EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville’s boys soccer team opened their home and Southwestern Conference campaign Tuesday night in style.
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The Tigers got two goals from Ethan Miracle and scored twice each within less than a minute in the 75th and 78th minutes to win their first game on the new Tiger Stadium turf, EHS taking a 6-1 win over Belleville East to move to 2-1-1 on the season, 1-0 in the SWC; the Lancers fell to 4-1-1 overall, 0-1 in the league.
“It was really good to be out here,” said Tiger coach Mark Heiderscheid, “even though we did have some miscues in terms of possession at times, the ability of both teams to play a quality game on good turf and one that has some size to ii allows the game to get played to where it looks like a game you might see on TV,” talking about the new turf that was laid down on the stadium floor over the summer.
“It could have been a 2-2 game late in the game,” Heiderscheid continued, “He (Lancer coach James Chambers) has his team so organized – there’s no question that they were absolutely ready to play – I think they played an awesome match, and all of a sudden, the scoreline kind of ballooned up in the end, but it wasn’t reflective at all of what what most of the game was.”
Miracle’s brace (two goals) on the night was a good thing for the Tigers. “Last year he certainly was a go-to person for us, especially during the first half of the season,” Heiderscheid said of the senior. “Ethan helped carry us in that regard; he was in a wide position at that point. At moments, we’ve got him more centrally located, wherever that might be.
“He’s a guy that connects so well, he can find so well in the attacking third (of the field) – he’s a really intelligent player; his work rate is exceptional. He does so many things for us – I think if, all of a sudden, he can finish goals, we’re so much better as a team.”
The Tigers wasted no time getting on the scoreline at the start of the match, A.J. Sullivan scoring in the fifth minute to put EHS up 1-0; it stayed that way through the rest of the first half, Miracle getting his first goal of the match in the 48th minute off a Kadin Liberman assist to make it 2-0. Six minutes after Miracle’s first goal, the Lancers’ Kyle Long solved EHS goaltender Tyler Frolik to cut the Tiger advantage to 2-1.
It stayed that way until the 75th minute, when Miracle accepted a Sullivan feed and scored to restore the two-goal lead at 3-1; less than a minute later, Sullivan got his second assist of the match when he found Bryce Glissen with a pass; all Glissen had to do was score to put Edwardsville up 4-1.
The Tigers’ final two goals both came in the 78th minute, Shane Greathouse and Nate Waple finding the range and hitting the back of the net for the final margin of victory.
Edwardsville next meets up with CBC on the road at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in a matchup of two traditional St. Louis-area heavyweights; the Tigers return home for a 5 p.m. Sept. 5 match against Waterloo Gibault, one of the top small-school sides on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River.
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