THUNDER BAY – The St. Ignatius Falcons didn’t allowed a goal all season and their record remained unblemished until the end.
The Falcons on Thursday scored five first-half goals and keepers Cooper Yesno and Jacob Domete kept the slate clean once again, leading St. Ignatius to a 5-0 championship game win over the Saint Patrick Saints to earn the north-side school a third straight high school boys soccer title – but their first since 2019.
Striker Francesco Scopacasa scored twice and earned an assist to lead the offensive onslaught and said it’s a great way to go out, with just five or so weeks left in the high-school chapter of his teenaged life.
“It’s my last year, so it means lot with a great group of guys here to get a win,” Scopacasa said.
“I’m so happy I was able to play this year. I was only able to play my Grade 9 year. So it’s good to get a win here.”
The Falcons were dominant from start to finish in 2022, not allowing a goal all season long, a streak that continued against the Falcons, earning them a spot at next week’s provincial championship in London, Ont.
“This was a great group of guys and we had a lot of chemistry here. We all like playing together and we knew we were going to win. We had all the confidence,” Scopacasa said.
Still, it took a few minutes for the Falcons to get their offensive engine in gear.
The problem for the Saints was once it got going, it was Ferrari good.
Alex Iossa opened the scoring in the seventh, burying a pass from Scopacasa behind Jacob Domete, who allowed all five St. Ignatius goals before giving way to Cooper Yesno to start the second half.
Levi Swearengen doubled the St. Ignatius lead in the 23rd and Rob Hathazi, who last fall helped the Falcons win a senior football crown, pounded home a rebound in the 30th to give his side an insurmountable 3-0 lead.
And yet the goals kept coming.
Scopacasa netted his first of the evening in the 38th minute, going in alone on Domete, and closed out the scoring in stoppage time, slamming the ball home off a free kick.
“There was definitely a little bit of nerves at the beginning of the game. It’s the final, but we were able to come up with the win, which was nice,” said Scopacasa, who plays for the Thunder Bay Chill organization and plans to attend Lakehead University next fall.
St. Ignatius coach Frank Ianni said it was a true team effort on Thursday at Fort William Stadium. He was especially proud of how the Falcons continued their shutout streak.
“We preached defence. It’s hard to beat a team that doesn’t get scored on. You can talk all you want about the goals you put in the other team’s net. But when you don’t let them in, you become a very difficult team to play against. As time goes on, over two halves, you become more difficult to beat. So this year, I’m really proud of the guys,” Ianni said.
“Everybody bought into our defence and our team shape and made it really tough for teams to create any chances against us.”
It was the 18th win in 21 years for the Falcons.
