Shorthanded Redbirds rally to tie, but Quincy gets late winner

Shorthanded AHS rallies,but Quincy gets late winner

Pete Hayes, phayes@thetelegraph.com

 Published 10:10 pm CDT, Tuesday, October 16, 2018

COLLINSVILLE — An uphill climb became even steeper for Alton in the 70th minute of its Collinsville Class 3A Regional semifinal game against Quincy Tuesday night.

But that’s when the Redbirds dug deeper - but as it turned out, not deep enough.

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Trailing 1-0, Alton’s Braden Schrimpf received a red card in the 70th minute, meaning the Redbirds would play the remaining 10 minutes a player short. But Alton responded by dominating play, tying the game in the 76th minute, only to see Quincy take advantage of a quick-counter attack chance some 60 seconds later.

The result was a 3-2 loss top the Blue Devils at Kahok Stadium in a game Funk said was easily the one of the Redbirds’ “best games of the season.”

“It’s a tough way to see (the season) end,” Funk said. “But the good thing was that we left it all out on the field. Even down a man, we kept coming at them.”

The Redbirds saw their season end at 6-8-6. The victory means that 14-7 Quincy will advance to Saturday’s 3 p.m. regional championship game against host Collinsville. The Kahoks advanced with a 4-0 victory over Granite City in Tuesday’s first semifinal game.

While admitting it was a foul, Funk took issue with the red card issued to Schrimpf.

“I think it was probably a foul,” Funk said, “but it was for a dangerous foul on the last man back. I’m not sure about that part of it.”

While the red card didn’t hurt the Redbirds immediately, it did affect things shortly thereafter.

Playing a man down, the Redbirds picked up their pace even more. Six minutes later, they earned a restart that ended up with the ball in the net and a 1-1 score.

Jake Lombardi sent the ball over the Quincy defense and Sam Stutz timed his leap perfectly and headed the ball into the goal from about eight yards out in the 76th minute.

The Redbirds had new life, but it didn’t last long.

Following the kickoff, Alton quickly resumed possession of the ball from the Blue Devils. But Quincy got it back after a collision that saw Josh Lombardi hit the artificial turf.

“When your central midfielder (Lombardi) gets taken down and you’re playing a many short anyway, that opened up a dangerous situation.”

Dangerous, as in a six-on-three counter attack that Robby Phillips finished off with a goal in the 77th minute. It was Phillips’ 13th goal of the season.

“They had dangerous numbers anyway,” Funk said, “but when you’re a man down, it’s even worse.”

After a scoreless first half, the Redbirds and Blue Devils showed early that the second would be different.

Each team had 15 shots, with Alton outshooting Quincy 7-4 in the second half. There were 27 fouls called in the game, 15 of them against Alton.

The Blue Devils took the lead 45 seconds into the second half.

After the Redbirds cleared a corner kick, the ball found the right foot of Quincy’s Evan Wiegand, whose one-time low liner skipped through and into the goal.

A minute later, the Redbirds came oh, so close to tying it. After earning a Jake Lombardi corner kick following kickoff, Joey Morrissey’s header caromed off the right goal post.

“We thought it was going in,” Funk said. “But it was just an inch wide and hit the instead.

“So in the span of less than two minutes at the start of the half, we had two pretty negative things happen. I think t got us down a little and it took some time to recover, but we did.”

CYC SOCCER TOURNEY: Alton blanks Mascoutah, but misses out on top two seed; Marquette tops Timberland

AHS goes 3-0 in CYC Tourney,but misses out on a top two seed

Pete Hayes, phayes@thetelegraph.com

 Updated 6:47 am CDT, Thursday, September 27, 2018

Photo:

Pete Hayes | The Telegraph

IMAGE 1 OF 4

Alton’s Blake Dunse (4) puts the ball just beyond the reach of Mascoutah goalie Stephen Schulte and scores during Wednesday’s CYC Soccer Tournament pool play game at World Wide Technology Soccer Park in

... more

FENTON, Mo. — With his team already leading Mascoutah 7-0 late in Wednesday’s CYC Tournament pool game, Alton coach Nick Funk was nonetheless a bit nervous when his team gave up a free kick just outside the Redbirds’ penalty area.

Alton goalie Owen Macias came up with a diving one-handed save just inside the left goal post, preserving the shutout - which was critical for the Redbirds, who went on to win 8-0 at World Wide Technology Soccer Park.

“Things were really up in the air,” Funk said. “Going into this game, we really knew nothing about what our result would give us, regardless of what that result was. All we knew was that max points was our only real shot at getting the No. 1 or No. 2 seed and a bye Friday night.”

As it turned out, the Redbirds won’t get a top two seed after all. In late results Wednesday night, Triad and Columbia each posted lopsided shutout victories, dropping Alton to the No. 3 spot at best. Triad beat Affton 10-0 and Columbia downed Washington, Missouri 5-0.

In another late result Wednesday, Marquette Catholic knocked off Timberland 4-2. The Explorers finish pool play 2-0-1.

With a new format to determine which teams advance, Funk still wasn’t sure after the game how his team stood, despite going 3-0 in pool play. Instead of pool winners automatically advancing, the top six teams point-wide after three game will advance. And even though Funk was sure the Redbirds would indeed move on in the tourney, he was hoping to be one of the top two teams, thus skipping the play-in games set for Friday at Soccer Park.

“Not having to play Friday would have been huge for rest,” Funk said.

