Clayton Soccer Team Falls to Ladue, 1-0

The Ladue Rams soccer team survived a second half surge from the to earn a 1-0 Suburban East Conference victory last night at Clayton.

The Greyhounds (4-3) continuously challenged the Rams (5-3) throughout most of  the second half. Clayton had seven shots on goal in the second half. Clayton’s determined offense kept Rams goalkeeper Joe Lombard on his toes.

Lombard finished the contest with 11 saves.

“He (Lombard) certainly had a good game, but we’ve had issues with playing with intensity all year,” Ladue coach Matt Prange said. “I thought we played with it tonight. They put pressure on us in the second half, and I think my blood pressure is higher than I want it to be. It was a good win for us.”  

Lombard said he faced a huge test in the second half.

“The butterflies haven’t left, and I don’t think they’re going to for a while,” Lombard said. “It was a long game.”

The goalkeeper said staying mentally fit was important in his performance.

“You can’t check out for a second because these kids are going to take advantage of every chance they have to score a goal,” Lombard said. “You have to be in there every second.”

Clayton coach Tom Redmond also thought Lombard was instrumental in the win.   

“Their goalie was probably the difference in the game,” Redmond said. “They were in a defensive situation a lot of the time, but when they bent ... they wouldn’t quite break. It was a game when I thought we had more of the play but when they had their opportunity, they took advantage of it. It seemed like every time we got close, we couldn’t get that finishing touch.”

After being forced to play defense for most of the second half, the Rams managed to challenge Clayton in the last two minutes. Ladue kept possession of the ball as the time ran down.

Gustavo Alisio scored Ladue’s only goal with 17:28 left to play in the first period. Keaton Malinich passed the ball to Alisio, who was approximately 15 yards from the goal. Alisio fired off a shot that found the back of the net.  

Alisio "has been playing forward for us all year, and we put him in the midfield today,” Prange said. “He was winning balls in the midfield all game, and he was in the right spot in the right time and we scored.”

The Greyhounds return to action at 7 p.m. Monday against Gibault at DuBourg. The Rams return to action at 4:15 p.m. against Parkway South at Parkway South.