EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville's soccer team met a tough Belleville West squad Tuesday night and came up short 2-1.
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Most teams, regardless of sport, will hit a rough patch or two over the course of a season. Edwardsville's soccer team has been going through one as of late.
The Tigers' winless streak went to five in a row (four losses and a draw against CBC) at Tiger Stadium Tuesday night when Belleville West, thanks to first-half goals from Sean Gouveia and Drake Terveer, gave Edwardsville a 2-1 loss; it was the first home loss for EHS in six-plus years.
“West was able to do a fantastic job with their pace,” said Tiger coach Mark Heiderschied. “They've got two key guys (Gouveia and Terveer) who are so assertive towards the goal.”
Gouveia's goal came from a free kick near the penalty area in the 18th minute; he took a shot at the goal that bounced in front of net and fooled Edwardsville's defense.
“The unfortunate thing is that (assistant coach Randy) Chapman called it. He said 'be ready for a shot' because, at that angle, it's more than possible to do that. It was a great decision by Sean.”
The Maroons coming away with a win in Edwardsville – the last visiting SWC side to come away with a win in Edwardsville was in September 2009 – was a big thing for West coach Rob Thornberry. “Our guys played a solid 80 minutes physically and mentally,” Thornberry said. “That's a huge part of soccer. We didn't have much panic play; our midfield stepped up and possessed the ball really well and we had a solid defensive effort.
“They had a lot of chances on set pieces, but we were solid in the box and the defense communicated well and stepped up.”
The Tigers scored their first goal since their win over Normal Community on Sept. 26 when Bayne Noll converted a penalty kick in the 24th minute after the Maroons were called for a hand-ball inside their penalty area. “We did a good job of knocking it around,” Heiderschied said. “They were a little unlucky with the handball and we went ahead and buried a pretty good PK by Bayne.”
The Maroons quickly responded when Gouveia lifted a feed to Terveer, who chipped a shot just out of the outstretched arms of Tiger goalkeeper Trey Riley just past the half-hour for what proved to be the winning goal. Edwardsville put pressure on the West goal throughout the second half, but Maroon goalkeeper Brandon Gregory was equal to the task and kept the Tigers at bay.
Edwardsville fell to 10-6-4 overall and takes on Belleville East at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in an IHSA Class 3A Edwardsville Regional semifinal match, with the winner meeting up with the West-O'Fallon winner at 6 p.m. Oct. 24.
