EDWARDSVILLE – Ethan Miracle and Alec Mills both had good nights for Edwardsville's boys soccer team in a huge win late this week over Granite City.
Miracle, a junior, and Mills, a senior, both scored twice for the Tigers in their 4-0 Thursday night Southwestern Conference win over Granite City at Edwardsville's Tiger Stadium. The win put the Tigers at 1-0-1 on the year and 1-0-0 in the SWC.
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“Mills is always a great player,” Miracle said. “I know he'll put a couple away; he really held up the ball well to get me through on (his first goal).”
That the Tigers were able to bounce back from a scoreless draw against Chaminade Tuesday night and that goalkeeper Michael Hoelting was able to get his second straight clean sheet to begin the season was important for the Tigers, Miracle felt. “The scoreless draw against Chaminade was kind of disappointing; they had a lot of the ball,” Miracle said. “I told (the Tigers) that the first goal is always key; once you get the first goal, the floodgates really open.
“We held the ball really well (against the Warriors) and it was kind of disappointing that we didn't score in the first half; tha
t first goal really got our momentum going. Hopefully we can get that momentum going our the next games at the Alton tournament (this weekend).”
“Chaminade was a tough game,” Mills said. “We came out here, possessed the ball and played real well; we've got great team chemistry. We were hanging around and we knew a goal was coming; once we got that first one, the floodgates kind of opened up.”
Miracle's goals certainly helped the EHS cause. “Ethan's a great striker – the team knows if we feed him the ball, he's going to get some chances on net and that's good,” Mills said.
Getting the win over the Warriors was a good thing for the Tigers going into this weekend's Alton Round-Robin Tournament. “Oh yeah, it's big,” Mills said. “We've got a long weekend coming up and it was good to get a win under our belt before we head (into the tournament); it's three games in two days and it's a lot of games so it's great to get a win; we've got to try to get it into the weekend.”
