Rocks Knock Off St. X and South Oldham, Advance to Quarterfinals
October 27, 2015
As the soccer Rocks prepare to take on Covington Catholic Saturday in the state quarterfinals, let’s take a look at the double-OT victory over the St. Tigers.
Rocks Latest Win Part of Top-Flight Rivalry
by Michael Webb
Staff Reporter
Combining for more than 315 state championships, many would say that Trinity and St. Xavier are the two best schools, athletically and academically, in the state of Kentucky. The Trinity-St. X rivalry is one like no other: the rivalry is ranked fifth in the Nation by Rivals.com and No. 1 in the state by ESPN.com.
Although the main contest in the rivalry is the football game held in Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, the soccer game doesn’t fail to bring a lot of attention. Through the past eight seasons Trinity leads the Tigers 7-4 in the series, including playoff matches. But what makes this rivalry special is the effect it has on the community as a whole.
Junior goalie Clayton Allen has been a brick wall in the goal for the Tigers this year; it was his first season starting for St. X in goal. “It is a rivalry like no other, almost like a college rivalry in a sense. Both schools have to go through so much preparation for these types of games, and it ultimately brings out the best for the city of Louisville,” Allen said.
Both head coach Dale Helfrich (Trinity) and head coach Andy Schulten (St. X) said the rivalry is extraordinary — and fun.
“In terms of the rivalry, it’s awesome, but in terms of competition, it’s unbelievable,” Schulten said. “We can’t get competition like this every day in this city, or even in this state.”
The Trinity-St. X game isn’t like any other game. There’s more to it for the players as well as the coaches. Helfrich said, “There is always something different about a game with St. X. It’s a great one for the community and a great one for both schools.”
The Rocks and Tigers have one scheduled game against each other every year, but the teams meet in the regional playoffs quite often. In 2013 the teams met in the regional championship at St. Xavier — Trinity won 5-4 on penalty kicks.
In 2014 the teams met once again at the regional semifinals, during which Trinity took the win 3-0. Believe it or not, on Oct. 24, 2015, the Tigers and Rocks met once again in the regional championship.
The Shamrocks dominated the entire game offensively and defensively, holding the Tigers to just one shot on target the whole game. The Rocks had 18 shots total with 10 shots on goal, but thanks to the Tigers’ defense and Allen, Trinity failed to score in either regulation time or in extra time.
Towards the end of the game, Trinity played with only three defenders in the back to try and get a late goal to win it, according to junior goalie Tommy Kolb. But the game headed to penalty kicks after ending 0-0 in regulation and extra time.
Tanner Stevens shot first for the Rocks and put it in the back of the net. Eric Brangers took the first PK for St. X and had his shot blocked by Kolb.
David Mueller, Cameron Smith and Greg Fischer made their shots as well. It came down to captain Drew Goetz, who scored the final PK with ease and sent the Shamrocks to the state playoffs.
Despite the loss, Schulten was pleased with his team’s performance. “I’m very proud of them. We knew coming in what we were going to be up against, but I’m very proud of my team and what they did tonight.”
Allen and junior midfielder Trent Ennenbach were disappointed following the loss. “I feel we had a lot of pressure on us in the second half. We should’ve been a little more physical out of the air and should not have given up as many corners as we did,” Allen said.
“I felt like we had trouble keeping our composure. I think we got caught up in the heat of the moment and didn’t play our game,” Ennenbach said.
Trinity junior defenseman Smith was pleased with the Shamrocks’ effort. Smith said, “I feel we played really strong and played the strongest we could the whole game. We should’ve finished our chances early, but we knocked in all of our PK’s and got the win.”
The coaches can only do so much from the sidelines during the game, which is why a captain or two on the pitch adds leadership. Senior defenseman Goetz and senior midfielder Fischer were the captains for the Rocks this year; senior defenseman Matthew Burruss and senior midfielder Colin Kremer were the Tigers’ captains.
“It’s a good feeling knowing your teammates — my brothers — and my coaches all believe in Greg and me to lead this team,” Goetz said. “The success we experience fills me with great pride for not only the program, but for the school we get to represent, and I’m happy to be seen as one of the leaders of that.”
Goetz has been a starter all four years at Trinity, so he knows what this rivalry is all about.
Goetz said, “The rivalry means a lot to us and the program’s history as a whole. Beating them six games in a row is a remarkable feat that keeps the standards for those to come very high.”
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