Mendota boys soccer eyeing 1st state berth

Entering the Class 1A Bloomington Central Catholic Supersectional on Tuesday, the Mendota boys soccer team’s plan is simple.

The Trojans (23-0) hope to play to the same level they did in Saturday’s 3-2 victory over Quincy Notre Dame in the Illinois Valley Central Sectional championship.

“For us, the key is going to be to figure out a way to duplicate exactly what we did on Saturday,” said Mendota coach Nick Myers, whose team will play the host Saints (23-3-1) in the supersectional. “We played our best game since I’ve been coaching here. Every single player was ready to go. We were focused. We limited our errors. These guys are going to have to get ramped up for one more game. We have a few guys who are dinged up and playing through injuries. From the spring until now, we’ve been in a number of close games and big games. We’ve been on both sides of them. Hopefully, we can rely on all that experience and bank on the fact if our front can give Quincy Notre Dame fits, hopefully we can do the same to Bloomington.”

The winner of Tuesday’s match advances to the state tournament Friday at EastSide Centre.

Myers said the Trojans will look to capitalize on the Saints’ style of defense. BCC has allowed 18 goals and recorded 14 shutouts, including in all four postseason games.

“They look to be very aggressive,” Myers said. “They have some speed. I’ve watched them play a few times on film, and it looks like they don’t like to hold onto the ball in the back. They like to get rid of it as quick as possible and send it long to (forward Jaylen Bischoff). Hopefully, with the amount of pressure we normally apply on teams in the back with our offense we can catch them in a couple mistakes and punch one or two in.”

Offensively, BCC relies on Bischoff, who has scored 27 goals and notched 16 assists. J Carter has 26 goals and 27 assists, while J Jongky has 25 goals and 25 assists for the Saints, who have scored 99 goals.

“They have a really good striker up front,” Myers said. “He’s a big, physical kid who has quite a bit of speed that they look to send it long too. He’s definitely a presence for them.”

On top of facing a tough Saints team, the Trojans must do so on Bloomington Central Catholic’s home field. The Saints are 12-1-1 at home.

The Saints also played the sectional on their home field, beating Normal University High, 2-0, in the championship.

“That’s an added element for us,” Myers said about playing at BCC. “We had to beat Serena at Serena to win the regional, so we’ve been in that situation before.

“From watching game film from Saturday, it looks like they had a huge crowd. We’re up to the challenge.”

While Myers expects the Saints to have a large crowd, he said he expects the Trojans will have plenty of support as well.

And after winning the program’s first sectional title Saturday, the Trojans hope to earn their first state berth in front of a big purple and gold contingent.

“Our main goal was winning a sectional, which is something we’ve never done before, but in the back of my mind and the kids’ mind, every team wants to go to state,” Myers said. “For that to be a reality, now that we’re playing to go to state, it’s starting to set in with the kids. We’re excited, and we’re ready. It would mean everything (to get to state).

“We’ve had huge support from the community the last couple weeks. We had a gigantic crowd at the sectional and a ton of support when we get back to town with police escorts. We anticipate a big Mendota crowd at the game (Tuesday).”