Yuede, Seifert make curtain calls for St. Dominic
Mike Yuede knows all too well how Ryan Seifert felt watching the St. Dominic boys soccer team win a state championship from the sidelines at Anheuser-Busch Center.
Best of friends on and off the soccer pitch, Yuede and Seifert now share an uncanny parallel as four-year varsity soccer players for the Crusaders.
In St. Dominic’s Class 2 semifinal game against Pembroke Hill last season, Yuede fell victim to a fluke injury. Mere seconds into the game, Yuede fell awkwardly and suffered a dislocated elbow, ending his season.
St. Dominic won that game 3-1 and the following day defeated Helias 2-1 for the school’s second boys soccer championship. In Yuede’s absence, Seifert scored the first St. Dominic goal in both games.
“It was really hard coming back the next day and watching my team in the finals and not being able to play,” Yuede said. “I had always wanted to play in a final and win.”
Fast forward to the Crusaders’ playoff push this year and Yuede and Seifert’s roles were reversed.
Yuede, the team’s leading goal-scorer, was a healthy contributor in the state playoffs but Seifert, who suffered a hip flexor during the Crusaders’ 2-1 overtime win over Westminster in the quarterfinals, was relegated to cheerleading duties from the St. Dominic sideline.
“It’s tough,” Seifert said “But with this group of guys you know they’ll come out and do it not just for me but for everyone.”
In Friday’s semifinal game against Helias, Yuede scored the second goal in St. Dominic’s 2-0 win over Helias. And in Saturday’s final, Yuede assisted on the winning goal as the Crusaders routed Bolivar 7-0 in the most lop-sided boys soccer championship in state history.
“He paid me back,” Seifert said.
As did the rest of his team.
“Our big inspiration was to get Ryan Seifert in the game,” senior sweeper Logan Ream said. “All we wanted to do was get him, as a senior, back on the field for his last game.”
Because of the comfortable scoreboard margin St. Dominic gave itself in the second half, coach Greg Koeller subbed in his seniors, Seifert included, for the final few minutes of the Class 2 championship game.
“We would not have even thought about doing something like that if the game had been close,” Koeller said. “It was a tribute to him and what he’s done for our program.
“It was his curtain call.”
gneunuebel@yourjournal.com
