Jakob DoyleEDWARDSVILLE – Jakob Doyle scored a brace (two goals) as Edwardsville scored three times in a five-minute stretch early in the second half as the Tigers went on to a 5-0 win over visiting Collinsville in a Southwestern Conference boys soccer match Thursday evening at Tiger Stadium.

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The Tigers got an early goal, then seized momentum late in the first half when goalie Tyler Frolik saved a penalty kick from Anthony Coppoltelli.

“You know, I’ll be honest, I kind of forgot about the penalty kick one,” said Edwardsville head coach Mark Heiderscheid, “because, really, at that point, that’s a thing if Tyler Frolik doesn’t make the save on there, it certainly is more difficult. Now, you never know how things go at that point. I think Collinsville stayed energized the entire match, save for maybe the last 10 minutes, but that’s understandable. I don’t think it was one that either we were up, or they were down, I think that sometimes, that’s how the game went. I really thought that Collinsville did an exceptional job during the first half; I thought the pressure was great, I thought they had energy, and I think really the same thing for us. I thought we really had good control. I thought, if anything, we were a little bit too excited, instead of trying to go ahead and keep it a soccer game, I thought we tried to play too many things at moments long, where we could have just been a little more patient, a little more controlled. But you know, sometimes, that’s kids when they get excited.

“But without a doubt, we missed a chance or two early,” Heiderschied continued. “We were almost like, ‘darn, we should have been able to get maybe the second or third.’ But then, all of a sudden, I think there was an error or so that was unfortunate for Collinsville, we ended up getting the second goal. And then, after that, it was such that, yeah, we got that spurt of goals within a short time. And then, all of a sudden, everybody knows in the stadium it’s over. And we’re not trying to damage control, but it was a thing where, if you’re Collinsville, I thought they showed heart in trying to go ahead and play, to see if they couldn’t get the goal or so. I think, for our part, we’re a little bit crazy, so we just continue to try and attack. And instead of just trying to settle the game in, but we got the next one as well. But then, I was using a lot of subs; at that juncture, we had our bench cleared. And I think, with those kids, they’re going to be excited to play and try to score a goal. So the game continued to stay pretty open.”

Both sides had a pair of early chances each, with the shots being turned back at each end. In the eighth minute, Edwardsville got an early strike, when Doyle passed a nice through ball to Brennan Weller, who was able to slot the ball past Kahok goalie Logan Rader to give the Tigers the lead at 1-0. One minute later, Adam Sneed had a great chance, but Rader dove to his right to smother the shot. The match then settled into a midfield battle, with both sides moving forward into attack and getting good opportunities. In the 23rd minute, both Kadin Lieberman and Sneed made good passes into the box, but both times, the chances were thwarted by Rader to keep the game at 1-0.

In the 36th minute came a key play in the game, as a Collinsville player was tripped in the box. The referee didn’t hesitate in pointing to the spot, and Coppotelli stepped up to take the penalty. Frolik dived to his left to stop the shot, keeping the game at 1-0 for Edwardsville, and two minutes later, turned back another Kahok chance as the game went into halftime 1-0 for Edwardsville.

The Tigers doubled their lead in the 42nd minute, when, on a bouncing ball in the Collinsville box, Doyle collected the ball and calmly slotted it past Rader to make it 2-0. In the 46th minute, during another Edwardsville attack, an initial shot was saved, but the ball came out to Logan Loftus, who chipped the ball into Doyle, and Doyle was able to put it home to make it 3-0, Edwardsville.

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One minute later, Cooper Nolan broke in on goal after getting a great pass and placed a perfect shot into the back of the net to give the Tigers a 4-0 lead. The Kahoks kept putting the pressure on the Edwardsville defense, and in the 55th minute, Coppotelli had a glorious chance, followed up with a Nick Corzine shot, but both were stopped by Frolik. Then in the 65th minute, Ben Loftus had a great chance with the goalie way off of his line, but his shot just went past the post, keeping it 4-0.

In the 76th minute, Chris Agwuedu used his speed to get away from the Kahok defense, and slotted home a shot into the lower right-hand corner to make the final 5-0 score for the Tigers.

The Tigers were able to use their speed throughout the match, and it definitely made a difference.

“When you look out there, obviously, both Agwuedu kids have great pace,” Heiderscheid said. “Tony does, Christopher does. Brennan Weller is deceptively fast because he’s a basketball guy, 6’ 3”, and so, he’s really a difficult one. Cooper Nolan, obviously, has superb pace as well, and to be honest with you, both Loftus boys, the same thing with them, just very quick on the flanks. So that’s a great benefit for this year. I’m kind of hoping it bodes well for us, and I think at this point, good to have that pace, good that we’re able to go ahead connect. Tyler Frolik and Gabe Noll get the clean sheet out here, but what we really have to work on is making sure that we can do a better job in terms of building it, and get our patience in the front third. Sometimes, we’re a little excited as a group, and kind of hoping to be a little more (Manchester) City the remainder of the season.”

Frolik made four saves, and Noll three in getting the Tigers’ clean sheet.

The Tigers, now 9-3-0 overall, have a pair of big games coming up this weekend, starting Friday with Marquette Catholic on the road in a 4 p.m. kickoff, then play Normal Community West at Ralph Korte Stadium/Bob Guelker Field at SIU-Edwardsville Saturday. The Marquette match was originally scheduled for later in the season but was changed for Friday afternoon.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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