Jersey's boys soccer team had been on a stretch where they were playing several matches in the space of a few days, including three matches in two days en route to winning their round-robin tournament over the weekend.
The Panthers were coming off that win going into Monday night's match at home against a streaking Alton team.
The Redbirds shut the Panthers completely down, getting two goals each fromMatt Paulda and Steven Ngyuen as Alton scored a 6-0 win over Jersey, taking their record to 14-3-1 on the year; Jersey fell to 13-4-1.
“The kids worked hard and really took it to them,” said Redbird coach Nick Funk. “I'm really proud of the result and we got some kids some minutes and they kept up the pace of play.”
Alton went into the match having some problems finishing scoring opportunities. “We haven't been finishing a whole lot, but tonight, they stepped up their game and put six in,” Funk said. “No matter who you're playing, that's not easy.
“They were 13-3-1 going into tonight and the kids knew that; they knew they had to step it up tonight, plus Jersey's a team that always plays hard. They were coming in on a roll and it was good to see our kids step up to the challenge and stop them.”
“Alton played really, really well,” said Panther coach Scott Burney. “They caught us at a great time and we didn't play well mentally. Physically, we were already beat down with five games in six days. No excuse at all, but we did not play well; we had our worse game tonight, and they took advantage of it.
“We looked at the schedule and we realized Alton on Monday with two big (Mississippi Valley Conference) games in front of us; you can call it a little bit of a tournament hangover if you want, but what a tough game to come out here tonight. They hit us with a little bit of speed there tonight and we could tell we didn't have all of our legs tonight and they put a couple (of goals) up on us.”
Paulda got the Redbirds out front early, picking up a loose ball near the Panther goal in the ninth minute and putting it away to put Alton on top. Ngyuen added to the lead in the 36th minute on a Paulda assist to send the Redbirds into the break up 2-0.
Paulda and Ngyuen teamed up again not long after the resumption of play to put Alton up, Paulda scoring his second of the match for a 3-0 AHS lead. Five minutes later, Ngyuen took a pass from Paulda and found the back of the net to put Alton ahead 4-0. Sam Vanfoorhis scored in the 55th minute off a Theo Docy assist for a 5-0 lead and C.J. Nasello ended the scoring in the 57th minute.
Brandon Flanigan and Myles Marfell teamed up to record the clean sheet for the Redbirds. The Redbird and Panther junior varsities played to a scoreless draw in the curtain-raiser for the evening.
The Redbirds host Belleville West in a Southwestern Conference match at Piasa Motor Fuels Field for the Redbirds' Senior Night festivities, with the match commencing following the ceremonies honoring the Redbird seniors at approximately 6:15 p.m. tonight. The Panthers travel to Highland for a key MVC match at 5:30 p.m. this evening, followed by a home league match against Triad at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, then wrap up the MVC campaign with a Senior Night match against Civic Memorial Oct. 10.
