Published Saturday

May 6, 2006

Lincoln East slips past Millard South

BY DARYL BLUE

LINCOLN - Top-ranked Lincoln East will take a perfect record into next week's boys state soccer tournament following a 3-2 win over No. 3 Millard South Friday night in the title game of the A-1 district at Seacrest Field.

The Spartans (15-0) broke open a 1-1 game with two quick goals in the second half, then turned back a spirited rally by the Patriots in the final 20 minutes. East will try to defend its Class A title while appearing at state for the 13th consecutive year and the 16th in school history. Millard South earned one of two wild cards and will make its 12th state tourney appearance.

"We made some adjustments at halftime in our attack," East coach Jeff Hoham said. "We needed to get outside with our attack, and we did a better job of executing that early in the second half. But then we got a little excited after we got the two-goal lead and we let some balls sit on the ground. This was a great atmosphere with two teams that played like this was the state championship."

Juniors AJ Dingledine and Badum Maaloo switched roles on two goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half to give East a 3-1 lead. Maaloo took a pass from Dingledine, faked a Millard South defender 20 yards out and then dribbled uncovered to within 15 yards before firing a shot into the left side of the net at 46:08.

Less than four minutes later, it was Dingledine's turn.

This time, Maaloo, who said he thought about taking the shot, passed to Dingledine. The ball deflected off a Millard South defender's leg before a wide-open Dingledine gained control. He dribbled alone for 15 yards before slamming a shot into the right side of the net, beyond the reach of Millard South goalkeeper Andrew Stothert.

"I was thinking about passing it to AJ on the first one, but I decided to go for it," Maaloo said. "On the second one, I got a pass from Jordan Moehlenhoff and I crossed it to AJ. A lot of us have played together on our club team, and we have a chemistry out there."

Millard South (12-5).........................1 1-2

Lincoln East (15-0).........................1 2-3

Ä Goals: LE, Quin Kilgore (Jordan Moehlenhoff); Badum Maaloo (AJ Dingledine); Dingledine (Maaloo); MS, Benjamin Pantzlaff (Sean Dougherty, Robert Rech), Michael Trogdon (Dougherty).

Spartans have right moves in district soccer final

BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star

Word has it Badum Maaloo is one of the best dancers at Lincoln East High School. On Friday, Maaloo and his partner in crime, A.J. Dingledine, did two-steps through and around the Millard South defense. The result was a 3-2 win in the District A-1 final at Seacrest Field.

The Patriots (11-5) showed some guts. But they didnπt have a Maaloo or a Dingledine.

≥Thereπs really no answer for that. Theyπre just that good,≤ Millard South coach Jim Cooney said. ≥Those guys do so many great things to take us out of our shape. Their speed of play is just unbelievable. They can pretty much tear up any team.≤

The tearing up didnπt start until the second half. Though East had a possession edge in the first half, the No. 1 Spartans didnπt have an edge on the scoreboard.

East scored early on a goal by Quin Kilgore, but Millard South evened it only five minutes later on a goal by Ben Pantzlaff.

But six minutes into the second half, Dingledine found Maaloo.

The pass was on the money and Maaloo did a nifty sucker move where he let the ball go under his feet before taking it in stride to the net for a goal.

Three minutes after that, Maaloo found Dingledine.

It was a goal also from the book. The only difference was Dingledineπs finish didnπt come quite as easy. The juniorπs shot hit off goalkeeper Andrew Stothertπs hands before bounding into the net.

Itπs worth noting that the Patriots were without two of their best players during those goals — Kyle West and Caleb Theimer. Both were on the sideline nursing injuries.

But no oneπs to know if it would have mattered. Mostly, East did a  better job early in the second half of playing the ball to the outside and attacking from there.

≥Our speed is an issue but our speed didnπt win this game today,≤ East coach Jeff Hoham said. ≥We just simply executed better in the second half.≤

Give the fourth-ranked Patriots credit, though. They came back with a goal from Michael Trogdon and almost tied it late when a shot from Cory Rohlfsen rolled right in front of the goal, but wide.

With the win, the Spartans are now 15-0 and have yet to trail in a game this season. Cooney, whose team advances to state via a wild card, said this East team is one of the best heπs seen in recent years.

Dating to last season, the defending champion Spartans have now won 21 straight, a record in Class A. The previous best winning streak was 17 by Millard North in 1995.

≥I didnπt see it coming,≤ Maaloo said. ≥I knew weπd be good, but I didnπt know weπd go undefeated this far.≤