Triad loses state soccer semifinal match; Lake Zurich is too much for Tigers

Game was scoreless coming out of halftime

BY JOE TROST - For the News-Democrat

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NAPERVILLE -- The Edwardsville boys soccer team knew it was going to have its hands full competing without one of its top players in the semifinals of the Class 3A state tournament Friday night at North Central College.

Despite an outstanding first-half effort, the Tigers were unable to keep Lake Zurich's offensive attack quiet in the second half during their 2-0 loss.

Edwardsville (18-4-4), which entered the game having not lost since Sept. 18, will face (Winnetka) New Trier (18-7-3) in the third-place game today at 5 p.m.

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"I couldn't ask for more from my kids tonight," said Edwardsville coach Mark Heiderscheid, whose team played without forward Sam Fink (red card). "They gave an incredible effort, and I think Lake Zurich is a very good team."

The Bears (21-4) are considered to be the best offensive team in the Chicago-land area. Entering Friday's battle, Lake Zurich was riding an 11-match winning streak and averaged close to five goals a game during that stretch.

After a scoreless first half, Nick Janus got Lake Zurich on the board when he hit a laser off a 25-yard restart to the left corner of the net with 32:34 to play.

"I hit it hard," said Janus, who now has 23 goals on the season. "We came out with a lot of energy, but we were thrown off by their defense a little at first. But once we scored, that got us going a little bit."

Adam Moeller, Jared Krebs, Gregg Flores and Zach Tongay made up the Tigers' backline in front of Daniel Brennan. Over its previous 16 games, Edwardsville had allowed a mere five goals.

And as much as they came up big time and time again Friday night, Edwardsville's offensive attack wasn't able to find an equalizer.

The Bears finally put the contest away with 5:33 remaining. Tim Kreutz (20 goals) made a run down the right side and hit a blast from just inside the box to the left corner, which extended the cushion to two.

"We knew they were a good offensive team, and if they go on to win it they are every bit as worthy as New Trier was last year," Heiderscheid said. "Lake Zurich was very strong in the air, and we just tried to do our best with the situation we were dealing with."

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