Two second-half goals propel Ridgewood to sectional title game

Ridgewood 2, Amundsen 0

THE SKINNY

The Ridgewood boys soccer team defeated Amundsen 2-0 in the Class 2A Ridgewood Sectional semifinal game Tuesday night in Norridge and advanced to face top-seeded St. Ignatius in the sectional title game on Friday.

TURNING POINT

Tied 0-0 with 30 minutes left in the game, Ridgewood senior defender Nadim Kehayov scored on a 30-yard strike to give the second-seeded Rebels the lead. With 17 minutes left, senior Adam Yaghmour scored from a few yards out after receiving a redirected free kick from midfield.

THE STARS

Sophomore Amundsen goalkeeper Khaireddin Alawawdeh was phenomenal, stopping 11 shots. Alawawdeh, a backup, entered a minute into the game when starter Eduardo Sotelo left due to an injury. Alawawdeh stopped a few point-blank shots, and even swatted away a first-half penalty kick by Ridgewood junior Jakub Korzec.

BY THE NUMBERS

After getting eight shots in the first half, No. 11 Amundsen got only two shots in the second half and one of those came with only 15 seconds left. Ridgewood controlled possession to the tune of 13 second-half shots and 25 total for the game.

QUOTABLE

“The second half, the big thing that we did differently was that we tried to spread the field out a little bit more. We felt that in the first half we really didn’t own the midfield. We felt that they were out-possessing us in the midfield, they were a little more aggressive.” — Ridgewood coach Rob St. John