By Gargoyle sports staff
Posted Thursday, Oct. 19, 2006, The OG, sports

MONTICELLO — For the first time in school history, a Uni boys soccer team is within one game of qualifying for the IHSA Class A state tournament.

The Illineks advanced to the Monticello sectional title game by defeating St. Thomas More 6-2 this afternoon. Senior striker Martin Granick led Uni with four goals, raising his season total to 17. Junior midfielder Jake Seeley and senior attacking midfielder Michael Belmont added one goal each.

Uni is now 17-3-1, the best record in school history.

The Illineks will play for the sectional championship 3 p.m. Monday at Monticello High School. They will face the winner of Friday's semifinal match between Warrensburg-Latham and Bloomington Central Catholic. [Update: Uni will play the Warrensburg-Latham Cardinals, who defeated Bloomington Central Catholic 1-0 Friday afternoon.]

The winner of Monday's title game will advance to the eight-team state tournament, which will begin Oct. 27 at North Central College in Naperville. According to Athletic Director Sally Walker, no Uni “ball team” (soccer, volleyball, basketball) has ever made it to an IHSA state tournament.

Uni is the No. 1 seed in the Monticello sectional. STM, the No. 13 seed, entered the game with a 4-5 record against varsity teams and a 12-0 record against JV competition. This is STM's inaugural season for boys soccer. To reach the semifinals, STM upset No. 4 seed Monticello and No. 12 seed Macon Meridian.

“Some people told me that we got lucky with the upsets on our side of the bracket, and that we were going to have a cakewalk to the sectional final,” Belmont said. “But I thought St. Thomas More deserved to be in the sectional semifinal, and that they should have been seeded higher.”

Uni head coach Bill DeJarnette agreed.

“This was a good game for us, a fast game, the kind we expect Monday's to be,” he said. “St. Thomas More did a good job of preparing for us. They came to play.”

Granick began the scoring in the first half with an assist from senior Tomasz Kalbarczyk. His other goals came in the second half, with assists from Belmont and seniors Nick Pratt and Sam Klein.

Seeley scored Uni's second goal, assisted by Granick. It was Seeley's 10th goal of the year.

Uni went into halftime ahead 2-0, but the lead could have been 3-0. Granick was denied a goal because he scored it barely a second after the half ended.

“We started out a little tight, so our touches weren't as good as they should have been,” DeJarnette said. “But we settled down.”

Granick didn't waste time getting back into the scoring groove when play resumed. He notched his next goal just 1 minute, 54 seconds into the second half, putting Uni up 3-0.

Belmont, the area's leading scorer, added his 29th goal of the season about two and a half minutes later, just 35 seconds after St. Thomas More scored its first goal of the game.

Despite having a comfortable 4-1 lead, the Illineks continued to attack. Granick scored his third goal with 33:56 left, an arcing shot that went over STM's keeper.

The Sabers scored again with 28:15 remaining, narrowing the lead to 5-2.

“They were pretty dangerous offensively,” Belmont said of STM. “Things could have easily gotten out of hand for us if we hadn't scored those three goals at the beginning of the first half.”

The next 22:27 were scoreless as STM's keeper made several excellent stops to frustrate the Illineks.

Granick scored the game's final goal with 5:48 left.

Juniors Isaac Radnitzer and Mike Renner shared goal-keeping duties for the Illineks, Radnitzer in the first half and Renner in the second.

“St. Thomas More gave us a great game,” DeJarnette said. “Their keeper made some outstanding saves. They have talent. This will get us ready for Monday.”

2006 VARSITY RECORD: 17-3-1 overall, 4-0 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
Oct. 3: Unity, T 1-1
Oct. 5: at Catlin (Salt Fork), W 2-0
Oct. 10: at Normal Calvary Baptist,* W 5-1
Oct. 12: at Monticello, W 4-0
Oct. 16: Sullivan (at U of I, Monticello sectional), W 6-0 * *
Oct. 19: St. Thomas More (at Monticello H.S., Monticello sectional), W 6-2 * *
*East Central Illinois Conference opponent
* *As the No. 1 seed, Uni is the home team in all sectional games