BELLEVILLE – The year after winning a state championship can sometimes be troublesome.
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A lot of times, the senior class that got you to that point inevitably graduates, and the team has a down year.
That’s not the case for the Althoff Catholic High School boys soccer team.
After losing only four seniors, the majority of the Crusaders’ starting lineup returned for the 2025 season. Thirteen juniors from last season have returned, including captains Jack Sorgea, Luke Smith, Sem Medin, and Tyler Birdsong, to name a few.
Others, like leading goal scorer Nate Pitre and top assistant Tyler Pollock, are both back.
The two stingers who graduated were Bo Gomric, a dangerous forward who scored 16 goals last season and assisted 12 others, and starting goalkeeper Zach Winkler, who logged over 2,000 minutes in net with 11 shutouts.
But other than Gomric and Winkler, the band is back together and ready to try and defend their state title.
“We’ve got a lot of returning players from last year, obviously, so they’ve got a lot of chemistry, camaraderie, that kind of thing,” Althoff head coach Skip Birdsong said. “The whole back line returns, a lot of continuity there for sure.”
The Crusaders went to the state tournament in back-to-back seasons in 2021 and 2022, taking second both times. Due to that success, the IHSA bumped them up a division to Class 2A.
Their first season playing up a division saw them cruise to a regional title before falling to their newfound Class 2A rivals, Triad, in the sectional championship.
Althoff returned the favor last season, beating Triad 4-2 in the sectional title game, en route to the program’s first-ever state championship, capping off a historic 26-4 season.
That team ended the season on a 15-game win streak, beating Chicago De La Salle in the state championship game 3-2 in overtime.
And with all this recent success, also comes a big target on their back.
“We talk about that all the time. It’s a good spot to be in in a lot of ways, but we play a lot of really great teams. We’ve certainly felt like we’ve been getting a bit extra this year, and that’s exactly what it’s supposed to be about. I love it in that regard,” Birdsong said.
The Crusaders are off to a 7-2-1 start in 2025, coming off a recent 3-0 win over Father McGivney. They’ll have the Griffins again this season, as well as two upcoming games against the Marquette Catholic Explorers, in a highly competitive Gateway Metro Conference.
Other tough non-conference opponents include Triad, Columbia, Highland, and O’Fallon.
“Tough schedule. We’ve played seven out of the last eight days,” Birdsong said after the win over McGivney. “That’s a crazy schedule I put together, but we’ll have a day off, and then play Triad on Saturday. Certainly not getting any easier as far as games go.”
That much-anticipated game will be played at Triad on Saturday, September 13, at 2:30 p.m.
