By RICHIE HALL
One consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it affects high school sports is that, for some teams, usual schedules are out the window.
The Guerin Catholic boys soccer team is a good example of that. The Golden Eagles were shut down, along with the program’s other teams, for a week and a half early in the fall due to COVID concerns. Now Guerin is having to play catch up, but it’s playing well.
On Thursday, the Golden Eagles took on Covenant Christian in a home Circle City Conference game. It was the sixth game for GC since Sept. 5, and the team will have a seventh game in that stretch on Saturday when it takes on Heritage Christian, another conference contest.
While it is a hectic pace of games, Guerin Catholic is responding well. The Golden Eagles beat Covenant 5-0, keeping their CCC record perfect at 3-0. Overall, Guerin is 6-1-1 and holds the No. 5 ranking in the Class 2A soccer coaches poll.
“The guys are starting to make progress,” said GC coach Chris McGrath. “Obviously, we’ve missed out on some training sessions, and that’s probably what’s impacted us the most. We’ve got a real resilient bunch. We’ve got a mature team. They understand that when they show up on the training pitch that there’s work to be done. Super proud of the way that they have come about doing that.”
The Golden Eagles scored their first goal in the 18th minute; Tommy Hartman found the back of the net off an assist by Michael Crandley. Three minutes later, Joseph Lafiosca put a long kick into the net. Peter Bedford scored GC’s third goal of the game with 2:35 left before halftime.
In the second half, Keegan Perhacs put in Guerin Catholic’s fourth goal in the game’s 58th minute. Lafiosca then finished the scoring with 15 minutes left for his second score of the night.
“I think we’ve been developing pretty well as a team, getting better chemistry,” said Lafiosca. “I think we have potential for the rest of the season.”
Lafiosca, one of the seniors on the team, said the success comes from “staying disciplined, on and off the field.”
“We all play for each other,” said Lafiosca, who noted that over half of the players on the team has scored at least one goal during the season.
“We think that we have a number of talented players who can, if we get them in the right situation, get them the ball, that they can put it in the back of the net,” said McGrath.
Guerin Catholic’s defense also played well.
“I call them ‘the engine room,'” sid McGrath. “They just show up every day and they do their job and they do the work and we really don’t have to worry about them.”
The Golden Eagles first game back after the shutdown was on Sept. 5, a conference game against Bishop Chatard. Guerin Catholic won that game 2-1, then got another CCC victory three days later when it cruised past Roncalli 6-2. The Golden Eagles’ only loss was last Saturday to 3A No. 1 Noblesville, and two days before that, Guerin tied Brownsburg 2-2.
“We are very encouraged for everything that they’ve gone through with the delays and the quarantine,” said McGrath. “To be where we are at this point in the season, we’re very happy with that.”
The Golden Eagles finish conference play next Thursday, Sept. 24, when they travel to Brebeuf Jesuit. Guerin Catholic then wraps up the regular season with games at Lafayette Central Catholic (Sept. 26) and Carmel (Sept. 29) before playing its finale at home against Zionsville (Oct. 1).
After that, it will be time for the post-season. The Golden Eagles advanced to the semi-state last season.
“We want to do well in the state tournament,” sid McGrath. “That’s our No. 1 goal all season long is to see how far we can go. That’s our big test.”