Second half dominance leads Niles West to victory

Going into halftime, Niles West and Maine East were tied at one goal a piece, in a game that seemed it would go down to the wire. But a second half outburst gave Niles West the 4-1 win.

Niles West scored the opening goal of the night just four minutes into the match thanks to a failed clearance attempt from Maine East which resulted in an own goal.

The Blue Demons quickly responded just nine minutes later off a long throw in that found it’s way to an unmarked man in the box for an easy score.

Maine East then proceeded to maintain most of the possession for the rest of the half, seemingly in control of the game.

However, Niles West flipped a switch as soon as the second half whistle blew, putting the pressure on Maine East on route to a three goal outburst.

“I think we were just lacking energy and any sort of urgency in that first half. We knew we were better than what we showed in that first half.” said Niles West coach Milo Cejovic.

“The only real adjustment I made is that I took Andrei Tap and moved him out to the wing so we could use his pace to get in behind and that helped us put pressure on their back line.”

 

The slight adjustment worked to perfection.

Niles West countered the Maine East attack quickly, using their pace to their advantage, abusing the wings, and sending dangerous crosses into the box that led to three, nearly identical, second half goals all within the first 20 minutes of the half.

Eventually, the frenetic pace slowed down in the last 15 minutes and Niles West calmly closed out the game without much push back.

Niles West will have a week off before starting CSL South play next Tuesday against GBS, while Maine East has two more non-conference matches to prepare them for the CSL North season.