Teams received four points in the pool standingts for each victory, two points for a tie and one point for a shutout. The maximum point possible for one game is five points and the max for three games is 15. After its three games, Alton, which is 3-0 in the tourney and 6-3-4 overall, has 14 points. The Redbirds defeated Troy Buchanan High 3-0 Monday and edged Mehlville 3-2 Tuesday.

Triad and Columbia each finished pool play with 15 points.

Mascoutah’s Indians fell to 9-10 overall and 1-2 in the tournament.

Tiebreakers include head-to-head results, overall goal differential up to four per game, least amount of goals allowed, most shutouts and finally, penalty kicks.

The outcomes of other games Wednesday could have an effect on Alton’s overall placement. Results of those games were not available at Telegraph deadline.

First, of course, the Redbirds had to win Wednesday’s game. And after exploding four four goals in a nine-minute span midway through the first half, there was little doubt about that.

“The boys stepped up big time to the challenge and came out hot,” Funk said. “We were all over them but just couldn’t find the net early. But the first goal (in the 21st minute) really opened the flood gates.”

Josh Lombardi scored that first goal, from an assist by Jake Lombardo. After that, the goals came in rapid-fire succession.

Roman Thomeczek made it 3-0 with back-to-back goals in the 25th and 29th minutes, each assisted by Lombardo assist. Just a minute later, a goal by Riley Schmidt, assisted by Brayden Decker, made it 4-0 at halftime.

In the second half, the Redbirds were right back at it.

Blake Dunse took a pass from Lombardo and scored from the top left corner of the penalty area to make it 5-0 in the 49th minute.

Lombardo made it 6-0 in the 55th minute with an unassisted goal. Coleton Sebold made it 7-0 when he scored from a Brayden Decker assist in the 66th minute.

Then came Macias’s shutout-saving save.

“It was his only major test of the night and he came up huge,” Funk said of the save. “It can be hard to stayed focused there with little to no action most of the night.”

Decker capped the scoring in the 77th minute with a goal assist by Lombardo.

Lombardo’s five assists and one goal drew rave reviews from his coach.

“Five assists and a goal at the CYC Tournament is awesome,” Funk said of Lombardo’s effort. “Jake played a great game.”

“It was a great result,” Funk said. “We did our part to give ourselves the best chance at a 1 or 2 seed.

“Now we wait.”

CYC SOCCER TOURNEY: Marquette downs Lutheran South, Alton rallies past Mehlville

Pete Hayes, phayes@thetelegraph.com

 Published 9:27 pm CDT, Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Photo:

Pete Hayes | The Telegraph

IMAGE 1 OF 3

Marquette defender Kwame Ngwa, left, marks Lutheran South’s Jake Reis during action in Tuesday’s CYC Tourney pool game at Lutheran South in St. Louis. Marquette won 2-0.

ST. LOUIS — While Joe Burchett was happy with his team’s 2-0 victory over Lutheran South in Tuesday’s pool play game of the CYC Tourney’s Sullivan/Walsh Division, the Marquette Catholic soccer coach was also breathing a sigh of relief as the game ended.

“Not our best effort,” Burchett said. “But coming right after (Monday’s) really hard game, I’ll take it. The boys were still dragging a little after that one.”

The Explorers game at Lutheran South’s Gornet Field came less than 24 hours after Marquette battled host Clayton to a 3-3 tie in the first round of the tournament. It was a battle of unbeaten teams many consider the top two small school teams in the St. Louis area.

“We weren’t in sync tonight, especially on defense,” Burchett said. “Last night was a really long, hard-fought game.

“Credit (Lutheran South) for some of the problems today, though. They played us hard, but we were not communicating very well at all, especially early. And we gave up the ball too many times.”

All that, and a win to boot, however.

“That’s the good news,” Burchett said. “We did get the win.”

The victory pushed Marquette to 10-0-4, while Lutheran South dropped to 6-6. The Lancers are 0-2 in Pool 3, while Marquette is 1-0-1.

Meanwhile, in another pool play game of the tourney, Alton High defeated Mehlville 3-2 to go to 2-0 in Pool 1.

Wednesday, Alton will play Mascoutah at 4:15 at Soccer Park in Fenton and Marquette will play at Tumberland High School against the host team at 7:45 p.m.

Tuesday, the Explorers got a goal in each half and posted the shutout with a defense that bent a few times, but did not break.

Marquette’s Stephen Hasse broke the scoring ice in the 23rd minute off an assist from Chris Hartrich. The goal came after a series of chances that the Explorers didn’t finish.

And that was all the scoring until early in the second half, when the two Explorers combined again, this time with Hasse assisting Hartrich.

The second Marquette goal came in the 44th minute following a restart from just beyond the left corner. Hartrich’s low shot zipped past Lancers goalie Austin Reis.

Marquette had a chance to make it 3-0 with nine minutes remaining when a 40-yard blast by Hasse caromed off the right goal post to Ries, who was able to corral the ball and tiptoe along the goal line before it could cross over.

Alton 3, Mehlville 2 - Parker Rockholm scored with eight minutes remaining to lift Alton to the victory.

After a quick start Monday propelled the Redbirds to a Monday tourney win over Troy Buchanan, they encountered a different situation Tuesday - a slow start.

“We started the exact opposite of last night,” Alton coach Nick Funk said. “(Mehlville) had a shot go over the crossbar in the first 30 seconds and jumped all over us with their speed and size.”

