Highland kickers fall short in Mississippi Valley Conference opener against rival Triad

Tuesday, Sept. 7, marked the opening of the Mississippi Valley Conference schedule for the Highland boys soccer team and the Bulldogs had a great chance to make some early noise in the conference race against Triad.

HHS had good scoring chances in each half but could not capitalize as the Knights used early goals from Sam Beeman and Roger Weber along with a late goal from Toby Suter to post a 3-0 shutout win over the host Bulldogs.

For Triad, the performance was somewhat uneven but nonetheless effective.

“After having five days off — and we gave the kids a couple of days off — I was hoping we’d come out with fire and it wasn’t very pretty (at times). But to get the first conference win of the year and get a shutout at Highland and get a 3-0 win, it’s a good deal,” Triad coach Jim Jackson said.

Less than two minutes in, the Knights grabbed a 1-0 lead on Beeman’s goal.

At the 28:04 mark of the first half, the Bulldogs had a great chance to tie the score and change the game’s momentum as senior forward Alex Roach was pulled down and had a penalty kick opportunity.

However, his kick misfired.

“Usually that’s one he buries and it happens in some games ... we had a lot of other chances as well,” Highland coach Jay Robertson said. “It just didn’t get done today (scoring).”

Just about a minute later, Triad seized another opportunity as Weber, a senior back, popped in a score off a center pass on a nifty slip kick in front of the goal crease to make it 2-0.

Jackson was happy to see the timely early scoring from his backs and midfield players.

“We’ve been getting a lot of scoring from our midfield and our back and I think that’s Roger’s third or fourth goal of the year, and he’s one of our center backs,” Jackson said.

Suter’s goal with 34.2 seconds left capped the scoring.

“Their keeper (Luke Stieb) played well, but we just put the ball in the right spots,” Jackson said.

After going 4-1 to start the season, Robertson hopes his senior-led club takes the setback and grows from it.

“I think on the field we’ve had some better days recently and hopefully this is one these we can forget about and move on and hope to learn a little bit and move forward,” Robertson said.

Brayden Tonn got the shutout win in goal for Triad. Steib took the loss for the Bulldogs, who followed the loss to Triad with a 3-0 setback to Civic Memorial two days later.

In other recent action, Highland defeated Father McGivney in Edwardsville 7-1 on Sept. 4.

Jacob Oliver led the way with two goals and Alex Roach tallied a pair of assists as six players scored goals. A 4-1 first half lead powered the victory.

Cross country update

The Highland Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs cross country teams had a solid debut Sept. 4 at the Granite City Invitational Meet. The HHS boys finished in 18th place overall with Ethan Smith at 17:13 and Mason Steinbeck at 17:35 leading the way. Cole Basden was the Bulldogs third top finisher with a time of 18:04.

In the girls race, the Lady Bulldogs finished seventh in the 25-team field. Freshman Alyson Pace placed 15th (20:00) in her varsity debut followed by Faith Brindley in 36th place (20:29) and Tarryn Keeney in 43rd place (20:29).

Girls volleyball update

A Labor Day weekend trip to Carbondale for the annual Carbondale Tournament ended on a down note for the Highland girls volleyball team.

The Lady Bulldogs finished the tournament Sept. 4 with a hard-fought three-set match loss to Marion — 25-12, 20-25, and 14-16. Highland finished the weekend with a 2-1 slate thanks to wins over Charleston (25-22, 25-17) and Cobden (25-8, 25-15).

Girls golf update

In girls golf, the Lady Bulldogs visited Tamarack Golf Course in O’Fallon on Sept. 7 and turned in a solid showing with a seventh place finish and a 378 team score in the 16-team O’Fallon Invitational Tournament.

Sydney Coziar led the way with an 88 while Camryn Burns (92), Brooke Hunsche (94), and Maci Miles rounded out the top four for HHS. The Lady Bulldogs golfers closed out the week with a fourth-place finish in a quad match with Belleville West, Mascoutah, and host Triad in Troy. HHS finished with a team score of 189 as Burns led the way, shooting a 45.

Girls tennis update

The girls tennis team dropped a hard-fought 5-4 dual match at home to Greenville on Sept. 7.

HHS ends the week with action in the Highland Tournament at home Saturday, Sept. 11.

This story was originally published September 6, 2021 at 11:00 PM.