From Coach Ed Berberich: The Mt Carmel Aces soccer team recently played 2 matches, winning both to start their season at 3-0. They first traveled to Effingham on Tuesday 3/16, beating the host Bulldogs 7-0, then came home to play host to the Harrisburg Bulldogs on Monday evening, winning that one 10-0.

Against St Anthony, Rayce Loudermilk started the scoring for the Aces in the 5th minute, getting his goal on an assist from Conner Adams. Ethan Belt scored unassisted 1 minute later, followed 3 minutes later by Britton Heinrich scoring on an assist from Brady Decker for a quick 3-0 Aces lead within the first 8 minutes of the match. Heinrich scored again in the 20th minute assisted by Eli Bertram, with Rayce Loudermilk also getting another goal 5 minutes later, unassisted. Belt got his 2nd goal of the match in the 39th minute, assisted by Levi Beesley, and Jack Deisher completed the scoring when he finished off an assist from Aiden Garwood for the 7-0 final. Tye Kanipe was in goal for the entire match to get the shut-out, collecting 1 save. For the game, the Aces took 29 shots, with 19 being on frame, created 12 additional scoring chances and intercepted 7 passes. St Anthony took 2 shots, 1 on frame.

The Harrisburg match started off in similar fashion, with the Aces scoring 4 goals in the first 10 minutes. Bertram scored in the first minute, assisted by Heinrich, with Heinrich scoring 1 minute later unassisted. Belt scored in the 4th minute, assisted by Heinrich, with Henrich getting another unassisted goal in the 10th minute for the quick 4-0 lead. Alternating scoring goals, Belt again scored in the 14th minute, unassisted. Shade Loudermilk got in on the scoring with a goal in the 24th minute, assisted by Heinrich. Heinrich then scored his 3rd goal of the match, collecting the hat trick, assisted by Garwood. Deisher scored just a couple minutes into the 2nd half, assisted by Decker, on a rebound of a penalty kick taken by Decker. Garwood would score 2 minutes later on an assist from Luke Hipsher. Rayce Loudermilk would complete the scoring for the match, getting the Aces' 10th goal in the 51st minute, unassisted. For the match the Aces took 30 shots, with 21 being on frame, created 7 additional scoring chances and had 7 interceptions. Kanipe was again in goal for the duration. Harrisburg was unable to get a shot off in the match.

With the weather we've had so far we've gotten very little outdoor practice time under our belts, so the guys are doing pretty good when factoring that in. We're having to replace a lot from last year but the returning guys who've stepped up into new roles, and some of the Freshman who have jumped right in, are performing well for us all without having had much time to get acclimated to their new situations. Each game, we've gotten a little better with our passing accuracy and our passing decisions, looking to move the ball all over the field and use Tye in the back to help shut down attacks and keep possession. On that last point this was our best game so far at using Tye to keep, or win, possession. That's an easier thing to do when we're not under a lot of pressure like tonight of course, but the mindset has to be there regardless, and we displayed much more of that as compared to the first couple matches. We still need to work a bit on our build up play in attack but that's been coming along in each game. We also need to work on keeping our shape in attack, as that'll be key against better teams that can take advantage of a team that's out of shape. The other big thing to work on is our defensive shape in the back, and our pressuring of the ball as a team higher up the field with the midfielders and forwards working together to force turnovers. As I said though, considering the extreme lack of practice time, I'm pretty pleased with where we're at in those areas, they're just some things we hope to be able to work on soon. They're also things that just take some practice time to get down, so it comes naturally in the matches. The lack of a state series is really disappointing because I feel we have a team that is already good but has the chance to really develop as the season goes along, with the all the new faces learning as we go.

The Aces' record now stands at 3-0 (1-0) on the season with the remaining matches this week scheduled for Wednesday 3/24 at Centralia, followed by a home match, and Senior Night, against Olney on 3/25 at 4:30 pm.