CHICAGO HEIGHTS | Crete-Monee can't be faulted for taking pride in its boys soccer win over Marian Catholic.
The Warriors beat the Spartans 2-0 Monday night in a matchup of two non-conference foes that was a possible playoff preview, and the Crete-Monee players know that wins like this are worth their weight in gold.
"I thought we played really well," Warrior goalie Luke Cogan said after the shutout. "This was a good challenge. We should have more of these and too bad we don't. Too bad they're not in our conference, I would love it."
The Spartans (7-6-3) battled Crete-Monee (10-1-2) to a 0-0 tie through the first half, before Carlos Posada found the back of the net for the Warriors 8 minutes, 30 seconds into the second half. The goal came off of a Daniel Tucker throw in and Tucker was credited with the assist. Jake Cogan added a second goal, assisted by Ryan Sadowski, less than eight minutes later.
"I saw that Carlos had two guys on him so I took a touch," Cogan said of his goal. "I was like 'why not' and shot and it went in. "
Marian Catholic matched the speed and athleticism of the Warriors for forty minutes, but Spartans coach Nasser Shahtaji said that in the future his team must be ready for the entire match.
"The first half we stayed with them," Shahtaji said. "We did a good job of limiting their space and freedom. In the second half, we lost track of them on two occasions and they punished us. Hopefully the kids learn to play the game for eighty minutes."
Luke Cogan had a quiet night in goal for the Warriors recording five saves. Chris Taborn made six saves for the Spartans.
"We're excited with how they showed up," Crete-Monee coach Julian Lagunas said. "We knew that they were going to be guarding Carlos very heavily. We knew that other people needed to step up and that's exactly what happened. Jake had an excellent game. We knew Carlos would get his goal eventually and he got it."
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