Raiders improve toughness, tenacity in second half to snare crosstown showdown victory

QUINCY — The resiliency to rebound from a one-goal deficit and draw even by halftime of Thursday night’s rivalry game was welcome, but the Quincy Notre Dame boys soccer players understood they needed more.

They had to get tougher.

“We were playing soft in the midfield,” senior co-captain Brody Jones said. “We weren’t getting into tackles as hard as we should have. And we weren’t perfect in the second half. There are definitely still things to build on going forward, but it was definitely a much better effort in the second half.”

The results mirrored that. Rylan Fischer scored twice, converting a penalty kick in the 51st minute and hitting a low liner across the box and inside the left post in the 60th minute to cement QND’s 3-1 victory over Quincy High School at Advance Physical Therapy Field.

“This builds a lot of confidence and we can see things clicking together,” Fischer said.

It took being challenged by the coaching staff and each other at halftime to bring it out.

“The talk was to max our energy in the midfield,” Fischer said. “We kind of came out soft and came out slow. We had to match their energy and then exceed it.”

In doing so, the Raiders were able to supply sustained pressure.

“We had a difficult time defending and preventing shots,” said QHS coach Ron Bridal, whose team fell to 1-7 ahead of Saturday’s trip to O’Fallon. “When you’re giving up opportunities in the middle of the field, it’s hard to stop every one of them.

“Their midfield won the second half, and because of that, they won the game.”

First, the Raiders (4-5) had to show some tenacity.

QHS goalkeeper Lance Venvertloh made a pair of diving saves in the first 15 minutes and then watched Logan Epping give the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute as his persistence led to winning a ball in the middle of the field before hitting a right-to-left shot against the flow of the play that found the back of the net.

“Logan earned himself a good goal,” Bridal said.

But it didn’t deter the Raiders.

“We knew there was a lot of time to come back,” Fischer said. “We noticed we had a lot of chances, so we knew we were going to get some more.”

QND scored the equalizer with 11 minutes remaining in the half when Nolan Heck buried a restart from 30 yards out, sending the team to halftime tied at 1. That’s when the Raiders discussed picking up their pace and work ethic.

“We’re too nice a team and we’re too passive at times,” QND coach Greg Reis said. “In the first half, we were in pretty good positions to challenge them in the midfield. Inevitably, we always back off. We allow them to turn and just dump the ball off. We’ve had that problem all season long.”

Led by senior defensive midfielder Alex Strong and his physical presence, things changed.

“We raised our level in the second half,” Reis said. “We had some nice combinations and moved the ball.”

Fischer gave the Raiders the lead after being fouled in the box and converting the subsequent PK, and he doubled the advantage by collecting a throw-in, dancing through the defense and hitting a left-footed shot out of Venvertloh’s reach.

“There is definitely a lot of confidence going forward at that moment,” Fischer said. “We had all the momentum in the second half.”

Despite losing center back Channing Trevino to an injury in the second half, the Raiders clamped down behind the play of Robbie Reed

“He picked up the intensity,” Reis said. “He started communicating more and got on some guys and led us. That’s what we need at the back. We need a strong voice.”

The Raiders needed to show some backbone, too.

“We had a much better second half, especially on the defensive end of the ball,” Jones said. “They weren’t getting many opportunities, and most of that was because of our work not only at the back, but in the midfield and up front as well

“Getting harder into challenges gave us an edge.”