3rd Place Match, well, not really

 

Game 12 (8-1-3)
1 October at RecPlex in Burlington vs. Naperville North at 10:15 (1-1)



Well, after yesterday's battle to get to the finals against Naperville North, we ended playing Naperville North, but not in the finals. North has already played Morton, and they may play them again on the road to State, so the tournament director had guaranteed them they would not play each other in this tournament. Thus, here we go.

North has been a Top-15 team in the country this year, but playing a tough schedule they came into this match 10-3-1. We had our work cut out for us with their two relatively easy first two matches where they could play lots of their bench, and us missing a couple of big-time players and not being able to play much of our bench. So the boys had a major test.

And oh my did the boys step up. Yes, it ended in a tie, but we were up 1-0 with less than five to go. We dominated shots, possession—we, however, did allow them far too many left-footed corners. 

We spent much of the match in a diamond midfield just to try to make it a bit easier on Kitts and Muckerman. 

Murray and Bjorseth shared the “6” for with their left-footed Indiana signee, we needed Connor to play right back a bit. 

LeBourveau had his first minutes for us at the “8” as he and Zinkus shared that spot, doing pretty darn well. 

We head back to KC 1-1-1 against great competition. The experience should have brought the boys closer and toughened us up a bit for a state run. 

Naperville North has a very cool tradition that we have experienced a couple of times before. Their captains, after the match, win, lose or draw, choose an opposing player to receive their Man of the Match Award. They present a letter that explains the criteria of the award to that player immediately after the game. 

For the second year in a row, Barrett Kitts received their award. Pretty cool. 

We have 4 games left in this season. Senior Night is Tuesday. That will be an important game for us as it is against BVNW with the EKL title on the line. 

Interview with Anthony Consuegra 

Stats:

First Half:

Saints: Shots: 6 (4) Corners: 3 (Kitts, Swags, Weasy)

7:45 Kitts (Bobby heaves it for a Welsh header back on)

Huskies: Shots: 4 (1) Corners: 2

Second Half:

Saints: Shots: 6 (3) Corners: 6 (Ryan 3, LaBourveau, Swags, Kitts)

Mustangs: Shot: 1 (1). Corners: 4

5:41 McMahon (cross fr post into the box for a toe-poke into the goal. 

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