After spotting Mehlville an early 1-0 lead, Alton countered with a pair of quick goals by Justin Davison in the 25th and 30th minutes to lead 2-1 at halftime.

Davison scored from a Roman Thomeczek assist in the 25th minute and again in the 30th minute, assisted by Jaden Singleton.

And when a Mehlville playershown a red card for dissent early in the second half, Alton looked to go for the kill. But instead, Mehlville stepped up its pace and tied it with a short-handed goal three minutes later.

The Redbirds recovered, settled in, and got the game winner from Rockholm.

Jake Lombardi found space in the middle of the field and slotted the ball over to Rockholm, whose one-time shot slipped just under the crossbar from 40- yard.

“We battled back in the first half, which is a good sign,” Funk said. “Minus the slow start, it was a good game.”

CYC SOCCER TOURNEY: Marquette downs Lutheran South, Alton rallies past Mehlville

Pete Hayes, phayes@thetelegraph.com

 Published 9:27 pm CDT, Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Photo:

Pete Hayes | The Telegraph

IMAGE 1 OF 3

Marquette defender Kwame Ngwa, left, marks Lutheran South’s Jake Reis during action in Tuesday’s CYC Tourney pool game at Lutheran South in St. Louis. Marquette won 2-0.

ST. LOUIS — While Joe Burchett was happy with his team’s 2-0 victory over Lutheran South in Tuesday’s pool play game of the CYC Tourney’s Sullivan/Walsh Division, the Marquette Catholic soccer coach was also breathing a sigh of relief as the game ended.

“Not our best effort,” Burchett said. “But coming right after (Monday’s) really hard game, I’ll take it. The boys were still dragging a little after that one.”

The Explorers game at Lutheran South’s Gornet Field came less than 24 hours after Marquette battled host Clayton to a 3-3 tie in the first round of the tournament. It was a battle of unbeaten teams many consider the top two small school teams in the St. Louis area.

“We weren’t in sync tonight, especially on defense,” Burchett said. “Last night was a really long, hard-fought game.

“Credit (Lutheran South) for some of the problems today, though. They played us hard, but we were not communicating very well at all, especially early. And we gave up the ball too many times.”

All that, and a win to boot, however.

“That’s the good news,” Burchett said. “We did get the win.”

The victory pushed Marquette to 10-0-4, while Lutheran South dropped to 6-6. The Lancers are 0-2 in Pool 3, while Marquette is 1-0-1.

Meanwhile, in another pool play game of the tourney, Alton High defeated Mehlville 3-2 to go to 2-0 in Pool 1.

Wednesday, Alton will play Mascoutah at 4:15 at Soccer Park in Fenton and Marquette will play at Tumberland High School against the host team at 7:45 p.m.

Tuesday, the Explorers got a goal in each half and posted the shutout with a defense that bent a few times, but did not break.

Marquette’s Stephen Hasse broke the scoring ice in the 23rd minute off an assist from Chris Hartrich. The goal came after a series of chances that the Explorers didn’t finish.

And that was all the scoring until early in the second half, when the two Explorers combined again, this time with Hasse assisting Hartrich.

The second Marquette goal came in the 44th minute following a restart from just beyond the left corner. Hartrich’s low shot zipped past Lancers goalie Austin Reis.

Marquette had a chance to make it 3-0 with nine minutes remaining when a 40-yard blast by Hasse caromed off the right goal post to Ries, who was able to corral the ball and tiptoe along the goal line before it could cross over.

Alton 3, Mehlville 2 - Parker Rockholm scored with eight minutes remaining to lift Alton to the victory.

After a quick start Monday propelled the Redbirds to a Monday tourney win over Troy Buchanan, they encountered a different situation Tuesday - a slow start.

“We started the exact opposite of last night,” Alton coach Nick Funk said. “(Mehlville) had a shot go over the crossbar in the first 30 seconds and jumped all over us with their speed and size.”

After spotting Mehlville an early 1-0 lead, Alton countered with a pair of quick goals by Justin Davison in the 25th and 30th minutes to lead 2-1 at halftime.

Davison scored from a Roman Thomeczek assist in the 25th minute and again in the 30th minute, assisted by Jaden Singleton.

And when a Mehlville playershown a red card for dissent early in the second half, Alton looked to go for the kill. But instead, Mehlville stepped up its pace and tied it with a short-handed goal three minutes later.

The Redbirds recovered, settled in, and got the game winner from Rockholm.

Jake Lombardi found space in the middle of the field and slotted the ball over to Rockholm, whose one-time shot slipped just under the crossbar from 40- yard.

“We battled back in the first half, which is a good sign,” Funk said. “Minus the slow start, it was a good game.”

CYC SOCCER TOURNEY: Marquette downs Lutheran South, Alton rallies past Mehlville

Pete Hayes, phayes@thetelegraph.com

 Published 9:27 pm CDT, Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Photo:

Pete Hayes | The Telegraph

IMAGE 1 OF 3

Marquette defender Kwame Ngwa, left, marks Lutheran South’s Jake Reis during action in Tuesday’s CYC Tourney pool game at Lutheran South in St. Louis. Marquette won 2-0.

ST. LOUIS — While Joe Burchett was happy with his team’s 2-0 victory over Lutheran South in Tuesday’s pool play game of the CYC Tourney’s Sullivan/Walsh Division, the Marquette Catholic soccer coach was also breathing a sigh of relief as the game ended.

