Boys soccer: Morris plays tough but ultimately falls to top-seeded Orion

LA SALLE — The Morris boys soccer club played regional top seed Orion-Sherrard United tough for all 80 minutes of the teams’ Class 2A La Salle-Peru Regional semifinal early Tuesday evening at the L-P Sports Complex.

But Orion-Sherrard United controlled the ball more, leading to the Chargers shooting the ball more, leading to the higher seed scoring the ball more in a 3-0, season-ending loss for Morris.

Morris sees its season end with a record of 7-15-1. Orion-Sherrard United — now 20-3-3 — advances on to Friday’s regional final against Streator, a 2-1 winner in Tuesday’s late semifinal over the regional host Cavaliers.

“We don’t chart possession, so this would just be a gut feeling,” Orion-Sherrard United coach Rick Cline said, “but I felt we did a pretty nice job of dominating the time with the ball. And you know, more possession eventually creates more opportunities to get in.

“So it was all good.”

Morris and Orion-Sherrard United were locked in a scoreless contest for the opening 21-and-a-half minutes Tuesday. The Chargers were controlling possession, winning the majority of the 50/50 balls and as a result getting more shots on goal. Inevitably, that ultimately resulted in one of those shots — Cole Kimball getting a ball deflected up to him and turning a little space into a line-drive score past diving Morris keeper Ivan Escatel with 18:32 left in the first half — finding its way into the net.

Two ticks less than three minutes later, the Chargers made it 2-0 on an Alex Syslo penalty kick after a driving teammate and Morris defender collided on the right side of the net.

“We made big mistakes back there [in front of our goal], Morris coach David Valdivia said. “That first ball they scored, our keeper threw [the ball] off, and they were able to put some pressure, that striker came back and was able to get it to [Kimball] and he was able to put it in the net. The second one, that was kind of an iffy call, because they were both going 50/50, but you’re going to have that.”

Both of those first-half goals were scored with Orion-Sherrard United benefitting from a strong wind at its back. Morris got the benefit of the wind in the second half and came out aggressive, placing two shots on goal in the opening minute of the second half. The Chargers and goalie Bob Johnson (10 saves in the shutout) turned Morris’ comeback effort away, though, and effectively put the game away by resuming its domination of possession and eventually getting an insurance tally on Chris Moody’s strike with 19:48 remaining.

“[Turning back Morris’ early second-half onslaught] was a nice thing to see,” Cline said. “We have given up two second-half goals in the first minute, so we recognized that was a bit of an Achilles’ [heel], and the guys had a concerted effort not to have that happen again. That was a huge moment.”

Morris finished with a 16-10 deficit in shots on goal. Escatel recorded saves on 13 of the 16 shots that reached him, with Connor Ahearn and Cade Connor also standing out on defense in a game that closed a season in which Morris didn’t get as many wins as i might have hoped for, but was competitive throughout.

“Our program, we do teach a lot of the basic fundamentals, from goalie to forward,” Valdivia said. “We start a lot of young guys ... and we’re learning out there.”