St. Xavier defeats Lafayette 1-0 for its 16th boys state soccer title
As the clock wound down on St. Xavier’s 1-0 win over Lafayette in the 2023 KHSAA Boys Soccer State Tournament championship game Saturday at Ishmael Stadium, Tigers coach Andy Schulten heard a common refrain from his players.
“We’re not taking silver home again this year, Coach.”
Stung by their penalty kick shootout loss to Paul Laurence Dunbar at this stage a year ago, St. X took its revenge on a different Lexington team to earn its 16th state title and 12th in 14 tries for Schulten, Kentucky boys high school soccer’s all-time wins leader.
Beckham Murrow stepped into a second chance ball that dropped to him at the top right of the 18-yard box and rifled a low shot through traffic and past the diving Lafayette keeper and into the opposite side netting for the lead just 12:54 into the game.
St. X often tries long throw-ins into the box and this one from Frankie Klein took a couple of caroms before finding Murrow.
“Normally, I’m the one flicking the ball on when Frankie throws it in, but we worked on going back post,” Murrow said. “Coach told me to sit back post and luckily the ball popped there … and I took my shot.”
Schulten said taking those kinds of set-play opportunities is an “incredible weapon” for his team, especially since they’ve been without Stone Work, one of their leading scorers, who was injured in the 7th Region championship game.
“It’s real simple: Just get in there, win the header and then clean something up. And we’ve been on Beckham for the last three or four games to stay wide in case something comes out. He was perfectly placed. And he had a beautiful shot,” Schulten said. “I was standing at that angle where as soon as it came off his foot I saw right exactly where it was going. I might have been the first one to pump my fist on that one.”
From there, St. X’s defense made the slim lead stand. Senior defensive midfielder Maxwell Newman was named the tournament’s MVP.
“He’s our unsung hero, and he’s the guy that … (is) basically the top of our defense,” Schulten said. “Between him and Liam Eisner, they kept our midfield so organized, especially towards the latter stages of the game. You know, (Lafayette) really didn’t get much through us there, and when they did, it was kind of a little bit wide and at some bad angles.”
Lafayette mustered three shots and only one shot on goal. A game-ending injury to center back and city player of the year Sawyer Trowel just after St. X’s goal didn’t help the Generals’ cause. Still, Lafayette Chris Grimm praised his team’s effort.
“You lose (Trowel) early in the game, and a lot of what we do is based around him, because he’s so freaking good back there,” Grimm said. “That was a moment where we could have been, ‘Oh, man, today’s not our day.”
Lafayette had scoring opportunities late in each half and denied St. X a number of chances to put the game away with a second goal.
“The mentality of this team was just push, push, push,” Grimm said. “How many times were guys throwing their bodies in the way in front of the goal just to give us a chance? … I’m so proud of the guys for the way they fought and competed and sacrificed for each other.”
All-State Tournament Team
Trey McCoomer, DeSales; Conner Johnson, Daviess County; Tanner Broyles, North Laurel; Jack Griffith, Ashland Blazer; Hayden Stewart and Julian Warfield, McCracken County; Landon Barth and Chris Maraduaga, Ryle; Alex Castro, Javier Torres and Sawyer Trowel, Lafayette; Ben Howard, Beckham Murrow and Maxwell Newman (MVP), St. Xavier.
