Junior goalkeeper Vin Diesi feels he’s at his best when all eyes are on him for St. Laurence. The biggest moments bring out the best in him.
That’s why Diesi enjoys playing between the posts.
“I’ve been a goalie since kindergarten or first grade,” he said. “It was just one of those things where it’s like, ‘You’re getting tossed in the goal. Put on a pinnie and get in there.’
“Ever since that, I just loved it. I love the attention. I love being the one man for the job and just going out there and getting my stuff done. I feel like I thrive off those big situations.”
Diesi definitely prospered Thursday night, coming up with a huge save in the seventh round of a shootout as host St. Laurence beat Brother Rice 7-6 in penalty kicks to win the Christian Brothers Cup in Burbank.
The teams played to a scoreless draw through 80 minutes and the game will officially go down as a tie for Catholic League Blue play, but the rivals conducted the shootout to determine who would take home the trophy.
Although his heroics won’t show up in the conference record books, Diesi won’t forget this night anytime soon. After the Vikings won the shootout, St. Laurence students stormed the field to celebrate with the team.
“This is definitely going to be one of my top memories at St. Laurence,” Diesi said. “Everything about it was just so insane. I can’t even believe that just happened.”
Matthew Suchecki, Pauly Rzadkosz, Frankie Martinez, Juan Hernandez, Kris Caravantes, Alonso Gonzalez and Maxx Figueroa all scored in the shootout for St. Laurence (6-2-3, 1-0-2), which went 7-for-7.
Julian Zambrano, Jimmy Gricus, Anthony Piech, Salvador Perez, Angelo Piech and Javier Franco scored in the shootout for Brother Rice (8-2-2, 3-0-1). David Valencia made six saves in regulation.
After the Crusaders converted their first six penalty kicks, Diesi’s big moment came in the seventh round, when he made a kick save to deny Luke Gordon.
Diesi only had to make two saves in regulation, but he came up huge with under five minutes left when he used his body to stop Zambrano’s point-blank shot.
St. Laurence coach Jaime Alonso loves what he’s seeing from Diesi, who is in his second season as a starter.
“His skill set continues to develop,” Alonso said. “Last year as a sophomore, he got a ton of experience and it’s finally starting to show. In the last five minutes, he made a big one-vs.-one save that helped us get to the PKs and then he made the big save in PKs.
“I hope he continues to develop. There’s a lot of room for improvement still, but I know he’s someone we can depend on to make that big save.”
After Diesi’s save in PKs, Figueroa — a sophomore midfielder — delivered the clinching goal.
“At first, I was very nervous, but in the moment, I just shot the ball, saw it go in the back of the net and I released all my emotions, my passion toward this sport,” Figueroa said. “I love it so much.
“Seeing the crowd go crazy, it felt amazing. It just made me say, ‘Wow, I did it.’”
Diesi, meanwhile, was fueled by his battle with Valencia, who made several huge saves for the Crusaders to keep the shutout intact, including stopping a penalty kick in the first half.
“When he makes those saves, it gets under my skin, I’m not going to lie,” Diesi said. “It makes me mad. I’ve never met him, but I’ve heard great things about him, heard he’s a great keeper.
“I’m trying to get out there and make bigger saves than him.”
