Junior
James McCrea scored Jesuit's first goal of the season on a feed from senior
Arnold Perez-Valenzuela, helping Jesuit Dallas to a 1-0 win over Nolan Catholic on Thursday afternoon at Postell Stadium. With the win, the Rangers advance to the tournament semifinal of the 41st Annual Jesuit-Meintser Soccer Invitational, where the Blue and Gold will take on Rowlett after the Eagles' penalty kick win over North Mesquite.
In the 18th minute, Perez took the ball down the near sideline with McCrea sprinting down the opposite end of the field. Perez lofted a pass to McCrea, who collected the ball and fired a shot towards the lower left corner of the net. The Vikings' goalkeeper got a foot on the ball, but the ball deflected into the top left side of the net for the Rangers' go-ahead tally. Jesuit's defense took over from that point, as Jesuit held Nolan to only four shots and one shot on goal while the unrelenting Jesuit offense fired 26 attempts at the Vikings, including 14 shots on target.
The Rangers and Eagles will battle on Friday, Jan. 7 at 4 p.m. Friday's matchup will be the first between Jesuit and Rowlett since 2017, when the two teams met in the UIL Region II-6A Bi-District Tournament. In that matchup, Jesuit secured a 2-0 win over Rowlett to begin its run to the state championship.
