COLLINSVILLE – Anthony Coppotelli’s hat trick, along with goals from Jayden Redden and Yahir Figueroa, helped Collinsville win a rainy Southwestern Conference finale over Edwardsville 5-4 Thursday night at Kahok Stadium.
The Tigers’ Kadin Lieberman had a brace (two goals) in a match that was delayed twice because of lightning, once before the opening kickoff, and again early in the second half.
Despite the rough conditions, Edwardsville coach Mark Heiderscheid felt both teams gave their all throughout the match.
“It’s tough, given conditions, it’s raining,” Heiderscheid said. “I thought both teams put an extreme amount of energy in this one. And even though it’s the short end, we’ve been very successful over the last 10 to 15 games, and honestly, I think this game could be very good for us because we had to constantly play out of our comfort zones. Again, it was during torrential rain, and that’s not bad, because you never know what conditions might bring as soon as you hit playoffs.
“You have to be able to play through anything. And earlier, we were quite successful in the first game, and I think in this one here, we showed a lot of grit when Collinsville was able to capitalize on their opportunities. I felt we did a good job of trying to keep it a soccer game, we were able to continue to equalize a number of times, but then, each time, we just kind of left ourselves, at moments, vulnerable for a shot that led to a goal.
“And this was kind of one of those quirky ones; we’ve given up, I think, six goals in about, maybe, 14 or 15 games, and all of a sudden, we just about doubled that within a contest, but again, I think this was just one of those games, and to Collinsville’s credit, they kept driving the ball down the pitch and making things difficult for us. I thought that was good on their part tactically, and it was good for us to go ahead and deal with the stress, I think, in this game. I think, at the end of the day, we’re almost having things too comfortable, too easy, and I think this can be beneficial for us as we start towards the playoffs.”
Heiderscheid thought that both sides responded very well to the two lightning delays that held the game up for a total of just over an hour, with the weather also causing the junior varsity match to be canceled.
“You know, honestly, I think both teams responded out of those pretty well,” Heiderscheid said. “I thought that we did a good job, like I said, of equalizing at the one point. I felt we, also in the second half, as soon as we were able to come back on the pitch again, I thought we really did a great job of keeping it, I thought our energy level was good, We definitely had a lot of the ball, so I felt it was alright. I think that, certainly, it was an awkward game between all the constant rain, between the lightning delays, and that.
“But those things really work for both teams, and so, it certainly was a chaotic, different game as a result of this one. But I honestly still, even though conditions are bad, I still think that was good for us, probably good for both teams, just to have to play under stress of having the lightning constantly stopping the game, and then, also having just the rain never stopped.
“It just kept pouring, pouring, the field was pretty saturated. There were some places, even though it’s turf, but it was very much, at moments, really sitting. Water was tough for the keepers because it’s skipping, but all that, really again, is good for players, only in the respect that it makes them concentrate more, and as I said, I think they have to deal with the stress of the situation. And I think anything like that, when you start looking at the big picture, in a couple of weeks from now, maybe that seasons a team that much more.”
The first lightning delay happened during pregame introductions, when the referee took the players off the pitch after a lightning flash near the stadium, holding up the start for 39 minutes. When the match started, Edwardsville had the better of the chances during the opening 10 minutes, the best one coming when Brennan Weller made a great run to set up Adam Sneed with a cross, but Sneed’s shot went wide, keeping the match scoreless.
The first goal came in the 16th minute, when, on a loose ball at the top of the box, Coppotelli headed the ball past Tyler Frolik, who had come off of his line, and the ball bounced its way into the net to give Collinsville a 1-0 lead. In the 28th minute, a Tiger shot to the near post was cleared by Kahok goalie Logan Rader, and on the ensuing corner, Lieberman got ahead to the ball and put it in the back of the net to equalize for Edwardsville at 1-1.
The Kahoks got the lead right back in the 29th minute when of a Collinsville corner, Redden got his shot off that just got inside the post an into the net to give the Kahoks the lead back at 2-1. Then in the 37th minute, Redden’s initial shot was stopped by Frolik, but Coppotelli was in the right position to gather in the rebound and made no mistake, scoring to expand the Collinsville lead to 3-1.
The Tigers struck in the 40th minute, as Rader made a great save off an Edwardsville shot, and off the corner, Lieberman got the ball directly in front of goal, and his shot through traffic found the back of the net two seconds before halftime to cut the Kahok lead to 3-2. giving the Tigers some momentum going into the interval.
After the break, it didn’t take long for Edwardsville to equalize again, as, in the 43rd minute, Jakob Doyle got a shot off at the edge of the box off a scramble in front and scored to bring the Tigers to level again at 3-3. Then in the 44th minute, another nearby lightning flash caused the referee to take the players off the field for a second time, this one lasting for 34 minutes. When the teams took the pitch again, Sneed had a great opportunity in the 49th minute, but Rader dove to his right to make the save. Three minutes later, Logan Loftus made a good run down the right flank, but Rader dove out to stop his cross.
In the 55th minute, Coppotelli got a great pass in the middle and broke in alone, with his shot being true to give Coppotelli his hat trick, and more importantly, give the Kahoks a 4-3 lead. Coppotelli had another glorious chance in the 71st minute, but couldn’t get a shot off, thanks to good defending by the Tigers. But Edwardsville couldn’t clear, and the ball came to Figueroa, who shot the ball into the net to give Collinsville a 5-3 lead.
The Tigers came back again, and in the 76th minute, off a corner after a chance by Cooper Nolan was denied, Eli Bateman got a shot off that found the net to make it 5-4 and give Edwardsville a lifeline. The Tigers had some good opportunities in the dying minutes, but couldn’t score as the match ended with the Kahoks taking all three points.
The Kahoks are now 10-8-0, finishing 6-4-0 in the Southwestern Conference, and finish up the regular season with a match Friday night at Father McGivney Catholic in a 7:30 p.m. kickoff, then hosting St. Mary’s of south St. Louis City in the regular-season finale next Thursday night. The Tigers are now 16-4-0 overall, going 9-1-0 in the league, and conclude their regular season at home Saturday morning against CBC at 11 a.m. Heiderscheid is looking ahead to the challenge of the perennial power Cadets and their longtime coach, Terry Michler.
“Honestly, CBC again provides just a great challenge before you go in,” Heiderscheid said. “Terry Michler’s the winningest coach in the U.S., and arguably, in many years, the best team in the country. They’re also a team that, this year, kind of settled a little bit more in the pack; obviously, last year, they were crazy good. But still, it’s a team that, they play, week in and week out, the best teams in St. Louis, and so, that makes it tough for us.
“I mean, their schedule is so strong, and so, when they hit us, it’s a case that you know you’re going against a team that has seen everything. And a coach that is, perhaps, the best in the business. And so, that’s, for us, really, I told the kids with the last couple of games, we’ve already won conference about a week ago, we knew we were already first seed. Really, last games are making sure that you keep people healthy, make sure that you’re learning stuff, make sure that you’re trying to do the right things, and even with CBC, I think that’s just a great game for us to just learn things, because after this, we have a week-and-a-half down before we play a match, and it’s really just about building towards the postseason.
“And you don’t want to say that at this stage, results don’t matter; that’s simply not true. But at the same time, there’s just so much of a bigger picture at this stage, and the bigger picture is to try to play again against a team like CBC, and see if you can get value from an opponent that can certainly play the game at about a high level as your going to see.”