“Not our best effort,” Burchett said. “But coming right after (Monday’s) really hard game, I’ll take it. The boys were still dragging a little after that one.”

The Explorers game at Lutheran South’s Gornet Field came less than 24 hours after Marquette battled host Clayton to a 3-3 tie in the first round of the tournament. It was a battle of unbeaten teams many consider the top two small school teams in the St. Louis area.

“We weren’t in sync tonight, especially on defense,” Burchett said. “Last night was a really long, hard-fought game.

“Credit (Lutheran South) for some of the problems today, though. They played us hard, but we were not communicating very well at all, especially early. And we gave up the ball too many times.”

All that, and a win to boot, however.

“That’s the good news,” Burchett said. “We did get the win.”

The victory pushed Marquette to 10-0-4, while Lutheran South dropped to 6-6. The Lancers are 0-2 in Pool 3, while Marquette is 1-0-1.

Meanwhile, in another pool play game of the tourney, Alton High defeated Mehlville 3-2 to go to 2-0 in Pool 1.

Wednesday, Alton will play Mascoutah at 4:15 at Soccer Park in Fenton and Marquette will play at Tumberland High School against the host team at 7:45 p.m.

Tuesday, the Explorers got a goal in each half and posted the shutout with a defense that bent a few times, but did not break.

Marquette’s Stephen Hasse broke the scoring ice in the 23rd minute off an assist from Chris Hartrich. The goal came after a series of chances that the Explorers didn’t finish.

And that was all the scoring until early in the second half, when the two Explorers combined again, this time with Hasse assisting Hartrich.

The second Marquette goal came in the 44th minute following a restart from just beyond the left corner. Hartrich’s low shot zipped past Lancers goalie Austin Reis.

Marquette had a chance to make it 3-0 with nine minutes remaining when a 40-yard blast by Hasse caromed off the right goal post to Ries, who was able to corral the ball and tiptoe along the goal line before it could cross over.

Alton 3, Mehlville 2 - Parker Rockholm scored with eight minutes remaining to lift Alton to the victory.

After a quick start Monday propelled the Redbirds to a Monday tourney win over Troy Buchanan, they encountered a different situation Tuesday - a slow start.

“We started the exact opposite of last night,” Alton coach Nick Funk said. “(Mehlville) had a shot go over the crossbar in the first 30 seconds and jumped all over us with their speed and size.”

After spotting Mehlville an early 1-0 lead, Alton countered with a pair of quick goals by Justin Davison in the 25th and 30th minutes to lead 2-1 at halftime.

Davison scored from a Roman Thomeczek assist in the 25th minute and again in the 30th minute, assisted by Jaden Singleton.

And when a Mehlville playershown a red card for dissent early in the second half, Alton looked to go for the kill. But instead, Mehlville stepped up its pace and tied it with a short-handed goal three minutes later.

The Redbirds recovered, settled in, and got the game winner from Rockholm.

Jake Lombardi found space in the middle of the field and slotted the ball over to Rockholm, whose one-time shot slipped just under the crossbar from 40- yard.

“We battled back in the first half, which is a good sign,” Funk said. “Minus the slow start, it was a good game.”

CYC SOCCER TOURNEY: Marquette downs Lutheran South, Alton rallies past Mehlville

Pete Hayes, phayes@thetelegraph.com

 Published 9:27 pm CDT, Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Photo:

Pete Hayes | The Telegraph

IMAGE 1 OF 3

Marquette defender Kwame Ngwa, left, marks Lutheran South’s Jake Reis during action in Tuesday’s CYC Tourney pool game at Lutheran South in St. Louis. Marquette won 2-0.

ST. LOUIS — While Joe Burchett was happy with his team’s 2-0 victory over Lutheran South in Tuesday’s pool play game of the CYC Tourney’s Sullivan/Walsh Division, the Marquette Catholic soccer coach was also breathing a sigh of relief as the game ended.

“Not our best effort,” Burchett said. “But coming right after (Monday’s) really hard game, I’ll take it. The boys were still dragging a little after that one.”

The Explorers game at Lutheran South’s Gornet Field came less than 24 hours after Marquette battled host Clayton to a 3-3 tie in the first round of the tournament. It was a battle of unbeaten teams many consider the top two small school teams in the St. Louis area.

“We weren’t in sync tonight, especially on defense,” Burchett said. “Last night was a really long, hard-fought game.

“Credit (Lutheran South) for some of the problems today, though. They played us hard, but we were not communicating very well at all, especially early. And we gave up the ball too many times.”

All that, and a win to boot, however.

“That’s the good news,” Burchett said. “We did get the win.”

The victory pushed Marquette to 10-0-4, while Lutheran South dropped to 6-6. The Lancers are 0-2 in Pool 3, while Marquette is 1-0-1.

Meanwhile, in another pool play game of the tourney, Alton High defeated Mehlville 3-2 to go to 2-0 in Pool 1.

Wednesday, Alton will play Mascoutah at 4:15 at Soccer Park in Fenton and Marquette will play at Tumberland High School against the host team at 7:45 p.m.

Tuesday, the Explorers got a goal in each half and posted the shutout with a defense that bent a few times, but did not break.

Marquette’s Stephen Hasse broke the scoring ice in the 23rd minute off an assist from Chris Hartrich. The goal came after a series of chances that the Explorers didn’t finish.

And that was all the scoring until early in the second half, when the two Explorers combined again, this time with Hasse assisting Hartrich.

