Fort Zumwalt South senior defender Andrew Presson was lining up a free kick Saturday afternoon when he decided to take a chance.
It paid off.
On a ball from about 35 yards out, Presson took a shot instead of playing the free kick into the Summit penalty area. His shot appeared to catch Falcons' goalkeeper Jack Loeffelman by surprise. The ball, played into the goal mouth, eluded Loeffelman and ended up in the goal.
It was the difference as the visiting Bulldogs came away with a 1-0 victory in the opening game in Pool A of the ºüÀêÊÓƵ High School Champions League. In the other game Saturday at Summit, De Smet and Oakville played to a 1-1 draw.
Zumwalt South (5-2 overall) leads Pool A with five points — three for the win, one for the goal and one for the shutout — over De Smet (2), Oakville (2) and Summit (0). Pool A competition will continue with doubleheaders on Sept. 25 at De Smet and on Sept. 28 at Fort Zumwalt South.
De Smet is 5-1-1 this season while Summit is 4-4 and Oakville is 2-3-1.
The Pool A champion will compete in the semifinals on Oct. 16, with that night's winners advancing to the title match to be played Saturday, Oct. 19, at the Creve Coeur Soccer Complex.
Presson's goal was his first this season.
''I was going to just play it into the box, into the mix, but it looked like we had a screen on the goalie,'' the Bulldogs senior recalled. "I hit it pretty well and I was obviously happy it went in. From the start, it was a back-and-forth game with a lot of battling in the midfield. We felt like a lot of people doubted us coming into the Champions League, but I think we showed what we can do today and hopefully we can continue to play well as this tournament moves on."
Added Zumwalt South coach Jim Layne: "Good for him. Andrew's been a rock in the back for us the last couple of years. He's taken on a leadership role and it's great to see guys like that move up the ranks and establish themselves."
Summit coach Tom Wade said the mistake by Loeffelman was out of character.
"He's our leader, our rock back there,'' the coach said. "We battled the rest of the way and I thought we were going to get one back later. But it just didn't happen for us."
Zumwalt South started strong. Early on, Loeffelman tipped a shot from South's Lukas McMahon over the cross bar. Not long after that, the Bulldogs' Jackson Baum whistled a shot by the far post.
Just after halftime, Summit's Teddy Williams won a challenge on the left side, moved in and sent a shot wide by the far post. After South went up 1-0, Summit's Jemes Berry missed the net on a similar shot by the far post.
"We created some good chances, but our shooting needed to be better,'' Wade said.
Seconds later, on a free kick from just outside the South penalty area, Summit's Williams had his shot blocked by a wall of Bulldog defenders. On another decent chance, Summit's Jack Steele had his shot stopped by Zumwalt South keeper Carter Muehling. The shutout was the second of the season for Muehling.
"We knew we were in for a battle — it always is when we face Rockwood Summit — and I thought we got a real gutty performance from the boys," Layne said. "First half, I thought we played well and second half, you could see that we tired a little bit. But we defended well and we got the result.
"The way this game was going, we knew it might be decided by an ugly goal and that's exactly what happened."
Layne continued: "I think today was a credit to the defenses for both teams. We're not a team that'll score a pile of goals; but all season, we've done a good job of minimizing the other teams' chances."
ºüÀêÊÓƵ High School Champions League: Fort Zumwalt South 1, Summit 0
"In my career, we've never beaten them, so today definitely meant a little more for us,'' said Crusaders senior Johnny Petruso, who led St. Do…
Fort Zumwalt South's Gabriele Trevisan (20) looks to bring the ball down under pressure from Summit's Teddy Williams during a pool-play game in the High School Champions League on Saturday, September 14, 2024 at Summit High School in Fenton, Mo. Paul Kopsky | Special to