Boys soccer: Timothy Christian defeats Lisle

Timothy Christian didn't get the immediate results it was hoping for when it recently played in the PepsiCo Showdown.

The impact of playing those larger Class 3A schools was apparent though on Monday when the Trojans cruised past Lisle 6-1 in a nonconference game in Lisle.

"I think last week was a great experience for us," Timothy Christian coach Stephen Fernandes said. "We made huge strides. We came out and our improvement showed. Even with a narrower field and longer grass, we played very well. Our possession was great. We kept the ball for the majority of the game."

Michael Martens dribbled past two defenders and scored with 22:28 remaining in the opening half to give the Trojans all the scoring they'd need, but they were far from finished.

"It helps getting the ball wide because it creates a lot of space," Martens said. "I was just trying to get the ball wide and take as much space as I could there."

Caiden Douma made it 2-0 with 11:58 remaining.

Jimmy Allen, who had a hat trick, scored his first goal of the game with 6:05 left before half to make it 3-0.

"Coach always says to not take anyone lightly and just try to bury them," Allen said. "Like (Martens) said, the key for us was getting the ball wide and getting crosses in. We've got a lot of talent on this team and when we do that it makes it easier for us to get around defenders.

Timothy Christian (5-3-1) went 1-2 against three teams with an average enrollment of about 2,600 students during the showdown. Matched up against a school not even a fourth of that size, Timothy Christian (enrollment 346) dominated.

Allen needed just 18 seconds to score to open the second half. He scored his final goal with 27:55 left while Douma scored for the second time with 24:24 on the clock to make it 6-0.

"Playing in those tournament games really helped with our in-game experience," Douma said. "It helped us get to know the chemistry with the guys better and it sort of helped in (Monday's) game."

Lisle (5-6-0) broke the shutout with 15:53 remaining on Pablo Quinonez's penalty kick.

The Lions also had a couple of scoring chances from Justin Brinegar and Griffin Myselwiec in the run of play in the second half.

"We normally have six seniors in the lineup and we only had three out there so we had some adversity going into this," Lisle coach Paul Kohorn said. "We knew they were good being state champs (in Class 1A) last year, and missing four starters hurt us, especially because we played some guys who are basically JV players."

One of the positives though was the experience gained by those particular players.

"Our whole goal is become a better soccer team each day," Kohorn said. "Some of that occurred in some sense because of the guys who filled in and stepped up, and that's all part of the learning process."