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Benilde-St. Margaret's 1, CL 0

The Wildcat boys' soccer team played one of its best games of the season against second-ranked Benilde-St. Margaret's. But Benilde scored the only goal of the game on a penalty kick midway through the second half to beat the Wildcats 1-0 Thursday, October 2 at Benilde.

Neither team could solve the other's defense until the Red Knights broke through with 20 minutes remaining. As a Benilde player tried to move the ball from the far corner of the Wildcat penalty area to the front of the net, a Wildcat defender stabbed at the ball and accidentally tripped the Benilde player. The referee called the foul, and Benilde converted the penalty shot for the game-winner.

"We played pretty well in this one," said Wildcat head coach Mark Leigh. "And if we had just been a little more patient defensively, we wouldn't have put ourselves in a position to give up a penalty shot."

St. Thomas Academy 5, CL 2

In their first game on the new Chisago Lakes field, the Wildcats kept the game against fifth-ranked St. Thomas close for a long time. But the Cadets scored on a 50 yard shot with 10 minutes remaining to take a 4-2 lead. They scored again a few minutes later to make the final score St. Thomas Academy 5, Chisago Lakes 2.

The Cadets scored first early in the game when a Wildcat defender's errant pass from deep in the Wildcat box went right onto the foot of a Cadet forward standing just a few yards away. The Cadet player easily volleyed the ball into the net for a 1-0 St. Thomas lead. The cadets headed in a crossing pass just a few minute later to make it 2-0. Mark Shaleen scored on a breakaway for the Wildcats before halftime to pull the Wildcats within one.

Ten minutes into the second half, the Cadets added another goal to increase the lead to two. But the Wildcats responded almost right away. Manny Cruceru pushed the ball through to Cam Bouwens, and Bouwens scored to cut the Cadet lead to 3-2. But the Cadets proved to be too much for the Wildcats to contain and scored the two goals to give themselves a comfortable 5-2 win.

"We gave up a goofy goal at the beginning," said Leigh. "Other than that, we hung tough with them for most of the game. I was a little disappointed that a couple of our players didn't make an effort to mark the player who took the long shot and scored from 50 yards out. I know that players are sometimes tired at that point in the game, but that's the time we need to see a little extra effort out of people."

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