Semifinal win means Trojans not done yet

It will be an even-keeled, laid-back boys soccer team chasing Timothy Christian's first team state title in any sport other than cross country or track and field.

"Play it cool - that's sort of been the persona of this team," said Trojans coach Rudi Gesch after his squad won 1-0 over three-time defending Class A champion Waterloo Gibault on Friday in a state semifinal soccer game.

Timothy Christian (18-5-1) will play Winnebago (24-2) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at North Central College in Naperville.

"We've said all year, 'We're not done yet, we're not done yet', and that will be our motto going into (Saturday)," said Trojans senior Jake Schemper.

In a game played mainly at midfield, Friday's lone goal occurred when Justin Groenewald sent a ball forward from midfield to Corey Phillip, who ran it down past a lone defender and took a touch.

"I looked up and there a goalie in my face," Phillip said. "I had to toe-ball it and I thought it was going to hit the post, but luckily it didn't." Phillip's final touch from 15 yards out rolled inside the post in the game's 39th minute.

From there the Trojans had a clear second-half vision.

"We didn't play our best soccer today, but coach told us at halftime to just keep going at them, not to play a defensive game," Schemper said. "We didn't want them to get a late goal and have the momentum against us."

"We had to keep going for that second goal. You can't be content with one goal and the hope of shutting them down," Phillip said.

Trojans goalkeeper Peter Tameling and his back line made sure that didn't happen, with Tameling making a pair of nice saves and using his 6-foot-4 frame aggressively throughout the second half in preserving his 10th shutout of the year.

"Pete wasn't even playing last year. He was a free agent pickup. He's a basketball player," Gesch said. "We gave the game ball to Pete and the defense."

The Trojans are now 16-1 in games in which they score the first goal.

Defender Josh Hjelmgren showed his team's grit on Friday, taking butterfly stitches to his head during the contest and changing jerseys twice because of the bleeding, "and we had a number of subs, and they played as a unit," Gesch said. "They all did a nice job tonight."