In a rematch of last year’s Division III district championship game, Independence came out a bit tentative against visiting Lutheran West at Stan Skoczen Field at Alumni Stadium on Monday.
The Blue Devils, who edged the Longhorns for the district title last season, 4-3, used second half goals from Sam Belitz and Christian Streibel to pull out a 4-0 win.
“It was a slow start for us,” said Independence coach Ryan MacRaild. “They came ready and we came out complacent, flat-footed. They have a nice young group with a few older guys leading the way and what they lack in ability they make up for in hard work. We were still a little up from our win against Hawken but the 0-0 score at half was our wakeup call.”
Belitz opened the scoring off a pass from Elek McDonald, who finished with a pair of assists. Belitz then hit a laser off his left foot from 25 yards out to make it 2-0 and Streibel headed in a Seamus Kral cross to add to the Independence lead.
Belitz notched the hat trick with about six minutes left in the game.
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“It was just a combination of working as hard as I could and motivating our team to press hard and force mistakes,” Belitz said of his success in the second half. “Fortunately, when my teammates created some nice chances for me I was able to finish.”
The Blue Devils, who are ranked fifth in the latest Division III state coaches’ poll, improved to 7-0 and recorded their fifth straight shutout. Independence has allowed just two goals this season.
Tyler Korecko recorded six saves.
“The defense held strong, led by Luke Wisniewski and Jimmy Senick, while Kyle Streibel and Adam Leibal supported well in the midfield,” MacRaild said. “Although we started slow, we finished strong and got back to our dynamic style that we should have been playing.”
Independence travels to Lake Ridge Academy on Wednesday and will play Kirtland, ranked No. 6 in the state, on Sept. 19.
The Blue Devils eye a return to the regional tournament this season.
“This is definitely a special group of guys,” Belitz said. “Our goal is to make it farther in the tournament than last year, and if we keep playing at the level we currently are then the sky’s the limit.”
