LADUE– Clay Christenson is unsure which jersey number he will wear for the state semifinal.
The John Burroughs senior, who normally wears uniform No. 5, changed to No. 28 after an airborne collision produced a cut above his eye and blood on his jersey early in the Bombers’ state quarterfinal matchup with Liberty on Saturday.
With a bandage around his head and a new uniform number, Christenson rose among a mass of players and headed in the game-winning goal to propel John Burroughs to a wild 2-1 victory over Liberty at Beckman Field.
“I don’t know, 28 is pretty lucky,” Christenson said.
John Burroughs (18-5), which advanced to its second final four in three seasons, will face two-time defending state champion Rockhurst (22-0) in a Class 4 semifinal at 7 p.m. Friday at World Wide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton.
Lindbergh (22-5) will play Park Hill South (19-2-1) in the other Class 4 semifinal at 4 p.m. Friday at Soccer Park.
With the game tied 1-1, the Bombers earned a free kick from just inside the corner flag. Junior Thomas Urano delivered a line drive into the box and the bandaged head of Christenson directed it in the top left corner of the net in the 65th minute.
“(Urano) always puts a great ball in. I just got the flick on and put it in the back of the net,” Christenson said.
It was hard to wrap one’s head around the wild occurrences that transpired during the first half on Saturday, which began when Christenson and Liberty senior Brady Freeman clashed heads in the opening minute.
“I knew I was going to come out firing and I knew (Freeman) was going to come out firing. It was important to set the tone early. Unfortunately, we both got (cuts),” said Christenson. “It affected my eye a little bit, but I was going to play through it. We just needed to win this game.”
Freeman, who scored the game-winner against St. Dominic in a 1-0 district championship victory, was sidelined for 13 minutes. His replacement, senior Cade Galaway, had his knee brace break during an attempted slide tackle.
Moments later, senior captain Bryson King left the game with an ankle injury.
Despite the bizarre start, Liberty controlled the opening 20 minutes. A corner kick delivered by Carson Nolan found the foot of Corey Lynch, whose blast along the ground required a diving save by Burroughs keeper Will Cordia.
During the next corner opportunity, Brody Marino directed a header that Cordia could not obtain, but it was headed off the goal line by Bombers’ defender Bennett Cuculich.
The Burroughs’ defense successfully cleared away two free kick opportunities that originated from inside 25 yards as the Eagles poured on the pressure in a ferocious push to score the first goal.
“The first 15 or 20 minutes, it felt like we couldn’t get out of our defensive third,” John Burroughs coach Alan Trzecki said.
John Burroughs withstood the storm and mounted a surge of its own. A 40-yard free kick from Lachlan Guthrie was flicked forward by the head of Cooper Desloge and required a diving save from Liberty goalkeeper Aiden Brown.
Moments later, a long throw-in by Desloge required a tough, two-handed grab in traffic from Brown, whose 16 shutouts and .61 goals against average both ranked third in the St. Louis metro region.
“We started to establish a little bit of possession coming out of the back and found players up top, instead of just playing it forward,” Trzecki said.
But the game completely turned in the 28th minute when John Burroughs’ junior Daniel Bernal escaped behind the Liberty defense, made a slick touch to weave around Brown and a collision ensued.
Brown received a red card for committing a foul as the final player between Bernal and the goal, disqualifying him from the game and forcing the Eagles to play with only 10 players for the remainder of the match. The foul also gave John Burroughs a penalty kick opportunity.
“I didn’t think (Brown) was the last man, I thought we had two guys that were behind the goalie, running back to defend,” Liberty coach Tony Luedecke said. “Playing a man down and losing the potential goalie of the year is so hard.”
Liberty sophomore goalie Austin Kelly, who spent the season playing junior varsity and had no varsity minutes until Saturday, entered the game. After a lengthy delay, the first shot he faced was a penalty kick that John Burroughs senior Luca Andrews drilled into the top corner.
“I just stuck to my routine and buried it,” Andrews said.
Liberty (21-3) survived the final 11 minutes of the half without further damage, helped by stellar defensive play by King, Galaway and junior Dylan Handlan, and entered halftime trailing by a goal with a chance to debrief about a wild first 40 minutes.
“Two senior defenders get ankle injuries, Brady is bleeding from his skull, braces are breaking. I told my guys, everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong,” Luedecke said.
But led by Freeman, things started to go right for the Eagles early in the second half.
Freeman began another 10-minute surge of Liberty pressure with a point-blank shot that required another diving stop from Cordia.
Soon after, the Eagles earned a free kick. Freeman stood at the top of the box and blasted a laser that avoided the Burroughs wall and sailed into the top left corner to tie the score 1-1 in the 52nd minute.
“We battled a ton of adversity, but we had to keep playing, and I thought our guys did a good job of that,” Luedecke said.
John Burroughs had three players on yellow cards and had defenders shadowing Freeman and senior Turner Lively. Like the first half, the Bombers waited patiently before making their move.
And the finishing move was delivered by the bandaged head of Christenson, who also delivered the game-winner in a 1-0 district semifinal victory over Francis Howell North.
“He’s done that several times this year where he’s just produced. He’s a senior and he’s hungry,” Trzecki said of Christenson.
And Christenson will look to produce once again at Soccer Park on Friday – in whichever jersey number he chooses to wear.