Interesting week!!!

After an impressive weekend that saw us capture the Midwest Soccer Classic title, we were back in action quickly on Tuesday against Hannibal. Hannibal has become a bit of a rivaly because our kids have grown up playing against Hannibal kids and also because annually, Hannibal has been a very competitive game for us. However, the 2009 game was not a typical QHS vs Hannibal game. We scored early and often and jumped out to a 9-0 first half lead and with the 2nd half cut to just 20 minutes, we ended up winning 10-0 to remain perfect on the season at 4-0. Junior Mitchell Schrage had a tremendous night for us with 4 goals and 2 assists.

While Hannibal may be a rivalry game, our game Friday night vs Belleville East was our most important. We don't get a lot of opportunity to play teams from the St. Louis area, so when we do, we need to make a good impression as this is where we go for regionals now.

We did not play our best game Friday night, but Belleville East had a lot to do with that as well. Belleville East is extremely fast all over the field and we had a hard time adjusting to their pace of play. We got out of what we do best and started playing their game. Both teams had excellent scoring opportunities, but in the end, the game ended in a 0-0 tie and both teams remained undefeated at 4-0-1. We outshot Belleville East 20-9, but we gave up 9 corners and that just can't happen. Somehow I have a feeling these two teams could cross path's someone else this year and we will be ready for them.

On Saturday we played Columbia, IL. who came up for an overnight trip and the coaches had a lot of reasons for concern. Not necessarily because Columbia was that good, but because we are dealing with 14-17 old kids and you never know what to expect from them. We knew coming off an emotional, physical,and intense game from the night before that we would take a bit to get going. However, we didn't anticipate having the struggles we had. Columbia had been beaten by Belleville East 6-0 earlier in the season and on paper we should have had our way, and it looked like we just might as 10 minutes in we scored. However, they countered with a quick restart and tied it 1-1 and the fight was on. The worst thing you can do to a team who you are better than, is to give them confidence and that is exactly what we did.

We played the final 25 minutes of the first half as individuals rather than as a team. Everything we had worked so hard to accomplish seemed to not matter anymore. We are such a good team when we move the ball and work together, but when we don't, it gets ugly. At half-time we talked about working together as a team and we did just that. However, as the game wore on you could see the frustration settle back in as we were working hard and doing good things, but just couldn't put one in the back of the net. Everyone was busting their tail to be the hero, but in doing that, we at times abandoned what we do best. In the end, with 15 minutes remaining, we capitalized on a nice cross and settle and won 2-1. Soccer is a funny game in that the best team doesn't always win the game. We outshot them 24-2 and had 9 corner kicks, but the scoreboard didn't show that type of domination.

Next week starts a tough stretch for us as we host that team from across town and then head to the road next weekend for our conference opener against Moline. Should make for an interesting week so check back in with us after the game on Tuesday vs QND. Game is at Flinn with JV at 5:00 and varsity at 6:30. Both teams are undefeated and it should be a great match.

Our JV team remained undefeated and unscored on after posting wins over Hannibal, Belleville East, and Columbia.

The Sophomore/Freshman team is also undefeated on the season after picking up 3 wins this past weekend. On Friday night, they defeated the Columbia JV 3-0 on two goals from Noah Spake and one goal from Tyler Cannell. On Saturday, they defeated Columbia Rock Bridge 3-1 and Springfield SHG 2-0. Their record is 4-0-1 and they will play in the Chatham tournament next weekend.