Boys Soccer Championship: Gonzaga 1, O'Connell 0

By Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.com

It was late October, 2006 when sophomore Chris Perez told Gonzaga Coach Scott Waller on the eve of the WCAC playoffs that he thought the Eagles could win three straight conference championships.

“I think he kind of laughed and was like, ‘Who is this kid?’” Perez said Sunday.

Two years and three championships later, Perez can finally say he was right. Gonzaga beat O’Connell, 1-0, in Sunday’s WCAC boys soccer finals at Catholic University, only further cementing the Eagles as the most successful boys soccer program in the Washington region over the past decade.

The Eagles (21-2-1) will likely finish the season ranked in the Top-10 of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll. They were undefeated in the conference this season with two ties against DeMatha, who fell to O’Connell in penalty kicks in the semifinals, and just one loss to Regis Jesuit of Colorado.

Gonzaga has reached the conference finals the past nine years and won championships six of those nine years.

“My goal from the beginning was to three-peat,” Perez said. “We had the teams to do it, the players and the talent and it all came together every year.”

Gonzaga’s talent was on full display Sunday as the Eagles battered O’Connell with 20 shots. The only reason why the game was so close was that junior O’Connell goalkeeper Alex Harrington made 12 saves, several of which on what looked like surefire Gonzaga goals.

But all it took was one to get past Harrington and senior Dan Rice delivered. With 51 seconds remaining until halftime, Rice accelerated past a defender and weaved a shot around the charging Harrington into the top right corner of the goal.

“It felt so good to score,” said Rice, who was the chief thorn in O’Connell’s side all afternoon. “Right before halftime too, it was a good time to score and go into the second half with the upper hand.”

O’Connell’s best scoring chance came in just the fifth minute when a shot by Chris O’Donnell nicked off Gonzaga goalie Daniel Valcicak’s fingertips and slowly rolled towards the goal line.

“I looked over and saw it slowly rolling in,” Valcicak said. “I had to get up as quick as I could and I managed to get it about six inches off the line. It was definitely a key point in the game. If they score the momentum definitely would have shifted.”

Instead Gonzaga seemed emboldened by the close call. The Eagles, even after taking a lead, never pulled back to focus on defending. Gonzaga had numerous chances to add to their lead that went wide or were saved by Harrington or a defender on the goal line.

“They were relentless the entire game from every direction,” Harrington said. “They were in our offensive third probably the majority of the game, so I was on my toes the entire time just trying to keep it 0-0 as long as I could. … They can beat you in any number of ways possible.”

Rice didn’t hesitate in saying this was the best team of the past three years. Waller has said that this team has a combination of depth and star-power and said it was of course one of the best he has coached in his four years at Gonzaga.

When Waller first came to Gonzaga in 2005, he entered with the current senior class. Early on, he said he knew it was special and this season was a culmination of four years spent growing together.

“It’s our legacy,” Perez said. “We’re known as a program now. That was our whole goal.”