CHICAGO HEIGHTS | Despite a convincing 5-1 win against Rich South in a Class 2A Marian Catholic Regional semifinal, Spartan Keegan Oldenburg knows Marian Catholic still has room to improve.
The Spartans won 5-1 over Rich South behind a hat trick by senior Oldenburg. Alec Guarino and Nick Marijan each added one goal for Marian Catholic. Guarino finished the game with two assists.
"We always have room to improve," Oldenburg said after the win. "We saw what we did wrong today and we're going to improve on it in practice. But we did come out with the win, so I'm happy with that."
The Spartans are playing their best soccer of the season, and coach Nasser Shahtaji was impressed with what he saw on the night.
"They did a lot of good things and a lot of positive things," Shahtaji said. "We were hoping they would be a team like that and that was good towards the end of the season to see them being the team that we would always envision them being."
Marian Catholic scored four first half goals, and Guarino started the scoring midway through the first half at 18 minutes, 42 seconds to get the Spartans on the board.
"Up top we had a lot better connections which resulted in more goals," Guarino said. "Our team all together had a lot more possession and played better today."
Guarino found Oldenburg just seven minutes later to make it 2-0, and a second Oldenburg goal along with a Marijan penalty kick gave the Spartans the 4-0 lead heading into the half.
"Everything went well and we finished most of our chances in the first half," Guarino said. "A few of them were unlucky in the second but we still managed."
Marian Catholic will face Tinley Park in the final at 11 a.m. on Saturday. Oldenburg and the Spartans have one thing on their minds, and that's a win on Saturday.
"We're looking for a win," Oldenburg said. "Definitely going to give it 110 percent so you know we're going to go hard."
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