The Strake Jesuit boys soccer team remained undefeated this season after winning 3-0 against Cypress Creek in Tuesday night’s 17-5A match up.

The Crusaders (16-0-4) clinched the district championship with their 12th district win last week against Cypress Falls.

In Tuesday’s win, the Crusaders controlled the ball and set the tempo for the game. They kept the ball on Cy Creek’s end of the field and shot multiple shots at the goal but came up short on the scoreboard.

Cy Creek’s defense around the goal was strong in the first half as they kicked away three of Strake Jesuit’s corner kicks and forced the Crusaders to float four balls over the net.

The Cougars’ offense also failed to score any goals in the first half from their few attempts at the goal.

The Crusaders’ domination of the first half came from great ball handling by each player, passing, and team communication.

“We didn’t play as well as we could have in the first half, but we were able to change things up, raise our level, and possess the ball better in the second half which led to the goals,” Strake Jesuit coach Bill McDonald said.

The game was scoreless at halftime.

Strake Jesuit came out in the second half and scored in the first two minutes. Christian Davidson fed the ball to Carlo De Franco who put it in the net for the Crusaders’ first score.

“We talked at halftime that we created enough chances in the first half but didn’t score,” McDonald said. “And we didn’t want that to creep up on us in the second half and we wanted to make sure we made a difference and we did.”

At 21:27, Jamie Garcia-Prats scored the teams’ second goal and with four minutes left in the game, Tyler Messina shot the third goal with an assist from Chris Healy.

“We’ve had a pretty fortunate run and we definitely didn’t want to lose that,” McDonald said. “We defended really well tonight. All we were looking for was to defend well. If we can keep them to 1 or 0, our chances are pretty good.”

The Crusaders host Cypress Woods on Friday as they prepare for the post season.

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