Boys soccer: Normal U-High ends St. Edward's run

In a battle worthy of a state final between two offensive squads, defense enabled Normal University High to edge St. Edward for a Class 1A Final Four berth.

U-High broke through after 52-plus minutes of scoreless soccer to defeat the Green Wave 1-0 in the Hinckley-Big Rock supersectional Tuesday night and end a historic St. Edward season. Fresh from the first boys soccer sectional triumph and a school record for wins, the Green Wave (19-5) were hoping to capture state hardware as their girls counterparts did in 2014 (third place) and 2011 (fourth place).

The Pioneers (15-6-5) got the game-winner at 52:33 when Nick Clay's head flick found the left half of the goal. The defensive showdown was a surprise considering U-High averaged 3.1 goals per match while St. Edward's 101 equated to a 4.4 average.

Although the final 15 minutes was a virtual nonstop Green Wave onslaught, U-High's veteran back line of seniors Matt Mosele, Ryan Poland, and Jason Lenz plus junior Matt Mier moved fluidly as a unit to help junior goalie Christian Lopez earn just a sixth shutout win.

"We played the last two minutes without a goalie," St. Edward coach Tim Brieger marveled at freshman goalie Evan Sajtar joining the attack that produced a series of near goals and dramatic saves or defensive clears. "I was hoping we'd tie and then win it in overtime. We definitely gave it our all down the stretch."

St. Edward's Will Gaston was 5 yards off the left post when Lopez made a Pat Foley "big save" with 14:58 left. Just 20 seconds later he blocked an A.J. Franklin header out of bounds and on the resulting corner kick, had to punch it out. With 4:16 to go, Alec Uscila's head flick was snagged by Lopez and there was just over a minute when the Pioneers' Lenz soared to head the ball clear. A St. Edward direct kick with 24 seconds left required Lopez to make a one-hand tip save over the goal.

"We had so many chances, headers, corner kicks, their keeper made three huge saves that other goalies might not make," Franklin noted in complimenting Lopez.

"I had to stay in the game because there was always a chance for a shot out of nowhere," Lopez admitted. "I tried not to glance at the clock, but it sure seemed like it was four times slower than normal."

"They're a great team despite being so young. We knew 19 (Franklin) could score and about the flip throw-ins. We really didn't want to give up that many opportunities," U-High coach Jeremy Stanton said. "Defensively we struggled early in the year, but seem to have found ourselves as of late."

Franklin, whose 39 goals for the season gives him a St. Edward boys career record of 69, will take aim at the school career mark of 75 set by Allison Kruk in 2014.

"We're graduating four seniors but with the freshman class coming in we'll come back even better," Franklin vowed. "Right now this kind of hurts, coming so close to making state, we really wanted hardware for the school. It was tough tonight with three people seemingly on me, I know their defense shifted wherever I went."

"We couldn't get A.J. free," Brieger noted. "They dropped their midfielders back at the end to make it more difficult, but we kept pushing. That's the spirit of this team, they give it their all. We'll miss our seniors, but they leave us better than they found us as a program."