House 3 : Edgewater Castle 1
House Closes Out Home Campaign With A Win
Chicago House closed out their home portion of the MWPL spring season with a 3-1 win in the first installation of the North Branch Derby over Edgewater Castle F.C. last Satuday at DePaul College Prep.
The home side opened the scoring on their first opportunity in the sixth minute when Kikis Avalos picked off a poor clearance by the Edgewater goalkeeper, Jacob Alstadt, and blasted a 25 yard shot into the back of the net on the near side.
Depsite Edgewater controlling the majority of possesion and on the stats sheet with 10 shots, four on goal in the first half, House was able to capitalize on their limited chances, converting on their only two shots on goal.
Just before the end of the first half, Shannon Seymour gave House a two goal lead when he finished off a goal over the head of a defender when he buried a shot from about five yards out. The play began when Avalos took a shot that was saved and deflected off the goalkeeper, placing the ball at Seymour's feet for a fairly easy clean-up.
“The last couple of weeks we’ve been in a good flow. The chances we weren’t finishing earlier in the season we’re taking advantage of, which has been a positive thing. We’ve been a lot more disciplined defensively, not giving up goals that shouldn’t be given up. We’re kind of hitting our stride playing the complete 90 minutes of soccer both offensively and defensively, which is good to see," said Head Coach and Technical Director Matt Poland. "To see that performance in front of a good home crowd is special. There were a lot of young kids there and we put on an entertaining show for them, which is good. It was a quality opponent that we did that against, so all in all a good performance,” he continued.
Seymour and Avalos continued to provide the offensive power for House in the second half when they teamed up for House's third goal in the 56th minute. Seymour sent a deep pass to Avalos who was waiting in front of the goal to punch it past Alstadt.
“I think Kikis’ is in his flow state. For attackers when you’re in that kind of state everything you hit seems to go in the back of the net. He’s performing well, he’s training well, he’s focused and he’s confident in front of goal. I think the biggest difference is that he’s seen the ball go in the back of the net, so when he hits it he believes it’s going in and it usually does because of that,” said Poland on Avalos' recent performance.
Edgewater got on the board in the 85th minute on a set piece. Bardia Kimiavi sent a perfectly placed corner kick into traffic right in front of the box and Gabriel Kavalheiro headed it in.
House will close out their spring season on the road this coming Saturday when they travel to face off against Rockford F.C. at Wyeth Stadium at 5:30 P.M. For tickets click here.
Heading into this weekend, House sits in second place in the table, but with multiple teams with games in hand, House will have to try to earn maximum possible points and wait out the calendar. “The biggest thing for us is realizing that there’s still a lot of uncertainty in the table and where we could land. We’re focusing on ourselves and getting three points this weekend so we can give ourselves the best chance possible to finish as high as possible in the table," said Poland on the team's focus heading into the final match.
To see all the goals click here.