Kahoks Beat Crusaders 2 to 1

COLLINSVILLE— Playing its home opener before a large turnout, the Collinsville Kahoks looked a bit sluggish Thursday in the first half against the Althoff Crusaders.

The second half was a different story.

Senior forward Matt Williams scored a goal a minute and 11 seconds into the second half and Tyler Devine tallied on a breakaway with just over five minutes remaining as Collinsville defeated Althoff 2-1 in a nonconference soccer game.

Held to a scoreless draw in the first half by a Crusaders team playing its season opener, Collinsville got on the board when Williams got a pass from Cody Sanftleben and beat Althoff goalie Zach Zoeller from 20 yards out to start the second half.

Collinsville coach Myles Hensler said his young team was just excited in the opening half.

"I would say we were just anxious. Just to see what the boys could do on the new field turf field in the home opener,'' Hensler said. "Overall, it was a pretty decent performance. We've just got one starter returning plus our goaltender Jason (Kusnerick) and while we still have a lot to work on, I was pleased.''

With Collinsville seemingly in control of the game following Devine's goal, Althoff turned up its offense.

Sophomore Nick Harper beat Kusnerick from 18 yards out with just over three minutes remaining to cut the Kahoks' lead to 2-1.

Althoff had the ball on the Kahoks side of the field, but failed to get a potential game-tying shot off as time expired.

"Collinsville played a really good, tight defense. But we had some opportunities. Defensively, we made two mistakes and it cost us,'' Crusaders coach Bernie Thebeau said.

"But it was a great effort. Our boys played really well. Collinsville is a bigger school and we stayed right them. Our seniors led and the freshmen did what they had to do and overall we played like a team.''

While neither team broke through during the first 40 minutes of play, Collinsville (2-0) had the better scoring chances as Grant Bauer, Brendan Rosenburg and Devine all had chances to score.

In the second half, the Kahoks connected -- twice.

"The second half was much better for us. We had more of a high energy level,'' Hensler said. "We were able to keep the ball for more sequences of passes and go at them (Althoff) a little better."

Althoff's best scoring chance came when junior Josh Davinroy centered the ball in front of the net off a corner kick, but Kusnerick was there to bat the ball down.