Metro Catholic Conference Notebook: Tight Soccer Race Expected

Judging by the early-season scores, the Metro Catholic Conference soccer race will be, well, par for the course.

It'll be a race to the finish, and the participants from top to bottom will be just as good as the other.

"Every game's a load," Chaminade coach Mike Gauvain said before the season. "These games are intense, the skill level is quality and it shouldn't be any different this season."

The De Smet Spartans have jumped out of the chute with a 4-1 record and winners of the CBC Tournament for the first time since 1996.

The Spartans were victorious over Vianney 2-0 Saturday afternoon and after SLUH knocked off CBC 3-1 in the late game at CBC High School, it gave the Spartans the tournament title based on their 2-1 record.

CBC (2-1-1) and SLUH each finished 1-1-1 and Vianney rounded out the field at 0-2-1.

* CBC -- The Cadets had a chance to win their own tournament once again, but a disappointing loss to the Jr. Billikens on Saturday gave the title to De Smet.

With veteran coach Terry Michler a stickler on clampdown defenses, to see his unit thus far allow six goals in three matches can't sit too well.

Their goals this season have been scores by five different players: Julius Adewumni, Justin Bilyeu, Carson Leach, Connor Sendobry and and Kyle Skubic.

The , 5-0, in a nonconference matches on Tuesday, and will play Granite City on Thursday and their MCC opener at Chaminade Saturday.

* De Smet -- After the last Tuesday, a game that saw Kevin Lewman score his first career high-school goal with a little over four minutes remaining for the win, veteran coach Greg Vitello said his team is still trying to develop an image.

"They're still trying to develop a personality," he said. "I think one of the things is they're a good, close-knit group and they work hard all the time.

"We have not really had a bad practice, where I've got to stop practice and say, 'Hey guys, this kind of effort's not going to get it.' They know what it takes. We've reduced our squad number down a bit. It went from 28 to 22. We're thinking we're going to get a little more concentration, a little more concentration at practice, and it's paid off so far."

The Spartans own wins over Castle (Ind.), Edwardsville, SLUH and Vianney. They fell to CBC 2-1 last Thursday.

"We've got a really good group," Lewman said. "We've got really good chemistry. We know where each other's going to be. We can play off of each other well because we understand each other. We've got a veteran group and that plays to our advantage."

Louie Berra already has four goals and four assists on the season and Prince Kabadeh tallied his third goal of the season Saturday. Goalkeeper Jake Koenig has allowed four goals in five matches.

The Spartans play at Rockwood Summit on Thursday.

* SLUH -- The Jr. Billikens won their first three matches of the season en route to a 4-1-1 start by a combined 18-1 score.

But SLUH hit the skids a bit with a loss to De Smet and tied Vianney before scoring twice in the second half to knock off CBC last Saturday, keeping the Cadets from winning the tournament.

Ryan Merrifield leads the way offensively for SLUH with four goals and three assists, while Paul Buehler, Zach Hoffman and Joe Jedlicka have each found the net three times each. Buehler has three assists on the season.

The Jr. Billikens already have eight players with two goals or more and have outscored their opponents 22-4 this season. 

* Chaminade -- After opening the season with four straight wins, the Red Devils have fallen into a mini rut, losing twice on Saturday at the Great Midwest Classic in Indianapolis to Chicagoland's Downers Grove South (1-0) and Indianapolis' North Central (2-1).

The Red Devils won their opener on Friday against Barrington (Ill.) by a 2-0 score.

The lone squad not to participate in the CBC Tournament, the Red Devils have gotten a great start out of Tommy Barlow, who has six goals in the team's first six games. Also, Jordan Bay has four as the duo has accounted for 10 of Chaminade's 12 goals on the season.

Chris Viamontes has a 0.64 goals-against average and has only allowed three goals in five-plus matches.

Chaminade gets back on the pitch this week with a nonconference match at Collinsville Wednesday before hosting CBC in their MCC opener Saturday afternoon.

* Vianney -- The Golden Griffins also got off to a hot start, winning their first three matches over Lindbergh, Collinsville and Indianapolis High by a combined 12-2 goal count, but the CBC Tournament has brought Vianney back to the pack a bit after they went 0-1-2 in the three games.

Vianney's leading scorers include Paul Scheipeter (four goals, one assist), Mark Segbers (three goals, one assist) and Blake Smugala (two goals). The trio has accounted for nine of the team's 13 goals. Jason Hackett leads the team with four assists.

Vianney (3-1-2 overall) is playing three nonconference matches this week. The Griffins defeated Waterloo Gibault at home on Tuesday, 5-0, and will host Pattonville on Thursday before playing at Oakville on Saturday.

* Cross Country: The Forest Park Cross Country Festival, hosted by SLUH, took place last Saturday with a total of 90 schools and 3,000-plus runners represented at the event.

The Jr. Billikens finished third in the Green Division with 168 points, only trailing overall winner Rock Bridge (67) and Kansas City Rockhurst (124).