Carpe diem: Anderson, Raiders seize opportunity to play for soccer state championship

EAST PEORIA, Ill. — Opportunity may have passed Tanner Anderson by once.

He vowed it wouldn’t happen twice.

Belleville Althoff may want to take note of that.

Anderson, a senior forward on the Quincy Notre Dame boys soccer team and the Raiders’ career leader in goals scored, missed his chance to play for a state championship as a freshman in 2019 when QND lost to Alton Marquette in Class 1A state semifinals.

Friday night, he guaranteed history wouldn’t repeat itself. Anderson scored three second-half goals and finished with four goals in a 4-1 victory over Elmhurst Timothy Christian in the Class 1A state semifinals at EastSide Centre’s Corwin Clatt Field.

That performance ensures QND (18-6-2) will play in the final game on the final day of the season, facing Belleville Althoff at 5 p.m. Saturday for the state championship. The Raiders will be looking for the fourth title in program history, while the Crusaders, who were the state runner-up last season, are chasing their first crown.

“To finally be here, to finally put the pieces together, it feels super good and super surreal,” Anderson said. “It’s something you dream of as a kid. You don’t go to state often. A lot of kids don’t get this chance. 

“To be able to have this chance, to be able to go to state twice in my career, that’s special. Not finishing the first one hurt, so we definitely have to finish the second one.”

The Riaders’ sixth consecutive game with four or more goals scored provides the momentum needed to chase a title.

“Winning big in the state semifinals is really big,” QND junior goalkeeper Max Frericks said. “It’s a really big accomplishment.”

That won’t intimidate the Crusaders. Althoff (27-1) overcame a one-goal deficit Friday night by scoring three times in a span of 3 minutes, 12 seconds and beating defending state champion Wheaton Academy 4-1. The Crusaders have won 26 consecutive games.

“It’s going to be a battle,” QND coach Greg Reis said. “I told the guys you have to prepare for an epic battle. We’re going to have to match their intensity. They’re going to smash us in the mouth, and we’re going to have to smash them back. We can’t back down. 

“They’re going to run balls to the wall for 80 minutes. They’re going to run a lot of guys in and out. They’re going to press us like crazy. So we’re going to have to be better on the ball, moving quicker and create some problems for their backline. It’s going to be a fun game.”

Anderson’s presence gives the Raiders a chance against anyone.

Seven minutes into the game, QND defensive midfielder Deakon Schuette — also a placekicker on the QND football team — drove a restart 55 yards in the air to Anderson on the right side of the penalty area. With Trojans goalkeeper Peter Buikema coming off his line, Anderson flicked a header from about 15 yards out that sailed over Buikema and into the net for a 1-0 lead.

It stayed that way until halftime despite the Raiders applying continued pressure. Anderson earned a penalty kick in the xxth minute, but he slipped at the point of contact and sent the ball high over the goal. He also made a run to go 1-on-1 with Buikema in the final 10 seconds, but the goalkeeper made the save.

“The keeper made a couple of really nice saves and we could have been a little better on a couple of finishes, and the game may have been over in the first half,” Reis said.

The defense made sure that wasn’t a worry.

“Our center backs and myself are constantly trying to pump up the team as much as we can throughout the game,” Frericks said. “We’re telling them, ‘Keep going, keep going.’ We tell them to keep going until the very end. That’s what we have to keep doing.”

Frericks made four saves and gave the offense all the time it needed to add to the lead.

“I try to lock in,” Frericks said. “Even if they get in super close, I stay locked in and make the reaction save. That’s all it is.”

Schuette and Anderson connected for another header off a restart in the 66th minute to make it 2-0, and Anderson scored twice more to give him his second four-goal game of the postseason.

“Tanner just really showed class,” Reis said. “He gets beat on. He gets shoved around, and he still finds a way to make it happen.”

The Raiders are hoping for that to happen one more time.

“Stay locked in and stay as a team,” Frericks said. “Get ready and get pumped up.”