New Trier tops Saints for tournament title
The Saints had a sense of what they were in for when they met New Trier Saturday morning in the championship game of the St. Charles East Invitational Boys Soccer Tournament.
The Trevians took charge early and never let up, improving to 15-1-1 after beating the determined but overmatched Saints, 4-0.
New Trier immediately went to work at the offensive end, attacking the Saints' defense until Chris Ritter put his team on the board in the fourteenth minute, delivering the first goal through a cluster of defenders.
"I got a great ball from Ryan Foreman, and I buried it," Ritter said. "We knew we were going to score at some point, but it was nice to cross that bridge."
Once the Trevians got that initial taste of success, they increased the pressure, and controlled the field.
"They definitely took advantage of our turnovers and used the great skill that they have," St. Charles East coach Jorge Ortiz said. "They were able to put the ball in the back of the net."
With 8:40 left in the half, Ross Piermarini found Ryan Keefe in front of the St. Charles East goal. Keeper Charlie Lyon made a diving attempt, and managed to deflect Keefe's kick, but the ball trickled in.
Five minutes later, Evan Bartzis created his own scoring opportunity, then knocked in the Trevians' third goal of the half on a clean shot into the far left corner.
"We wanted to get off to a good start, bring the energy really early, and try to put them back on their heels a little bit," New Trier coach Craig Fairban said. "The kids did that, and played hard from the start."
Both teams failed to connect on numerous scoring chances throughout the second half until Michael Alpogian put back a deflection with just over four minutes left, extending New Trier's lead to 4-0.
"Our kids got a little sweat going, woke up a little bit, and things started to click for us," Fairban said.
The Saints (8-6-2) had one final chance at breaking up the shutout in the closing seconds when Christopher Tomek got a clear look and fired a strong shot at the New Trier goal. But the bounces just weren't going in St. Charles East's direction, and the ball hit the top bar then rattled around a bit, but refused to cross the goal line.
"I thought that one was going to go in, and that would have been great for us because it would've given the kids some momentum for our next game," Ortiz said. "It just didn't go our way."