ENGLEWOOD | Rick Wolf spent a considerable portion of Saturday’s Class 5A state quarterfinal contest seated on the bench as enjoyed the play of his Regis Jesuit boys soccer team.
The ninth-seeded Raiders gave their coach quite a show — and a lot slower heartbeat — than in the previous round (a nailbiting 1-0 win over rival Cherry Creek) with their performance against No. 16 Liberty at Englewood High School, as they scored the first three goals and finished with a 4-1 victory.
Junior Jack De Simone has scored at least one goal in all three postseason games and had a goal in each half for Regis Jesuit, which also got goals from senior Joseph Bennett and junior Reed Garcia. The Raiders advanced to the semifinals for the first time since 2019, when they went on to make the state championship game.
Regis Jesuit (13-2-3) is set to take on defending state champion and fourth-seeded Denver East in a game scheduled for Nov. 7 at CIBER Field at the University of Denver. The winner moves on to the 5A state championship game Nov. 11 in Weidner Field.
Another Aurora team, No. 14 Cherokee Trail, is also headed to the semifinals on the opposite site of the bracket. The Cougars — who defeated No. 11 Legend 2-0 — will play No. 7 Broomfield.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2023 CLASS 5A BOYS SOCCER STATE QUARTERFINALS
Nov. 4 at Englewood High School
(9) REGIS JESUIT 4, (16) LIBERTY 0
Score by halves:
Liberty 1 0 — 1
Regis Jesuit 3 1 — 4
SCORING
First half
Regis Jesuit — Joseph Bennett (Stefan Zehnacker)
Regis Jesuit — Jack De Simone (Sebastian Campos)
Regis Jesuit — Reed Garcia (Gavin Scarth)
Liberty — Ethan Sauer
Second half
Regis Jesuit — De Simone
Liberty saves: Micah Newton (18 shots on goal-14 saves)
