Remington Grayson (21) leads Jesuit with eight goals this season. (Photo by Norm Maves Jr.)

Jesuit’s boys soccer team used up plenty of darkhorse mojo last year, when it carried the No. 12 seed all the way to a 6A championship.

This year, if the Crusaders are to defend their title, they will have to do it in their familiar role as frontrunners. Jesuit (12-0-2) carries the top seed into the postseason, which it begins Saturday with a first-round home game against No. 32 Lake Oswego (7-7).

“The pressure’s on this year,” said Crusaders coach Geoff Skipper, whose team also is No. 1 in the OSAAtoday 6A coaches poll. “Last year we played every game, except for the first round, on the road. That’s one of the things we’re excited about is getting to play home games, as long as we keep winning. That just makes life easier.”

Skipper said he isn’t too concerned about his team not playing with the same edge as last year.

“It’s a different atmosphere, but these kids are so level-headed, nothing seems to faze them,” he said. “They’re just very consistent.”

After opening the season by tying No. 8 seed Summit 0-0 and Central Catholic 2-2, Jesuit has reeled off 12 consecutive wins. Along the way, the Crusaders defeated third-seeded Lincoln 3-0 and sixth-seeded Grant 1-0.

Of the team’s six returning starters, three of them are defenders in seniors Nathan Gewant and Floor Van Hameren and junior Bennett Nasser, which accounts for Jesuit holding opponents to a 6A-low five goals this season.

The Crusaders anticipated having a solid defense, but needed to develop their attack. They graduated their leading scorer in Devin Slingsby, now on the team at Bradley University, as well as productive midfielder Oscar Baudey.

“To be honest, I thought we were going to be down from the year before just because we lost a couple of big-name, superstar-type kids,” Skipper said. “Actually, it’s been a nice, pleasant surprise the way they’ve come out and played as a team. They’ve surprised me with how they’re playing, how consistent they’re playing and how they’ve come together as a team.”

Senior forward Remington Grayson has scored a team-high eight goals and four others have at least three goals in junior midfielder Rylie Acker, senior midfielder Truman Delaney, senior defender Willem Hunter and senior forward Austin Rodriguez.

“I wouldn’t say we have one standout player, but we have a lot of very, very good players,” Skipper said. “You never know from game to game who’s going to step up. We don’t just depend on one or two players.”

In the 3-0 win over Lincoln, the Crusaders erupted for three second-half goals.

“We played one of our better games of the season against Lincoln,” Skipper said.

Jesuit edged Grant 1-0 in a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal, which it won 2-1. The Crusaders clinched the outright Metro League title with a 1-0 win over second-place Sunset in the regular-season finale.

Jesuit’s most dramatic victory came against Westview on Oct. 17. The Wildcats pulled even at 2-2 on a goal with about 12 minutes left, but Van Hameren moved up from his defensive position to produce to the game-winner with three minutes to go.

Skipper anticipates a difficult road ahead in the playoffs.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of upsets this year,” he said. “It’s pretty wide open. Even the lower-seeded teams that we’ve played have some good players and know how to play.”