IHSA Events Kick Off Today (IHSSN Soccer Coverage)

Illini Bluffs @ Monmouth-Roseville (Soccer)
8/23/10

One of the glaring weaknesses of IHSSN.net since it's inception has been the absence of the "less covered" sports. Football obviously gets the most publicity of all the IHSA sports (along with boy's basketball). Volleyball gets little play from the media, and soccer, golf, tennis, and swimming get even less love. My aim this fall is to branch out and cover the rest of these sports to an extent.

The 2010-11 sports calendar began today, as far as games go. With Monmouth-Roseville coming off a regional championship a season ago, the team also has quite a bit of talent returning. The Titans opened at home (Roseville) against Illini Bluffs. The Titans play a majority of their home games at Eugene Tinker Field, the former football field for the Roseville Panthers. Two games on the schedule will be played at Monmouth College.

I headed down Route 67 and pulled into the high school parking lot. I believe the last game I covered at Roseville, was a 2004 football game between Yorkwood/Roseville and Bushnell-Prairie City/Avon.

Athletic Director Chuck Grant and assistant basketball coach Jimmy Jordan were manning the gates. Trying to offset some expenses, the school will now charge admission for other events they formerly did not, including soccer. I didn't realize the cost that hosting a sporting event cost, just on officials alone.

During the first half of the soccer match, I shot the bull with these two, talking about summer basketball, the Titans football scrimmage, among many other things. Jimmy was the soccer man, answering both Chuck and I's questions about the game. This was the first soccer match I have covered in person, and honestly do not know much about the game. Monmouth-Roseville took a 2-1 lead at halftime, on goals by Gerardo Ayala (a converted goalie). Diego Suarez and Carlos Ruiz had the assists.

In the second half, I headed down to the sidelines to shoot some video clips of the action. Unfortunately, all of the goal scoring happened in the first half, and the Titans held on for a 2-1 win. Chino Ayala, the single-season goals record holder at the school (23), is suffering from an injury and was thought to be missing the first two weeks, however he did see some field tonight.

Monmouth College women's soccer coach Barry McNamara was in attendance.

I learned a lot about soccer in my coverage tonight. Soccer is a very exciting and fun to watch sport. The fans really get into the action as well. I look forward to covering many more soccer matches in the future!