GRANITE CITY – Alton’s boys soccer team seemed to need a spark of some sort to get going in their Southwestern Conference match at Granite City’s Gene Baker Field Tuesday night.
The spark came right before halftime when Blake Dunse got ahold of a ball and fired a shot into the back of the net to put the Redbirds up 1-0, then two goals in three minutes early in the second half from Joe Morrisey put AHS right where they wanted to be, lifting the Redbirds to a 4-0 win over the Warriors.
Alton improved to 4-1 overall on the season, 1-0 in the SWC; Granite City fell to 0-3 overall, 0-2 in the league.
“It took us awhile to get going, but we finally started clicking, so that’s good,” said Redbird coach Nick Funk. “We finished the (first) half strong.”
The win, even as early into the season as it is, was an important one for Alton – especially considering the win was a Southwestern Conference win. “Especially in this conference,” Funk said of the win, “and not giving up a goal there, that helps later on as well. I thought the first half, we were pretty sloppy, a little lackadaisical; second half, we came out strong. You couldn’t tell the difference; the team effort in the second half really stood out.”
Morrisey’s two goals, in the 47th and 50th minutes, proved to be decisive. “Just being strong in the air and winning balls,” Funk said. “It’s a simple idea, but hard to execute.
“We’re putting the ball in the back of the net; that’s a plus. Last year, we had a lot of close games – this year hasn’t been the same. Finishing is a major key.”
The two goals that did the Warriors in has been a issue in the early part of the season for GCHS. “That’s been the issue in all three games,” said Warrior coach Ryan Reeves. “We’re scoreless with Edwardsville at the half and gave up a couple of early (second-half) ones, then in the second game against Rochester, we’re tied 1-1 at halftime and gave up four really quick ones (in a 5-3 Rocket win Saturday at Gene Baker) – four in 12-13 minutes.
“Tonight is kind of a similar fashion, where we’re right there in the first half – (the Dunse goal) was a backbreaker right there. I told the guys to be aware of the clock and we play the ball, swing the ball to our right back and a turnover leads to a goal with 36 seconds to go; that’s just deflating when you go down at the half down 1-0 when you feel like you were right there.”
Morrisey’s goals made it “pretty much lights out at that point,” Reeves said, “with our inability to get forward enough, to create chances – our scoring chances are few and far between – we can’t get 2-3 goals down when we’re basically trying to win a 1-0 game, maybe get a result.”
Reeves was happy with the Warrior effort. “The one thing you can’t fix is effort and them competing, and I don’t think that’s an issue,” Reeves said. “I really think it’s our lack of experience; we’re a relatively young team – for the most part, every player we had out there tonight is going to be back – but it’s me asking guys to play in positions that they’re not really comfortable in, but it’s where they’re needed on this team with what we have.”
Alton’s final goal came in the just past the hour from Lucas Admire; Myles Marfell recorded the clean sheet for the Redbirds, who head to Quincy for a Saturday night match, while the Warriors host Triad in a non-conference match Thursday night.
