St. Francis’ Maxwell Nothing but Trouble

On and off the field, St. Francis’ Darin Maxwell was real trouble Friday night.

Trouble for the Notre Dame boys’ soccer team, that is. Maxwell, a junior fullback, played ferocious defense and assisted on both goals in a 2-0 victory over the Knights that clinched the Mission League championship for the Golden Knights.

Maxwell consistently cleared the ball from the St. Francis side of the field with long kicks, but it was his hands more than his feet that plagued Notre Dame (12-7-1, 8-3-1).

A stocky and powerful 5 foot 8, Maxwell took nearly every throw-in for St. Francis (17-3-1, 11-1), launching balls as far as 45 yards onto the field from outside its chalk-marked boundary lines.

“The first time I met Darin and shook hands with him he nearly paralyzed me up to my neck,” said St. Francis Coach Glen Appels, who was thrilled when Maxwell moved into the area from Houma, La., for the start of this school year. “I said, ‘How’d you like to try some throws?’ and he said he’d try.”

Maxwell’s efforts paid off right away in this one. Six minutes into the match he reared back and whipped a low throw-in toward the goal that was volleyed back at him by Notre Dame defender Jeff Teague.

Gathering the ball in the left corner, Maxwell drilled a pass across the face of the net and Eric Johnson headed it in for his 13th goal.

“I was trying to throw it to Marty (Woessner) at the near post but I mis-threw it,” Maxwell said. “When I got it again I just tried to get it across to the far post. Someone’s supposed to be there.”

Though Notre Dame stayed competitive with feisty midfield play from Chris Sailer and Andres Padilla, St. Francis recorded the shutout on the strength of a swarming defense and the absence of injured Notre Dame forwards Steve Lee and Pat Thomsen.

“(St. Francis) is really fit and they get to the ball really quick,” Sailer said. “They got to most of the (loose) balls first and when we did get it, we didn’t have (Lee and Thomsen) up front as targets.”

St. Francis midfielders Woessner and Pete Vagenas had no such problems, working in tandem with forwards Shunta Shimizu and Vince Santangelo and midfielder Matt Zertuche.

Thirteen minutes into the second half, Maxwell tapped a free kick sideways to Woessner 50 yards from the Notre Dame goal. Woessner dribbled upfield a few steps, then fed Zertuche on the right side of the penalty box, where he beat Juan Plascencia with a strong shot inside the left post.