Mendota boys soccer has chances but can’t convert in loss to BCC

MENDOTA – In a rematch of a 2021 Class 1A supersectional in which Bloomington Central Catholic topped Mendota in penalty kicks, the Saints got the better of the Trojans again Wednesday.

The BCC defense stymied the Trojans, and the Saints scored a goal in each half to come away with a 2-0 nonconference victory.

“We wanted to beef up the schedule and see how we still match up against a team like Bloomington,” Mendota coach Nick Meyers said. “It’s a loss, but I think we proved to ourselves that we can still play, and with a little luck maybe we’ll see these guys down the line again.”

Right out of the gates, Mendota was pushing the issue and was being aggressive. A corner kick from Jasiel Watson almost was put in the back of the net by Rafa Romero only 90 seconds into the match.

“We have had a lot of luck with corner kicks this season,” Myers said. “We also have a couple of guys around 6 feet tall, and one of them nearly got one to go there.”

Six minutes later, Christian Vargas had a good look at the net for the Saints, but Mauricio Martinez was right there with the defense to keep the game scoreless.

With a little more than 29 minutes left in the half, Mendota’s Johnathan Cortez almost put the Trojans on the board with a crazy angle shot that just missed going in over the head of Saints goalie Auston Koch.

Jarrett Wieduwilt then was denied by the Trojans’ defense, but with 19:05 left in the first half, Ethan Blankenship headed in a corner kick from Boyden Chaon to give the Saints a 1-0 lead.

Two minutes later, the Trojans pushed the ball up the field with some precise passing, and Cortez almost tied the game but again was denied.

In the second half, Mendota came out aggressively again and had three outstanding shots within the first 3 1/2 minutes, but Koch again was up to the challenge.

Moments later, David Casas bounced two headers to push the ball up the field and ahead to Cortez, who sailed a shot over the net.

With a little more than 21 minutes left in the game, Watson broke free from the Saints defenders and looked like he was about to tie the game, but Koch was a split second quicker, stopping the ball to maintain the lead.

One Mendota defensive breakdown found Blankenship in front of the net, and he quickly blasted the ball into the goal to give the Saints a 2-0 lead.

“[Our first goal] was a beautiful corner kick,” BCC coach Reza Ghasemi said. “Blankenship got the header, and then on the second one we got a loose ball in front of the net again by Blankenship, who was playing forward for the first time tonight.”

Mendota continued to have chances as another header from Romero nearly went in, and with 3:55 to play, Cortez received a pass from Johan Cortez, but he lost his footing at the last second and was denied the goal.

“We didn’t have a lot of clean looks tonight, and you have to credit Bloomington Central Catholic’s defense,” Myers said. “Then when we did have some looks the goalie got to the ball just before we did, and we lost our footing on another, but all in all, we played well.”

Mendota falls to 11-3 on the season, while BCC improves to 9-3-1.