Confidence not a problem for Illineks
By: Tony Bleill
Thursday, April 30, 2009 10:28:48 AM CDT
URBANA – If a victory against Centennial last spring didn't significantly boost the self-confidence of the Urbana University High girls' soccer team, a win against Urbana earlier this month should have done the trick.
If nothing else, it further reinforced the sentiment that the Illineks' developing program is making major strides, becoming one of the area's Class 1A powers – and a serious thorn for the bigger schools, too.
Uni will enter the postseason as the No. 1 seed in the Monticello Regional, and it will carry with it the self-esteem that comes with posting some head-turning wins. Chief among the Illineks' wins was a 2-1 victory against Urbana in early April. It came almost exactly one year after Uni knocked off Centennial.
"This season has been telling in that sense," Uni coach Phil Anders said.
Before Uni's match against Champaign Central, one of the Illineks remarked that her team had gotten "lucky" to beat Centennial in 2008. Anders "had to do some convincing" that, no, Uni wasn't lucky. "We are playing good soccer," Anders told her.
"But if you don't have the attitude that you can go out and compete with anyone, then you're going to start at a disadvantage."
The match against Central, he said, was exactly that. "The girls were completely intimidated before the game even started" and lost handily. But they responded with a competitive 2-0 loss against Centennial, then soon followed with the win against Urbana.
"The best thing about (the Centennial loss) was we didn't play intimidated," Anders said, "and that was a big step for us. By the time we played Urbana, there was an attitude that everybody had. That served us well."
As a result, Anders had one more message for a couple of his veterans: "I told a couple of my juniors, 'You have another year, but before you leave, if you could impart on the incoming freshmen that you don't have to be afraid of anyone, then I won't have to make that speech every year,' " he said.
Chances are, next year he won't have to. The Illineks have only three seniors, and much of the team's core has worked with Anders for several years. The top stars are juniors Erika Belmont – whose 10 goals were among the area's best as of last week – and Michelle Wong. Several others, like sophomore Amanda Hwu, have raised their games a notch, too.
Hwu's work in slowing Urbana standout Kate Russell was a key in that victory, he said.
"I have a sophomore that can mark just about anybody in the area," Anders said.
So the future – near term and long term – looks quite bright.
"If we play solid soccer and don't lose focus," Anders said, "we've got a good opportunity to make a run to the sectionals."