Alton’s Late Rally Leads To Penalty Shootout Win Over Marion
ALTON – The Alton High School boys soccer team completed one of its best comebacks in some time Wednesday night in its season-opener.
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The Redbirds hosted the Marion Wildcats on the newly turfed Piasa Motor Fuels Field located behind AHS and trailed by two goals with less than eight minutes remaining in the game.
Thanks to two set pieces, Alton tied the game up at 2-2, forcing a penalty shootout to determine a winner in the opening round of the annual Redbird Tournament.
Alton would go on to win the shootout 4-2, winning the game 3-2, and moving on to Saturday morning’s semifinal, where the Redbirds will take on the winner between Duchesne and Civic Memorial at 9 a.m.
“I’m so proud of these guys for their two weeks of hard work,” Alton head coach Greg Nasello said postgame. “I told them that if they put in the work, it’s going to show on the field, and it did.”
But that work didn’t pay off early on. The Redbirds were down a goal in just the sixth minute, thanks to a wicked shot that beat Patrick Henesey as far in the upper corner as a shot could be.
“It was right in the top corner,” Nasello said. “Patrick’s in a good spot where nine times out of 10, that shot's going to be within his range.”
Gabriel Intravaia nearly doubled the lead for the Wildcats in the 24th minute, but his headed opportunity from a corner kick went just wide of the post.
An exciting first half ended 1-0 in favor of the guests from 100 miles south.
Alton came back onto the field searching for an equalizer and looked the better team toward the end of the first half and into the second. The Redbirds stepped up their offensive pressure, but to no avail.
Instead, David Tallman doubled the lead for Marion when his low-driven shot went into the bottom right corner in the 73rd minute.
So, with less than eight minutes remaining, the Redbirds were staring down a two-goal deficit.
Less than a minute after the kickoff, Alton went downfield and earned a corner kick. An in-swinging ball was delivered that bounced around the six-yard box and forced a diving save from keeper Charli Smith. But Smith gave up a rebound straight into the path of the on-running Jude Cowan, who poked it home, cutting the lead in half.
Alton would again gain control after the kickoff and almost immediately tied the game, but instead, Benny Helfrich’s shot rang off the crossbar.
The Redbirds caught a second wind against a Marion team that was struggling to keep up in the final 15 minutes. And that paid dividends.
Alton was awarded a penalty kick with 4:27 left in the game after a late tackle from a Marion defender.
Blake Rensing stepped up to the spot and buried the PK to tie the game up at 2-2.
“You’ve got to love the fitness. That’s what it comes down to,” Nasello said. “All that running, we talked about this, that’s why we did it. I’m not picking on Marion because we knew they’d come flying. We thought that if we could maintain it, and just keep it close, we would keep coming and find a way.”
“The kid was just too tired, all he could do was stick a leg out, and he took him down,” Nasello said of the penalty. “That’s all part of the game.”
A frantic final four and a half minutes saw both teams going for broke, but after 80 minutes, the score remained tied. Being part of a tournament, a winner had to be determined, so the game went straight into a PK shootout.
Alton shot first and would win the shootout 4-2. All four of Alton’s shooters: Deacon Alm, Nik Tuetken, Dylan Smith, and Mason McNelly scored, in that order.
Henesey saved Marion’s second and fourth attempts.
Alton won its season-opener for the second straight year and is looking to exceed last season’s mark of 5-14-1.
The Redbirds lost to rivals Marquette Catholic 4-1 in last season’s Redbird Tournament championship game after beating Duchesne 4-3 in the semifinals.
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