The Salem Wildcat soccer team put an emphatic exclamation point on their record setting season with a dominant 8-1 win on the road at Mattoon. The game was scoreless for the 20 minutes, but that’s when Salem put their foot on the gas. Holden Richardson gave Salem a 1-0 lead in the 21st minute followed 3 minutes later by Caleb Purintun’s first of the game. Purintun would add 2 more goals before halftime and Eli Baker would also score with the icing on the cake being a gorgeous cross from Baker to Kyler Sapp who finished with a header in the final minute to make it 6-0 at halftime. Baker would finish the game with 6 points, 2 goals and 4 assists. Robby Shober added a second half goal as Salem ties the school record for wins in a season with last year’s team as they are 18-3. They will open up the Class 1a Rochester Regional on Wednesday as the top seed looking for the school’s first regional as they start a week from today.
The Salem JV finished their season with a 3-0 win. Kam Rasul, Noah Gaston and Kaid Davis had the Salem goals.
Also yesterday, O’Fallon won the Southwestern Conference title with their 2-0 win over Edwardsville. Carlyle beat St Anthony 4-1, Highland over Jerseyville 2-1, Roxana beat Metro East Lutheran 7-2 and Waterloo 3-1 over Mascoutah.
