Explorers Cruise Past Parkway North In Redbird Tourney Opener
ALTON – Two games into the season, and the Marquette Explorers have outscored their two opponents a combined 8-0 thus far.
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After opening the season with a 3-0 win over Staunton, the Marquette Catholic High School boys soccer team turned its attention to the annual Redbird Tournament hosted by Alton High.
The Explorers took on Parkway North at Piasa Motor Fuels Field at AHS and won 5-0, controlling nearly the entire game with ease.
“From the first whistle, I liked the way we moved the ball,” Marquette head coach Brian Hoener said. “I thought we were a little bit more dynamic in the offensive third. We talked about that the other day, and before the game.”
“Tonight, we did a pretty good job of getting into dangerous spots and moving the ball quick enough to where we could exploit some of those spots,” Hoener continued. “Still would have liked to finish a few more opportunities early, but we’re 160 minutes in, so we’ve got a lot of time to work on that.”
After numerous opportunities in the game’s first 15 minutes, the Explorers finally broke through.
Will Waters whipped in a corner kick straight at Evan Brown, who leapt up and headed it home to make it 1-0 in the 16th minute.
A little over 10 minutes later, Eli Baggio doubled the lead when he finished off a pass from Maicol Gonzalez at the back post. Gonzalez did most of the work, flying into the box after beating a few defenders and cutting a pass across the six-yard box to Baggio.
Five minutes after that, Cameron Golike made it 3-0 as his shot found the bottom right corner, assisted by Diego Lara.
TJ Elisia scored two minutes into the second half, and Nick Martinez sealed it with six minutes to go with the game’s best goal, a left-footed curling shot from about 30 yards out that found the top corner to get to the final of 5-0.
Happy with the win, but Hoener knows that Thursday’s game could have been put away much earlier. The Explorers could have made it three, four to nothing within the first 10 minutes.
“Typically, it’s been my experience, that’s something that progresses throughout the season as the team goes on,” he said. “I like the fact that we’re creating those chances. I think we’ll get better at finishing some of those chances. I’m optimistic that we can keep moving forward in that direction.”
The Explorers start their season at 2-0 for the third straight time. They opened up to a 5-0 mark in 2023 and went 7-0 to open last year’s campaign.
Last season, Marquette beat Belleville West 2-0 and then cross-town rivals Alton 4-1 in the Redbird Tournament championship game.
The Explorers will once again match up against the Belleville West Maroons on Saturday in the tournament’s semifinals. That game will be played at Public School Stadium at 9 a.m.
Alton will take on Duchesne in the other semifinal, also being played at 9 a.m. at Piasa Motor Fuels Field. The tournament’s championship game will be played at Alton High at 5 p.m.
For Hoener and the Explorers, this tournament is a good way to roll into the season, see some new things, and challenge themselves.
“Parkway North’s a team we’ve never seen before, at least as long as I’ve been here, and I enjoy the opportunity of playing new teams,” Hoener said. “We’re going to have plenty of times on our schedule where we’re going to continue to be challenged, starting with Saturday morning.”
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