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PHOTO BY ROCKY ROSS

KEEP AWAY. Bellarmine sophomore Dylan Gaydosh heads the ball away from Stadium’s Brandon Brockway when the two teams met May 3 in the semifinals of the Narrows League playoffs. Gaydosh had a goal in the game as the Lions defeated Stadium for the second time this season, 2-0.

Lions blank Tigers

By Ben Miller

The first time the Bellarmine Lions and the Stadium Tigers met on the soccer field, it took less than a minute for the Lions to put a goal up on the scoreboard. This time around, in the Narrows League playoffs, it took a little bit longer – but not much.

In the 16th minute, John McDonald’s head connected on a corner kick by fellow senior Tyler Mernaugh, pushing the ball past Stadium goalkeeper Luke Beardemphl, to put Bellarmine on the board first. That goal ended up being the only one the Lions would need as they won 2-0 to advance to the finals of the Narrows League tournament.

“I could see it coming,” McDonald said of the corner kick, noting he and Mernaugh had “connected with each other first before on a little hand toss.”

Bellarmine coach Joe Waters was not surprised to see McDonald and Mernaugh hook up on the soccer field like that.

“Those guys play on the same club team together, they have all the same classes together, they’re tight at the hip at school,” Waters said. “They think like each other, they work well together – it’s good to see them connecting.”

Bellarmine dominated much of the game offensively, and other than a few solid shots on goal by the Tiger attack, Waters did not feel like his team was threatened in the ballgame. “I never really feel like they did, they never really got behind us,” he said.

With McDonald’s goal putting the Lions up early, they felt comfortable through much of the game. However, in soccer you just never know what can happen, and a one-goal margin can evaporate in an instant.

“I just thought that the longer it was at one nil, the more they can feel like they can gamble and go for it,” Waters said. “You’re just a little bit uneasy before you get the second goal and then it settles it and it’s OK.”

Midway through the second half, the Lions got what they needed to be able to relax a little bit. In the 19th minute of the second frame, Mark Beck cleared the ball out from midfield and hit a perfect pass to a streaking Dylan Gaydosh in the middle of the field.

Gaydosh gathered the ball, flew past the Stadium defense and went one-on-one with Beardemphl in front of the goal. He pushed the ball to the right and the Lions found themselves with an almost insurmountable 2-0 lead with the way the game had been going.

“Dylan had done like we have asked him to do to get into a hole between the defenders and find the open field,” Waters said. “If we put the balls in at the right angles, we can get these goals in.”

The second goal put the Lions at ease and allowed them to fall back and play defense. “When we got the second goal we were feeling pretty confident that we were going to advance on, sit back and defend,” McDonald said.

The Tigers had one big opportunity to get on the scoreboard near the end of the game, but again, the ball just did not go their way. In the 29th minute of the second half, Stadium sophomore Jamael Cox juggled the ball in front of the goal and fired a hard shot toward the Bellarmine goal. Unfortunately for the Tigers, it ricocheted right off of the Bellarmine goalkeeper to protect the shutout.

“We did well passing, we just didn’t make the cuts at the right time,” said Stadium coach Mark Kramer. “There were a couple missed runs, we had our chances – when you have four or five chances in the game and you miss them, it kind of lets you down.”

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