Luck changes for Reavis in win

Updated: September 13, 2011 2:33PM

Reavis had run on some bad luck in the last few games coming into Monday’s meeting with Shepard.

“We played great soccer and we were 0-3 last week,” Reavis coach Bob Morack said. “We hit the post seven times in the second half of a game last week and it’s harder to hit the post than score a goal.”

In Palos Heights Monday things turned around for Reavis, as the Rams knocked off South Suburban Red foe Shepard 1-0 even with lady luck seemingly once again missing in action.

“We hit the post four times today again, but at least we got one in,” Morack said. “We dominated possession and we’re happy to get this one.”

Reavis (5-4-1, 2-0) put eight shots on goal in the first half, including two headers floating barely over the crossbar, two shots bouncing off the right post and one shot denied by Shepard goalie Tom Rice on a diving stop. The Astros only rounded up three shots on goal, but shot discrepancy does not count for the final score and the teams went into the break tied at 0.

Reavis kept coming in the second half, putting six shots on goal, two of which bounced off the crossbar, in the first 20 minutes of the second half. The Rams finally struck the back of the net with the team’s seventh and final shot, as Isaac Wheadon kicked a shot from inside the box that grazed Rice’s fingers and trickled into the back of the net with 13:11 remaining.

“I brought the ball down, kicked it and it rolled in beautifully,” Wheadon said. “I don’t want to say it was luck, but the goalie nearly got it.

“Our coach told us if we keep going hard at the goal, something would land for us.”

Shepard (3-3-3, 1-1) had a free kick from 30 yards out, two throw-ins 20 yards out and two corner kicks in the final four minutes, but not much was getting by Reavis defenders Marcos Garcia and Jorge Martinez. Anything that passed Garcia and Martinez Rams goalie Mousa Sheikh stopped, as the keeper came up with three game-changing saves, two of which came on Astros breakaways.

“My job as a goalie is to block all the shots and I did what I had to do,” Sheikh said. “We just need to keep working harder and putting more shots on frame.”

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