EDWARDSVILLE - Coach Matt Bettlach has high expectations for his Triad girls' soccer squad in the spring of 2025.
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Although Triad, who finished second in the IHSA Class 2A state tournament last season, has lost to Edwardsville 4-0 on Thursday night, March 20, 2025, and to O'Fallon 2-0, Knights’ head coach Matt Bettlach isn't discouraged. He labels both O'Fallon and Edwardsville two of the best teams in the state for soccer.
“That’s a good team that we played,” Bettlach said on Thursday night, March 20, 2025, after the defeat to Edwardsville. "I thought we had moments where we played well. The ball didn’t go in for us a couple of times, but Edwardsville’s a very talented team at all positions.
"Edwardsville was fast, physical, technical with the ball, and just what you’d expect from Edwardsville. They played well, they had the better of the play, but I think our girls played with a lot of heart, tonight and a lot of grit. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy coming into Edwardsville, but our girls battled, and they got a couple on the board in the first half.
“But, I liked the way we played in the second half to start,” Bettlach continued,” and we had a couple of chances that we just didn’t get in. If it’s a 2-1 game, it’s different. Then, they had a play here, when they dribbled all the way down from the end line, and the girl scores to make it 3-0, and that was kind of the dagger there.”
Bettlach agreed that Thompson’s goal was a spectacular goal, right near Golazo status.
Yeah, you can’t teach that,” Bettlach said. “ That was pretty nice. But I’m proud of our girls, the way they came out and played and battled. The girls battled hard for 80 minutes. We never gave up. So, we don’t like to lose, but we’ll learn from this, and it’s only the second game of the year. So, we’ll be OK.”
There’s still plenty of soccer left to be played, and Bettlach is still confident that the Knights will have another successful season.
“I think our team is locked in,” Bettlach said, “and we’ve been working hard. The goals haven’t come our way so far in the first two games, but we played two of the best teams in the state of Illinois in the first two games, and they showed why. I think our girls proved they can play with them, it just didn’t go our way.”
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
