because I thought we were pushed a little bit, but once we backed away from that push and started to play who we are, some of the better chances started to create in the second half,” Hoener said.
Those second-half chances came from Golike, who scored in the 48th and 61st minutes.
Maryville Christian was never out of Saturday’s game by any means. Although they didn’t create many offensive threats, mostly due in part to Marquette’s defense, the Lions still left it all out there in what is regarded as the program’s most successful season.
“I think they continue to get better and better every year,” Golike said of Maryville Christian’s growing program.
“That’s what you want to see from a program. You tip your cap to them because they’ve had a fantastic year,” Hoener said.
“But for us as a program, and in the conference, we want to play good opponents,” Hoener continued. “We enjoy the competition, and we’re happy to say that we’re still around, we’re not a bad program ourselves.”
