BLUE SPRINGS • The motto for DeSmet’s soccer season this season was: One Team, One Mission.
Mission accomplished.
The Spartans jumped on Oakville with a pair of first-half goals and went on to a 2-0 victory over the Tigers in the Class 3 title match Saturday night at Blue Springs South High in suburban Kansas City.
The soccer title is DeSmet’s fifth. The Spartans' last state championship came in 1997. They also won in 1991, 1993 and 1995.
“The first one’s special for obvious reasons, but after that, I think the most recent one always means a lot,’’ Spartans coach Greg Vitello. “I feel great for our players -- they’re the ones who went out and won it -- and especially for this group because of what they’ve been through.
“Two or three years ago, we decided that we were going to commit to this group and that we were going to push them. These (players) stuck it out, and they took their lumps over the last couple of years.’’
Saturday, it all paid off.
DeSmet, 25-4-1 and ranked No. 1 among STLhighschoolsports.com large schools, took advantage of a strong tailwind to jump on Oakville from the outset, going up on an unassisted goal by Louie Berra about 4 minutes into the match.
“That first goal is always so important,’’ said Berra, who created several other quality chances in the opening half. “We knew we had to come out strong and set the tone.
“Somebody played the ball in, I got to it and I put it in.’’
The Spartans bumped the lead to 2-0 midway through the half when Scott Ladi headed in a corner kick from Scott Russo.
It was the second goal of the season -- and the first on a header -- for Ladi, a defender who ranks among the area’s best in the air.
“It’s so different, trying to get the ball on goal. I guess I get too excited,’’ he said. “But tonight, everything worked out. And it felt incredible. In a big game like this, going up 1-0 is huge, but getting that second goal, that really put us in control.’’
The Spartans never relinquished its advantage.
“DeSmet’s an excellent team, and they came at us ferociously in the first half,’’ Oakville coach Dave Robben said. “The wind had something to do with it, but most of it was DeSmet.
“Defensively, they were solid," he said.
The Tigers (21-8-1) played without starters Mike Munsell and Alex Dieckmann due to injuries suffered during Friday’s grueling 1-0 penalty-kick win against Rock Bridge. With the wind at its back in the second half, Oakville played better but never really tested DeSmet keeper Jake Koenig.
Off a dangerous Oakville throw midway through the half, DeSmet’s Sean Badock came up with back-to-back blocks. Later, a blast off the foot of the Tigers’ Srdjan Sarcevic was knocked away by Ladi.
Another decent Oakville scoring chance, off a Luke Miller corner, was tipped away by Koenig.
“We didn’t do a while to test the keeper, but we kept coming, especially in the second half,’’ Robben said. “Even at the end, our guys were doing everything they could to make a game of it.’’
