MOORESVILLE — In the end, the Bloomington South boys soccer team just needed to be themselves.
Head coach Jake Kabrick implored his team to hang their hat on defense as they’d done all year and did just that, holding Bloomington North with just a couple shots on goal in a 2-0 win in the opening round of the Class 3A Mooresville Sectional on Monday, Oct. 6.
South’s goal defensively was to keep at least a couple bodies around North playmaker Joe Luther at all times, including sophomore Ruben Morales, and it worked as North did get off a couple of shots in the first half, but none in the second.
“That has been our calling card all year,” Kabrick said. “We play hard defensively and get scrappy goals. Ruben Morales, he wanted to play defense on Joe Luther. We knew that was going to be the key.
“Whether he was up top, he played out wide or played in the middle. We ended up playing him in every single spot. But the one the I really saw that stood out was Ruben in the middle, denying him the ball.”
When North moved the chess pieces, South countered.
“When he tried to slide out wide, that’s what we wanted him to do,” Kabrick said. “Because I knew Nathan Orth can handle him. I knew Evan (Gales) is going to come back.
“Everybody just knew their role and executed to perfection tonight.”
“They know who our most dangerous players are,” North coach Gonzalo Sanchez said. “And they were definitely looking to double-team, triple-team every chance they got, to not let him have any space to breathe.”
North had a couple corners in the second half but neither was dangerous as South had few problems defending a slim lead.
“It was pretty challenging,” defenseman Max Serafin Odle said. “But we’ve done it before,we can do it again. I think our defense is definitely one of the better one’s we’ll see. I think we’re all solid in the back.”
No. 7 South (13-1-3) advances to a Wednesday showdown at 5:30 p.m. against Martinsville (14-1-1), an 8-0 winner over Terre Haute North in the other opening round match. North finishes 12-4-1.
Shift in momentum
South’s first goal of the night was atypical for the Panthers this season, especially in the absence of all-star Tom Henry Berry.
North had come out strong, shutting down about everything at midfield. But South kept pecking away, looking for corners, throw ins and free kicks deep in North’s end to put balls in the box.
“We had a lot of the control early in the game, all the things that we adjusted in order to create a better result showed in those first 20 minutes,” Sanchez said. “But you’ve got to create something and find the back of the net.”
Just an opportunity arose for South with about 1:30 left in the first half. Konrad Polit had a free kick just outside the box. His ball curled to the far post and found Andrew Wiley, who angled a header to Evan Gales to put away.
“To have that one gritty goal right before half, I think shifted the momentum of that game,” Kabrick said. “We had the wind at our back in the second half.”
It took the wind out of the Cougars, who now had to fight uphill the rest of the night.
“I think it was an avoidable goal,” Sanchez said. “It’s something that we’ve done in the past against teams that aren’t as good in the air but it was a mistake that we kind of created on our own.”
South’s last goal was a bit more unusual for the Panthers, but also the result of some late-season emphasis on putting balls on goal. With North pressing for the equalizer, a deep ball found Sohrab Fazel who had just the keeper and one defender in front of him with three more on the way.
He shifted left toward the middle of the field and drilled it high over the keeper’s head from just outside the box with 11:32 left.
“He received the ball and we look up and it’s just him,” Kabrick said. “It’s him and their back line. ‘Go ahead.’ And he took them on, cut it and just hammered it.”
Tough nut to crack
The Cougars have certainly elevated their program, picking up their most wins since 2013. North will see 16 seniors graduate, six of them starters.
“That’s wherever I was a junior and I remember how great of a team we had that year,” Sanchez said. “And I think this team definitely deserved that win, but deserving and that kind of stuff, you’ve got to earn it.
“And we fell short today.”
That said, they’ve also lost an incredible 22 in a row to their rivals, so they know the next step.
“We’ve been a winning program for the past couple seasons and it’s getting better every year,” Sanchez said. “Which is a great sign, but we really need to complete the whole project.”
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington South soccer ‘executes to perfection’ to blank North in boys sectional opener
Reporting by Jim Gordillo, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
