ST. LOUIS – The point in his direction did not immediately register with Tommy Basara.
The De Smet senior, who had played in only three games this season, watched Spartans’ coach Josh Klein motion towards him and say, ‘You,’ during a Champions League semifinal nailbiter against Oakville.
Basara didn’t budge.
“I didn’t think it was me at first. I thought he was talking to someone else,” he said.
But Klein knew exactly what the Spartans needed.
“Tommy doesn’t see the field a whole lot, but he always, always, always works hard. His name was called because we needed a sparkplug,” Klein said.
Basara not only provided the spark, he scored the game-clinching goal to help De Smet reach the Champions League final for the second consecutive season with a 2-0 victory over Oakville Wednesday at Saint Louis University High.
De Smet (12-5-2) will face SLUH (16-2-2) in the Champions League final at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Creve Coeur Soccer Park.
De Smet was clinging to a 1-0 lead with 15 minutes remaining but Oakville (12-3-1) was buzzing, having already come close to finding the equalizer on several occasions.
“Our starters were getting tired,” Klein said.
When Basara realized Klein’s index finger was directed at him, he took off his pinny, stretched his legs and awaited instructions from his coach.
“He said, ‘Work your butt off. Go out there and run and hard as you can,’” Basara recalled. “I was pretty nervous, but that’s what I tried to do.”
Basara immediately made an impact by outracing an Oakville defender for the ball and drawing a foul at the top of the box. Gavin Weber’s free kick sailed high over the frame, but the sparkplug had quickly reignited the energy level of the Spartans.
Two minutes later, Weber launched an airborne pass from the midfield with an inordinate amount of spin. The ball bounced between Oakville defenders and propelled towards the top of the 18-yard box, where nobody was going to outhustle Basara to the ball.
He ran onto it, settled the spin and then blasted a right-footed laser into the corner of the net to give De Smet a 2-0 lead with 10:32 remaining.
“To see him get rewarded, not only with some playing time, but then to score a goal on top of it sends a really good message to the youngsters on the team that you never know. Just stick with it,” Klein said.
Basara, normally a defender, scored his second goal of his two-year varsity career and first since a 5-0 victory against Hickman on Sept. 2. After he scored, he played the final 10 minutes with the same energy and enthusiasm as when he entered the game.
“I was feeling pretty sick out there towards the end, but it was really fun,” Basara said. “I’m just thankful I got to go in. It was really cool to get another goal.”
After a scoreless opening 40 minutes, De Smet began to create dangerous chances early in the second half by calmly building sustained pressure. During a lengthy possession, senior Zach Costello took a dribble to his left and ripped a left-footed blast that found the back of the net to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead with 35 minutes remaining.
“I train on that a lot, taking that first touch wider on top of the box and just having a hit, and I hit it good,” Costello said.
The Tigers quickly responded with chances of their own. One minute after the De Smet goal, Oakville senior Isaiah Ayidiya ripped a shot from eight yards away that required a quick, left arm flash from De Smet senior goalkeeper Dominick Reineke. Reinicke made two more saves during a mad scramble in front of the net a few minutes later.
But the youthful energy of the Spartans began to turn the tide in the final 15 minutes. Freshman Connor Mess cleaned up an errant pass, made a strong run and earned a free kick to stem the tide. Basara raised the Spartans’ energy level even further before scoring the game-clinching goal.
De Smet, which placed second in both Class 4 and the Champions League tournament last season, lost a bevy of talented players to graduation. After consecutive losses to CBC and Priory in early October, the Spartans were sitting with an 8-5-2 record and distant memories of their dominant 2024 campaign.
“There was a lot of newbies to the lineup and there was a senior-level frustration of what we used to be,” Klein said.
De Smet had a classroom session two weeks ago to air out frustrations and refocus expectations. Since that meeting, the Spartans are 4-0, with wins over Chaminade, Ladue, Vianney and now Oakville.
“Everyone had a voice and could express their concerns. It was a real powerful moment we all needed,” Klein said. “Sometimes, the most powerful moments don’t even take place on the field, they take place off the field. I’m hoping that it was part of the recipe to get us where we are right now. It’s been a really nice two weeks.”
And for the senior Costello, the Spartans are getting closer to where they ultimately want to be.
“We were trying to just win off talent and that wasn’t working. It took us a minute, but we all had to come together as a team. We started playing for each other and being positive,” Costello said.
And the Spartans can measure that growth when they face a powerful, experienced SLUH team in the Champions League final on Saturday.
“We just have to be ready, play like we’ve been there before and let our leaders lead us through,” Costello said.
For a photo gallery from this game, click the link below: