Crusaders drop district title game

~ Saxony allowed the game's only goal in the last minute of the first half.

Saxony Lutheran junior Bryant Steffens started this season at forward after spending last year as the Crusaders' goaltender.

But about nine games into the season, he was moved back in net to give his team more experience at the position.

However with his team down one goal late in the Class 1 District 1 championship game against St. Pius X on Wednesday, Steffens moved back to forward to give a boost to the struggling Crusaders' offense.

"I kind of figured I might come out and play, but I didn't know," he said.

St. Pius goalie Travis Bannes grabbed the ball before Saxony Lutheran's Ross Gage could kick it during their Class 1 District 1 title game Wednesday. (Aaron Eisenhauer)

Saxony coach Ryan Schweain sent freshman Matt Stueve to goal and Steffens rushed to the team bench, took off his goalie shirt and the sweats he was wearing. Underneath was his regular uniform, as though he knew he could be called upon to make the switch.

He hustled onto the field, but like his teammates, failed to generate the equalizer as No. 3 St. Pius held on for a 1-0 win at top-seeded Saxony Lutheran.

"We just couldn't poke it in, I guess," Steffens said. "We just had an off day. We didn't come out to play. We weren't passing as great as we should have been, but they just had a good day."

Saxony, a second-year program, finished third in the district last year.

The lone goal was scored by St. Pius striker Alex Ponder. He was assisted by Jim Hangyal, who crossed the ball to him with approximately 40 second remaining in the first half. Ponder said he just had to tap it past Steffens.

Saxony's (#12) maneuvers the ball around St. Pius' (#10) during the Class 1 District 1 title game on Wednesday, October 31, 2007 at Saxony Lutheran High School. (Aaron Eisenhauer)

"It kind of just got through and he poked it in right past me," Steffens said. "I couldn't really do anything -- just unlucky for us."

The Crusaders, who beat St. Pius earlier this season, came out flat on offense from the opening minute. They had no shots on goal in the first half.

"First half we kind of just forgot to show up to play," Schweain said. "I don't know if they thought it was going to be easier than that since we already beat them. I knew it was going to be trouble going in there against a team we already beat. Playing a team a second time after you beat them is always hard."

Schweain added that because his defense was preventing St. Pius from taking quality shots in the second half, he felt comfortable placing the freshman Stueve in net. Stueve had played on the varsity squad for only the last three games.

St. Pius coach Dan Bokern said his team only had 13 healthy players on its 20-man roster the first time it lost to the Crusaders. He said his team's defense has been especially strong lately, allowing two goals in the last eight games.

"When we played them the last time I looked at what they had," he said. "They play a 4-3-3 and we tried to mark their striker out of the game, and he didn't score, so it worked."

Schweain told his players at halftime that St. Pius was beating them to every ball and out-hustling them. His players responded in the second half, coming out with a more aggressive offense and fired five shots on goal.

St. Pius finished with eight shots on goal.

Saxony had some chances in the second half. Senior forward Max Wieser hit the crossbar on a shot from the right side. Ross Gage had one that just went over the net.

"Garrett Fritsche has the long throw in and he had I'm guessing about 10 throw-ins right there in the box bouncing around," Schweain said of his team's chances after halftime. "One of those could have easily gone in. We also had a couple shots get deflected right before they got on goal. They crowded the box so it was kind of hard to get the ball through there.

"If we played the first half like we played the second half we would have came out on top. But they're a real good team."