Four Different Players Score As Collinsville Takes 4-1 Win At Edwardsville, Both Sides Now 4-2-0 In Southwestern Conference

EDWARDSVILLE - The Edwardsville boys soccer team did maintain good possession of the ball throughout the match, but couldn't create many good opportunities, while Collinsville had four different players score goals as the Kahoks took a 4-1 win over the Tigers in a Southwestern Conference match played Tuesday night at Tiger Stadium.

The result of the match extended the Tigers' current winless streak to 0-2-1 in the last three matches and left both teams at 4-2-0 in the conference as the race is beginning to heat up. Edwardsville is now 7-4-1 overall and Tuesday night's loss is one where not much went right for the Tigers.

"Well, honestly, there are times when there are those games," said Edwardsville head coach Mark Heiderscheid. "Collinsville played, I felt, just an outstanding match, and so, I think, really, you have to give them just superb credit. I though they played to their strengths, I thought (Adam) Reiniger did such a great job at going at players, I thought Sam Garafalo did the same thing. (Landon) Mahat was dangerous.

"I thought that they just brought such great energy and really, in the individual moments, they were able to go ahead and make plays. I thought they were super efficient on shots. I think both teams had similar terms of possession; I thought we actually possessed the ball very well. We really weren't creating clear-cut chances. For them, they were able to have guys that really could free themselves for shots and the ones they took, everything went in and that's really a credit to their ability to strike the ball very, very, very well. I just think that they just took great strides to make themselves better attacking."

The Tigers didn't play that badly, instead, not a lot went right for them on the night, as the Kahoks were able to break open the match with three goals in the second half, not being able to crack the scoresheet until late.

"For our part, honestly, there's always those games, and you have areas you just have to address," Heiderscheid said, "and be better. And so, I think it was great that Collinsville had players, in this case, expose some areas where we're a bit deficient and where they're superior to us.

"So now, it's our job to react to that," Heiderscheid continued, "where they played a match that was better than ours and I think we just have to make strides defensively in areas one vs. one. And, then I think in our attack, even though we had good ball movement, how can we make situations where we can break down defense better and come up with clear-cut opportunities? I think out there, we were a little bit stymied in our attack and that.

"Sometimes, the players kept the ball a little bit too much. I think the one goal we did score was just a great example of where we knocked it well, slipped a guy through, which we were talking about. And then, he's able to go in, Jack Kirgan, and make a good, finishing shot. But really, the goalkeeper did not have very many saves asides from that. The shots we had were ones that just didn't have power and just didn't really have that much commitment."

The first 10 minutes were defensive-minded, with neither team having many chances to score. In the 15th minute, Collinsville went ahead when a perfect crossing pass went to Juan Carlos Doria, who heading in from nearly in front of goal to give the Kahoks a 1-0 lead. The goal lifted Collinsville, as they started to take control, with the defense not allowing a good opportunity, blocking shots and stopping attacks, The half ended 1-0 in favor of Collinsville, with the Kahoks having momentum.

Collinsville doubled its lead in the 46th minute on a brilliant individual effort by Reiniger, who took off on a run with the ball and hit a shot from distance that eluded the Tigers' goalkeeper into the bottom left of the net to give the Kahoks a 2-0 lead. It became 3-0 on another great effort, this one from Trey Peterson, who took a ball, went in alone and scored in the 57th minute.

Chris Munoz won a ball in the Edwardsville third and chipped a shot that went over the Tigers' goalie's head and went right into the net in the 66th minute to increase the Kahok lead to 4-0. Edwardsville did get a goal from Kirgan in the 76th minute on a brilliant passing play that Kirgan struck with confidence into the back of the net, but the Kahoks went on to their 4-1 win.

Collinsville is now 5-4-0 overall, while the Tigers next host Alton Thursday night at 6:30 p.m., then play at Normal Community Saturday afternoon at 12:30 p.m, then play at home against Belleville East next Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.,, then host CBC Sept. 30 at 11:45 a.m. Heiderscheid feels that this is the opportune time for the Tigers to regroup and concentrate on upcoming matches.

"But again, in seasons, I think it becomes a character check," Heiderscheid said. "if things always go well, that's pretty neat. But, we've had multiple seasons where we've had glitches throughout our time. And this one's a tough one, because there's some areas where we just, it'll be very difficult to improve on some of those. But, that becomes a challenge for us. And if by, during the end of the year, we can go ahead and make improvements and make that challenge, we'll try to put ourselves in a position, the best position to make ourselves a playoff-ready team. And if it happens this year, it's great. And if it doesn't, well, we'll know we've put our best foot forward to try and make that happen."

Collinsville plays at Belleville West at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, followed by Christian Brothers of St. Louis at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at home, then St. Louis Unversity High at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 28, then at Fort Zumwalt South at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 30. Waterloo plays Collinsville at Collinsville on Monday, Oct. 2.

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