Heading into Wednesday night’s game, Marist’s stat keepers had sophomore defender Matthew Pappalardo landing only one shot in 410 minutes of play.
Pappalardo, however, disputes that.
“I don’t think I had taken a shot,” he said. “I had a few where the ball was bouncing around and bouncing toward the goalie. But I didn’t have a true shot where I was trying to score.”
Well, Pappalardo took a shot that can’t be disputed. It went into the net for his first varsity goal in the RedHawks’ 5-2 East Suburban Catholic Conference win over Joliet Catholic in Chicago.
Jordan Easterling, Trenton Falls, Aidan Mannion and Christian Bedgood also scored goals for Marist (8-4-1, 3-1), while Bedgood, Fabian Peralta and Andrew Mucksavage added assists.
Junior goalkeeper Joe Lieber pitched a shutout for 50 minutes with seven saves in earning the win before being relieved. Diego Rios and Adan Verdin scored in the final seven minutes for Joliet Catholic (2-9-2, 0-4).
Pappalardo savored his goal.
“I saw Fabian get the ball, and he made a great move and got by his defender,” Pappalardo said. “I’m screaming my head off in the box. I’m like, ‘Cross, cross, cross.’
“He crosses in, and I’m tracking it as it comes in, and I hit a bottom corner.”
Pappalardo is listed as a defender, midfielder and forward on Marist’s roster, but most of the time, his bread and butter is defense.
“I pride myself on playing defense and stopping other kids,” he said. “Where I’m at, they usually put their best kids on the field.
“I want to take on the best player and I want to give everything I have. If I can shut down their best player — the life of their team — I don’t think they are going to win against us.”
Marist has been winning lately, with a 4-1 mark its last five games going into this weekend’s 20th Great River Classic in Bettendorf, Iowa, playing Quincy on Friday and East Moline on Saturday.
Pappalardo is glad he can help turn around a program that was 5-14-2 in 2023.
“Every team needs good defensive players,” he said. “I’m OK if I’m not going out scoring two or three goals a game or getting a bunch of assists, but I’m helping the team and that’s what I want.”
Easterling, who leads the RedHawks with five goals, enjoyed watching Pappalardo score on the varsity level for the first time.
“I love when the young guys get goals,” he said. “That gets their confidence up. He means a lot of us on defense. He puts his body on the line.
“We are always yelling if a shot is open to take a shot. All of our defenders can shoot.”
Marist coach Sean Maxwell was just happy his defender had the confidence to take the shot.
“He could have taken a few shots that he passed on this year,” Maxwell said of Pappalardo. “He’s growing into himself. Obviously, he’s only a sophomore and we thought enough of him that he’s playing varsity.
“He had some early minutes, and he’s getting his minutes back up. He puts himself at the right place at the right time.”
Pappalardo said his father, Dominic, played baseball at Marist and tried to get him into the sport at age 5. Matthew found baseball to be “stagnant” and wanted to run around, so soccer it is.
“I didn’t even know what soccer was, but after the first practice, I loved it,” Matthew said. “My dad said, ‘If you want to play soccer, I’ll be at all of your games.’
“My family is at all of my games. They are huge supporters, and I owe a lot to them.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
