Boys soccer: Hersey blanks Rolling Meadows
Hersey's boys soccer team may be on its way back after losing its way during a recent three-game slumber.
The Huskies (6-3-3, 6-3-1) eased to a 3-0 victory Tuesday night at Rolling Meadows, taking advantage of the short-handed Mustangs with two goals in the second half to earn their second consecutive win in league play.
Nick Clarizio's fifth shutout of the season ensures that the Huskies will finish in the top half of the MSL table with one regular season contest remaining.
“We hit a little bump in the road a few games back, and our confidence took a hit as well at the same time, so we needed to regroup and get back to playing the way we did in the first couple of weeks of the season,” said Clarizio.
The Hersey senior watched his teammates struggle in the first quarter hour when the Mustangs (4-9-2, 3-7-0) enjoyed most of the run of play until Trey Schmidt's strike in the 29th minute turned this one in favor of the visitors from here on out.
“We just haven't responded well to adversity this season,” admitted Mustangs head coach Brett Olson.
“We opened up really well tonight, then fell apart after conceding the first goal then completely fell apart when we went down two players to red cards.”
Schmidt finished a terrific helper from Ronan Wilcox to cap a strong ten-minute attacking effort by the Huskies then just after the intermission, Major Hassan's deft pass up and over allowed Patryk Bujak to double the advantage when he chipped keeper Matt Galvan who came off his line to challenge.
Hassan burst through and past a pair of defenders before being hauled down by the Mustangs' last man just outside the box at 55 minutes.
The center referee had no choice but to show a Mustang a red card, moments before the stadium lights went dark.
Play resumed following a 16-minute delay and after some spirited play from both sides, another Mustang was booked with his second yellow card ending his night and forcing the Mustangs to play two men down for the final 16 minutes of regulation.
“I actually thought we played our best soccer (offensively) with two less men. The guys played hard and created some quality chances before the final whistle,” said Olson.
Hassan would add one more to the score line for the Huskies in the 76th minute.
“This was a good win for us, and one that I felt we deserved after starting out on our heels in that first 10-15 minutes or so,” said Hersey head coach Mike Rusniak.
“We'll look to finish on a high note this Thursday against a very good divisional opponent (Prospect) then begin to train and prepare for regionals.