2011 Soccer Run

The Pleasant Plains boys’ soccer team had another great season this year, making it all the way to the Regional finals where they came up short in a great game against Quincy Notre Dame, which ended in a 1-0 loss. The final record for this year’s season was sixteen wins, four losses, and three ties. We interviewed two of the three captains, Andrew Hamerlinck and Tyler Cameron, along with both Coach Bryan and Coach O’Connor.
The Cardinals began the season’s first three games by scoring 4 or more goals against Litchfield, Carlinville, and Lincoln. “The seniors did a great job of leading the rest of the team, bringing experience and competitiveness to raise the bar for the rest of the players,” said Coach Bryan. Approaching the middle, and hardest part, of the season, the team focused mainly on formation and strategy. Unfortunately, the Cardinals hit a rough patch between Springfield High, Jacksonville High, and Rochester. “We started out strong and competitive, but we had a little lull where we couldn’t finish,” said Coach O’Connor, “we put our whole game together towards tournament time.” The Cardinals defeated Williamsville 5-0 and then went on to face Quincy Notre Dame in the Regional Championship game. Both coaches found the game against Quincy Notre Dame to be the high point of the season. “We played all 80 minutes with the never die mentality,” said O’Connor.
Both Andrew Hamerlinck and Tyler Cameron, senior captains for the Cardinals, felt that the season went better than expected. Tyler Cameron, a defender, was able to score two goals for the Cardinals this year. “Tying Williamsville then beating them 4-1 the next time we played them was one of my favorite memories from the season,” said Cameron. Andrew Hamerlinck, who plays goalie, had five shutouts this season and one assist at goal. The Regional Championship game against QND was his favorite season memory. “Even though we lost to the team, who then went on to win state, we played hard and I’m proud of that,” said Hamerlinck. Although both captains plan on continuing their soccer careers in college, they are undecided as to where they would like to play.
Over all, it was another good season with a final record of 16-4-3. Although the team is graduating 9 of 11 starters, we are excited to see what next year’s season will bring.

Sebastian Power and Chris O’Connor
-The Cardinal