ROXANA – Senior Dillon Scifres scored a brace (2 goals) in route to helping his team defeat Valmeyer by a commanding score of 5-0. The Shells move to 2-0 this season and seem to be turning the page from last season’s 3-15-1 campaign.
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Things could’ve started differently in this game if Valmeyer hadn’t hit the post in the 19th minute. The Shells had their own chance 10 minutes later after a nice passing play ended with a shot opportunity that went over the bar.
In the 32nd minute was when Scifres scored his first and three minutes later senior Garrett McBride doubled the lead. His goal came from a through ball that led to a partial breakaway. He slotted the ball past Valmeyer’s keeper to make it 2-0.
That’s how the game would stand heading into halftime.
Coming out of the break Roxana cleaned some things up with their back line. Post-game head coach James Futrell said he was pleased with how his defense played in the second half. They also scored some more goals.
Scifres got his second of the game and then juniors Donovan Zeller and Owen Wieneke each scored to get to the eventual score line of 5-0. Freshman Noah Smith and senior Ty Schmidt each had an assist in the game.
Junior goalkeeper Aiden Stassi played all 80 minutes and came up with three saves to ensure he kept a clean sheet. It was the first shutout of his career as this is his first year playing goalie according to coach Futrell.
“Love the shutout for our keeper [Stassi]. He’s only really been in goal for a couple of weeks.”
“We had to basically volunteer him to play goal,” Futrell said jokingly.
Regardless, your first shutout is a great way to boost confidence and so is starting the season off 2-0.
When asked about what changed this season compared to last, Futrell gave credit to the new soccer facility.
“This is the first year we’ve really had our own space to use,” he said.
He also mentioned that in years past the soccer team has had to share field real estate with the football team, which in turn was a little detrimental to the success of the soccer team. Ever since the completion of Roxana’s beautiful turf field dedicated solely for soccer, the team has been able to get out there more and has come a long way since then Futrell said.
It also helps that they have some key components returning from last year who are ready to help lead the team and make a difference.
“We have a great group of juniors and seniors who are very committed,” Futrell said.
The Shells are currently hosting the Norman Lewis Invite and have now won the first two games of said tournament. They’ll wrap up play at home on Saturday at 7 p.m. against a currently undetermined opponent. Their next game after that will be a real test when they take on Marquette Catholic on Thursday, September 1st at Gordon Moore Park at 6 p.m.
