EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville's soccer team hadn't played since last Thursday, when the Tigers defeated O'Fallon on the road.
“In the first half, I thought we should have done a better job,” said EHS coach Mark Heiderscheid. “We hadn't played for a bit and I thought (Waterloo) Gibault did a fine job in terms of their energy, their ability to connect; they created some chances.”
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The Tigers, though, shook off whatever rust had developed and got second-half goals from Michael Glisson, Michael Picchiotti and Bayne Noll to defeat the Hawks 3-0 at Tiger Stadium Wednesday evening.
“We did (create some chances) as well, but it was a thing that I was hoping, with the layoff, that we'd come out with a little more energy and just be a little more creative,” Heiderscheid said. “That said, it was very similar to the Belleville East game (where the Tigers upended the Lancers 4-0 after a scoreless first half); if you look at the East game, we were connecting a lot better in the first half, but no goals, but we sorted out a few options and started to play a little wider, focus a little bit different in terms of our attacking structure and reaped the benefits with four goals pretty quickly.
“In this one here, there was a stretch in the middle of the second half when we kept it at the other team's 18 (yard box) for quite a span, and I think that was telling. The goals we got, they were ones where we we able to run players, be very creative.”
Edwardsville's first goal, in the 50th minute, came when Kyle Wright took possession and found Glisson with a feed; Wright put it past Hawk goalkeeper Trevor Davis to put the Tigers ahead 1-0. Four minutes later, Alec Mills hit Picchiotti with a pass and Picchiotti drove in and knocked the ball past Wright to extend the lead to 2-0.
Edwardsville's final goal of the match came in the 74th minute when Mills found Noll charging down the left side and gave him a feed, which Noll put past Davis for a 3-0 lead.
The Tigers had 10 shots on goal for the match, while Gibault managed to fire two; Daniel Picchiotti turned back two shots while Davis had seven saves on the evening for Gibault.
The Tigers went to 6-0-1 on the season with the win; they head to the Morton Invitational tournament in Morton Friday and Saturday.
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