Xavier escapes Norwalk upset bid

DES MOINES - With his team seemingly reeling part way through the second half, goalkeeper Clayton Lynch repeatedly shouted words of encouragement to his Cedar Rapids Xavier soccer teammates.

“Composure!” Lynch almost pleaded after he let go with a free kick. “Composure!”

His boys listened. Sophomore Chad Gilmer's bolt of lightning from outside the penalty box with 16 minutes left regained the lead and the composure for Xavier, which went on to post a 2-1 win over Norwalk in a Class 2A state tournament quarterfinals Friday afternoon.

The second-seeded Saints (15-3) play Sioux City Heelan (15-3-1) in a 2A semifinal today at 2:30 at Cownie Park.

“We knew that they could get lucky and get a break, like they did,” said Xavier's Charlie Bales. “So composure is the key for us. We knew that. We were dominating the game. Just get a goal right back and go from there.”

Bales scored early in the first half to put his team up, 1-0. The all-stater did it with flair, doing a celebratory back flip that earned him a warning from the referee.

The Saints had other good chances they couldn't convert, which seemed pivotal when Norwalk's Garrett Crall was fouled in the box and awarded a penalty kick he finished with 24:28 left. Eight minutes later, Gilmer picked up a loose ball just outside the box and let go with a well-placed cannon that went past Norwalk keeper Max Crum into the upper left corner of the net.

“I just saw it and pretty much acted on instinct,” said Gilmer about just his third goal of the season. “I hit it as good as I could. I don't know what else to say.”

"That was key for us," said Xavier Coach Amir Hadzic. "We lost (composure) there for one period of the second half. We let a couple of referee's decisions get in our head. We kind of started focusing more on that than what we needed to worry about. Luckily, we only lost it for a short period of time."

Hadzic said the strike was the culmination of some hard, extra work Gilmer has been doing lately.

“The last couple of games, his shots were not going where he wanted,” Hadzic said. “Last week, he really focused on it, asking ‘Coach, what am I doing wrong?' He worked on his technique and stayed after practice a couple of times and started hitting balls more consistently. I could not be more proud of him.”

Here's video of Bales going high and wide on a free kick near the box, followed by a short interview with Gilmer: