Struggles offensively lead to early postseason exit for Blue Devils

ALTON, Ill. — The same bugaboo that had hampered the Quincy High School boys soccer team during the regular season became the Blue Devils undoing in the postseason.

They struggled to finish.

The fifth-seeded Blue Devils hit a post with one shot, nicked the crossbar with at least one other and created opportunities in front of the goal without being able to score in a 1-0 loss to fourth-seeded Belleville East on Wednesday night in the semifinals of the Class 3A Alton Regional.

“We had opportunities,” said QHS coach Ron Bridal, whose team finishes with an 11-9-3 record. “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to execute.”

It’s happened before.

“It’s our M.O.,” Bridal said. “We gave ourselves good opportunities in front of the goal and we weren’t able to capitalize. It’s something that we battled. It’s something we will come back to the drawing board in the offseason and see what we can do as coaches to give our kids more opportunities in front of goal and a better experience finishing and finding the net.”

The Lancers took the lead with 10 minutes remaining in the first half when a foul in the box led to a penalty kick.

“The first 20 minutes we dominated,” Bridal said. “Then we got away from our game plan. We weren’t connecting and finding feet. And then they were able to exploit our back four with their two forwards. We kind of struggled all season long against a two-forward system.”

Despite Quincy’s aggressiveness in the second half, Belleville East kept the shutout.

“They really held firm,” Bridal said. “In the second half, in particular, we really threw numbers at them as much as we could.”