The heat played a factor in the Minooka boys JV soccer team’s tough 6-1 loss to Bolingbrook on Sept. 15.  

¨The other team is a byproduct of working hard in the offseason and playing on high-level club teams when the season ends,¨ JV coach Jim Kelly said. ¨Our team is mostly comprised of boys who are not playing club in the offseason unfortunately.¨ 

The Minooka players noticed some places they could improve.

¨After some of the punts in the midfield we could not capitalize well on timing up the ball and lost those advantages a lot throughout the game,¨ sophomore Logan Blaauw said.

MCHS made some adjustments at halftime. 

¨In the second half, we played with an extra center midfielder (4-5-1 formation) due to us getting out performed in the middle of the field skill-wise and physically,” Kelly said.

They changed their tactics based on the first half, which according to the stats, held off a few less goals from the other team.

¨Wearing black made the heat even worse throughout the game, and some throw-ins made us change our formation that led to steals from the other team,¨ sophomore center-back Jason Conteh said.

The high temperature was 86 that day. The Bolingbrook team seemed to persevere and took advantage of it in the throw-ins when the players could not get in position.

¨I believe our defense is our strongest area at the moment. Jason Conteh and Craig O’Halloran do a fantastic job cleaning up any attacks from the other team with their physicality and speed,” Kelly said.

Minooka’s JV record is 3-6-1 as of Sept. 19.