Lewis and Clark’s Alex Brownlee (19) battles for the ball with SWIC’s Vincent Pratt Tuesday in Belleville. Brownlee scored LC’s first goal in their 5-1 victory.
Jan Dona/For The Telegraph
Andreu Valenzuela Guillem of Lewis and Clark goes airborne to blast a bicycle kick during Tuesday’s 5-1 win over Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville.
Jan Dona/For The Telegraph
SWIC goalie Brady Hemminghaus makes a point-blank save on a shot by LC’s Takumi Uerea Tuesday in Belleville. Also pictured is SWIC’s Phil Kirimi Kogsey (4).
Jan Dona/For The Telegraph
LCCC goalie Alex Cahill makes a save during Tuesday’s game against SWIC in Belleville.
Jan Dona/For The Telegraph
When LCCC soccer coach John Dunn spoke with his players at halftime of Tuesday’s Region 24 showdown with rival Southwestern Illinois College, he was honest with them.
He wasn’t happy, even with a 3-0 lead over the Blue Storm.
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“I thought that after we got out to the early, we got too slack, too comfortable,” Dunn said.
There may have been something to Dunn’s frustration. Despite early LCCC pressure, SWIC cut the Trailblazers’ lead to 3-1 on a quick counter-attack goal. That was the closest SWIC would get.
LCCC, ranked No. 11 in this week’s NJCAA National Soccer Poll, scored two more goals and wound up winning going away 5-1 in Belleville.
The victory over their longtime rival lifts the Trailblazers to 6-2-2 overall on the season and 3-0 against Region 24 teams.
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“To be 3-0 in the region with all three wins on the road is big,” Dunn said. “It impacts the postseason pairings and home-field advantage. Now, we get to play the other three region teams at home for our second games against them.
“At the end of the day, we have to take care of the region and district games. Our tough non-region schedule definitely helps us prepare.”
LCCC will host No. 20-ranked Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College at 2 p.m. Saturday at Glazebrook Park in Godfrey.
Against SWIC, the Trailblazers got off to that quick start with three goals in the first 30 minutes of play.
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Alex Brownlee, assisted by Cooper Ludwig, made it 1-0 in the 15th minute. Then teammate Raitis Bomis scored unassisted to make it 2-0 in the 20th minute.
Hikaru Nakagawa, assisted by Arthur Floch, put the Trailblazers up 3-0 with 15 minutes still remaining in the first half.
That’s when Dunn felt his team took its foot off the accelerator.
“The first half was more about us taking advantage of chances, not that we were outplaying them by a wide margin,” Dunn said. “The last part of the first half was when SWIC was actually most dangerous.”
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While the Trailblazers weathered that storm until halftime, the Blue Storm scored five minutes into the second half on a quick counter.
“They’re very good in transition,” Dunn said of SWIC. “But after their goal, we got ahold of the game and controlled the rest of the way.”
LC’s Max Ruelke made it 4-1 in the 65th minute, assisted by Ludwig. Then teammate Abdul Razak Abdullai, from an assist by Marc Proskey, capped the scoring in the 80th minute.
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“The fact that we had five different goal scorers shows how much we spread the workload around,” Dunn said. “It’s nice when you win by four goals and you really can’t pinpoint one particular player who carried the load. They all did.”