IR Soccer Beats SC
for Near-Perfect Month
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Match of the Week Story ...
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By ERIC MAGILL
Publisher, Sussex County Online
Photos (from top): IR's John Giorgilli and Cape's Coi Evans fight for the ball and Indian River's Martin Chavez kicks the ball downfield.
FRANKFORD -- In a contest most noted for its physical play, it didn't figure that one of the smallest players on the field would decide matters.
 But Sam Svenson did just that on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2003, as the diminutive senior co-captain of the Indian River High School boys' soccer team scored the only goal of a 1-0 Henlopen Conference victory over visiting Cape Henlopen.
The victory in the battle of conference unbeatens lifted the Indians to 8-0 in the conference and 8-1 overall and gave them a boost in the conference standings over Cape, which slipped to 9-1 in the conference.
Both teams are trying to keep pace with Caesar Rodney, which entered Thursday's action with a 6-0 mark in the conference. Cape faces CR on Oct. 16, while Indian River hosts the Riders on Oct. 27.
The physical nature of Thursday's game against Cape Henlopen took an obvious toll on Svenson. By the middle of the second half, the 5-foot-6 striker was visibly limping around the field.
That didn't stop him, though, from fighting off Cape's bigger defenders to punch in a pass from sophomore striker Martin Chavez at the 18:21 mark of the second half for the game's only goal.
 "He's a gutsy guy," said IR head coach Howard Gerken of Svenson. "What I realize, and maybe a lot of people sitting up in the stands don't realize, is that kind of like in a game of Chess, Sam's two or three moves ahead of everybody. He's already figured out as the ball is coming to him where he's going with it in his next move and whether he should run off of that or whether he should hold and so forth.
"He's a great little player. If he were 6 foot tall and weighed about 170 pounds, he'd be truly an outstanding college prospect, but he's a great high school player and we're certainly glad to have him on our team."
Behind Svenson, Chavez, senior midfielders Jonathan Forte, Brandon Rickwood, Jeremy Showell and Ryan Walsh, and senior defenders John Giorgilli and Brandt Mais and junior defender Matt Lewis, the Indians controlled the action for the most part, outshooting Cape 24-7 and earning 4 corner kicks to Cape's none.
Their effort completely shut down a Cape squad that was averaging 4.44 goals a game entering the match, including Cape's high-scoring duo of Coi Evans and Alex Gurdini, who entered the game with 9 goals apiece.
"I thought Jeremy Showell, in particular, had an outstanding game," said Gerken. "He marked up on that kid (Evans) and except for that one breakaway that he had in the first half that he knocked over to the bus, we shut him down."
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TEAM
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1
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2
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TOT.
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CAPE HENLOPEN
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0
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0
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0
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INDIAN RIVER
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0
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1
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1
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Second Half:
18:21 -- INDIAN RIVER (1-0 Indian River)
Sam Svenson goal
Martin Chavez assist
STATISTICS
Shots -- Indian River 24, Cape Henlopen 7.
Saves -- Indian River 5 (Pat Devine), Cape Henlopen 6 (Steve Fabian).
Corner Kicks -- Indian River 4, Cape Henlopen 0.
Indian River head coach Howard Gerken on the game's physical style:
"It was a physical battle. We play a physical game, and I don't mean it to be a dirty game, but if the ball is there, it's as much ours as it is the other guy's and we're going to try to win that ball. I thought we did a fabulous job of maintaining our composure."
Gerken on the Indians' trouble scoring despite outshooting Cape 24-7:
"We had played quite a few minutes without putting the ball in the net. We had a little trouble deciphering things in the center of the field there and finally they made a mistake in giving Sam (Svenson) a little bit of space. Martin Chavez had a nice pass to him from the left side there and Sam, as he's done so often, he came through and bailed us out."
Indian River co-captain Sam Svenson on his goal:
"I just did all I could to try to put the ball in the back of the net. It was a great ball by Martinez (Martin Chavez). I had the opportunity so I put it away."
Svenson on the Indians' experience with 10 seniors:
"We've been playing together since we were all young, so it's a pretty easy game for us all. This is our senior year and we want it bad."
Indian River has now won seven consecutive games since a 1-0 loss to upstate power Salesianum on Sept. 11.
Both Cape Henlopen and IR are off to their best starts since at least the 2000 season.
Cape played the match without midfielder Tom Grogan, who was out with a punctured lung.
IR senior midfielder Sam Svenson has now scored 11 goals to lead the Indians this season. Fellow senior midfielder Jonathan Forte has contributed 7 goals.
The Indians have outshot all of their conference opponents this year. In eight conference games, IR has outshot their opponents 28.5 shots per match to 8.25 shots per match.
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