AURORA | With a past star of Regis Jesuit’s boys soccer program in attendance, the current group put on a pretty good show in the opening round of the Class 5A state playoffs Wednesday night.
Raiders head coach Rick Wolf reached out to Brian Mullan — who starred at the school in the 1990s and led the program to two state championships before he played professionally — and he showed up to watch the first round of the postseason at Lou Kellogg Stadium.
Sixth-seeded Regis Jesuit got an early challenge from No. 27 Denver South, but got its potent offense rolling eventually as four different players scored in a 5-0 victory that propelled the Raiders into the second round.
“The players talk about him all the time and they named a corner kick after him, so it was great that we could set this up,” Wolf said. “They had no idea he was going to be here.
“I’m glad we won tonight or that could have been pretty awkward. He’s a great guy, a legend.”
Current Regis Jesuit senior standout Jack De Simone stamped his name on the game with two goals — which give him a state-leading 24 on the season — while fellow seniors JJ Ghiselli, Charles Sharp and Stefan Zehnacker also found the back of the net.
Sharp picked up two assists to up his season total to 19, while juniors Lucas Bennett and Hugh Brophy had one apiece as the Raiders (13-1-2) set up a second round home game Nov. 5 against No. 22 Erie, which upset No. 11 Liberty on penalty kicks.
Senior goalkeeper Thayer White pitched a shutout, which was the fifth straight and 10th of the season for Regis Jesuit, which has allowed just one goal in its past five postseason games combined. The Raiders allowed one goal in a quarterfinal win over Liberty last season and lost to Denver East in the semifinals on penalty kickers after two scoreless halves and two overtimes.
This season, they haven’t allowed an opponent to get on the scoresheet since Highlands Ranch scored a goal in a 3-1 Regis Jesuit Continental Leaguie win Oct. 3.
“The boys are locked in on defense as well,” Wolf said.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2024 CLASS 5A BOYS SOCCER STATE PLAYOFFS (1ST ROUND)
(6) REGIS JESUIT 5, (27) DENVER SOUTH 0
Score by halves:
Denver South 0 0 — 0
Regis Jesuit 3 2 — 5
