NCS soccer: Cardinal Newman boys capture 1st title since 2005

Cardinal Newman High School boys soccer coach Ryan Corriveau remembers exactly the last time the program won a North Coast Section title — because he played for that team in 2005.

Saturday night’s 3-1 home victory over San Francisco’s University in the Division 4 section title game was even sweeter.

“This one feels better because you work so hard to help these boys succeed in the classroom and on the field,” Corriveau said. “They bought into this all year. Their commitment. They set this as a goal at the beginning of the year and we would always remind them, ‘One day at a time … one day at a time.’

“So we got here and played well enough to win.”

The top-seeded Cardinals (22-2-2), who had outscored their first three NCS opponents 10-1 and had already beaten University 4-1 in December on the road, dominated the first half against the No. 2 Red Devils (17-6-2).

Newman had several chances to score early but wasn’t able to cash in until Sebastian Faivre was able to redirect a header into the right side of the net off a cross from Jordan Cunningham in the 15th minute.

“There was a first opportunity I missed, so I wasn’t going to miss the second one,” Faivre said. “We’ve been practicing headers in games. We haven’t been that successful scoring on headers, but I was ready for that one. Jordan made a great pass and I was able to get there.”

The Cardinals struck again seven minutes later when Jude Stone rocketed a shot from just outside the penalty box into the upper left corner of the net off a pass from Saul Cueller.

“The ball popped up in the air and Saul knew where I was,” Stone said. “He touched the ball down to me. I knew where I was on the field and I let it fly like I’ve done a million times before.”

Entering the second half with a 2-0 lead, Newman continued to apply pressure.

Two minutes later, Nathan Lubega found himself wide open after receiving a flick pass from Cueller. He took two dribbles to his right and drilled one past the Red Devils keeper to give the Cardinals a 3-0 cushion.

“We’ve been waiting for this all year,” Cueller said. “Unfortunately, we lost to Piedmont (in last year’s NCS quarterfinals). We knew from our previous game against (University) they were going to give us a battle, but we were able to come out on top.

“It was amazing. There’s an unspoken rule … 2-0 is the most dangerous score in soccer and putting one away felt great.”

The title was vindication for the team, which was upset by Piedmont in last year’s NCS quarterfinals at home as the No. 1 seed.

University finally found the net in the 72nd minute on a Jones Murphy header.

The Red Devils had a free kick just outside Newman’s penalty box two minutes later, but it was blocked and a few minutes later Corriveau received the obligatory ice-water dousing by a couple of his players to celebrate the Cardinals’ fourth section title.

Corriveau is not sure where his squad will be seeded for next week’s NorCal tournament, but does expect to get a home game for the first round.