CLAYTON – Clayton junior Adam Turner already had plenty of motivation to win his afternoon matinee soccer game on Saturday.
“It’s the Ladue-Clayton rivalry,” Turner said. “The adrenaline was pumping.”
To add extra spice to a rivalry already peppered with intensity, Clayton coach Brendan Taylor and Ladue coach David Aronberg decided to add a prize for the winner – a WWE-style championship belt.
Turner scored twice and senior defender Sawyer Roesch led a stifling defensive effort as Clayton won the first Inner-Belt Derby championship belt with a 3-1 victory over Ladue at Gay Field in Clayton.
Prior to Saturday, Ladue had defeated Clayton four consecutive times, including a 2-0 victory in a Class 3 district semifinal last season.
“(The belt) was definitely extra motivation,” Turner said with the prize draped over his right shoulder. “But this is my first time winning a game against Ladue as a varsity soccer player, so that was my drive.”
During the first 10 minutes, the two teams exchanged haymakers in a furious attempt to score the first goal.
A well-paced cross by Clayton senior Max Vuong provided Turner his first scoring chance, but his adrenaline may have pumping too high, and he sailed his shot over the frame.
Seconds later, Max’s younger brother, Nico Vuong, found room down the left side, cut in and delivered a blast that was smothered by Ladue goalkeeper Seaton Thompson.
Ladue (3-5) bounced off the ropes and countered quickly.
Facing a triple-team, senior Dailyn Tate delivered a cross to senior Logan Wallace, who sent a shot past Clayton goalkeeper Alex Jue and toward a vacant cage, but it was cleared away from the goal line at the last second by senior Sawyer Roesch, and the game remained scoreless.
Roesch seemed to be everywhere at times, shutting down Ladue build-ups before they gained steam and erasing scoring chances once the ball entered the penalty area.
“They like to play long balls, so we had to get the jump and get ahead of them, and that’s what we did,” Roesch said.
Clayton delivered the first powerbomb midway through the first half when Niko Vuong tag-teamed with junior Ayowole Adeoye and Turner to put the Greyhounds on the scoreboard.
Vuong appeared to lose possession of the ball as he entered the penalty area, but he outdueled two Rams’ defenders and squeezed a pass through to Adeoye, who sent the ball goalward where Turner was making a sprint.
“It came to me and I scooped it in,” Turner said.
But Ladue quickly rose from the mat and mounted an attack of its own. Twice senior Dailyn Tate entered the penalty area to find a stable of Clayton defenders. The second time, he sent a pass to junior Ahmad Shebi, whose blast from the top of the box sailed inches wide.
In the 35th minute, a Clayton foul in the midfield offered Ladue sophomore Jordan Oiknine a free kick. With the ball resting on the numbers of the 40-yard line, Oiknine’s shot from the top rope descended over the outstretched arm of Clayton senior goalkeeper Alex Jue and dropped under the crossbar to tie the game at 1.
“(Oiknine) put some english on the ball, and good on him to beat the keeper from that far out, but I was more bothered by the turnover that led to the foul,” Taylor said. “We had to stop turning the ball over, and we got better at it as the game went on.”
Clayton (5-1) had already withstood a few cross-body chops this season, including conceding an early goal to Lutheran South before rallying for nine consecutive goals.
Less than two minutes after surrendering a goal to Ladue on Saturday, Max Vuong sent a through-ball that brother Niko Vuong ran on to. Niko made a nifty move to his right, eluded Thompson and delivered the go-ahead goal to send Clayton into halftime with a 2-1 lead.
“It’s hard to get it around the goalie when you’re that close, so I had to either go over him or around him, so I tried to touch it around him, and I put it in,” Nico Vuong said.
The Greyhounds’ impressive response to adversity has already become a theme.
“It’s early in the year, so I don’t know if they need to get punched before they start punching, or if they just have some good fortitude and know how to respond,” Taylor said.
Ladue had two quality scoring chances early in the second half when Tate escaped defensive coverage and launched a shot, and 38 seconds later, Wallace blasted a shot from the top of the box, but Jue denied both attempts.
Later in the half, Tate streaked in alone for his best scoring chance, but his shot sailed over the net.
“We had good chances to score, but that’s soccer. They finished their chances and we didn’t finish ours,” Aronberg said.
In the 51st minute, Turner delivered the finishing move, accepting a Niko Vuong pass and piledriving it into the net to build a 3-1 lead.
“There was space in the middle, and I just ran,” Turner said. “(Vuong) gave me a perfect ball and I went in and scored.”
From there, Roesch and the Clayton defense went for the pin.
In a signature play late in the game, Roesch dribbled to the endline and delivered a cross that was caught by Thompson. Thompson immediately hurled the ball 30 yards downfield and Roesch was the first player to get a touch on it, heading the ball back into the offensive zone.
“As long as I’m hustling, that’s all I care about,” Roesch said.
For the Greyhounds, which defeated Ladue for the first time since a 1-0 playoff victory on Nov. 3, 2020, the Inner-Belt Derby championship belt is the first of many objects they hope to hoist in the air this season.
“I think we can go deep into a state run,” Nico Vuong said. “We feel like we have a chance to win it all.”