Raiders shut out in season opener in battle of defending state champions

PEORIA, Ill. — The final score might have been a little more lopsided than expected, but Quincy Notre Dame boys soccer coach Greg Reis knew there’d be some growing pains in Monday’s season opener.

“I don’t know if the result was much different than what I was anticipating,” Reis said after the Raiders suffered a 5-0 loss at Peoria Notre Dame in a battle of defending state champions. “We need some time playing together.”

The Raiders graduated 10 players from last year’s Class 1A state championship team, including all-time leading goal scorer Tanner Anderson.

The Irish lost only three players from their Class 2A title-winning squad and returned a handful of highly skilled players. That’s why there were five NCAA Division I coaches in attendance at the PND soccer field.

“They’re pretty damn good,” Reis said of PND.

Still, the Raiders trailed only 1-0 at halftime after conceding a goal with seven minutes to go in the half. It was 2-0 nine minutes into the second half when QND senior goalkeeper Max Frericks saved a penalty kick, diving to his left to snuff out the chance.

However, the Irish scored less than a minute later and made it 4-0 with a header off a corner kick with 24 minutes to play. Things might have gotten worse if not for Frericks coming up with eight saves.

“Max was great in goal,” Reis said. “Rylan Fischer was really good at the back. (Senior forward Leo Cann) needs a little more help, and we’ll figure that out.”

The Raiders get three more chances this week with the Quincy Recycle/QND Tournament taking place at Advance Physical Therapy Field. The Raiders face Jacksonville at 7 p.m. Thursday, followed by games against Ladue at 3:30 p.m. Friday and Lindbergh at 2:15 p.m. Saturday.

“We could take some pretty good lumps the first couple of weeks,” Reis said. “But we’ll get better. We’ll figure it out.”