Blue Devils battle Jesuit soccer power to 1-1 tie
Until Friday afternoon, the Jesuit High boys soccer team had won 68 consecutive games. Davis High flipped that number around with tight defense and vivacious fan support, and suddenly, Jesuit’s victory streak was 86ed.
The Blue Devils (6-1-4) shocked the No. 1 team in the country with a 1-1 tie on the Marauders’ turf — the second time in a week DHS has played to a draw a nationally ranked team. Davis equaled ninth-ranked Granite Bay, 0-0, on Wednesday.
JHS (11-0-1) struck first with a goal from Dylan Wong midway through the first half. But the Devils were not discouraged, firing back six minutes later with a tally of their own.
Tom Nolan drove straight into the heart of the Jesuit defense before dishing the ball off to junior Collin Holtz, who was streaking down on the right. Holtz blasted a shot past the Marauders’ goalkeeper, evening up the score.
Holtz and the rest of the Devils celebrated with a dogpile on the sideline next to the 500 raucous supporters who made the trek out to Carmichael to support their team. Fans were decked out in blue shirts and body paint, and some brought vuvuzelas and megaphones.
“We did a great job of playing with a lot of heart,” said Davis coach Ashley Yudin. “And actually, (Jesuit) did, too. My gut feeling is that we wanted it just a tidge more, because they have so many skilled players that if we don’t come with maximum, over-the-top intensity, we can’t match players with them.”
Matt Austin almost hooked up with Ryan Gross for a goal on the game’s opening play, but Gross’ finish just missed the mark. The pair came close to scoring on multiple plays throughout the game.
The back line was secured by Conner Anderson, Jacob Rutheiser, Lee LeVerrier, Hayato Kawaguchi and Emmanuel Medina, who was playing with a broken knuckle suffered in Wednesday’s game. Keeper Derek Pleasants also did a superb job fending off the constant Jesuit attack.
“Derek played against Granite Bay on Wednesday … just a fabulous game,” Yudin commented. “He followed it up today (with another great performance) … over the years, they’ve scored on us a lot.”
As the game progressed, so too did the aggression. Davis’ Chris Mulvihill and Nassim Lemseffer each picked up yellow cards in the second half, and Jesuit racked up three “golden tickets.”
For a few Blue Devils, the workload did not end in Carmichael. Lemseffer, Anderson and Austin all played local AYSO games Saturday morning (Austin scored on a penalty kick).
Forty-one years before Davis tied with Jesuit on Friday, Yudin tied the knot with his wife, Nancy.
“Thank God she’s a soccer person,” he said, laughing.
Short URL: http://www.davisenterprise.com/?p=85285
Posted by Benjy Egel
on Sep 24 2011.
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