Tuesday, Nov. 03, 2009

Edwardsville soccer team faces tough test with Blue Island

Tigers have won 10 consecutive games

Edwardsville and the Blue Island Eisenhower Cardinals will meet in the middle at 7 p.m. today in the Class 3A Peoria Notre Dame Super-Sectional.

The Tigers will travel 147 miles, compared to a slightly longer 155-mile jaunt for Blue Island, a suburb of Chicago.

Edwardsville coach Mark Heiderscheid expects the game to be even as well. His Tigers (17-3-4) are hot, and so are the Cardinals (16-5-3).

"I honestly don't know what to think," Heiderscheid said. "The No. 1 seed (in the Homewood-Flossmoor Sectional) was Lincoln-Way Central, and they just dismantled them 4-0. Brother Rice also was well thought of and they handled them as well (1-0 in four overtimes).

"They've been scoring a huge amount of goals. They've got some forwards who are scoring lots of goals in the playoffs."

The winner of the Edwardsville-Blue Island Eisenhower game will face Lake Zurich or Schaumburg in the semifinals of the state tournament at 7 p.m. Friday at North Central College in Naperville. Lake Zurich and Schaumburg play at 7 p.m. today in the Barrington Super-Sectional.

Edwardsville, which finished second to New Trier in the state tournament last season, reached the super-sectional with a 2-1 win in two overtimes over Providence Catholic on Saturday in the championship game of the Edwardsville Sectional.

Senior Nick Marshall's header on a perfectly executed free kick from the right side by senior Cameron Lauchner was the difference. It was the 10th consecutive victory for Edwardsville, and its 14th in 15 games.

"This is huge," Marshall said of another chance to reach the state tournament. "The seniors and the entire team have been playing together for a long time. We've been dreaming about this, and it's just another step. We'd like to reach our goal to get back to the championship game."

Marshall said the experience last year helped.

"I think it does, especially with (handling) the pressure," he said. "Having been there last year, we know what it's like."

Blue Island Eisenhower has advanced deeper than ever into the postseason. Its victory over tournament-tested Brother Rice came on Aldo Lagunas' goal that abruptly ended a game that lasted almost 120 minutes.

Heiderscheid expects speed on the forward line and in the midfield to be the Cardinals' strength.

"That seems to be the thing with them. We'll just have to see," Heiderscheid said. "We've been doing a very good job of defending. We had some flaws (Saturday), but all the same, we haven't given up many goals the last 15, 16 games. We've got a great goalkeeper (sophomore Dan Brennan) and a solid back line."

Brennan owns a 0.53 goals-against average.

Lauchner leads the Tigers with 16 goals and 14 assists. Junior Sam Fink has 13 goals and three assists and Marshall has seven goals and 10 assists.

"We've got some versatility in our attack," Heiderscheid said. "We've got players who are good on set pieces and in the air, too. Hopefully, we have enough to get it done."

Heiderscheid doesn't mind the bus ride.

"We're used to traveling," Heiderscheid said. "We made a trip to Rock Island, we made a trip to Carbondale, we made a trip to Morton. So we've spent some time in a bus. The difference is going to be that we're not used to playing a Chicago public school. It will be different for this year."