Soccer: Crusaders down Glendale, advance to Final Four


Sam Ferrier of Helias and Joshua Call of Glendale battle for possession of the ball during the first half of Saturday afternoon's Class 3 quarterfinal at 179 Soccer Park in Jefferson City.
Sam Ferrier of Helias and Joshua Call of Glendale battle for possession of the ball during the first half of Saturday afternoon's Class 3 quarterfinal at 179 Soccer Park in Jefferson City.

Nobody likes growing pains, but once they're gone, you find yourself on a whole other level.

That's definitely the case for the Helias boys soccer team.

With some midseason struggles a thing of the past, the Crusaders continued their late-season surge with a 3-1 win against the Glendale Falcons on Saturday at the 179 Soccer Park in Jefferson City. The victory was the fifth in the last six games for Helias, but more importantly, it clinched the Crusaders' first Final Four berth in six years.

With the trip later this week to the World Wide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton, Helias will add another Final Four appearance to the ones in made in 2000, 2001, 2008 and 2009.

First-year head coach Michael Metzger was at a loss for words following Saturday's victory.

"My players are unbelievable," he said after taking a few moments to compose himself. "This team, everybody on it, is unbelievable. For them to come out and play as hard as they did today, to see it as a coach, is an indescribable feeling. It's very gratifying."

The Crusaders had two stretches where they lost three of four games, with those sandwiched around a five-game winning streak. The ups and downs now seem to be a thing of the past, as it's just all ups right now.

"Teams are going to struggle, but you've got to learn from it and go to practice the next day and do the things it takes to get better," Metzger said. "We've been doing that every day and I hope everybody that came out here today saw how hard we've been working. These guys deserve this."

After falling in the quarterfinals the past two seasons, the Crusaders were glad to get the monkey off their back.

"It's unbelievable," defender Sam Heckart said. "Being the third straight year in the quarterfinals and finally winning is just an unreal feeling."

In order to get the win, the Crusaders had to shut down a Glendale offense averaging 6.8 goals in its previous five games and Bobby Spence, last year's Class 3 Offensive Player of the Year as determined by the Missouri Soccer Coaches Association.

Spence had an early shot go off the crossbar that rebounded to Josh Cook for the Falcons' only goal, that with 26:01 left in the first half, but that was one of Spence's rare opportunities.

"The defense played Glendale last year and they knew about him," Metzger said. "I give Sam Heckart a lot of credit for leading them back there. We talked about before the game and Sam had a plan for (Spence). He executed it very well, as did our whole defense."

Metzger said the team didn't let that first goal dictate the outcome of the game.

"In the past, we may have folded, but we have the belief now and we knew we could beat this team," he said.

The Crusaders played the Falcons even for the rest of the half, as both teams had five shots and Glendale had a slight edge of 5-3 in shots on goal. For the game, Helias outshot Glendale 17-11, including 8-6 in shots on goal.

"It was one of our best defensive games we've ever had as a team," Heckart said. "We just came together."

It appeared Glendale was going to take that 1-0 lead into the half before a great final two minutes for the Crusaders in which they squeezed off three shots, including two on goal. One of those shots came with 1:25 left when Bradley Kemna made a pretty pass to Braden Remmert, who put it home while sliding to the turf.

"We came off for the half with intensity (after that score) and I knew we were going to do it, we had the confidence going into halftime," Remmert said. "I that shocked (Glendale) a little."

The Falcons were in for another shock, as the Crusaders got the deciding goal just 34 seconds into the half. Following a goal kick, Grant Stokes headed the ball to a surprisingly wide-open Remmert, who did the rest.

"Grant Stokes had a nice header and I turned and there was wide-open field in front of me," Remmert said. "I did what I was supposed to do and finished."

It was part of a dominating first 15 minutes of the second half for Helias, which controlled the ball and came up with several good chances despite not being able to get another goal.

"That was very important," Metzger said. "We stressed that to the players - at the beginning of every half, you've just got to come out and put it on the other team hard, take them out of their game."

Helias (17-10) had the better of play the entire second half, withstanding a late surge by Glendale (18-9) before finally getting an insurance goal when Nick Brandt got loose on a breakaway and found the back of the empty net with 11 seconds remaining.

"I never would have thought at the beginning of the year that we would have come in and beaten Glendale," Remmert said. "Words can't explain what just happened."

The Crusaders will play Webster Groves (23-5-2) at noon Friday in a semifinal contest. The Final Four returns to World Wide Technology Soccer Park, previously known as the Anheuser-Busch Center, this year after spending the previous four seasons in Blue Springs.