BLOOMINGTON - Tyler Dacus scored the only goal of the match for Edwardsvillle as Romeoville went out in front 2-0 in the first half and never looked back in going on to a 4-1 win over the Tigers in the IHSA Class 3A boys soccer super-sectional match Tuesday evening at Bloomington High School.
The Spartans scored twice in each half and never allowed Edwardsville to establish their game in going on to advance to the state semifinals this weekend in Rolling Meadows.
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"They were just so good on the ball that it made it a very tough game," said Edwardsville head coach Mark Heiderscheid. "They were very good at putting deep balls into very dangerous locations."
Dacus' goal came in the second half, as the Tigers got a ball into the corner and a crossing pass came directly to him. Dacus was able to settle the ball and slotted a shot past the Romeoville goalie into the net.
The Tigers played hard for the entire 80 minutes, but the Spartans were able to outplay Edwardsville to win the state tournament berth.
"All I can say is that we tried our best," Heiderscheid said, "but we made a couple of mistakes that they capitalized on."
It was the final match for a group of seniors - Axton Anom, Zach Chitwood, Dacus, Abe Gianaris, George Gikikas, Owen Logan, Carter McMillian, Amdreas Pelakanos, Nik Peterson, Sam Reader and Berik Selberg - that made so many positive contributions to the program, and for the entire team, it was a very good and successful season.
"I have nothing but pride with what the kids did this year," Heiderscheid said. "To make the final eight is a great accomplishment. It's always sad to see (the seniors) go. I get that feeling every year, but that's the profession of coaching each year. You're always going to lose your seniors. We'll miss them very much."
The Edwardsville season ends at 17-6-2 and the Tigers do return very talented and experienced players for the 2023 season.
"It's always sad to see my seniors go," Heiderscheid said, "but we have a very large group of players returning, so we'll just regroup. It's always our goal to have the best season we can every year."
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