Vuvuzelas humming, Die hard Jesuit fans cheering, and “GOOAAALLLL!!!!!” Being shouted, is all you could hear during the entire annual Jesuit Meinster Soccer tournament.
Founded in 1982 the annual Meinster tournament has been a essential start to the Jesuit varsity soccer team. The tournament has included some of the most noteworthy North Dallas highschool soccer teams and this year is no different. With the likes of Bishop Lynch, Sachse, North Mesquite, Belton, Marcus, Nolan, and skyline, the destination of a championship was incredibly tough.
As always the atmosphere of the tournament was impeccable this last January 8-10. As a personal experience, I could see there were many rabid fans cheering the Jesuit soccer team on. There were crazy fans shouting chants and leading the crowd and telling them to cheer. There were hundreds of vuvuzelas attempting to deter the other team from scoring a goal.
Going into the game, Patrick Howell ’16 explained that “we wanted to go in and start off with a win against Bishop Lynch.” Howell added that “we wanted to continue to succeed in the tournament so we could have confidence moving forward.”
Jesuits tourney had begun and it was one of the most memorable starts the Jesuit soccer team has ever had. It started with a narrow loss on penalties to the Bishop Lynch Friars. Talking to Johnny Balok after the game he said, “It [The game] was disappointing”. Once the game ended I saw a few disheartened fans walking out of the stadium, but the disappointed attitude would not last long.
The next day the Jesuits came to a 1-0 victory against a Sachse team who was “an incredibly tough team to beat”. The spirits of both the team and the fans rose again as they saw their Jesuit Rangers once again win. The winning spirit then continued for the next game of the tournament against Belton. The ranger soccer team dominated the Belton soccer team with a 3-0 victory, giving the ranger soccer team the consolation championship.
Griffin Scott ’16 stated, “the Sachse game was a big win for our team moving forward. Being able to bounce back after a tough game really gave us confidence for the rest of the tournament.”
Despite the loss to Bishop Lynch. Coach DeLong stated that he was happy with how the team played. He added that “we rebounded really well and got better with each game.”
Moving forward, DeLong’s expectations are to “work hard and get better every day and if we keep that up we can do well in the playoffs.”
Although not as good as winning the tournament championship, the consolation champion was satisfying. Either way, the fans love their Jesuit Ranger Soccer Team!
