Washington holds off Mahomet-Seymour soccer in championship game

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By Fred Kroner

After three consecutive shutout wins to start the season, Mahomet-Seymour’s boys’ soccer team was held scoreless in the championship match of its own invitational on Saturday (Aug. 27).

In the title match, Washington blanked the Bulldogs, 2-0. Earlier in the day, M-S edged Normal West, 1-0 behind a game-winning goal from Nolan Wheeler for the second straight game.

Wheeler scored in the second half to snap the scoreless tie.

Zach Beyer recorded  nine saves.

“M-S had a solid day with a win against one of the top teams in Bloomington-Normal, and a strong showing against one of the top Peoria-area teams,” M-S coach Jeremy Davis said. “Both opponents returned the majority of players from teams that made runs deep into the postseason last year.

“Several of the Bulldogs had their strongest performances to date against the best opponents to date. Caeden Simpson and Nick Tjahjadi have played exceptionally well each game in allowing the Bulldogs to stifle opponents.

“In the finals, the Bulldogs had some of their best possession-based soccer of the year moving the ball into wide areas. Unfortunately, they simply were unable to connect on the final pass to finish the ball in the net. The midfielders had their best game in the build-up phase of the game moving the ball forward.”

Against Washington, Beyer had a season-high 11 saves.

M-S (3-1) returns to action on Tuesday (Aug. 30) at home against Mount Zion in the Apollo Conference opener.