Merkel's Blast Seals the Deal

Dan Merkel’s blast from outside the penalty area with 15 minutes remaining “sealed the deal” in last Saturday’s match with the Scott-Gallagher U18’s. “Merk”, a hard-working reserve Hawk forward, picked up a loose ball at the top of the 18 and hit a screamer the SG keeper had no chance to save. The goal was “Merk’s” first for the Hawks and a great reward for all the effort he’s put out over the past three season. The play was nicely started by Jack Wedemeier gaining control of a loose ball in the Hawk end of the field and passing it to outside left midfielder Abe Dirnberger who carried the ball the ball forward a good 40 yards to make a centering pass back to Wedemeier racing down the middle (after his pass) to get himself in scoring position. As Dirnberger’s pass reached Wedemeier he and a SG defender collided and the ball ran free for Merkel to pick up and slot home.

The Hawks kicked off the first half with a lot of energy and were rewarded with a Grant Ellison goal after 15 minutes of play. The play started at midfield with Greg Schaeffer making a great long diagonal pass out behind SG’s left fullback into the open space that Hawk right fullback Tom Dawson was running into. Dawson collected the pass and beat a SG defender at the bye line and started dribbling in towards the goal. After a couple touches Dawson played a ground ball into Ellison’s path and he deflected it into the goal for QU’s opening score.

The score remained 1-0 until 8 minutes into the second half when Grant Ellison picked off a poor goal kick from the Gallaher goalie and drilled it into an open net for his second goal of the game and his 6th of the spring season.

Bane Isailovic scored the Hawk’s third goal of the day with a header at the far post coming off a well-flighted ball from Steve Miller who was taking the re-start free kick after a SG foul over near the left sideline.

All in all Saturday was a fine outing for the Hawks. Their next match is slated for Sunday, May 4th, against the Metro United Academy team from Edwardsville IL. Kick-off is 1:30 PM at QU’s North Campus Field.

GO HAWKS…

Soccer Hawks defeat Hannibal-LaGrange College 3-0

On a beautiful Tuesday night the Soccer Hawks defeated Hannibal-LaGrange College by the score of 3-0. Corey Eatherton got the Hawks on the scoreboard in just the second minute of the opening half by receiving a great diagonal pass from Grant Ellison and sliding it past HLG's goal keeper (who made several fine saves during the rest of the half). After this opening goal the Hawks played fairly well for about a ten minute stretch, and then sort of faded a bit (something that can’t for sure become a habit).

After the half-time interval the Hawks went out and picked up the level of their play and were rewarded with a goal 8 minutes from kick-off. Once again Grant Ellison was the provider, using his speed to get free on the right flank and then hitting another great diagonal pass to Justin Bower who had sped up the left sideline. Bower collected the pass outside the 18 and after two touches launched an excellent low line drive into the far right corner of the net.

Grant Ellison closed out the scoring with a goal at the 70th minute mark. Jack Wedemeier collected a loose ball around midfield, near the left sideline, looked up and saw Ellison sprinting between two defenders, and chipped a perfect pass into the space for Ellison to run onto. Grant collected the ball and after a couple of dribbles hit a bomb from the left side of the penalty area into the right hand side of the goal.

The closest Hannibal came to scoring was very late in the contest when a Hawk defender was charged with a penalty kick for flattening an HLG player streaking in on goal. However, the resulting spot kick went way over the top of the crossbar.

All in all, this was another good outing for the Hawks. The next game is Saturday 4/26 at Noon at the Scott-Gallagher Complex on the south part of Creve Coeur Mill Rd. in Maryland Heights.
The next Hawk home match is Sunday, May 4th at 1:30 PM with the Metro United Academy team.

FIRE UP QU, FIRE UP! IT’S A GREAT TIME TO BE A HAWK!

QU Hawks Tie SIU-E Cougars 1-1

On Saturday, April 19th, the Soccer Hawks and the SIU-E Cougars battled to a 1-1 tie at the Scott-Gallagher Soccer Complex in Maryland Heights, MO. Each team played well, and each had periods where one was pressuring more than the other. However, each squad only found the “back of the net” once, with both scores coming about midway through the first half. The Cougars got out in front at the 21 minute mark. However, their lead didn’t last long as Grant Ellison picked up a loose ball around the SIU-E penalty area and drilled in an equalizer just 2 minutes later. After that, most of the action was a battle of trying to create chances with most of the game being played between the 18 yard lines.

The Hawks next scheduled game is Tuesday, April 22 at 7 PM at QU’s North Campus Field. However, early weather forecasts are calling for quite a bit of rain Tuesday, so it’s possible that the game may be changed to another day so as not to tear up the playing surface on QU’s home field. IF…IF that game has to be changed every effort will be made to send out a blast e-mail as soon as possible to alert anyone who might be traveling to attend. If you are in doubt as to whether or not the game is “on” call my cell phone # 217-617-1166.

Speaking about playing surfaces…the playing surface at the Scott-Gallagher Complex was the best artificial surface we’ve ever played on. It looked beautiful. It played beautiful. And it “plays well” even when very wet. If all getting this blog would donate $5000 I think we’d have enough to put this in at North Campus Field. Then, we’d never have to cancel a practice or game.

Hawks Win Spring Season Opener 2-0

On Tuesday night, April 15th, the Soccer Hawks opened their spring season with a 2-0 win over visiting Columbia College. Both teams played pretty well considering it was their first outdoor game since last November. The Hawks were pretty sharp and supplied most of the pressure throughout the whole game. Their first goal came after 12 minutes of the opening stanza when Jayme Groark played a great through ball out in front of a streaking Grant Ellison who carried for a couple dribbles then unleashed a bullet of a shot into the goal. The Hawks second goal came about 16 minutes into the second half when Mike DiSalvo picked off a pass and fed it to Jake Pittroff who then played a 1-2-1-2 passing sequence with Ellison who then notched his second goal of the match.

The next Hawk game will be Saturday, April 19th, at NOON against SIU-E at the Scott-Gallagher Soccer Club Complex located at 2350 Creve Coure Mill Road in Maryland Heights area of St. Louis.

The Hawks return home to play Hannibal-LaGrange College at 7 PM Tuesday 4/22 at North Campus Field.


GO HAWKS…