(Have photos to go with this story? Email pics to Web and Content Editor / Director of News Dan Stickradt at stickradt@michigansoccernetwork.com and dstickradt@thepremiermediagrp.com and also list photo credit as well.)
MICHIGAN SOCCER NETWORK: MSN NEWS: www.michigansoccernetwork.com/msnnews
BY DAN STICKRADT
WEB AND CONTENT EDITOR | DIRECTOR OF NEWS
Michigan Soccer Network | Premier Media Group and affiliates
BUSINESS LINE: (248) 525-2349
CELL PHONE: (248) 884-1051
TW/X: @msn_stickradt @LocalSportsFans @MiSoccerNetwork
ROYAL OAK, Mich. – If Detroit Cristo Rey ever needed a statement win. A win to send a message to rest of Division 4. Or a message delivered to those around the Michigan soccer community that it is for real and a title contender.
Well, that type of win certainly came Tuesday.
Enjoying its best two-year period in program history and perhaps its very best campaign since first opening its doors in 2008, Cristo Rey made such a statement win and earned the respect of those in the high school soccer world. The Division 4 fourth-ranked Wolves recorded one of its biggest wins in program history Tuesday night in the rain, as Detroit Cristo Rey scored twice in the second half and took down second-ranked Royal Oak Shrine 2-0 in the finals of the Catholic High School League-Cardinal Tournament at Shrine.
It was the school’s first-ever appearance in the CHSL Tournament Championship, and it places the Wolves into a category as not only a fast-rising program, but one to watch this postseason. Cristo Rey, which never even dented the state rankings until late last season, are ranked in the top five in the state this week for the first time in school history.
One of three unbeatens teams in Division 4 entering the game – Shrine and Allen Park Inter-City Baptist of the Michigan Independent Athletic Conference-Blue Division were the others – Detroit Cristo Rey scored twice in the second half and seemingly picked up steam as the game wore on. The CHSL-Intersectional Division champs (7-0-1) for the first time qualified for the Cardinal Tournament for the first time as well this fall – and the Wolves more than made the most of it.
Cristo Rey outshot short-handed Shrine – making its third appearance in the Cardinal Tournament finals in the past decade – by a wide 17-7 margin, including 11-1 with shots on goal. The Wolves (11-0-1) were ever-so-dominant in the second half, holding the Knights to just a single shot attempt in the second half while holding an 11-1 shots edge over the final 40 minutes.
Cristo Rey, which now owns a 48-9 scoring edge this season and five shutouts, scored in the 42nd and 54th minutes, respectively, while the Wolves defense more than hounded Shrine all night in shutting down the Knights’ high-powered offense that held a plus-47 margin entering the contest.
Shrine came into the contest with a 54-7 scoring edge and nine shutouts but were kept off the scoreboard for just the second time this season. Shrine (11-1-3) suffered its first loss of the campaign and much like Saturday’s 1-1 draw with 14th-ranked Hillsdale Academy where the Knights only dressed 12 players due to injuries and sickness that had infiltrated the school’s athletics department last week, Shrine did not have its entire roster available for the showdown with the talented Wolves.
Cristo Rey, which has never been undefeated entering October, looked downright scary against the Knights.
Coming out of the gate in the second half in attack mode, Cristo Rey scored on its very first and third shots of the second half and never took the peddle off the medal over the final 40 minutes.
Junior midfielder Alejandro Garito, a two-time All-Catholic choice, set up the game-winning goal when his serve from the left corner sailed into the goal mouth area and senior Heriberto Salinas found enough real estate in traffic to poke home a close-range shot just two minutes into the second half.
The Wolves added a second goal when the aforementioned Salinas netted the brace on a goal from almost an impossible angle. Down near the southeast corner of the field, Salinas cut back with a defender draped over him, and laced a high, bending cross that curled in and caught the webbing near the upper-90 along the left post. Shrine goalkeeper Sean Murphy reacted late before he realized that the ball was curling inward during the 54th minute.
The shot capped the scoring but not the relentless attack by Cristo Rey, which has not lost since last season’s Division 4 district semifinals loss to Allen Park Inter-City Baptist (3-1). The Wolves now carry a 12-game unbeaten streak into the final week or the 2024 regular season.
Shrine’s only shot of the second half was well left of the goal, while the Knights’ high-powered attack was simply shut down, snapping Shrine’s 14-game unbeaten streak to start the season.
Freshman goalkeeper Troy Enriquez – one of nine ninth-graders and 12 underclassmen on Cristo Rey’s talented but young roster – recorded his team’s fifth clean sheet of the campaign on just one first-half save.
Both teams recorded six shots apiece in the first half, but Cristo Rey was able to hold a 4-1 shots edge during the first 40 minutes of play.
Both teams will wrap up the regular season late this week with non-league games before entering MHSAA district play in the middle of next week. Both teams are placed in deep districts where there are multiple quality teams.
Cristo Rey – winners of a school all-time best 11 straight games – is in the same district with fellow Division 4 unbeaten Allen Park Inter-City Baptist, a storied boys soccer program in terms of small schools in Michigan, plus state powerhouse Grosse Pointe Woods University-Liggett, a team that Cristo Rey finished 1-0-1 against this season and a school the Wolves defeated for the first time back on Sept. 17 (1-0).
Shrine, which hopes to get all but one of its players back for the state tournament, is in the same district group along with fellow top-15-ranked Bloomfield Hills Roeper.
— All Rights Reserved, Premier Media Group / Michigan Soccer Network / National Soccer Network
(MSN will compile a random sampling of game results from around the state each day. To send in results from high school varsity, club, amateur, pre-pro, semi-pro or professional soccer, email all pertinent details to Communications Specialist / Web and Content Editor / Director of News Dan Stickradt at stickradt@michigansoccernetwork.com and dstickradt@thepremiermediagrp.com or submit information right on the correct link on the MSN website at https://www.michigansoccernetwork.com/reportascore. Please submit the competing teams, location and date of game, final score, overall and league records, goals, assists, goalkeepers and saves, standout defenders, players of the match, and any other pertinent details of the game. If there are courtesy action photos available, feel free to submit them at the above-listed emails.)
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(Have photos to go with this story? Email pics to Web and Content Editor / Director of News Dan Stickradt at stickradt@michigansoccernetwork.com and dstickradt@thepremiermediagrp.com and also list photo credit as well.)
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