Surprise hero lifts Faith Lutheran into state title game
MESQUITE — Moments after his team clinched its first-ever spot in a Class 3A state title game, Faith Lutheran boys soccer coach Nate Hagge hugged David Edson.
“Way to not be a freshman tonight,” Hagge told the freshman midfielder.
Edson proved a surprise hero for the Crusaders, scoring a 49th-minute goal on the way to a 1-0 semifinal win Friday night over Incline at the Mesquite Sports Complex.
“It’s just unbelievable,” Edson said. “The whole team played awesome.”
South No. 1 seed Faith Lutheran (16-0-1) will play North No. 1 Truckee (23-1-1) in the championship game at 10 a.m. today.
Chris Longi assisted on Edson’s goal, which could have gone to senior forward Ryan Sniezyk.
Instead, Edson called off Sniezyk, the school’s career scoring leader with 101 goals.
“When Longi took the kick, Sniezyk was actually going to go for it,” Hagge said. “David was behind him, called him off and said, ‘Leave it and I’ll take it.’
“Being the senior leader Ryan is, he let it go, and David knew what he was doing and got it in.”
It’s been that kind of a season for the Crusaders, who overcame two years of frustration after losing in the state semifinals the last two years.
“It’s really exciting because we were tired of losing at state,” Hagge said. “It’s kind of the mentality of getting the monkey off our backs so we go in tomorrow with a lot more confidence knowing that we finally got that first one.”
Edson’s goal also surprised Incline coach Tom Canino, whose team finished 14-3-1.
“They just kind of steamrolled it into the goal,” he said.
Late in the first half, Faith Lutheran starting goalkeeper Marc Davies suffered what Hagge said is a bruised right knee after a collision in the box.
Davies, a junior, had to be helped off the field and did not return. He finished with eight saves.
In his place, freshman midfielder Emeron Ahmed joined Edson in playing beyond his years.
Ahmed had five saves in preserving the Crusaders’ 14th shutout win this season.
“That was amazing,” Hagge said of Ahmed’s performance. “He came in pretty cold and said, ‘Hey, no big deal.’ He had played goalie before and kept the shutout going for us.”
Davies’ knee is “a little stiff,” Hagge said, but he should be able to play today.
“Tonight was just so exciting,” Hagge said. “I’m just so proud of them finally getting a state win. We put it back all on the line tomorrow.”
Truckee 11, Boulder City 1 — Senior midfielder Max Brixey had five goals and three assists to lead Truckee (Calif.) to the semifinal win.
Michael Brixey had two goals and an assist for the Wolverines, who cruised after leading 6-0 at halftime.
Salvador Tejeda had three assists and one goal for Truckee, which also got one goal each from Egberto Spricigo, Raul Cardenas and Robby Heck.
Jack Broadbent scored on an assist from Hector Ortiz for the Eagles (8-7-2).
