Sunday, November 07, 1999
St. Henry loses Ky. soccer final
BY RAY SCHAEFER
Enquirer contributor
GEORGETOWN — The St. Henry boys soccer team went farther than any other Northern Kentucky team in the state tournament. It wasn't far enough.
Louisville Ballard overwhelmed the Crusaders, 3-0, in Saturday's final at Georgetown College's Rawlings Stadium behind two penalty kick goals by senior Vijay Dias and a third score by senior Garrett Buck.
St. Henry senior Luke Heidrich said 1999 was nonetheless a wonderful season.
“It's a dream,” Heidrich said. “No St. Henry team made it past the sub-sectionals.”
Ballard, ranked third in National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll, finished a 27-0 season to win its ninth state title. Coach Damon Bootes said the '99 team was the best of the nine.
“These guys endured,” Bootes said. “Teams have come out and tried to get us out of our game by being physical.”
It's what St. Henry attempted, too. “We thought we could attack on them,” Crusader coach Tim Dressman said. “We knew they would score.”
Ballard did a lot more. The Bruins outshot the Crusaders 16-2, and Ballard junior keeper Tyler Wilcox needed to save just two shots to record the shutout.
What made Ballard's 2-0 halftime lead most frustrating for St. Henry was that the Crusaders played some of their best defense of the season.
Junior fullback Derek Schmitz contained Dias, and senior defender Jeffrey Topmiller punished just about any Bruin who ventured to the middle of the field.
“We went to the ball hard and hoped to force mistakes,” Topmiller said.
When St. Henry (20-5) made a defensive mistake, it was disastrous. A hand ball call against Heidrich inside the penalty area gave Dias a penalty kick chance in the 16th minute against senior keeper Chris Billiter. Billiter dove to his right, but Dias' right-footed shot went the other way.
St. Henry's best scoring chance in the first half came in the 17th minute. Junior forward Eric Kleiman had a free kick, but the shot sailed wide left.
Buck's goal in the 32nd minute came off a rebound of a shot by senior midfielder Ben Munson.
Goals: LB-Dias 2, Buck. Shutout: Wilcox. Records: LB 27-0, SH 20-5. Attendance: 3,341.
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