The one actual trophy accessible to the Evanston or New Trier boys soccer groups on this pandemic season is the hearth hydrant that for years has been awarded to the winner of the rivalry recreation between the 2 colleges.
Up to now, New Trier has the higher hand.
A proficient and disciplined Trevian squad blanked the Wildkits 2-0 Tuesday evening in Northfield and pulled even within the all-time collection between the 2 rivals. In one of many state’s longest operating — and tightest — rivalries, Evanston and New Trier have every posted 43 wins within the head-to-head matchups and the 2 colleges have tied 22 instances.
A rematch is assured for the ultimate recreation of the 2021 common season because the Central Suburban League will take part in “pod” tournaments, as no Illinois Excessive Faculty Affiliation state collection shall be held.
First-half objectives by New Trier’s Collin Donnelly-Maine and Dante Mitchell and the acrobatic play of goalie Aidan Crawford (7 saves) stored the winners unbeaten in 9 video games and helped them regain possession of the hearth hydrant that the winners take turns portray their college colours. Evanston fell to 4-3 on the 12 months.
The Wildkits really outplayed the winners over the past 20 minutes, ramping up the offensive strain, nevertheless it was a case of too little, too late for ETHS.
“They’re good, they’re good. Too unhealthy there’s no state championship (this 12 months),” stated Evanston head coach Franz Calixte. “That’s a strong, strong staff. They moved the ball so properly in opposition to us within the first half and we have been simply attempting to journey out the storm and make it 1-0 on the half. However they acquired the second purpose and that was an enormous one.
“We didn’t use 3 forwards within the first half — we tried to crowd the center of the sphere as a substitute — so we didn’t put a lot strain on them. We discovered methods to place extra strain on them within the second half, and I assumed we communicated higher, too.”
Mitchell’s purpose, with 3 minutes, 9 seconds left within the first half, turned out to be the back-breaker for the Wildkits. The persistent Trevian senior refused to take no as a solution from the ETHS protection and at last beat goalkeeper Ben Weyman with a low shot after the Kits couldn’t clear the ball out of their very own finish.
“That was a mushy purpose,” Calixte identified. “We had poor clearance and it was only a mushy deflection off one in all our backs. He (Mitchell) was all by himself and he nonetheless acquired off 2 or 3 photographs. All we needed to do was get one good foot on the ball, however their man needed it extra.”
Evanston solely mustered one shot on purpose within the first half, on a restart by junior Sebastian Schultz within the seventh minute, however examined Crawford continuously within the second half. Junior Will Travis’ tried scoring run within the 51st minute climaxed in a bullet left-footed shot that Crawford stopped, and eight minutes later Travis whistled a shot simply left of the nook submit following a New Trier turnover.
Travis was thwarted twice extra by the New Trier keeper and ETHS endured its first shutout lack of the season.
