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Washington Evening Journal
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Mt. Pleasant moves on
Panther boys soccer knocks out Fairfield; Hillcrest and D-NL fall
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
MT. PLEASANT — Just one boys soccer team remains in the Union coverage area, and it’s on of the best teams all season in Southeast Iowa.
Mt. Pleasant continued its historic run by knocking out rival Fairfield 2-0 in Tuesday night’s Class 2A Substate 6 semifinal.
“These guys have been working really hard as freshmen, sophomores and now mostly juniors,” said Panther head coach Rocco Russo. “They’ve been putting in the work, and it’s showing.”
The Panthers didn’t waste much time. Mt. Pleasant scored the opening goal in the first two minutes, getting the early score on a ball from Brandon Velos.
“It was just all the pressure of the all the weeks gone by,” said Velos. “Watching that goal go in was like, all that pressure just left.”
Both teams had chances to put one in before halftime, but Mt. Pleasant’s Xachary LeBlanc and Fairfield’s Henry Swan were in postseason form, stopping everything that came there way.
“I wasn’t worried, because we had so much time, and we had so many good chances to tie the game,” said Fairfield head coach Felisto Guezimane. “We didn’t take care of that. If one of those goals in, it’s a whole different game.”
Midway through the second half, Asa Rose scored the second goal for Mt. Pleasant on a header, giving the Panthers a little cushion.
The Trojans had a few more chances in the last 20 minutes, but Fairfield could never get one to go into the back of the net.
“"They’re a good team. They’ve been stepping up,” said Fairfield senior Bihn Truong. “They play really well together, and their defense is solid, so it’s tough to break through.”
The two goalkeepers combined for 17 saves. Mt. Pleasant’s LeBlanc had nine, and Swan finished with eight for Fairfield.
The loss for Fairfield dropped the Trojans to 8-6-2 to finish out the year.
Mt. Pleasant is now 11-4-1. The Panthers will travel to play top-seeded Williamsburg (21-1-3) for a shot at the state soccer tournament on Thursday night.
“ (We’re leaning on) our defense, one hundred percent,” said Russo. “Aiden Humble, Abraham Cass, Kohen Cass and Jackson Newman. Those guys don’t get any stats on Bound, but without those guys, we’re not much of a soccer team.”
Tuesday night also saw the fall of Hillcrest Academy, which fell to Chariton in the Class 1A Substate 6 bracket, 2-1. Mason Bender had the lone Raven goal in that one.
Danville-New London also fell in a Class 1A semifinal. The Bears lost 10-0 against top-seeded West Liberty in Class 1A Substate 5.
