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Munster starts sectionals with win
Updated: May 9, 2012 9:51AM
MUNSTER — The Munster boys soccer team began its postseason in solid fashion.
The Mustangs defeated East Chicago Central 5-1 in the opening round of the Munster Sectional on Monday night. They will play Morton at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in the second semifinal.
“My team told me that we can go far in the postseason,” said Munster coach Jim Prasopoulos, whose team has won nine straight sectional titles, the state’s longest active streak. “At this point, actions speak louder than words.”
The Mustangs (13-3-1) wasted little time in grabbing a 1-0 lead, as Zarko Coric scored two-plus minutes into the game — the first of his two goals — one-timing a rocket off a cross from Drake Bowers.
They made it 2-0 when Alex Sikora knocked home a rebound with eight-plus minutes left in the first half.
Sikora was one of eight players Munster mass-substituted into the game with about 17 minutes elapsed, before six of those starters returned with between 16 and nine minutes left in the half, with the other two returning after Sikora’s goal.
“For a short time in the game, we starting going into old habits of trying to get it all in a couple passes, instead of possessing,” Prasopoulos said. “The good thing is, we didn’t do it for too long a time. We did a lot of the good things we’ve been doing at the end of the season — playing possession, involving all 11 guys. That’s how we’re going to be successful.
“We started going back to bad habits, and we could afford to do it (sub). We wanted them to look at it from the sideline to see what we were talking about. We could do that against this team; against other teams, we have to be on par. It was just to refocus and talk about a couple things.”
Sam Smith scored a goal just a minute into the second half to give Munster a 3-0 lead.
The Mustangs added two more goals, both on headers, both pretty plays. Chris Tassaro scored off a nifty over-the-head cross from Bowers with less than 29 minutes left in the game. And less than two minutes later, Coric converted Smith’s well-struck free kick.
East Chicago (12-5) got on the scoreboard when Antonio Garcia finished on a feed from Efrain Santos with 22 1/2 minutes left.
The Cardinals had bus trouble, so their starters were driven to the game by car, with the bus arriving not far behind. The start of the game was delayed about 15 minutes.
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