“[CYC] is a tournament where we can show what Rock Bridge soccer is all about,” junior goalkeeper Greg Kelly said. “All of the best soccer teams in the state are invited and the best team wins.”
The CYC Tournament evenly divides 16 teams into four divisions. Each team then plays the three other teams in their division and is awarded points for a win, tie and a shutout. After each team plays the remaining teams in their division the points are tallied, and the team with the most points is able to move on in the tournament.
On Monday, RBHS played St. John Vianney High School and lost 3-1, receiving no points. On Tuesday RBHS played Webster Groves High School and won 2-0 and received four points for a win and one point for a shutout. They finished the tournament strong, defeating Duchesne High School on Wednesday 5-0 and bringing their total score up to 10 points after three days.
Going into the tournament, the boys’ soccer team held aspirations to not only make it to the finals, but also play against Chaminade College Preparatory School, who defeated the varsity team in a devastating overtime loss in Indianapolis, In.
“We wanted to play Chaminade because they beat us in overtime in Indianapolis,” Kelly said. “We felt like we outplayed them in regulation [and] penalty kicks shouldn’t decide who wins or loses.”
However, since RBHS and Chaminade played in different divisions, the only way they could play each other was in the finals planned for this Saturday. Kelly said the boys used this opportunity for redemption as motivation coming into the tournament but were shaken after losing to Vianney on Monday.
“We just wanted to play Chaminade … so we didn’t really feel like it would be a challenge getting to the finals,” Kelly said. “We came into the first game against Vianney pretty lackadaisical and that was the first game where any team actually outplayed us on the field and not on the scoreboard.”
Although RBHS was able to regroup and shut out both Webster Groves and Duchesne in the next two games, Vianney received more points overall and will be moving on in the tournament instead of RBHS.
“Vianney was still playing while we were [playing our last game], but by the end of our game we were told that they had won [and was moving on],” Kelly said. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t pull it off and most likely face Chaminade again like we were hoping to. We might [face Chaminade] if we both make it to state, but we have to get there first.”
By Jacqueline LeBlanc
