Adam Jankowski ’15
The Eagles took the pitch Wednesday night to engage in their yearly battle with the team across from Wendy’s and primary rival, St. Ignatius.  The stands of Coughlin field in the backyard of SEHS were filled with the fans of both schools;   St. Ed’s adorned in white and St. Ignatius adorned in gold.  As the sun set and the evening air cooled, the top two teams in the state took the turf.
Early on, both teams kicked the ball around midfield.  The battle for control was tough, as both teams have a strong eleven on the field at all times.  For the first 10 minutes in the game, neither was able to get any momentum, but the Eagles stayed strong and finally broke through.
Around the 10^th minute, attacker Collin Richards ’15 was fed a beautiful through ball from Julian Castro ’15, blew by the Wildcat defense on the outside, and slipped it past the goalie to give St. Ed’s a 1-0 lead.  Collin was overjoyed, as he ran past the Eagle faithful screaming with jubilation.
The Eagles carried that lead for most of the first half, but with six minutes left, the Wildcats put a header in the net off of a corner kick making the score 1-1 at halftime.
The second half proved tougher for the Eagles’ offense as they were not given many chances to score, and could not take advantage of the few opportunities they got.  Ignatius, on the other hand, was in possession of the ball for most of the half and made an effort to make many shots. However, with fantastic plays from first year starter Alex Dudley ’17 in the net and the whole defensive unit, St. Eds was able to keep the score tied.  For the true soccer fan, this was certainly a masterful piece of play from the back 4.
When the final whistle blew, the teams drew with a final score of 1-1.  The Eagles are now on a three game winless streak, with a record of 6-2-1, but with draws against Solon and St. Ignatius.  The Eagles look to bounce back on Saturday, September 20^th at Aurora, an annual state powerhouse.  The Eagles play for the Community Cup against Lakewood at Lakewood Stadium at 7:00 on September 27^th and they play at home against Euclid at 8:00 pm in the backyard.  Come out and support the SEHS soccer team as they start the back end of their regular season with only one loss.