From Coach Ed Berberich:
The Soccer Aces hosted Newton Tuesday night in a rematch against a conference foe that beat them 0-8 the 1st time around. The Aces fought hard in this one but ultimately fell 0-3. Newton scored their 1st goal in the 27th minute but that was all either team could muster, leaving the score at 0-1 at the break. The Aces came out in the 2nd half and continued fighting hard but the Eagles were able to give themselves a bit of breathing room when they scored in the 62nd minute to take a 2-0 lead. They would add their final goal with 4 minutes left after the Aces had pushed one of their defenders up in effort to generate more in attack. The Aces took 4 shots in the match, with 2 chances created. Ty Hipsher had 11 saves in goal.
After having played too passively in the Pinckneyville match the night before we came out with much more aggressiveness & it made a world of difference for us. If we had played like this the night before then that close match might have had a different result. Newton is a strong opponent having lost only lost 2 matches on the season, but we were able to frustrate them, especially in the 1st half, and give ourselves a chance in the game. It was a really good effort by the guys and showed some real growth. This was senior night for Ty Hipsher, Gabe Cirunay, Ronnie Berberich, Trace Sisson & Michael Read so it was fun to play a good game for these guys in the last home match of their careers. They've been a big part of trying to set the tone & build the culture that we're working on establishing here & they've been invaluable to us all year.
The Soccer Aces traveled to Harrisburg Thursday night in a rematch against the Bulldogs. The Aces once again fought hard but would end up losing 1-5. Harrisburg scored quickly, putting the ball in the net just 4 minutes in but the Aces settled down and neither team could get anything into the goal leaving the score 0-1 at the half. To start the 2 half, the Bulldogs again scored quickly, scoring 3 minutes in on a penalty kick when a foul was called against the Aces in the box. The Aces would the score in the 51st minute when Zeke Meier was fouled hard outside the box after he'd beaten the defense to create a breakaway opportunity. Ty Hipsher took the kick & nailed it to make the score 1-2. That score held for another 10 minutes until Harrisburg scored a couple quick goals in the 60th & 62nd minutes to put the game away. Harrisburg added a final goal with 7 minutes left for score of 1-5. The Aces took 5 shots in the match, with 5 chances created. Ty Hipsher had 7 saves in goal.
We again came out and played a solid game but just couldn't quite get it done. We tried some different things with regard to player positions tonight so I'm proud of how the guys responded to the changes. We really just wore down late in the game. With our injuries this season we've struggled to get everyone in game shape & about when we were starting to get there we had multiple games canceled. So we just hadn't played enough heading into this week where we had 3 games in 4 days. The last 20 minutes or so we could really begin to see the impact of that. We'll have a bit of rest this weekend and then some time next week to work on things as we prepare for regionals.