The second Marquette goal came in the 44th minute following a restart from just beyond the left corner. Hartrich’s low shot zipped past Lancers goalie Austin Reis.

Marquette had a chance to make it 3-0 with nine minutes remaining when a 40-yard blast by Hasse caromed off the right goal post to Ries, who was able to corral the ball and tiptoe along the goal line before it could cross over.

Alton 3, Mehlville 2 - Parker Rockholm scored with eight minutes remaining to lift Alton to the victory.

After a quick start Monday propelled the Redbirds to a Monday tourney win over Troy Buchanan, they encountered a different situation Tuesday - a slow start.

“We started the exact opposite of last night,” Alton coach Nick Funk said. “(Mehlville) had a shot go over the crossbar in the first 30 seconds and jumped all over us with their speed and size.”

After spotting Mehlville an early 1-0 lead, Alton countered with a pair of quick goals by Justin Davison in the 25th and 30th minutes to lead 2-1 at halftime.

Davison scored from a Roman Thomeczek assist in the 25th minute and again in the 30th minute, assisted by Jaden Singleton.

And when a Mehlville playershown a red card for dissent early in the second half, Alton looked to go for the kill. But instead, Mehlville stepped up its pace and tied it with a short-handed goal three minutes later.

The Redbirds recovered, settled in, and got the game winner from Rockholm.

Jake Lombardi found space in the middle of the field and slotted the ball over to Rockholm, whose one-time shot slipped just under the crossbar from 40- yard.

“We battled back in the first half, which is a good sign,” Funk said. “Minus the slow start, it was a good game.”

Redbirds outshoot Mater Dei 42-0, but settle for 0-0 tie

Pete Hayes, phayes@thetelegraph.com

 Updated 8:40 am CDT, Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Alton soccer coach Nick Funk was in a, well, in a funk following Monday night’s 0-0 tie at Breese Mater Dei.

On one hand, his Redbirds had outshot Mater Dei 42-0 and created numerous scoring chances. But on the other hand, AHS had just been shut out. Mater Dei dodged the bullet, thanks to Knights goalie Justin Fritch and his best friend, the goal posts and crossbar.

“I’m not quite sure what just happened,” Funk said. “I’ve never coached a game in which a team, mine or the other team, took 42 shots. Tonight we accomplished that. However, we went 0-42 at putting one in the goal.”

Alton managed to hit each goal post and the crossbar twice.

To be fair, not all the Redbirds’ shots were on goal. That number was 16 – and Fritch had 16 saves.

The Redbirds had 21 shots in each half, with nine on goal in the first half and seven in the second half. They had an 8-0 corner kick advantage.

“We dominated possession and the play of the game,” Funk said. “It just never went in.

“(Fitch) made about four or five tough saves. Other than that we sprayed the shots almost everywhere around the goal to no avail.”

The tie leaves Alton at 3-2-2. The Knights are 3-2-2.

Funk said there were positives to draw from the game.

“We controlled play and moved the ball very well,” he said. “It was definitely our game. I guess tonight it just wasn’t meant to be.”

Redbirds trail 2-0 at half, rally to beat Granite City 3-2

Pete Hayes, phayes@thetelegraph.com

 Updated 1:47 am CDT, Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Photo:

Pete Hayes | The Telegraph

Alton’s Jake Lombardi (10) and Granite City’s Hunter Harnetieux race for the ball during prep soccer action Tuesday at Alton High School. Alton rallied from a 2-0 halftime deficit to win 3-2.

GODFREY — Riley Schmidt’s eyes got as big as saucers when he saw the ball coming his way.

“I was thinking, ‘Don’t mess it up,’” Schmidt said. “It was a perfect cross.”

Schmidt did not mess it up. Far from it, in fact. He redirected that perfect far-post cross from teammate Parker Rockholm into the back of the Granite City goal with 1:34 remaining. The goal lifted Alton to a come-from-behind 3-2 victory Tuesday at Piasa Motor Fuels Field.

The Redbirds trailed 2-0 at halftime and scored three unanswered goals for the victory, including the last two while playing a man down.

“I saw the ball coming all the way in,” Schmidt said of the cross from Rockholm from right wing. Schmidt was racing toward the left post and tapped it in. “It was a great ball from (Rockholm).”

After the final whistle, the teammates hugged near midfield, celebrating their team’s improbable victory.

“That’s something we have done in practice,” Rockholm said. “I hoped it would work today and it did.”

Alton (3-0-1) trailed 2-0 at halftime, but cut the lead in half early in the second. But when a second yellow card for rough play was issued to Roman Thomeczek with 24:15 left in the game, it meant Alton would play the rest of the way a player short and the Redbirds’ prognosis was grim.

But as often happens when a team is down a man, the Redbirds’ pace picked up.

“(Thomeczek) plays with such energy,” Alton coach Nick Funk said. “He said before the game didn’t like losing to Granite and he played extremely hard. I think when the rest of the team saw him go out, they picked up the pace to try and replace his energy.”

And while the Warriors (1-2-1) are no longer a Southwestern Conference rival, their level of play and tradition brought out Alton’s ‘A’ game.

The Redbirds dominated the first half with about 90 percent of the possession time and a 6-2 shots advantage, but fell victim to a pair of counter-attack goals by Granite City. Overall, the Redbirds outshot Granite City 12-6.

The first Warriors goal came when a shot by Chase Reeves deflected off the Alton defense and was pounced on by Cade Bobbit in the 11th minute.

