The Bolton Bears hung in with second-seeded St. Louis when the ball was in play, but the Saints scored two second half goals off corner kicks in a 3-1 Division II quarterfinal game.

The Saints advance to play at No. 6 Vandebilt Catholic in the semifinal round.

St. Louis (18-5-6) took a 1-0 lead in the first half when Alex Kjellsten took a pass from Will Lorio, made a spin move and dribble to elude a defender and blasted the ball into the left corner of the goal.

Bolton (14-10-6) knotted the score 15 minutes into the second half when Dril Mboungou powered his way through the middle of the field and a dribble and slid a pass to Chris Auzenne, who slotted the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal from the left wing.

The Saints took the lead again 28 minutes into the half when Andrew Ammons sent a corner kick to the back post, where Jon Lorio blasted it into the net.

Bolton apparently tied the scored two minutes later when Aaron Williams drilled a loose ball into the net, but the play was called back due to offsides. The Saints sealed the game in the next minute when Ammons again found Lorio at the back post. Lorio chested the ball down then banged it home to make the score 3-0.

Saints keeper Marcus McNamara made five saves as the Bears applied pressure throughout the second half.

““Marcus was our MVP of the game,” said Saints head coach Jason Oertling.

“We need our seniors to step up and most of them did, none bigger than Marcus. Alex led us in that first (playoff) game and tonight we relied a lot on Marcus. We don’t want to rely on the keeper so much, but it is good to know that he is our keeper. I think he isbest in the state and he showed it tonight.”

His heroics were needed as the Bears went on the attack in the second half.

“We were down 1-0 and they had pretty much dominated the first half,” said Bolton head coach Jeremy Poklemba.

“Second half we came out and it was different. We were down on their end for most of the first 25 minutes until we got the equalizer. Unfortunately, they are amazing on set pieces and got the equalizer. Their keeper came up huge and made countless good saves, as did ours (David Fowler).”

Oertling said set pieces are a priority for the Saints.

“We just work so hard on it, most teams don’t really concentrate on it,” he said.

“We try to take care of the big things first, then the little things that can become big things. The work that they did all week long paid off for us, the offensive corner kicks won the game.”

(mgnonline.com)