By Jason He
Gargoyle staff reporter
Posted Saturday, Sept. 30, 2006, The OG, sports

URBANA — They didn't break any records in terms of scoring, but the Uni boys soccer team performed respectably today in a 5-1 loss against the Class AA Urbana Tigers in a home game at DCR fields.

With their third consecutive loss, the Illineks' season record falls to 12-3.

Uni fell behind almost midway through the first half as Urbana senior Alberto Barreda craftily turned on two Illinek defenders and slipped a shot to the far corner to score.

Urbana continued to pressure Uni for the most part, but Uni was able to strike back. WIth about 10 to 15 minutes left in the half, the Illineks came agonizingly close to equalizing the game when senior Michael Belmont broke through the Urbana defense on a pass from junior Jake Seeley. Belmont, Uni's leading scorer, put a shot on target that the Urbana keeper was just able to touch with his fingertips so that it deflected off the post and out of the goal. Within two minutes, fellow senior Jeremy Pillow fired another dangerous shot from about 20 yards out that also hit the post.

Within five minutes of Uni's offensive frenzy, Urbana struck again to the dismay and extreme frustration of the Illineks, with sophomore Tim Parks netting the goal. The home team went into the halftime break down 2-0 and demoralized.

The Tigers' senior Nick Delucia scored again early in the second half to lead 3-0 before Belmont netted a penalty kick in the 62nd minute for his 20th goal of the season.

After that, there weren't many good chances left for Uni. Urbana got goals from Barreda and senior Thomas Pickering (also from a penalty kick) before the end of the game. Many players saw time for Uni in the second half, as head coach Bill DeJarnette began heavy subsitutions after Urbana's third goal.

“We had a few good opportunities that we didn't capitalize on,” senior Ben Hyman said.

Even though the Illineks probably expected to do a little better, today's performance didn't disappoint, either.

‘We didn't play badly … I think we did pretty good, especially considering how we played our last two games,” Hyman said.

DeJarnette was equally pleased.

“We looked a lot better today,” he told the team after the game. “We got a lot of guys on the field. That's what it's going to take for us to be competitive.

“There's only four games I care about: It's the last four of the season, gentlemen. We have to get there, we have to finish them, we've got to get to state,” DeJarnette added. “And it's going to take all of you to do it.”

Next: The Illineks host Unity at DCR fields 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

2006 VARSITY RECORD: 12-3 overall, 3-0 ECIC
(Home games in bold)
Aug. 26: Blue Ridge (Uni Soccer Shootout), W 6-0
Aug. 26: Oakwood (Uni Soccer Shootout), W 5-2
Aug. 26: Fisher/Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley (Uni Soccer Shootout), W 7-2
Aug. 29: Judah Christian,* W 2-0
Aug. 31: at Mahomet-Seymour, W 2-0
Sept. 5: Fisher/GCMS, W 3-0
Sept. 7: at Decatur Christian,* W 12-0
Sept. 9: at Sullivan, W 9-1
Sept. 12: Oakwood, W 3-2
Sept. 14: at Iroquois West, W 7-1
Sept. 19: Decatur Lutheran,* W 4-1
Sept. 21: Champaign Central, W 2-1
Sept. 25: at Warrensburg-Latham, L 2-0
Sept. 28: at Danville Schlarman, L 2-0
Sept. 30: Urbana, L 5-1
*East Central Illinois Conference opponent