Marquette's Alexi Caron, right, moves the ball upfield around a pair of Alpena defenders during a high school boys soccer game played at the Sunrise Side Soccer Challenge Cup tournament in Alpena on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Mary Sysko)

ALPENA — Marquette defeated the host Wildcats 3-0 in the championship game to win the Alpena Sunrise Side Soccer Challenge Cup high school boys soccer tournament on Saturday.

The Redmen compiled a 2-0-1 record in pool play to advance to the finals, and for the day, MSHS outscored its opposition 16-1 to improve to 6-2-1 this season.

In the finals, Evan Sysko scored an early goal for Marquette with an assist going to Max Dawson.

Dawson capped off another prolific scoring day, both for goals and assists, by scoring the Redmen’s final two goals. One came in the first half with an assist going to Indigo Catalano, making the score 2-0 at halftime, while Dawson’s other goal came on a second-half penalty kick.

Goalkeeper Edan Hautamaki made 10 saves, including seven in the second half, for his third shutout of the day.

“We set the pace early as Sysko’s goal was just 30 seconds into the game,” MSHS head coach Dan Salmon said. “This was a great way to cap off the day as it was a true team effort.

“Dawson and the offense took care of their side of the ball and the defense stepped up huge. Hunter Sandstrom and Indigo Catalano anchored that defensive line, these two were standouts.

“Hautamaki made a couple great saves at key moments in the game, which could’ve turned against us quickly. For having such a young team this year, winning this tournament feels really good.”

Dawson, Hautamaki, Sysko and teammate Ezra Pickard were named to the all-tournament team.

Next up for the Redmen is another road trip, this one closer to home at Iron Mountain at 6 p.m. EDT Thursday.

Here is a roundup of Saturday’s pool play games:

————————

Marquette 5, Sault Ste. Marie 1

The Soo scored a late goal after Marquette already had built a 5-0 lead for the only blemish on Hautamaki’s goalkeeping effort all day.

The Redmen rolled up four first-half goals, two by Pickard, as he also had an unassisted tally in the second half for a three-goal game. Kaleb Chipelewski and Cody Struck also score first-half goals, with two assists going to Dawson and one each to Chipelewski, Jack Sysko and Isaac Johnson.

Hautamaki made five saves for the win.

“From a coaching standpoint, we scored two goals on set pieces, so I am really happy with that,” Salmon said. “Some of our younger players really stepped up in this game.”

————————

Marquette 0, Boyne City 0

After defeating the Ramblers 3-1 at home on Tuesday, Marquette couldn’t dent the twine against Boyne City in this game as Hautamaki stopped four shots for the shutout.

————————

Marquette 8, Pinconning 0

Following their offense being stymied in the previous game, the Redmen busted loose to end this game on the eight-goal mercy rule when Chipelewski finished off his three-goal hat trick with the only goal of the second half coming off a pass from Jack Sysko.

Chipelewski’s earlier goals came on a penalty kick and off an assist from Pickard.

The Sysko brothers combined for one goal, with senior Evan Sysko scoring with the assist going to sophomore Jack Sysko. Other goals were scored by Johnson, Dawson, Henry Wood and Seamus White, with more assists credited to Dawson, Pickard, Wood and Jack Sysko to complete his three-assist playmaker.

Pinconning didn’t get a shot on goal against Hautamaki, who still got credit for a shutout.

“This was a lopsided game, but we knew we had to win big because of the tiebreakers,” Salmon said about qualifying for the finals. “The boys went out there and did their job and we had some great effort from Chipelewski, Jack Sysko and Wood.”

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.