Norwalk boys soccer is now just one win away from its fifth Iowa high school state title.
The No. 5 Warriors upended top seed Cedar Rapids Xavier in the Class 3A semifinals on June 3 at Mediacom Stadium, using a second-half surge to beat the Saints 2-0. Starring in the effort was senior Eli Scavo, who scored a pair of goals within two minutes of each other in the second half to carry his team to victory.
The match remained scoreless after the first half, as both squads generated dangerous opportunities but were unable to find the back of the net. Cedar Rapids Xavier generated four shots on goal to Norwalk’s three, as the Saints began to pick up slightly more additional momentum as the half came to a close.
During the halftime break, Scavo said teammates pleaded with him to take over as Norwalk needed his usual offensive output to pull out the win.
That halftime talk did the job, as Scavo took over for the final 40 minutes. In the 59th minute, Scavo received the ball in the box, tapped it into the air to himself and blasted it past the goalkeeper to break the tie. Just two minutes later, a free kick into the box from Teegan Kralik found Scavo again, who got enough of a touch on it to extend the lead to 2-0.
“When everyone came up to me, they said they needed someone to step up,” Scavo said. “I decided it would be me.”
The Saints’ best chance to get back into the game came with 14:41 to go, when Thomas Cavin stepped to the spot for a penalty kick. However, Norwalk keeper Jacoby Robbins made a leaping save to retain the clean sheet. From there, the Warriors were able to hang on for the victory and advance to Friday’s Class 3A state finals.
Cedar Rapids Xavier’s stellar year comes to an end with a 14-2-2 record, earning the No. 1 seed in the class and reaching the state tournament for the 22nd time in program history.
The Saints’ pedigree with eight state titles made them the trendy choice to win Class 3A. However, Norwalk has made a big statement by shutting out Marion and Xavier, while scoring seven combined goals. They’ll await the winner of Wednesday’s second semifinal between Dallas Center-Grimes and Des Moines Hoover.
“We’ve been playing amazing, 5-0 win and now a 2-0 win, we just got to keep the momentum rolling and finish out on Friday,” Robbins said.
Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Norwalk advances to Iowa boys soccer state title game
Reporting by Eli McKown, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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By Eli McKown, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
