Xavier Boys Soccer

Feltes, Bergstrom, Gilmer make boys all-state soccer

Ben Feltes of Kennedy, Austin Bergstrom of Washington and Chad Gilmer of Xavier have been named first team all-state by the Iowa High School Soccer Coaches Association.

Feltes and Bergstrom were honored in Class 3A and Gilmer was cited in Class 2A. Feltes was named the all-state goalkeeper.

Ali Al-Yasseri of Jefferson, Kimu Kasha of Washington, Austin Reutzel of Prairie, Matt Shannon of Kennedy and Andrew Patience of Jefferson were named second team all-state in Class 3A. Patience was named as the goalkeeper.

Saints ousted by Norwalk in shootout

DES MOINES -- Logan Buschette scored a goal for Cedar Rapids Xavier in the Class 2A state soccer tournament Thursday afternoon during the PK shootout, but the Saints lost to Norwalk and his injury-plagued career came to a disappointing end in Des Moines.

Buschette picked up his crutches and went home.

Buschette tore the meniscus in his left knee in a substate match against DeWitt Central on May 23 and needs surgery, but he missed the 2010 state tournament with a torn ACL and wasn't about to skip another one.

He played sparingly during Thursday's game, wearing a heavy brace on his knee, but Xavier Coach Amir Hadzic selected him to shoot first in the PK shootout after the teams battled to a 1-1 draw after 100 minutes of soccer.

Buschette made his goal to give the Saints a 1-0 lead in the shootout, but Norwalk won the shootout 5-4 and captured the match on a chilly, rainy, gloomy day at the Cownie Soccer Park.

"It's not fun," said Buschette, a senior. "This is my last game ever, so not fun at all."

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Saints in line for a 3-peat

Defending champion Xavier is kicking it into high gear just in time.

The Saints found their game at the right time, carrying late-season momentum into the postseason.

"It’s huge to get to get a couple wins at the end of the season and keep riding that momentum,” Xavier senior Chad Gilmer said. “Each day we got better and better. At the end is where it counts.”

Xavier has passed part one. The Saints are going back to defend their Class 2A state title after a 4-0 win Saturday afternoon against the 13th-ranked Benton Bobcats.

The Saints had a rough regular season and finished with an unfamiliar sub .500 record at 6-8-1.  Two postseason wins have evened their record at 8-8-1.

The regular season means nothing now and the Saints look dangerous.

“We didn’t start the season well, but I never lost hope in this team,” Coach Amir Hadzic said. “I knew once we got going we would be just as dangerous as any one else in state. Hopefully, for us, we timed it out to be in our best shape in late May and early June.”

The Saints set the tone early in the game. Senior Chad Gilmer found the back of the net off a free kick from fellow senior Eli Smith with just less than nine minutes gone by.

“It was really big to get on the board early. It kind of sends a message to the other team,” Gilmer said. “Tom had a perfect ball, I just touched it right and got lucky.”

“It’s huge especially in substate finals. We know that is a confidence builder and sets how the game goes,” Hadzic said. “It was a (pregame) goal to score in first 15 minutes.”

The rest of the first half saw nothing else beat the Benton keeper, but the Xavier attack was in control and continued to put pressure on a stingy Bobcat defense.

The Saints broke through in the second half for three goals and left no doubt that they would be back to defend their back-to-back titles.

“We knew they (Benton) were stingy on defense,” Hadzic said. “Once we opened them up we were able to get more goals.”

Smith took a short pass from Gilmer and scored with 24:15 remaining to put the Saints in total control.

Xavier didn’t stop there as Gilmer got a second goal and Smith follow with a second of his own to cement a victory and a chance at a three-peat.

“We kind of cruised a little bit and then once we saw our opportunities we capitalized on them,” Gilmer said. “We saw they were getting a little tired so we played so more through balls and poked some in.”

The win sends the Saints to Des Moines with great momentum as they try to continue their recent dominance in the state tournament.

The seventh-ranked Saints are the six seed in the tournament. They play third-seeded Norwalk on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at Cownie Park.

“Regardless of seeding we are ready to embrace the challenge,” Hadzic said.

XAVIER 4, BENTON 0
Goals: CRX – Chad Gilmer 2, Eli Smith 2. Assists: CRX: Tom Bales, Connor Ramlo, Gilmer.

Saints 1 step away from return trip to state

The DeWitt Central boys soccer team has an unorthodox strategy. Every five minutes, they sub 11 players and bring on an entirely new team. All game long.

You didn’t catch the Xavier Saints paying much attention to that repeated exodus.

They were too busy scoring goals.

The Saints kept their foot on the gas pedal and defeated DeWitt Central, 5-1, Wednesday in a Class 2A substate semifinal at Heco Field.

Xavier (7-8-1) hosts Benton in the substate final Saturday at noon. Benton beat Mount Vernon, 2-0, to advance.

The intent of the constant substitution was to always have fresh players on the field. Xavier was just too much for either one of DeWitt’s squads.

“We played them last year so we knew that they had an unorthodox way of playing,” said Xavier Coach Amir Hadzic.  “We don’t often see teams subbing 11 guys at a time every five minutes, but I thought we handled it well.”

Possession was almost entirely controlled by Xavier in the first half with the ball rarely threatening the Saints' side of the field, and the score was 2-0 at intermission. Central didn’t muster any shots on goal in the first.

The Saints, on the other hand, struck a mere five minutes into the game. Kory Donithan dribbled up the left flank and crossed it to Daniel Cowden. Once he got the ball, Cowden made a nifty cut to the inside of the defender and booted it past the keeper.

Ten minutes later in the game, Issac Frisch muscled a goal home with his body pushing the score to 2-0.

"We were fortunate to score two goals early, which kind of opened the gate, and then we relaxed and played much better,” Hadzic said.

The second half started with a flurry. At the 36:40 mark Xavier was awarded a free kick. Central, utilizing another unusual strategy, pulled the goalie and put 11 players on the goal line. Xavier’s Colin Gunn struck the free kick very well, and it was able to squeeze through the defense into the goal.

“They have an unusual style,” said Hadzic. "They put 11 guys on the goal line on all the free kicks, and that helped us because we could literally be in front of the goal and not be in offside position.”

Less than a minute later, Xavier had another free kick. This time, they pulled something out of the playbook. Tom Bales faked the free kick, and while running by, received a touch pass off to the left. He sent it perfectly to the middle, where Alex Haag was waiting to put it home. The goal made it 4-0.

“It is the exact same play that we used last year in the first round of the state tournament,” said Hadzic.  “Last year when the players introduced it to me, I thought it wouldn’t work, but it obviously does.”

Keeping the frantic theme of the second half, Central got on the board as Christian Hansen poked one home at the 35:18 mark.

With the score 4-1, the rest of the game dwindled away with Xavier controlling possession and striking occasional shots on goal.

And at the 3:14 mark, Xavier’s Chad Gilmer shut the door on any DeWitt hope as he smashed a 15-yard bullet into the back of the net.

“I give them (Central Dewitt) credit, they played hard in a physical game right up until the end,” said Hadzic.  “But we take one game at a time. We want to keep a strong desire to win, and defend that state title.” 

XAVIER 5, DEWITT CENTRAL 1

Goals: CRX—Daniel Cowden, Issac Frisch, Colin Gunn, Alec Haag, Chad Gilmer; DEWITT—Christian Hansen.  Assists: CRX-- Kory Donithan, Chad Gilmer, Tom Bales; DEWITT—Colby Azinger.