Brother Rice senior goalkeeper Ian Sorensen and his teammates had the highest of goals this spring.
After falling in the state quarterfinals last year, the Crusaders were in a state championship-or-bust mindset.
So while a loss in the title game was tough to handle, there were plenty of positives to take away for the Crusaders.
Brother Rice fell 10-9 to Stevenson on May 23 in the state final at Barrington.
Sorensen finished with 14 saves.
“This means a lot,” Sorensen said. “Our eyes were on first place. It sucks we fell short, but we made it here. It was a really hard game, but our goal all season was to get here.”
The state trophy was the first for Brother Rice (32-2) since 2006.
Junior Josh Milakovich (five goals, three assists) and senior Darrion Phelps (four goals, assist) led the way for Rice.
Sorensen, a two-year starter in goal, first started playing the position in fifth grade. But but he started taking it a lot more seriously in high school. He learned he’d have to put his body on the line.
“You’ve got to brace yourself,” Sorensen said with a laugh. “Sometimes it’s hard. It hurts, but you build up that strength. Some kids get in there for fun, they get hit and say, ‘Nah!’ You’ll get a big ball mark after a hit. You get used to it.”
Sorensen was a force against Stevenson, accumulating nine of his 14 saves in the second half as Brother Rice rallied from a 10-6 deficit.
Phelps said Sorensen has stepped up as a goalie, as a leader and as a team captain.
“Ian has done great,” Phelps said. “He keeps things together. He always makes sure we’re good and all together. I know you can hear him out there on the water. He never lets us down. I’m proud of him.”
Making Rice’s playoff run even more impressive is that the team did not host a single home game. The school’s pool was shut down because of a drain issue.
The Crusaders played all their games on the road and practiced at Julian and Munster in Indiana.
“We’ve overcome more than any team in the state,” Milakovich said. “Starting the season getting the pool shut down, we were forced to drive a half hour, an hour to practice each day. We should hold our heads high that we came this far dealing with the stuff we had to deal with.”
Brother Rice led 6-5 late in the third quarter only to see Stevenson rattle off five straight goals over the next four minutes.
Seemingly down and out, the Crusaders answered with two goals from Phelps and one from Milakovich.
Phelps’ goal with 17 seconds left cut the deficit to 10-9.
After a Stevenson turnover, Brother Rice had one last chance to score a goal and force overtime but couldn’t get a shot off in the final four seconds.
Junior Anthony Albus had an assist in the title game.
“This group is special,” Albus said. “Through club, we’ve been playing with each other for so many years. It was a lot of hard times, but this group of guys really stuck together.”