Eight schools, three days… and a whole lot of soccer.
From January 7-9, the Jesuit soccer team competed in the 40th Annual Meintser Soccer Invitational.
For this invitational, eight different high schools competed for first place, these schools being: Bishop Lynch, Bryan Adams, Jesuit Dallas, Nolan Catholic, North Mesquite, Plano H.S., Rowlett, and Skyline.
Day 1 – Jan 7
The first day of the invitational was a success for Jesuit, beating Nolan Catholic 1-0. Jason Davis 21′ scored the first goal of the season at 16:14. It was a hard fought victory and propelled the team forward to start the invitational with some great momentum. Ryan Shea 21′ commented on the first game, “we played well, there were a lot of opportunities and we fought hard to keep the 1-0 lead for the entirety of the game”.
The results of the first day:
Jesuit Dallas 1, Nolan Catholic 0
North Mesquite 3, Rowlett 2 (PK)
Plano 7, Bishop Lynch 1
Bryan Adams 3, Skyilne 2
Day 2 – Jan 8
On the second day of the tournament, Jesuit played well but lost by a mere 2-1 to North Mesquite. Arnold Perez-Valenzuela 22′ scored the first goal at 31:36 off of a free kick from the top right corner, giving Jesuit a 1-0 lead. The second half was well played by Jesuit all the way up until 69:53, when North Mesquite player Johnathan Dominguez scored a header to tie the game, with 7 seconds left in the game. This led to an uneventful overtime and consequent penalty kicks. Jesuit scored 2 out of 5 PKs while North Mesquite scored 3 out of 5, winning the game 2-1.
The results of the second day:
Rowlett 2, Nolan Catholic 0
Skyline 2, Bishop Lynch 0
North Mesquite 2, Jesuit Dallas 1 (PK)
Plano 5, Bryan Adams 0
Day 3 – Jan 9
Jesuit did very well on the third day, beating Bryan Adams 3-0. Seniors Alec Gomez, Spencer Gilker, and Kyle Visintainer each scored throughout the game. Visintainer sent the ball into Bryan Adams’s net at 21:44, thanks to Gilker’s pass just from outside the six-yard box. With twenty seconds left in the half,  Perez-Valenzuela 22′ shot a corner kick to the far post, setting Gomez up for a beautiful header into the back of the net, putting Jesuit up to a 2-0 lead at halftime. At 47:26, Benton Bacile 21′ sent in another corner kick, which allowed Davis 21′ to head it towards the net and hit the top crossbar, setting up Gilker perfectly to slam the ball into the net. Jesuit held on to this lead for the rest of game, winning 3-0.
The results of the third day:
Nolan Catholic 2, Bishop Lynch 0
Jesuit Dallas 3, Bryan Adams 0
Rowlett def. Skyline
North Mesquite 2, Plano 1 (OT)
Conclusion:
Jesuit played very well in the 40th Annual Jesuit-Meintser Soccer Invitational, achieving a record of 2-1, and placing third overall out of 8 teams. Through great passing and communication, the Jesuit Rangers put up a strong fight, and this bodes very well for the team’s success looking at the rest of season.
Check back into The Roundup for more Jesuit soccer updates!
