Red Devils lose game, Sasieta
CREVE COUER – Vianney’s Andy Haar headed in a corner kick from fellow senior Steve McAnany with about 10 minutes to play as the visiting Griffins came away with a 1-0 victory over Chaminade Wednesday afternoon.
But the Metro Catholic Conference game was not the only thing the Red Devils might have lost in the match. Early in the second half, Chaminade captain and team leader Sito Sasieta and a Vianney player both slid into a loose ball near midfield. Sasieta did not get up.
“It looks bad, but we won’t know anything until later tonight at the earliest,” said Chaminade coach Mike Gauvain. “At this point, I guess all we can do is hope for some good news. Losing Sito obviously hurt us today, but give Vianney credit. It was a good game, a very intense game, and they did what they needed to do to score a good goal.
“The better team won.”
With the victory, its first in MCC play this season, Vianney improved to 10-2-3. The loss dropped Chaminade to 13-3-1 overall and to 1-1 in league play.
Chaminade had a slight edge in the play through a scoreless first half. After a nice build-up keyed by Sasieta, the Red Devils’ Jimmy Meyerkord hit the cross bar about 14 1/2 minutes in. Midway through the half, Vianney’s McAnany tested Chaminade keeper Zach Toth with a blast from about 30 yards out. But Toth came up with a diving stop to keep the match scoreless.
Vianney came out strong after halftime. Toth had to scramble to recover the loose ball on a 50-yard free kick into the box from the Griffins’ Joe Hilderbrand.
Both teams seemed to be thrown off a bit by seeing Sasieta carted off the field.
“You hate to see that happen to anybody,” said Vianney coach Dave Gauvain, a cousin of the Chaminade coach. Sasieta “is such a great player. Honestly, the way it looked, I was surprised when our guy was able to get up as quick as he did.”
Chaminade created its best second-half chance off a corner kick midway through. Alex Weber managed to get a head on Tyler Fisher’s cross, but it was blocked to Meyerkord, who sent a high, hard shot toward goal. Vianney keeper Matt McKenna managed to deflect the shot and then gather in the loose ball.
Vianney came on strong as the game progressed and eventually knocked in the game winner.
“The last couple of nights, we’ve been able to just gut it out and come away with a couple of tough wins,” Dave Gauvain said, referring to Monday’s 2-1 come-from-behind overtime victory at Lindbergh. “For whatever reason, we just haven’t been able to put it together the way we expected to early this season. But I still really like this team a lot; hopefully these last couple of games are a good sign of things to come.”
Vianney plays Thursday at Whitfield. Chaminade hosts Whitefish Bay of Wisconsin 9 a.m. Saturday in a showcase game of the Gateway City Classic.
jlyons@post-dispatch.com/636-255-7205
