Munster’s control against Highland in Monday night’s Class 3A East Chicago Central Sectional opener wasn’t reflected in the score until the latter stages.
That’s when junior forward/midfielder Luke Davidson scored two goals to put the finishing touches on the Mustangs’ 4-0 win over the Trojans.
Davidson, who came off the bench, found the back of the net with four minutes left on a pass from Dylan Brann. He did it again less than a minute later after Laith Srour neatly dummied a feed from Marco Amatulli.
The Mustangs (13-3-1), ranked No. 8 in the state coaches poll, outshot the Trojans (5-10-1) by a 19-0 margin.
“It gets frustrating, but we have faith in our team that we’re going to finish those eventually,” Davidson said. “Luckily it fell to me. It could’ve happened to anybody.”
Munster’s win set the stage for Wednesday’s semifinal showdown with No. 7 Lake Central (12-3-2).
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In Monday’s second game of the stacked sectional, junior forward/midfielder Carson Shrader scored three goals as the Indians topped Lowell 5-0.
Wednesday’s second semifinal pits No. 17 Morton (16-0-1) against East Chicago (2-10-1).
Munster, which has won a state-record 15 straight sectionals, and Lake Central, which has won 14 straight, have been virtually annual regional opponents. But this season’s implementation of the three-class format expedited the timetable.
The Mustangs beat the Indians 3-1 on Aug. 28. Munster also stunned Lake Central 1-0 last season in a regional semifinal.
“Trying to beat a team twice in one year is not easy,” Munster coach Jim Prasopoulos said. “They’re extremely highly motivated to beat us. We’re confident, but we have to be ready.”
Lake Central coach Jereme Rainwater initially joked about not knowing the next opponent.
“It’s not postseason unless me and Jim get to see each other,” Rainwater said. “It’s been like that for 20 years — at some point, our paths collide. Everyone’s going to talk about sectional streaks, but that’s not our focus. I don’t think Morton would appreciate it — they’re an awfully good team.
“When you look at three Top 20 teams in our sectional, it says a lot about Northwest Indiana. We know we’re going to absolutely have to be at our best to compete against those sides.”
Munster took a 1-0 lead against Highland with 22 minutes left in the first half on Nathan Kekelik’s tap-in on a cross from Jordan Andric. The Mustangs made it 2-0 with 25 minutes left in the game when Andric drilled a shot into the upper-left corner after the Trojans couldn’t fully clear a corner kick.
“I did not like how we played in the first half,” Prasopoulos said. “We played too slow, we were lethargic and not being smart with the space we should’ve taken advantage of. We talked at halftime and played better in the second half. But we have to play a lot better.”
Senior goalkeeper Brian Burbridge made 15 saves for Highland, which lost 5-1 to Munster on Sept. 13. Coach Mark Tanis was optimistic about the Trojans’ future, having started four sophomores and two freshmen.
“Munster is a good team,” Tanis said. “They have a lot of seniors, a lot of experience. I have a young team and we’ll figure it out. We fought hard, but the game got away.”
Shrader scored with two minutes elapsed for Lake Central against Lowell (8-7-2), burying a shot off Diego Ruiz-Avila’s rolled restart. He also converted a penalty kick with 7:39 on the first-half clock.
Shrader completed his hat trick with 26 minutes left, two minutes after Andrew VanMilligan redirected Robbie MacNeill’s corner kick for a goal. Youssef Errihani scored with four minutes left.
Rainwater liked the way his team played, especially in the second half after the adrenaline wore off and they acclimated to their new venue.
“We settled down,” he said.
Twitter @MichaelOsipoff