St. Thomas Aquinas scores on and beats Rockhurst

Source: The Star

CHRIS OBERHOLTZ | the Kansas City Star

Rockhurst’s John Mehl (right) battled for possession of the ball against St. Thomas Aquinas’ Emilio Quezada.

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St. Thomas Aquinas accomplished something that no other soccer team has done in almost a year — it defeated and scored on Rockhurst.

In the appropriately-named Top Dawg tournament, Aquinas defeated Rockhurst 3-2, snapping the Hawklets’ 23-game scoreless streak for opponents. In front of a crowd of several thousand fans at the Blue Valley District Activities Center, a scene hardly duplicated in high school soccer, Aquinas junior forward Thomas Schermoly helped his team determine who’s the top dog — at least on Wednesday night.

When trailing by one goal in the first half, Schermoly answered with two of his own before senior teammate Jordan Zarse added another in a chippy contest that earned Aquinas three yellow cards. However, the emotions tend to run high when these parochial powerhouses meet.

“You don’t have a crowd like this in high school. … I don’t know if the Wizards get this many,” Aquinas coach Craig Ewing said. “Kids will come back to me in 15 years and this is the game that they remember.”

The three-day Top Dawg tournament, hosted by Blue Valley Northwest, invites only four challengers from both sides of the state line and continues Saturday afternoon. However, no other game this week showcased a more intriguing match than Aquinas-Rockhurst. The undefeated Saints are the reigning Kansas 5A state champions, and the Hawklets are back-to-back Missouri Class 3 champs. Both teams rank nationally in the ESPN Fab 50 poll, and although Aquinas (No. 13) has the edge, two positions higher than Rockhurst (No. 15), the Hawklets had more to brag about.

The Hawklets entered this matchup with nine straight victories to start the season — actually, make that nine straight shutout victories to push their streak to 23 games. According to Rockhurst coach Chris Lawson, the impressive streak dates back to the last season, so for many opponents, Rockhurst has appeared untouchable.

“We found out (about the streak) yesterday,” Schermoly said. “It just really encouraged us to work harder.”

After Rockhurst junior Grant Wilson followed an Aquinas yellow card with the game’s first goal, it was Schermoly’s turn. With 21 minutes remaining in the first half, Schermoly corralled a long pass and headed it off the Rockhurst post but with the keeper out of position, Schermoly saw a wide-open net and poked in the rebound for his first goal. Zarse’s second-half goal gave Aquinas a 3-1 advantage and cemented the win. Rockhurst added a late one with 4 minutes remaining.

@ Go to KansasCity.com for a photo gallery of the game.

submitted by CANDACE BUCKNER - 2009-09-23 23:09:01