Westminster trips up Wave
After each team suffered a loss earlier Saturday against Elgin, the game between the Westminster Christian Warriors and the St. Edward Green Wave started off slow but provided plenty of action in the final five minutes of play.
Two key plays can sum it all up: first, the game winning goal by Tyler Beachler to give the Warriors the 1-0 lead, and second, a huge save by goalkeeper Ethan Flickinger to preserve the St. Edward tournament victory.
With just over five minutes on the clock, Green Wave goal keeper Will Lytle found himself away from the net after a Warriors shot on goal, leaving St. Edward sweeper David Smith to take a handball to preserve the 0-0 tie.
The play resulted in a penalty kick, which Beachler converted to give the Warriors the win.
"We had some good looks all day, and it was just nice to finally get one," said Westminster coach Josh Guge. "I'm excited for these guys."
After the goal, the pace of the game definitely started to speed up as the Green Wave fought to get something going offensively.
Up until that point, St. Edward's offense saw very little time with the ball down near the Westminster net, and it took the Wave two-thirds of the game to get their first shot on goal, finishing the game with three total.
"We had some chances that we just didn't follow through on," said St. Edward coach Tim Brieger. "We need to play a little tougher with the ball."
The Green Wave controlled the ball for the final few minutes, and after a Warrior handball, Miguel Martinez took a free kick just outside of the goal box, but Flickinger was there to make a great save diving to his right.
"It felt good. It felt really good," Flickinger said. "We knew the only way they would score is if they had a breakaway or have something like that happen. That one got your heart pumping."
Flickinger finished the game with 3 saves for the Warriors while Lytle finished with 6 saves for the Green Wave.
Even with the loss, Brieger did see some improvements.
"I thought we had some of the better ball movement I've seen from this team," he said. "We're going to get there. We're going to be fine."