Friday, Nov. 06, 2009

Triad set for first date at state soccer tourney

Triad will face St. Viator in Class 2A semifinals

Mike Villa is old-school.

Villa, the 13th-year boys soccer coach at Triad High, is more concerned about how his Knights (22-4-1) perform than anything their opponent throws at them.

Therefore, Villa didn't spend the last two days fretting about Triad's 1 p.m. game today against (Arlington Heights) St. Viator (22-4-1) in the semifinals of the Class 2A state tournament at North Central College in Naperville.

"I really don't worry so much about the other team as I worry about my team doing the things I want them to do," Villa said. "I feel if we're playing hard and we're hustling and we're playing the game the way I want them to play the game, we're going to be tough to beat.

"You've got to do what you've got to do. If you're doing your thing and you're doing it well, they better look out for you."

It's the first trip to the state tournament for the Triad boys team, which locked down a berth with a 3-2 overtime win over Champaign Centennial in the Springfield Super-Sectional on Tuesday.

The Triad girls team, coached by Villa, has played St. Viator twice in the state tournament and lost both times.

"We haven't beat them yet," Villa said. "It would be nice to change that around a bit with the boys."

St. Viator defeated Gibault 5-0 early in the season. Gibault, which placed second in the Class 1A state tournament, was blown out by just two other teams this season --5-0 by Vianney and 6-0 by Chaminade.

"That speaks highly of them," Villa said of St. Viator's easy victory over Gibault. "There were only a couple of other teams that romped on them like that. If (St. Viator's) in that class, we've got a major struggle ahead of us. We're going to probably have to have a really good game and hope for the best --get good breaks, play good defense and see what happens."

Senior Alan Aboona leads the Lions in scoring with 35 goals and 14 assists. Senior Kevin Cavers has 15 goals and 12 assists, senior Trevor Wheeler has 12 goals and eight assists and junior Jack Horvath has 11 goals and nine assists. St. Viator won the Class A state title in 2003.

Sophomore Blake Thomas, senior Tyler Krenning and junior Ben Howard scored goals for the Knights against Centennial, which was unable to hold leads of 1-0 and 2-1. Howard's head ball late in overtime was the difference, and it gave him three goals in three games -- all of them on restarts.

Senior Kyle Hoggatt has 14 goals and 13 assists to lead Triad's attack. Thomas has nine goals and four assists and junior Gus Wagner has eight goals and five assists. Senior goalie Jake Terveer has a 0.88 goals-against average and 130 saves.

Villa said junior midfielder David Wiese is expected to play against St. Viator. Wiese collided with Centennial's Ben Flodstrom in the first half Tuesday and did not return to the game.

The Knights have won nine of 10, a stretch that began with a 4-2 victory over Collinsville on Oct. 3 that Villa believes turned around the season.

"There's only been a couple of games where we've gotten beat really good, and we've played some tough competition," Villa said. "We started to turn it around after we beat Collinsville. We knew they had knocked off Vianney and knew they were a quality team, with some of the best players in the area. We figured if we could beat them, we could play with just about everybody.

"Any time you do well at the end of the year, it's a good sign. It means the kids are working hard, striving to get better and improve their game. If they can play their best soccer at the end of the year, I think that's a good thing. Usually at the end of the year, the cream rises to the top."