A healthy Will Hanigan has Xavier vying for another state soccer title

DES MOINES - Will Hanigan has played in just six games for Cedar Rapids Xavier this season.

It's frustrating for him. He detests sitting on the sideline and his injury, an issue with a disc in his back, is one of the cruelest types - there's no simple fix.

He's back for Saints' postseason run, however, and has made his presence on the field felt. He scored a critical second goal in the Class 2A quarterfinals, putting Xavier up 2-1 at the half over Marion.

It was a nice strike from the side for the junior, who has been a critical part of his team since he was a freshman. He was the second-leading scorer in his first season, helping lead the Saints to the 2015 state title.

He now has 26 goals and 33 assists in 40 starts and 47 total appearances. Simply put, Xavier is a much better team when he's on the field and went on to beat Marion, 5-1.

'He's a coach's dream,” Xavier head coach Amir Hadzic said. 'He works hard every single second of every single practice. He doesn't know how to do anything different.”

It's been a long, often frustrating road for Hanigan, who estimates that he's at about 85 percent right now. He's struggled with the issue since his freshman season and it's caused him to miss time since then.

This year he injured it a couple games into the year, came back against City High and aggravated it, was shut down until substate and is now on a minutes restriction.

'I'm just glad I'm able to be back for the state tournament because I feel that's my time to shine every year,” Hanigan said. 'It's hard for me to be on the bench. I'm just incredibly happy to be back.”

Hanigan's score came after Marion's Jaffer Murphy knocked in goal No. 14 of the year. A brilliant player, Murphy faced down Xavier keeper Owen McCarron as well as another defender. Seeming to bend past them, he curved in a beautiful shot.

In the tournament for the first time (and in the debut season of head coach Marco Fichtner, a former Xavier player under Hadzic), Marion was able to handle the Saints attack for much of the game. Eventually, though, it broke. Xavier's Shane Scott pushed one in at the 21:26 mark to take a 3-1 lead.

Luke Duball then added a free kick goal minutes later and senior Brian Lang had the final score for the Saints.

'I think we were a little deeper and some balls bounced our way,” Hadzic said. 'We were fortunate to score some goals, so hats off to them, they played hard.”

l Comments: jordan.hansen@thegazette.com