By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

RESERVE — University struck swiftly in its Division III quarterfinal soccer match at Riverside Monday, netting two goals in the first 10 minutes of play en route to a 5-0 victory.

It ended the best season in the history of the Riverside boys program, the Rebels finishing with a record of 10-10-3 and their first-ever postseason victories.

“We got a couple of big wins, and it’s a great feeling to make history at our school,” Riverside goalkeeper Evan Kenney said. “We’ve got a great coach, and playing with these guys has been amazing. We lost (to University) a couple of times in district play, so we had to build up our mentality. We tried to hold them in check (Monday), but they were tough.

“But we’ve been on a heck of a run, and just about everyone is back next year.”

The Rebels will graduate just one senior and will return all 11 starters from this year’s quarterfinalist. They ran into a more experienced University team that defeated Riverside 5-1 and 10-0 in two district matchups.

“We knew this team had some momentum built up coming in,” University coach Chris Mitchell said. “They’d won their first two playoff games ever. I explained to our guys that this is a different season. Riverside’s transformed themselves, and I can’t say enough about the job they’ve done.

“Three teams from our district (University, St. Charles Catholic and Riverside) all reached the quarterfinals, which says a lot about the quality of soccer played in our district.”

In the sixth minute of play, Thomas Kobetz received a perfect pass just in front of the Rebels’ goal, which he popped in to make it a 1-0 Cubs lead.

In the 10th minute, Scot McKenzie nailed a point blank range header to make it 2-0.

“We played with a defensive mindset,” Riverside coach Jonathan Reed said. “They took advantage of a couple of mistakes we made early on.”

That 2-0 score held until the 25th minute, when Ben Smith nailed a goal to push the University advantage to three, which stood through halftime.

“We wanted to come out and score early to take away them momentum,” Mitchell said. “We were a little banged up after a physical game against Haynes, and we wanted to get out ahead as quickly as possible to lessen the toll on a few of our guys in the second half.”

The Cubs added two more goals, each coming with less than six minutes to play in the game.

Riverside’s Tyler Gauthier and Bailey Vicknair each got shots off on goal in the second half, but the University defense kept the Rebel opportunities few and far in between.

“We came out with that football mentality,” Gauthier said. “Play tough, play physical and give yourself a chance. It just didn’t go our way.

“Next year, we want to come out and build on the success we’ve had, except hopefully take it a little further.”

Reed said the Rebels had a season and finish “nobody could have expected.”

“Our guys had qualities you can’t teach,” Reed said. “When you look at the heart and effort they’ve competed with … I can tell you not one of these kids has any reason to leave hanging their head.”

For next season, Reed echoed the thoughts of his top striker, Gauthier.

“We don’t want to plateau,” Reed said. “The sky’s the limit for this group if everyone stays hungry. Finishing as a quarterfinalist is a fine confidence booster for next year.”