Boys Soccer: Sandburg tops Marist 3-0
By Steve Millar For Sun-Times Media September 13, 2012 10:16PM
Broandon Rizzo, of Marist, and Sandburg's Micheal Moore fight for the ball. l Gary Middendorf~for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: October 15, 2012 9:39AM
Sandburg had waited three weeks to see the kind of complete performance it turned in Thursday night.
“This was the first time this year we played a strong full 80 minutes,” the Eagles’ Zack Biel said. “We’ve been playing just one good half most of the time. We’ve worked really hard in practice and it was good to see it pay off.”
Biel scored twice and the Eagles dominated Marist by a 3-0 count in the semifinals of the Lincoln-Way Invitational in New Lenox.
Sandburg (6-2-2) will meet St. Ignatius in Saturday’s championship match. St. Ignatius beat Reavis 1-0 in the other semifinal.
“It wasn’t necessarily our goal to win this tournament,” Sandburg coach Desi Vuillaume said. “We just wanted to take it a game at a time. Now we’re in the final, and it’d be a nice feather in our cap to win this.”
Biel started the scoring 29 minutes in as Michael Moore sent a perfectly placed cross into the box on a corner kick and Biel headed it home.
“It was a beautiful ball in the box and I was just able to direct it in,” Biel said. “You work on those corners in practice and you try to make them look like that.”
Down 1-0 in the opening moments of the second half, Marist (7-4-1) appeared to have the equalizer when Brandon Rizzo struck a free kick that went off a Sandburg defender and into the goal. The apparent goal was waved off due to offsides, much to the dismay of Marist coaches.
The Eagles dominated the rest of the way. Alec Fountas added a goal on a header five minutes later to give Sandburg breathing room. Biel finished off a Kevin Kroll free kick for the final goal.
Adam Zehme made three saves for the shutout. Jimmy Kruse made six saves for the RedHawks.
“We just really struggled,” Marist coach Sean Maxwell said. “The second half was ugly. We had some bad breaks, but you’ve got to overcome that.”
