On Friday of Exam Week, Jays Will Head to the Northshore to Play in the St. Paul’s Invitational Tournament

Christian de Gracia scores for the Blue Jays on this header into the top of the goal.

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The varsity soccer season is only nine games young and for the Blue Jays, they’ve already experienced a variety of ups and downs. The Jays have won four of their matches, finished three in a scoreless tie, and lost two games, both by 1-0 scores.

Three of the four matches the Jays won were by 1-0 scores, including the latest, Wednesday’s (December 7) non-district confrontation with Holy Cross under the lights at John Ryan Stadium.

Jacob Torres slide kicks the ball away from this Tiger defender.

The Jays started aggressively against the Tigers (who are playing soccer in Class II this year). The only problem was that none of the Jesuit strikers’ shots were finding the net in the first 22 minutes, despite several shots on goal. Then in the 23^rd minute, the Jays broke it open when junior midfielder Christian de Gracia nudged the ball with his head into the upper part of the net to put Jesuit out front, 1-0. It turned out to be the only goal of the match. De Gracia’s goal earned him recognition by The New Orleans Advocate as prep soccer’s “Player of the Week.”

“We probably created enough chances that we could have easily had three or four goals in tonight’s game,” said head Coach Hubie Collins. “At least from that end of it and from a coaching aspect, we’re happy with the fact that we’re creating the chances, we just need to show maybe a little more composure, a little more self-belief in that when those opportunities fall to us that we’re able to slide them away, put ’em on frame, and give us some more breathing room in the game.”

Coach Collins said the Jays showed great cohesiveness in the first half moving and passing the ball.

Ashton Perkins has his eyes on the ball.

“We created like five, six, seven chances in the first half,” he said. “If you score two or three of those and it’s 3-0 at halftime, it has a different complexion on the game. When it’s 1-0, it’s a battle to the end. And that’s what we did. Defensively, we did a great job — (Goalie) Shane (Lanson) in the net. The back four did a great job. I won’t say it’s a comfortable 1-0 win, but we certainly were not under as much pressure as Holy Cross would have liked to put us under.”

After the pressure of semester exams this week, the Jays reconvene on the Northshore to play in the St. Paul’s Holiday Invitational Tournament. The Jays are scheduled to play their first tournament match, against St. Amant, on Friday, December 16 at 6:30 p.m. Tournament matches take place at Hunter Stadium on St. Paul’s campus. The tournament runs Friday and Saturday with the championship game to be played Monday at St. Paul’s.

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