DES MOINES - The Xavier Saints won state soccer titles in 2010 and 2011, but they fell short last year and saw their rivals from Dubuque Wahlert walk away with top honors.

The Saints did something about it Thursday.

Xavier built a 3-0 lead against Wahlert and escaped with a 3-2 victory in the opening round of the Class 2A tournament at the Cownie Soccer Park on a soggy, gray day in Des Moines.

The Saints appeared to be cruising to an easy victory, but the Golden Eagles scored two late goals and applied scary pressure in the final minutes before the final horn sounded.

"I told my guys, if you want to give me a heart attack, keep playing like that at the end," said Xavier Coach Amir Hadzic. "It was the longest two or three minutes of my life."

Xavier (12-5) will face Pella (14-5-2) in the semifinals Friday at 2:30 p.m.

The Saints are the No.1 seed in the tournament and Wahlert (7-10) was seeded No.8, but the Saints lost to the Golden Eagles 2-1 during the regular season and knew they couldn't take their kickin' cousins from the Mississippi Valley Conference lightly.

That loss to Wahlert helped get the Saints ready for the rematch.

"Definitely," said senior Eli Smith. "It was a big motivating factor today. We wanted to prove that we're the better team."

Xavier took a 1-0 lead in the first half with 14:06 left when Smith sailed a corner kick in front of the goal and Luke Koechner used his head to knock the ball into an open net.

Xavier goalkeeper Paul Cavin preserved the 1-0 lead a few minutes later when he jumped as high as he could and tipped a header by Wahlert's Alex Dietzel over the crossbar.

The Saints, playing with a strong wind at their backs in the first half, grabbed a 2-0 edge when Jerry Duball scored on a 35-yard boot that slipped through Wahlert goalie Alex Spencer's hands. Spencer was in good position to make the save, but the wet ball slipped off his gloves and into the net.

Xavier grabbed a 3-0 lead on a goal by Isaac Frisch in the second half. At that point, Hadzic admitted he started thinking about the semifinals and tried to rest some of his starters for Friday.

A few minutes later, the Saints were scrambling for their lives. "Soccer is a game of momentum changes," the coach acknowledged. "Thank goodness Paul Cavin made several more fantastic saves in goal."

Justin Allendorf and Nick Nemmers scored the late goals for Wahlert as the Golden Eagles scrambled to salvage the day.

The Saints did not like losing in the opening round to Norwalk last year, especially after winning state titles the two previous years. The seniors on this year's team want to make amends and graduate with their third title in four years.

"I definitely want to finish my soccer career with another state title," said Frisch. "These are the last games we're ever going to play together. We want to go out with the title."

BOYS STATE SOCCER TOURNAMENT
At Des Moines

Thursday

Class 2A
First Round
Xavier 3, Dubuque Wahlert 2
Pella 1, Norwalk 0
Waverly-Shell Rock 3, ADM 1
Storm Lake 3, Mount Pleasant 1

Class 1A
First Round
Dyersville Beckman 3, DM Christian 0
Nevada 3, MOC-Floyd Valley 2
West Liberty 2, Waterloo Columbus 1
Iowa City Regina 4, Riverside, Oakland 0

Friday

Class 2A
Semifinals
Xavier (12-5) vs. Pella (14-5-2), 2:30 pm
Waverly-Shell Rock (13-4) vs. Storm Lake (14-1), 2:35 pm

Class 1A
Semifinals
Dyersville Beckman (16-0-1) vs. Nevada (13-4), 12 pm
West Liberty (10-6-3) vs. Iowa City Regina (13-1), 12:05 pm

Saturday

Class 3A
Championship
Semifinal winners, 5 pm

Consolation
Semifinal losers, 4:10 pm

Class 2A
Championship
Semifinal winners, 2:30 pm

Consolation
Semifinal losers, 1:40 pm

Class 1A
Championship
Semifinal winners, 12:05 pm

Consolation
Semifinal losers, 11:10 am