Dixon, Rock Island play to 1-1 deadlock for 75 minutes Saturday

DIXON – After a back-and-forth battle for 75 minutes, the rain wouldn’t let the Dixon and Rock Island boys soccer teams determine a winner.

The Dukes and Rocks played to a 1-1 tie Saturday afternoon at Sauk Valley Community College, with the game initially delayed and eventually halted with 5 minutes remaining due to lightning.

After a scoreless first half, Dixon (12-4-2) got on the scoreboard first. A retaliatory shove by a Rock Island player in the penalty box gave the Dukes a penalty kick, and Alex Georgiev struck it into the bottom right corner of the net as the Rocks goalkeeper dove to the left side for a 1-0 lead in the 55th minute.

“I was looking around, because usually Noah Grot takes those,” Georgiev said. “But he wasn’t on the field, and I needed my redemption because I missed one against Genoa-Kingston, so I said, ‘All right, let me take this to get my confidence back.’ I knew where I was going – I always go to the same spot – and I just hit the ball well and placed it there.”

The Dixon bench erupted after the goal, showing
just how much the nonconference game against a quality opponent meant to the Dukes.

“Our team was very ecstatic for the goal and to take the lead,” Georgiev said. “I was excited; we really wanted to pull through and win, but it just didn’t work out that way.”

Rock Island netted the equalizer 7 minutes later. Isaac Almanza took a free kick from about 40 yards out, and lofted it right in front of the goal. It looked like Dixon goalkeeper Ryan Pitzer had a bead on it, but Migambi Athanas managed to get a head on it and direct it past Pitzer into the net with 17:20 to play.

“He kind of came out of nowhere,” Dixon coach Josh Brigl said. “It was a great set piece, and Ryan was right there; I wish we would’ve marked a little bit better, but it was an excellent goal by them.”

The teams, which traded runs up the field throughout the game, went back to that after the goals. The Rocks, playing with 10 men after their starting keeper was given a red card for bad language in the 19th minute, applied just as much pressure at times as the Dukes did, and both teams had chances.

Pitzer made six saves while facing 15 total shots (7 on goal), while Dixon took eight shots, five of which were on frame.

Against a talented Rock Island team, Georgiev said the game plan was to possess the ball and try to get passes up to the forwards to keep pressure on the Rocks’ back line.

“The game plan was to play through the midfield, and keep possession,” the sophomore midfielder said. “For the first half, we kind of lacked that; we were playing kickball. Second half, at the beginning we started picking it up; our coaches said we did a pretty good job. Me and my other two midfielders, Bradyn Langloss and Graesen Blumhoff, we were passing the ball pretty well and creating chances for our attackers.”

Brigl credited some halftime adjustments with putting the Dukes in a better position to score after the break.

“We made that adjustment at halftime, and we started to dial in our opportunities and get a few more; we probably could’ve capitalized a little bit more,” Brigl said. “The first half, we played well enough and we got ourselves to the second half in position to win or tie – get a result, basically. We made some improvements there; it could’ve been better, but we’ll take it. It’s a good result.”

With 5 minutes to play, lightning was detected within 10 miles of the field. Both teams cleared the sideline and took shelter – Dixon in a field-side equipment shed and Rock Island on its bus – and it was determined that they would wait out the mandatory 30-minute delay. However, the rain kept coming down harder, and after three more visible flashes of lightning in the next 25 minutes, the game was called final.

While both teams would’ve liked to have finished to the final horn, Brigl and the Dukes weren’t going to let the rain dampen their spirits about the tie.

“We had lot of pressure, we had a lot of chances, and we definitely could’ve come out of this with a win today, but we’re still really excited about it,” Brigl said. “They’re probably, in terms of quality, the best team on our schedule, and we just tied them. We’ll take that, absolutely.”

Boys soccer

Dixon 1, Rock Island 1

Star of the game: Alex Georgiev, Dixon, 1 goal

Key performers: Migambi Athanas, RI, 1 goal; Isaac Almanza, RI, 1 assist; Ryan Pitzer, Dixon, 6 saves

Up next: Rochelle at Dixon, 6 p.m. Tuesday