All three soccer games played to conclude Hillsboro’s 12th annual tournament on Saturday ended 1-0.
Only one of them was decided in regulation. Fredericktown scored in the first half and held off De Soto 1-0 in the fifth-place game. Seckman needed penalty kicks to top Washington 1-0 to capture third place. And in the championship, St. Louis University High’s “B” team held off the host Hawks in PKs.
There wasn’t anything “B” team regarding the play of SLUH junior goalkeeper Alex Truitt, who stopped all four of Hillsboro’s penalty kicks to record the win. The Junior Billikens made three of their shots to win the tournament.
Like everyone else who watched Truitt make save after save for 100 minutes and during the PKs, Hillsboro head coach Chris Schacht was in awe of his effort.
“He made a couple of nice saves coming out on Mark (Moore) and coming out on Colton (Leonard) and normally during penalty kicks out of 10 shots, one goes over the crossbar or one goes wide. But when (Truitt) makes four of four saves, that’s pretty darn good,” Schacht said.
Although they’ve been missing starting back Gavin Wokurka with a broken leg, the Hawks’ defense was stellar all week in the tournament, allowing just three goals in three games.
Senior Andrew Bridges, a four-year starter, was injured when he went knee-to-knee against a Jr. Bill and had to leave the game. But Bridges returned and helped keep the game scoreless.
“He’s our glue back there for us,” Schacht said. “He came out of the game hurt, but I knew if he wasn’t broken in half, he was going to go back out there and he didn’t miss a beat.”
Saturday’s games were delayed over an hour because of lightning in the area. By the time the Hawks (7-2-1) and SLUH were playing late in their game, the sun had appeared and heated up the temperatures and action on the field, which became lively. However, the referees kept the yellow and red cards in their pockets and let the drama unfold.
“I thought there were missed calls on both sides,” Schacht said. “We had three referees and usually there’s more consistency when you have that. When you get teenagers out here on a hot day that started kind of cool and rainy and it’s 0-0 for 100 minutes, tempers will flare.
“I thought our guys were hungry and played hard, but with the lightning delay, we still played well. Put a different keeper in there for (SLUH) and maybe it’s a different story.”
Senior forward Mark Moore didn’t add to his career totals in goals or assists. Moore broke the school record in both categories earlier this season. Schacht said Moore, who has 54 goals and 31 assists, deserves to hold those marks.
“There’s not a more deserving guy than Mark because I know how hard he works,” Schacht said. “He has that drive. He’s at all of our summer work. His work ethic goes with his God-given talent. He has that inner drive, and he wants to achieve so bad.”
A lot of Moore’s success the last two seasons has been the product of the play by senior midfielder Mitchel Hickson, who has three goals and six assists this season. Schacht said Moore would be the first to say that his records are attached to Hickson’s play as the holding mid.
“He serves the ball real well and is a good finisher,” Schacht said of Hickson. ‘He starts our attack. He can kick a ball 45 yards and put it on a dime.”
Junior goalie A.J. Krasnesky earned the shutout for Hillsboro.
De Soto 0-3 at tournament
Head coach Nate Reiser tried to find the silver lining in the Dragons’ three losses in three games at Hillsboro last week.
“It’s never a highlight when you lose three games,” he said. “I thought we played Seckman (in a 4-1 loss) really well. It was our best game, effort-wise. They’re a great team and did a good job against us.”
Great plays at both ends of the field almost led to De Soto tying Fredericktown. First, goalkeeper Zach Keck made a tremendous save on a rushing Blackcats player to hold the game at 1-0. Then at the other end, senior striker Tyler Dutton capped a furious rush into the goal box and took a shot on goal as the time expired in the game.
“Keck set himself perfectly,” Reiser said. “He didn’t come out too high and didn’t sit too low. He was in position to take up a lot of goal and react.”
Sophomore striker Chase Reichmuth leads the Dragons with nine goals, but he missed Saturday’s game with a groin injury. Dutton has five goals this year. Reiser said he needs both players on the field together.
Senior midfielder Mitchell Blanchard was named to the all-tournament team for De Soto.
“Mitchell picks the team up. He’s always telling the guys, ‘Let’s get going,’” Reiser said.
Reiser said after the first 20 minutes against Fredericktown, the momentum never swung back in his team’s favor.
“For the first 20 minutes, we moved the ball well and it looked like we were going to create something,” Reiser said. “Their goal was a fluke header. It shanked off the back off (the goal scorer’s head) and Keck started moving in the direction of the original ball and it changed direction.”