Boys soccer: St. Edward more than satisfied with 3rd at state
EAST PEORA - Add event manager to Tim Brieger's list of duties for St. Edward boys soccer following Saturday's third-place finish in the IHSA Class 1A state finals.
While the IHSA doesn't list attendance, the approximately 150-plus hearty but frozen Green Wave fans made up about 80 percent of the crowd for the consolation match. While justifiably proud, they were insatiable when it came to photos following the 4-1 St. Edward victory over Chicago Acero-Garcia.
"Sorry folks, but that's it, I have got to get these guys warm. We can take more photos back at the hotel," Brieger announced putting an end to the kind of cellphone picture shooting one would expect at a Taylor Swift concert.
"I'm not sure any words reflect how proud I am. To come back from yesterday's disappointment and win 4-1, it was amazing," Brieger said. "I do feel bad that we couldn't get A.J. (Franklin) the state (single-season scoring) record. The players themselves told me their approach was 'to feed the beast', but we were one shy."
Although Franklin began the day's scoring with his 70th, a second one never came leaving him one under the IHSA hallmark of 71 set by Gordon Tech's Robert Meschback in 1976.
"I truly didn't care as long as we made state and became one of two teams to finish with a win," Franklin shrugged.
Brieger provided backup on that thought: "I hugged A.J. and said I wish he could've gotten the record but he told me straight away 'I don't care, it was a great year and we ended with a win.' "
The historic campaign appeared to lose some luster following Friday's semifinal when Monmouth-Roseville did what none of the previous 27 foes did: keep not only Franklin but the entire Green Wave from scoring. However, St. Edward ended the notion of a second shutout setback just 18:29 into the match. Uriel Carachure found Franklin in an open space on the right wing and the resulting 24-yard blast put the Green Wave (27-2-0) ahead 1-0.
"Uriel played a great ball over to me and I saw their keeper was off his line and simply drove it home," Franklin said in regard to his 139th career goal.
Chicago Acero Garcia was locked in a 0-0 draw at halftime of Friday's semifinal, but then gave up 5 goals in an 11-minute, 19-second span to lose to Alton Marquette. On Saturday the Patriots responded to falling behind with an equalizer at 31:32. Marco Alvarado scored his fifth goal leading to a 1-1 deadlock.
St. Edward reclaimed the lead 15:20 into the second half as Chase Brieger earned his 10th assist setting up Joshua Johansen for an 18-yard volley.
"I was just trying get pressure on their goal when Chase gave me a good ball with which I was able to go near post," Johansen noted.
While Garcia's Patriots had several blasts from distance, the majority sailed over the St. Edward goal, although Green Wave keeper Evan Sajtar was clearly on his game with 5 first-half saves and 1 in the second half. Patriot goalie Vaquez Diego wasn't so fortunate despite 3 saves in each half.
Zach Olenek's patented flip throw-in from 46 yards out on the right sideline had an ideal bounce that Diego couldn't keep from entering the net. St. Edward teammate Jackson Godfrey was there just in case.
"I've been doing the flip throws for a long time and I feel like at least once a game there's a perfect one. I was lucky to have one in the sectionals as well," Olenek explained after his fourth of the year. "It is a point of pride to add that weapon. As to winning third, it's great. Even if we took fourth, there's no place I'd rather be than playing in the state finals."
Johansen, better known as a setup artist with his St. Edward single-season assist record (40) added his 18th goal of the year with 13:22 remaining. Johansen, who set up Franklin on the year's first two goals, tallied 28 of his assists on Franklin goals. Ironically the season ended with the twist, Franklin's 12 assists included six setups for Johansen.
"Seeing A.J. pushing forward I tried making a supporting run and when the cross came but the keeper came out, I was lucky to put it to the only spot where it would go in," Johansen added. "That last goal really locked up the win and that's something I really wanted to do for all the seniors, for coach Brieger, and especially because we couldn't let A.J.'s career end on a loss."
A large part of the second half involved the Green Wave continually trying to set up Franklin for the record-tying goal.
"Actually I was starting to get tired," Franklin admitted. "They kept pushing the attack and playing balls through and it felt like every minute I had to keep running."