Mooney blanks neighborly rivals

Ten of the Mooney players are from Poland.
By BILL SULLIVAN
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
POLAND -- Three players scored goals but it was a defensive stop late in the first half that turned the tide, as the Cardinal Mooney High boys soccer team blanked Poland 3-0 Saturday.
Ken Willis, Mark Seddon and Pat Walker scored for Mooney (1-1), but goalie Tim Reigrut came up with the big stop when the Cardinals were still clinging to a slim 1-0 lead.
Willis exploited a Poland defensive breakdown and, after a free run down the left sideline, his 17-foot left-footed shot found home past a diving Poland goalie, John Aldan.
"I kind of stopped and hesitated for a moment," Willis said of his tally, which came at 14:26 of the half.
"Then I just pushed the ball up the sideline and took it to goal and put it in."
Poland bid denied
Reigrut, the regular on the Mooney team that reached the regional last fall, wasn't tested much early, but Poland became recharged when it fell behind.
Less than three minutes before the half, Bulldog senior forward JR Flis found Mike Hallock with a nice pass at the top corner of the Mooney box and Reigrut attacked.
Hallock turned and fired but the Mooney net-minder stole the ball out of the air, denying the potentially tying kick.
"It was just one-on-one," Reigrut said of the shot from 14 feet out. "I just moved a little to my left."
Poland (0-1) tried nine shots and Reigrut answered all the Bulldog questions.
"He did the right thing, he tried finishing to one side and the goalie happened to step that way instead of the other way," Poland coach Chris Labatte said of Hallock, a sophomore.
"It would have been 1-1."
Players are neighbors
Mooney coach Lenny Krispinsky thought the game was going to be tough on both teams because many players are neighbors.
"We have 10 players between the varsity and J.V. team that are from Poland," Krispinsky said. "This game is kind of like a backyard rivalry.
"We've known these kids for a long time. These kids grew up playing soccer against each other."
With the second half only 90 seconds old, Willis shot from the right flank, about 25-feet away. Seddon was left unmarked and his header made it 2-0.
"I just tried to drive it straight across the goal and hoped someone would be there," Willis said. "Seddon was there."
Seddon was the first of several Cardinals to strip off his jersey and wave it overhead after the score. Defender Michael Hernan was quick to follow. Both are Poland natives.
Late in the game Walker scored from 20 feet out front after D. J. Meyers found him alone.
Previous outcomes
Poland beat the Cardinals twice in 2000, including in a shoot-out to decide the district championship. Mooney defeated the Bulldogs 4-0 in 2001, and Poland when on to a 1-10-4 season.
"We changed up just a little but not too much," Labatte said. "In the second half we just opened it up a little bit more."
Mooney tried more shots (12-9), and each goalie had nine saves.