Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009

Edwardsville returns to state soccer tourney

Tiger given a 'soft' red card

PEORIA -- The Edwardsville boys soccer team took one step forward to reaching a second straight Class 3A state final game with a convincing 4-1 decision over Blue Island Eisnehower in the Notre Dame Super-Sectional on Tuesday night.

Nick Marshall scored two goals, Cameron Lauchner had a goal and two assists and Gregg Flores had a pair of assists for the Cardinals (18-3-4), who finished second in state last season.

"It's amazing," Marshall said. "We've been dreaming about this for a long time.We have experience this year, and it's just another advantage for us going into state. I'm really looking forward to it."

Marshall scored the first goal of the match 13:06 into the game off a corner kick by Lauchner. Flores flicked the ball to Marshall, who headed it into the net.

"We did a great job in this game of finishing our opportunities," Tigers coach Mark Heiderscheid said. "Blue Island was very creative and really ran at us.

"It was very difficult to defend them, because their team speed was just phenominal. The ran at us, and it was a concerted team effort to try and keep them off the board as long as we did."

The Cardinals (16-6-3) didn't score until there was just 1:09 left in the game.

Erik Gomez got the ball past Matt Dehr, who had replaced starting Edwardsville goalkeeper Daniel Brennan with 16 minutes left in the game.

Not everything went the Tigers way, however.

After senior forward Sam Fink scored the second goal for Edwardsville from an assist by Flores at the 36:53 mark, he was given a "soft" red card for excessive celebreation.

The officials said that the Tigers were warned after the first goal, when several of them took a dive into the grass and got a warning.

After Fink scored, he made a gesture that he was going to lift his jersery over his head, which would have been an automatic penalty. But he stopped and looked at the Edwardsville fans, and then took a "Lambeau Leap" into the crowd to draw the red card.

"It's kind of unfortunate to have an excessive celebration, but that's just kind of the way it goes," Heiderscheid said. "It's not very often that you'll see someone missing a semifinal game for getting excited after scoring a goal.

"That's sometimes the way life it, and I'll just leave it at that."

The Tigers, who led 2-0 at intermission, added a third goal at 42:13 following a handball call against the Cardinals.

Lauchner kicked the free kick into the 6-yard box, and Marshall headed it into the net.

"Hopefully we can appeal (Fick's red card)," said Lauchner, who added the fourth Edwardsville goalat 59:41. "But it's going to be a huge factor. With me and Fink up top, we read each other and feel where each other is going to make a run. It will be a big loss if he can't play."

Lauchner blasted the ball past the Cardinals goalkeeper after Flores had made a run down the right side, sending the loose ball to Lauchner for the score.

Edwardsville will take on Lake Zurich, a 6-1 winner over Schaumberg, in Friday's state semifinals in Naperville.

"Getting back two years in a row, you kind of hope that's going to be the case," Heiderscheid said. "It's a challenge.

"I was lucky to get to two championship games in 2000 (a win by the Tigers) and 2001, but it's really hard to go back-to-back.

"The thought that we'd get back seems almost like a dream,but maybe something that may be a reality," he added. "It's a testament to the kids that were here that were a big part of last year, especially the seionrs for four years.

"It validates them as a team."