Tigers Defeat the Redbirds on the pitch

GODFREY —The levels of the head coaches’ frustration were nearly equal, which might have seemed odd, considering Mark Heiderscheid’s Edwardsville Tigers won Tuesday’s Southwestern Conference game at Alton 3-1.

But Heiderscheid, as well as Alton coach Nick Funk each walked away from the game shaking their heads - for different reasons, of course.

“I hate to be this way, considering we won the game 3-1,” Heiderscheid said, “but we’ve been improving each game and today was like a step back or a step sideways.”

The result left Edwardsville at 8-3 overall and 4-0 in the SWC. Alton dropped to 2-5 and 1-3.

“The first 10 minutes was all us,” Alton’s Funk said. “Then backed off.

“We’re too lateral in the offensive third and we’re too vertical in the middle,” Funk said. “We need to flip flop it.”

The Redbirds fell behind 2-0, battled back within 2-1 in the second half and created numerous scoring chances the rest of the way. But a goal by Edwardsville’s Ben Loftus, who flicked in a corner kick by JT Watson with 4:13 left in the game, iced it for the Tigers.

“We had chances late,” Funk said, “but we could have had more (chances) in the first half, but we backed away and didn’t pursue the chances when they were there.”

Edwardsville grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 27th minute when Cooper Nolan pounced on a rebound after Alton goalie had made a point-blank save on a shot by the Tigers’ Connor Kelly.

“It was a good save,” Funk said, “but there was nobody marking (Nolan). he was standing there all by himself in front of our goal.”

Two minutes later, Kelly made it 2-0 for Edwardsville with an unassisted goal. Kelly stole the ball from an Alton defender near the top of the Redbirds’ penalty are, cut the ball back to his left and scored from about 15 yards.

The Redbirds battled back after halftime and cut the lead in half when Justin Davison scored in the 57th minute.

Alton’s Evan Dugger sent a flighted ball toward the top of the Tigers penalty area, where Edwardsville goalie Tyler Frolick and Davison converged on the ball at the same time. Davison’s head ball sailed high over Frolick and under the crossbar.

The Redbirds had chances to tie the score prior to Loftus’ insurance goal, including a shot by Hayden Batchelor that was saved with 12:40 left and a shot by Davison redirecting a service by Dugger with six minutes left that went over the crossbar.

“Our spacing was was off,” Heiderscheid said. “Our central players struggled; there were gaps between the back line and the midfield.

“Give Alton credit, though. They played very well and created scoring chances. And when he’s healthy, (Alton defender) Braden Schrimpf is an excellent player.”

Alton’s Funk said the loss was just the beginning this week for his kickers.

“The first game of a tough week,” Funk said. “We’ve got O’Fallon (at home) Thursday then we go to Triad Saturday.”

Heiderscheid, while admitting to frustration, said there were things his team did well.

“It was hotter than blazes, and we were playing on a smaller grass field,” he said. “They are all little things, but I think our boys did a nice job overcoming some obstacles.”