The Warriors went up 2-0 in the 32 minute when Braden Dickerson took a pass from Noah Vanbuskirk and slipped it past Alton goalie Owen Macias inside the left goalpost.

Alton cut the lead in half early in the second half when Justin Davison scored on a rebound on a shot by Joe Morrissey in the 45th minute.

Twelve minutes later, even though they continued to dominate, the Redbirds found themselves facing an uphill climb with the prospect of trying to rally a player short after Thomeczek picked up the second yellow card.

It took just four minutes, however, for Alton to tie the score.

Brayden Decker scored when he took a right-wing cross from Joe Morrissey with 20:15 remaining. His goal finished off a play that started with a direct free kick from near midfield by Jake Lombardi to Morrissey, who found Decker inside the left post.

That set up the late-game heroics by Schmidt and Rockholm.

“(Schmidt and Rockholm) made the most of their time,” Funk said. “They came in and gave definitely gave us the lift when we needed it.”

Redbirds trail 2-0 at half, rally to beat Granite City 3-2

Pete Hayes, phayes@thetelegraph.com

 Updated 1:47 am CDT, Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Photo:

Pete Hayes | The Telegraph

Alton’s Jake Lombardi (10) and Granite City’s Hunter Harnetieux race for the ball during prep soccer action Tuesday at Alton High School. Alton rallied from a 2-0 halftime deficit to win 3-2.

GODFREY — Riley Schmidt’s eyes got as big as saucers when he saw the ball coming his way.

“I was thinking, ‘Don’t mess it up,’” Schmidt said. “It was a perfect cross.”

Schmidt did not mess it up. Far from it, in fact. He redirected that perfect far-post cross from teammate Parker Rockholm into the back of the Granite City goal with 1:34 remaining. The goal lifted Alton to a come-from-behind 3-2 victory Tuesday at Piasa Motor Fuels Field.

The Redbirds trailed 2-0 at halftime and scored three unanswered goals for the victory, including the last two while playing a man down.

“I saw the ball coming all the way in,” Schmidt said of the cross from Rockholm from right wing. Schmidt was racing toward the left post and tapped it in. “It was a great ball from (Rockholm).”

After the final whistle, the teammates hugged near midfield, celebrating their team’s improbable victory.

“That’s something we have done in practice,” Rockholm said. “I hoped it would work today and it did.”

Alton (3-0-1) trailed 2-0 at halftime, but cut the lead in half early in the second. But when a second yellow card for rough play was issued to Roman Thomeczek with 24:15 left in the game, it meant Alton would play the rest of the way a player short and the Redbirds’ prognosis was grim.

But as often happens when a team is down a man, the Redbirds’ pace picked up.

“(Thomeczek) plays with such energy,” Alton coach Nick Funk said. “He said before the game didn’t like losing to Granite and he played extremely hard. I think when the rest of the team saw him go out, they picked up the pace to try and replace his energy.”

And while the Warriors (1-2-1) are no longer a Southwestern Conference rival, their level of play and tradition brought out Alton’s ‘A’ game.

The Redbirds dominated the first half with about 90 percent of the possession time and a 6-2 shots advantage, but fell victim to a pair of counter-attack goals by Granite City. Overall, the Redbirds outshot Granite City 12-6.

The first Warriors goal came when a shot by Chase Reeves deflected off the Alton defense and was pounced on by Cade Bobbit in the 11th minute.

The Warriors went up 2-0 in the 32 minute when Braden Dickerson took a pass from Noah Vanbuskirk and slipped it past Alton goalie Owen Macias inside the left goalpost.

Alton cut the lead in half early in the second half when Justin Davison scored on a rebound on a shot by Joe Morrissey in the 45th minute.

Twelve minutes later, even though they continued to dominate, the Redbirds found themselves facing an uphill climb with the prospect of trying to rally a player short after Thomeczek picked up the second yellow card.

It took just four minutes, however, for Alton to tie the score.

Brayden Decker scored when he took a right-wing cross from Joe Morrissey with 20:15 remaining. His goal finished off a play that started with a direct free kick from near midfield by Jake Lombardi to Morrissey, who found Decker inside the left post.

That set up the late-game heroics by Schmidt and Rockholm.

“(Schmidt and Rockholm) made the most of their time,” Funk said. “They came in and gave definitely gave us the lift when we needed it.”

Redbirds trail 2-0 at half, rally to beat Granite City 3-2

Pete Hayes, phayes@thetelegraph.com

 Updated 1:47 am CDT, Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Photo:

Pete Hayes | The Telegraph

Alton’s Jake Lombardi (10) and Granite City’s Hunter Harnetieux race for the ball during prep soccer action Tuesday at Alton High School. Alton rallied from a 2-0 halftime deficit to win 3-2.

GODFREY — Riley Schmidt’s eyes got as big as saucers when he saw the ball coming his way.

“I was thinking, ‘Don’t mess it up,’” Schmidt said. “It was a perfect cross.”

Schmidt did not mess it up. Far from it, in fact. He redirected that perfect far-post cross from teammate Parker Rockholm into the back of the Granite City goal with 1:34 remaining. The goal lifted Alton to a come-from-behind 3-2 victory Tuesday at Piasa Motor Fuels Field.

The Redbirds trailed 2-0 at halftime and scored three unanswered goals for the victory, including the last two while playing a man down.

“I saw the ball coming all the way in,” Schmidt said of the cross from Rockholm from right wing. Schmidt was racing toward the left post and tapped it in. “It was a great ball from (Rockholm).”

