WC does it by committee

Warriors get goals from 4 players to advance

ELGIN -- Everything that has defined the Westminster Christian boys soccer team throughout the regular season was on display in the team's first postseason match on Tuesday.

The No. 2 seed Warriors used goals from four different players to beat No. 7 seed St. Edward 4-0 in a quarterfinal match at Westminster's own Class 1A regional.

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Westminster Christian's Ben Carani (left) and St. Edward's Kevin Dodgen converge at the ball during Tuesday's regional match at Westminster in Elgin.

(Marina Makropoulos/Staff Photographer)

"The success of this team, it's all the players on it. It's not one player or another," said Westminster coach Mike Richardson, who has seen 10 of his 11 starters score goals this season. "That's the beauty of our Westminster team here. They're all part of it. It's not one guy. It's nice to have some different scorers and not have to rely on one guy all the time."

Westminster (13-3-1) tied the school record for wins and also posted its fourth consecutive shutout. It will play in the semifinals on Saturday against the winner of No. 6 seed Elgin Academy and No. 3 seed North Shore Country Day.

The Warriors outshot the Green Wave 20-4 and got on the board 12:22 into the contest when sophomore Josh Beachler and senior J.J. Marshal passed the ball back-and-forth before Marshall received one last pass in front of the net for 1-0 lead.

"We were trying to catch the defense off guard," Marshal said.

"The ball came to me in the midfield. I saw Josh Beachler open down the line so I crossed it into the corner, knew he didn't have any help, so I came running in. He passed it right back to me for the goal."

With St. Edward (5-16) struggling to mount any pressure, the Warriors took a 2-0 lead with 16:41 left in the half after junior Steven Hoeflich received a pass from Beachler off a rebound and put it past goalkeeper Jim Cholewa for the score.

Cholewa, a senior, had nine saves and had a lot of company near his net for the better part of the 80-minute contest. Meanwhile, Westminster's Scott Sutarik needed to make just three saves in net.

"They had a combined weight of 300 pounds on my team," said St. Edward coach Tim Brieger with a laugh. "I'm proud of my kids. We have 13 kids and the two coming off the bench are freshmen."

Westminster got its third score with 12:24 left in the half. Senior Ryan Beachler snuck behind the defense and scored on a direct free kick from Pierce McKenna.

"They were worrying about the offsides and I was just able to rip it in," Ryan Beachler said. "We played pretty well, a strong, solid game."

With the game in hand, senior Ishmeal Yemoh, who had been involved in nearly every play, dribbled past his defender and used his speed to score the game's final tally with 19:04 left in the match.

After the game, Brieger had no doubts that Westminster has what it takes to make a strong postseason push.

"So many weapons. Ishmeal and the two Beachler boys are fierce," he said. "They're quick and experienced. It's always a great time playing Westminster. They're gonna go far. Westminster is a team that can't be taken lightly ever. Those days are long gone."