Stagg outlasts Shepard

Updated: August 23, 2011 10:07PM

With Round 1 of the 2011 Windy City Ram Classic up and running no one knew, as with any beginning of the season, what to expect. It’s the first game and time to show what they’re made of. The Stagg high school boys soccer team had to nearly reconstruct, losing 15 graduated seniors. Shepard high school seemed to have the upper hand with eight returning starters. The Chargers however, were just too fast for the visiting Astros.

In the first half of the 2-0 shutout win, Stagg managed 10 shots on goal with three saves, holding Shepard only to just four shots on goal with three saves. The Chargers pretty much dominated the field throughout, with the addition of former Brother Rice defenseman Greg Healy stepping up. Healy scored Stagg’s first goal within the first seven minutes of the half, reaching for two more shortly after.

“(Healy) was dynamite out there,” said Stagg head coach Mike Kealy.

Stagg midfielder Tony Estrada played a big role in Tuesday night’s win, dominating his position and preventing multiple Astros breakaways.

The Chargers continued to push through into the second half, with Midfielder Roberto Torres scoring their second and final goal with 18 minutes left of play.

There was a solid team effort on both sides, but the Chargers were just too fast. “We played physical, we played with them, but you know we just didn’t possess the ball very well today and that’s what dragged us down in the end,” said Shepard head coach Dustin Frates.

Frates agrees that it definitely helps to have eight returning seniors to his team, but said, “We just didn’t pull it together. We had flashes of it but we didn’t put it together through the game.”

Kealy was happy with his team’s first performance saying, “It was a first solid effort. We’re happy with the outcome and happy with how the boys played for the most part.”

In regards to losing his seniors he says they will miss them, but he is happy with his current squad. “As it is with any time the first game of the season, you learn a lot, you try to get back to the drawing board and try tweaking things. This is a new team and we’re just looking forward. Who knows where this series is going to lead us so we just take it one game at a time.”

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.