After the final whistle, the teammates hugged near midfield, celebrating their team’s improbable victory.

“That’s something we have done in practice,” Rockholm said. “I hoped it would work today and it did.”

Alton (3-0-1) trailed 2-0 at halftime, but cut the lead in half early in the second. But when a second yellow card for rough play was issued to Roman Thomeczek with 24:15 left in the game, it meant Alton would play the rest of the way a player short and the Redbirds’ prognosis was grim.

But as often happens when a team is down a man, the Redbirds’ pace picked up.

“(Thomeczek) plays with such energy,” Alton coach Nick Funk said. “He said before the game didn’t like losing to Granite and he played extremely hard. I think when the rest of the team saw him go out, they picked up the pace to try and replace his energy.”

And while the Warriors (1-2-1) are no longer a Southwestern Conference rival, their level of play and tradition brought out Alton’s ‘A’ game.

The Redbirds dominated the first half with about 90 percent of the possession time and a 6-2 shots advantage, but fell victim to a pair of counter-attack goals by Granite City. Overall, the Redbirds outshot Granite City 12-6.

The first Warriors goal came when a shot by Chase Reeves deflected off the Alton defense and was pounced on by Cade Bobbit in the 11th minute.

The Warriors went up 2-0 in the 32 minute when Braden Dickerson took a pass from Noah Vanbuskirk and slipped it past Alton goalie Owen Macias inside the left goalpost.

Alton cut the lead in half early in the second half when Justin Davison scored on a rebound on a shot by Joe Morrissey in the 45th minute.

Twelve minutes later, even though they continued to dominate, the Redbirds found themselves facing an uphill climb with the prospect of trying to rally a player short after Thomeczek picked up the second yellow card.

It took just four minutes, however, for Alton to tie the score.

Brayden Decker scored when he took a right-wing cross from Joe Morrissey with 20:15 remaining. His goal finished off a play that started with a direct free kick from near midfield by Jake Lombardi to Morrissey, who found Decker inside the left post.

That set up the late-game heroics by Schmidt and Rockholm.

“(Schmidt and Rockholm) made the most of their time,” Funk said. “They came in and gave definitely gave us the lift when we needed it.”

Redbirds trail 2-0 at half, rally to beat Granite City 3-2

Pete Hayes, phayes@thetelegraph.com

 Updated 1:47 am CDT, Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Photo:

Pete Hayes | The Telegraph

Alton’s Jake Lombardi (10) and Granite City’s Hunter Harnetieux race for the ball during prep soccer action Tuesday at Alton High School. Alton rallied from a 2-0 halftime deficit to win 3-2.

GODFREY — Riley Schmidt’s eyes got as big as saucers when he saw the ball coming his way.

“I was thinking, ‘Don’t mess it up,’” Schmidt said. “It was a perfect cross.”

Schmidt did not mess it up. Far from it, in fact. He redirected that perfect far-post cross from teammate Parker Rockholm into the back of the Granite City goal with 1:34 remaining. The goal lifted Alton to a come-from-behind 3-2 victory Tuesday at Piasa Motor Fuels Field.

The Redbirds trailed 2-0 at halftime and scored three unanswered goals for the victory, including the last two while playing a man down.

“I saw the ball coming all the way in,” Schmidt said of the cross from Rockholm from right wing. Schmidt was racing toward the left post and tapped it in. “It was a great ball from (Rockholm).”

After the final whistle, the teammates hugged near midfield, celebrating their team’s improbable victory.

“That’s something we have done in practice,” Rockholm said. “I hoped it would work today and it did.”

Alton (3-0-1) trailed 2-0 at halftime, but cut the lead in half early in the second. But when a second yellow card for rough play was issued to Roman Thomeczek with 24:15 left in the game, it meant Alton would play the rest of the way a player short and the Redbirds’ prognosis was grim.

But as often happens when a team is down a man, the Redbirds’ pace picked up.

“(Thomeczek) plays with such energy,” Alton coach Nick Funk said. “He said before the game didn’t like losing to Granite and he played extremely hard. I think when the rest of the team saw him go out, they picked up the pace to try and replace his energy.”

And while the Warriors (1-2-1) are no longer a Southwestern Conference rival, their level of play and tradition brought out Alton’s ‘A’ game.

The Redbirds dominated the first half with about 90 percent of the possession time and a 6-2 shots advantage, but fell victim to a pair of counter-attack goals by Granite City. Overall, the Redbirds outshot Granite City 12-6.

The first Warriors goal came when a shot by Chase Reeves deflected off the Alton defense and was pounced on by Cade Bobbit in the 11th minute.

The Warriors went up 2-0 in the 32 minute when Braden Dickerson took a pass from Noah Vanbuskirk and slipped it past Alton goalie Owen Macias inside the left goalpost.

Alton cut the lead in half early in the second half when Justin Davison scored on a rebound on a shot by Joe Morrissey in the 45th minute.

Twelve minutes later, even though they continued to dominate, the Redbirds found themselves facing an uphill climb with the prospect of trying to rally a player short after Thomeczek picked up the second yellow card.

It took just four minutes, however, for Alton to tie the score.

Brayden Decker scored when he took a right-wing cross from Joe Morrissey with 20:15 remaining. His goal finished off a play that started with a direct free kick from near midfield by Jake Lombardi to Morrissey, who found Decker inside the left post.

That set up the late-game heroics by Schmidt and Rockholm.

