EDWARDSVILLE — Edwardsville's boys soccer team finished 13-7-1 in Josh Boyd’s first season as head coach.
Brayden Norris made a crucial save, and Ian Drew scored the decisive penalty kick as O’Fallon ended Edwardsville’s season Tuesday evening in an IHSA Class 3A boys soccer sectional semifinal at Tiger Stadium.
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The Panthers advanced with a 1-0 victory after winning the penalty shootout 5-4. Norris stopped a shot in the fourth round before Drew converted the winner following scoreless regulation and extra time.
Both Edwardsville and O’Fallon had scoring opportunities during regulation and extra time, but neither could break through before the shootout.
“I think it’s a harsh way to end it, but that’s the nature of the game, that’s the rules,” Boyd said. “So, we have to abide by it, and unfortunately, we didn’t score the ones we should have scored, and we didn’t get any saves. That’s just the nature of the game, but we’ll recover from it.”
Boyd said the Tigers’ missed opportunities reflected a challenge they faced throughout the season.
“We created some decent chances in the second half,” Boyd said. “Unfortunately, we did not put any in the back of the net, and I feel that’s been the story of our season all year: our inability to score goals in the moments that it mattered and to create more chances.”
Boyd took over for retired coach Mark Heiderscheid, who attended Tuesday’s game. Reflecting on his first season, Boyd pointed to his players’ work and development as a team.
“Obviously, just being around the game itself was so much fun, and being around these kids was so much fun,” Boyd said. “It’s tough that this is how it ended, but again, we have to do the job to make sure that we can continue on. Unfortunately, we came up short.”
The Tigers will return several players for their 2027 season.
“We return a lot of players for next year,” Boyd said, “and I think we have a lot of young kids in the mix, so I think that’s going to be beneficial. We’ll see what happens.”
