Acosta brothers lead Spartans to road win over Sabers after slow start

CHAMPAIGN — The first 10 minutes didn’t amount to much.

All of the action early between the visiting St. Joseph-Ogden boys’ soccer team and St. Thomas More happened in the middle of the field.

But then, the Spartans’ offense got in gear. Increased its pressure. And proved why they’re one of the top area teams to beat in a Thursday afternoon match that had Illini Prairie championship implications on the line between the two rivals.

“It’s really just a buildup,” SJ-O senior Logan Mills said. “We pass the ball around to get into the flow of the game. You’re not going to go out there and just be perfect, so it’s about getting a feel for the other team. So, as soon as we put in that first goal, we know how to take it from there.”

The Spartans showed how with a 3-0 win against the Sabers to continue their impressive month.

“After we score our first goal, that’s where we get most of our energy,” Mills said. “We’re usually a little dry at the beginning, but as soon as we get that first goal, we’re a completely different team. We just go and go and go.”

It took the Spartans (13-2-1) a bit to score that first goal, but it wasn’t for a lack of chances. The defensive effort by STM’ (4-5-2) had a lot to do with the match staying scoreless for the opening 30 minutes.

The Sabers’ backline of brothers, Owen and Jacob Yeager, did a good job handling SJ-O’s pressure and made every shot a tough one that either missed the net or fell right into the hands of goalie Nicolas Ribiero O’Grady.

“We trust our defensive stoppers back there,” STM coach Zach Megginson said. “We definitely battled. The message to the guys was, ‘Just work as hard as you can, and do everything you can to stop them from scoring goals.’ Work through those first 10 minutes, grind those out and get to the next 10 minutes. That’s what we talk about almost every game.”

The Spartans continued to send shots toward the net, but none were falling. Rather than get discouraged, Mills said, they saw it as confirmation that they were playing well.

That first goal finally came in the 33rd minute, when Alex Acosta found a little free space and fired another shot right at Ribiero O’Grady that short-hopped him and bounced over his head and into the net.

“As long as we keep putting up shots, one of them is going to go in,” Mills said. “It gave us a lot of momentum, especially against a team like this. They’re a team that with momentum can get on you and pressure you, but we put them down a little bit. They definitely weren’t as aggressive after we got that first goal, and I think that’s where we took over.”

The Sabers’ only real scoring opportunity came at the end of the first half. Jack Rentschler lined up a free kick with 10 seconds left and fired it toward the left edge of the goal, but SJ-O goalie Jaxson Colvin made a diving save to keep his shutout intact heading into the half.

The Spartans led 1-0 at the break and came out with the same offensive intensity, seeing two solid scoring chances just miss in the first two minutes of the second half.

Yadi Acosta, Alex’s younger brother, increased SJ-O’s lead to 2-0 in the 59th minute, sending a hard shot through a crowd in front of the net on a free kick from about 30 yards away. Alex sealed the win in the 72nd minute, when another shot ricocheted off the goalie and across the line.

This game, it was the Acosta brothers, but it could have easily been just about anyone else on that SJ-O offense, which was averaging 8.4 goals during its previous five matches. Mills and Zach Harper have both scored multiple hat tricks this season, making it hard for opposing teams to focus on just one of the offensive options SJ-O has.

“We’re really diverse,” Mills said. “Every single person on our offense is good. Alex and Yadi work together phenomenally as brothers, and our wide players have great touch. It’s just a very good, diverse team, and we’re always on the same page.”

The win was the Spartans’ sixth in a row after a tie with Fisher/Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley two weeks ago, and they haven’t lost in nearly a month after starting 1-2.

“It definitely gives us a lot of confidence, but we know there are going to be teams that put the pressure on us, just like (Thursday),” Mills said. “We weren’t expecting to win this game 7-0 or 9-0. We just had to adjust.”

The Sabers have been on more of a downswing lately, going 0-4-1 after a 4-1-1 start to the season. That said, STM’s 2024 campaign has already looked far and away better than its 4-13-1 showing last year. While it doesn’t look like the Sabers will be competing for the IPC crown, they’re taking the next steps to it.

“It’s their confidence,” Megginson said. “We worked really hard in the offseason, and the guys started to believe they could win games. They have so far, and they’ve done a great job.”