“(Schmidt and Rockholm) made the most of their time,” Funk said. “They came in and gave definitely gave us the lift when we needed it.”

Alton kickers celebrate tourney championship

Pete Hayes, phayes@thetelegraph.com

 Published 1:09 pm CDT, Monday, August 27, 2018

Photo:

Matthew Kamp | For The Telegraph

Alton’s Joe Morrissey, right, moves in on Edwardsville Tyler Frolick, who makes a diving save in action at the Alton Round-Robin Soccer Tournament at AHS.

GODFREY — After further review, the Alton Redbirds are basking in the glow of winning their own Redbirds Kickoff Classic championship.

Alton, which went 1-0-2 in the tournament, finished with four team points, the same as Gateway Legacy Academy pof Granite City. But the Redbirds defeated Gateway head to head, which is the first tiebreaker used to determine the championship.

After a tie with Edwardsville in the round-robin tournament’s final game, some thoughts were that Gateway had finished as the champion. But a close look at the tournament rules indicated that, in fact, the Redbirds were tournament champioons.

“Originally, some were told that a win was worth three (standings) points,” Alton coach Nick Funk said. “But the rules show two points for a win. We each won two games and that means we tied Gateway Legacy at four points and first tie-break is head-to-head result, so we beat them.”

A tie was worth one standings point.

Edwardsville, which was 1-1-1, finished with three points and Dunlap with one point.

“It’s been a while since Alton has won the tournament and it feels good,” Funk said. “We played well. It’s a good way to start the season.”

The Redbirds tied Dunlap earlier Saturday, 1-1. Also Saturday, Gateway defeated Edwardsville 3-1. On Friday, Alton defeated Gateway and Edwardsville beat Dunlap.

“I think we played well,” Funk said. “To come out of this tournament undefeated with the teams in it is pretty good.”

Friday’s games were played in near-perfect weather, nearly cool by August standards. But after a downpour overnight and early Saturday morning, the turf was soaked and the temperatures hovered in the 90-degree range with heat indexes around 100.

The wet-then-hot weekend took a toll on the teams, Funk said.

“The third game in less than 24 hours for both teams in excruciating heat seemed to takes it toll on the players,” Funk said following Saturday evening’s tie with Edwardsville.

Funk also said he saw some team leaders emerge after the three-game tourney.

“Joe Morrissey is turning into quite the player,” Funk said. “His work rate, stamina, mentality and focus are unrivaled. Our two center backs and center midfielders are also playing exceedingly well. Braden Schrimpf, Sam Stutz, Jake Lombardi and Roman Thomezcek are handling a high workload.”

Funk, whose Redbirds play host to Granite City at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, said sophomore Owen Macias has stepped foward as the frontrunner at goalile.

“(Macias) is our starting keeper as a sophomore and has made several huge saves for us already,” he said. “We are looking really good right now and are super pleased with the results of the tourney. The only team to come out of it unblemished and undefeated.”

BOYS PREP SOCCER: Redbirds start practice with eyes on opener

Pete Hayes, phayes@thetelegraph.com

 Published 7:01 pm CDT, Monday, August 13, 2018

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GODFREY —The way Alton High School boys soccer coach Nick Funk sees it, his team was already ahead of the pack when preseason practice began. And he plans to keep it that way.

Alton began preseason practice workouts Monday, some five days after the first day of practice as set by the Illinois High School Association. But a successful set of summer workouts, along with a week of two-a-days the began at 6 a.m. Monday mean the Redbirds will be good to go once the regular season gets under way, Funk said.

“We got a lot accomplished this summer,” Funk said. “With everything we did in July, they got an extra couple-day break.

“And we’ve got two-a-days for a week before school starts.”

The Redbirds had 53 players at Monday’s early morning conditioning session at Rock Springs Park and the afternoon practice at North Elementary School.

“We’ll run every morning at Rock Springs from 6 to 7,” Funk said. “And in the afternoons, we’ll practice pretty hard and run a little more.”

The Redbirds will open their season Aug. 24 against Gateway Christian Academy in the first round of their own Alton Invitational Tournament.

The early morning running session is a return to yesteryear for Funk, who went through similar workouts session as part of preseason when he was a player at AHS.

“It’s a good way to work on conditioning,” he said. “Most of our kids are pretty fit. They’ve worked all summer and we’ve made good use of the available time.”

Monday afternoon was spent working on passing, ball touch and scrimmaging, along with separate drills for the goalies.

Funk said that all told, there will be about 65 players once all are accounted for.

“We’ve got some on vacation,” he said. “Once they get back, we’ll have higher numbers.”

He addded that an unusually small junior class (six players) accounts for a lower roster number heading into this seson compared to 2017.

The Redbirds went 10-9-2 last season. They jumped out to a 4-1 record and were 9-4 two-thirds of the way through the season. They notched victories over the likes of Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin, Granite City, Belleville Althoff and Triad along the way, before closing 0ut the season.

Senior Joey Morrissey, who led the Redbirds in scoring last season with seven goals and two assists, returns. But the loss of 11 seniors from a season ago means competition is keen for some spots.

That includes in goal, where Hunter Dill was among the graduation losses. He’s now at Lewis and Clark Community College. Dill logged 385 minutes in goal last season and had three shutouts.

“We’ve got a good group,” Funk said. “They’ve put in a lot of work already and are working hard. Two-a-days will allow us to work on both conditioning and seeing who fits where.”