URBANA — Junior Dan Lilly scored three goals in the first half and another in the second to lead the Illineks to a 4-2 victory over Oakwood in the final game of the eighth annual Uni High Soccer Shoot Out this afternoon.

The junior forward ended the day with five goals to his credit, representing the entire output of the Uni offense. Last year Lilly led the team in goals with 10.

The Illineks went 1-2 in their season-opening tournament, which took place at the DCR Soccer Fields on the University of Illinois campus.

Uni finished third in the four-team Shoot Out, behind champion Blue Ridge (3-0) and runner-up Fisher/GCMS (2-1). Oakwood placed fourth (0-3).

It was the first time Uni failed to win at least a share of the tournament championship.

Nonetheless, Lilly's high-scoring performance in the finale and the teamwork that set up the goals allowed Uni to end on an optimistic note, according to head coach Phil Anders.

"Our depth isn’t quite developed at this point, [and] our team chemistry isn’t quite there," he said. "But I think today we made some progress on that. The final game, we didn’t make any excuses. Especially the first half, we simply decided to play."

A slow start

The Illineks opened with a 2-0 loss to Blue Ridge, then dropped a 3-1 decision to Fisher/GCMS. Lilly's unassisted goal at the 42nd-minute mark of the Fisher/GCMS match was the team's only scoring until the Oakwood game. (The Shoot Out used 30-minute halves and 10-minute halftimes.)

"The first game that we played, against Blue Ridge, they [the Knights] played a physical game," Anders said. "But if you saw the first 10, 15 minutes of that, we were in their half, we were passing around like we were the ones who knew how to play the game. It looked like it was only a matter of time before we were going to put the ball into the net. And then the first goal happened, and it was a direct kick, and it was a marking issue in front of the goal. After that we collectively slumped."

The Fisher/GCMS game followed a similar pattern.

"Again we started out like gangbusters, playing a very fluid game," Anders said. "It looked like we really knew how to play this game — and we do, it’s just the mental lapses that are beating us. … To bounce back from that, we just didn’t have it in us in those games. The goal we scored in that Fisher game I think was more out of frustration by Dan. He just blew by everyone. … He turned up the intensity, but his teammates didn’t come along with him."

Back on track

That changed against Oakwood. Lilly got things rolling 13 minutes into the contest with an unassisted goal, his second of the tournament. Four minutes later, freshman Conrad Scholer set up Lilly for another score, improving Uni's lead to 2-0. Senior Stephen Prochaska assisted on Lilly's third goal with three minutes left before halftime.

Oakwood narrowed the score to 3-2 in the second half, but with eight minutes remaining, Lilly put the game away when he connected on his final goal, with an assist by junior Eric Fritzsche.

Besides Scholer, freshmen Brandon Lin and Dax Earl also saw action as Anders worked on different combinations in the field. Junior Nile Hamer started in goal all three games, replacing the graduated Isaac Radnitzer. He finished with 17 saves on the day.

Seniors Holden Bucher and Carl Pearson left the Oakwood contest with injuries, but both players should be back next week. Bucher began the Shoot Out on offense, but Anders moved him to the defensive side as the tourney progressed.

Finding the chemistry

Uni entered this season with a majority of starters back from last year's 13-9-1 squad that reached the Class A Monticello sectional championship game against Teutopolis. Besides Lilly, Prochaska, Bucher, and Pearson, other varsity veterans include seniors Noel Knox, Carter Hutchens, and Russell Prochaska. But all-conference players such as Radnitzer, forward Jake Seeley, and defender T.J. Bozada might be more difficult to replace than many fans had imagined.

"You know, the key components for this team really aren’t much different than what they were last year," Anders said. "There are a few key players that we’re missing from the starting lineup, but the other key components were there last year. I told a number of the guys that the last three goals that we scored last year in the [state] tournament were by Noel, by Carter, and by Dan. All those guys are here, and Holden contributed to the last two of those goals. So all those components are here. It's just that apparently the glue that brought them together last year is not quite there. So that’s something we've got to work on."

For Uni, the Shoot Out was the season opener. But Blue Ridge came into the tournament having already played two games, victories over Heyworth and Iroquois West, while Fisher/GCMS had defeated Judah Christian.

"Maybe it would have helped if we would have had some games before this, but you’ve got to start somewhere," Anders said.

Though the 1-2 start wasn't what the team had anticipated, Anders believes some value will come out of the losses, if only as a "reality check" for the players.

"I think it’s a good lesson to learn," he said, "that it always takes hard work, it takes focusing on the task at hand, and it takes teamwork."