Loyola soccer dominates in winning 2023 MIAA A title

by Derek Toney

As his Loyola Blakefield soccer teammates made their way to the locker room late Sunday evening, Kaden Onolaja stood alone in the middle of the turf at Under Armour Stadium. 

As a reporter walked towards him, Onolaja cracked a smile as bright as the lights at the pristine Port Covington facility.

“I just had to take all in,” he said. 

The Dons are MIAA A Conference champions, thanks to a 3-1 decision over John Carroll in front of a sellout audience of 1,400. Junior Dan Klink tallied twice for Loyola, and Sammie Walker added a goal.

For the first time since 2014, the Dons are the last team standing. They did it with a virtuoso effort to conclude an undefeated run (14-0-4) through one of the top - if not the best - boys high school soccer leagues in the country. 

“I’m ecstatic right now…I’ve waited for four years for this,” said Onojaja, with a MIAA A championship hat backwards on his head. “I got to say thank you to everyone.”

Especially to Klink, who he combined with Sunday to bring Loyola’s championship aspirations to fruition. In the 37th minute, Onojaja sent a pass from the left side to the goal where the 6-foot-3 Klink climbed the ladder to head the ball high into the opposite post. 

The Pipeline Club teammates connected again, inside the first 10 minutes of the second half, putting the Dons firmly in command, 2-0.

Klink said Loyola was locked in for its biggest match of the season.

“I give [our coaches] a ton of credit. It takes a lot to plan for this game, to get the whole team in the right mentality and to get the tactics right,” said Klink. “And, finally, the players. Each and every one of our players played their part, won the 50-50 battles, and you couldn’t ask for a better game from each and every one of us.”

When Walker, a junior, finished a pass from Diego Marin-Jarve in the 67th minute, Loyola and its faithful could start, unofficially, celebrating the end of its near decade-long championship drought. 

Last year, Loyola lost to John Carroll in the semifinals. In July, Lee Tschantret, who guided the Dons for 16 seasons and a pair of MIAA A crowns (2012 and 2014) stepped down to join Sporting Kansas City Academy as its Under-19 coach. 

The Dons tapped Mike Marchiano, a former standout at McDonogh under current Loyola University coach Steve Nichols and a two-time national champion at the University of Maryland, to assume the reins. Marchiano came to Blakefield from Drexel where he guided the Dragons’ men’s program the previous three seasons.

What some would view as a transition year became history for Blakefield. 

“You have a good core of returning players and we tried to set some basic ideas and basic standards…as a coach you can only be as good as your players,” said Marchiano. “These guys made it real easy on me to transition into the school, into the program and into the team. We just tried to work hard and enjoy everyday to get these guys to play their best.”

“He came in right away and we got a fresh start,” said Dons midfielder Mason Cook, one of seven seniors. 

It was another bitter ending for John Carroll, which reached last year’s championship finale at UMBC. The Patriots led in the second half, but Calvert Hall rallied to win in overtime to complete an undefeated season mythical national championship run.

After an even opening 37 minutes Sunday, the Patriots (11-3-6) played catchup to a methodical and determined Loyola squad. The Bel Air school produced a couple of opportunities at the goal midway through the second half that were cleared by Dons.

The Patriots avoided the shutout with Josh Petty’s goal with 54 seconds remaining. John Carroll played the Dons to a scoreless tie two weeks ago in Bel Air after Loyola held off the Patriots, 2-1, in Towson in late September.

“We pushed them (Loyola) to the limit the first two times, but today they were much better,” said Patriots coach Jim Fendryk. “I’ve known Mike (Marchiano) for a really long time…he’s a great soccer mind and he inherited a good team.”

The Dons, ranked No. 24 nationally by UnitedSoccerCoaches.org, follow Calvert Hall’s effort last year through the rigorous MIAA A. In 2013, McDonogh went unbeaten (21-0-1) to claim the mythical national title.

With 19 letterwinners back including five starters, Loyola believed it was positioned for a title run. 

With most of the capacity crowd out of UA Stadium, several of Dons players went back on the field to take in the accomplishment. Where they stood was once a parking lot for Walmart and Sam’s Club. 

Loyola, which missed on a perfect season in 2018 (lost to McDonogh in final), finally got its championship deal.

“We really wanted it…we had a lot of people that wanted us to win it,” said Onojana. “I think we made them proud today.”