North Vermilion moves on to third round of soccer playoffs

The North Vermilion Patriots soccer team made history Tuesday night by winning their first second-round playoff game in Patriot Stadium, and it’s also the second straight year NV reaches the third round in the Division III quarterfinals.
The Patriots beat Leesville 4-0 after jumping ahead 3-0 at halftime.
Next up for the Patriots will be a quarterfinals matchup between the winner of No. 5 E.D. White and No. 12 Hannan, and that will happen next week, depending on the weather.
“I think the boys were locked in,” Patriots’ coach Nick Gigliotti said. “The last two days, we’ve probably had our two best practices that we’ve had in quite a long time, and I could see it in their eyes.
“We have a great group of guys, and I think the biggest thing is that they’re willing to play for each other and not their individual statistics or their individual triumph. They understand that our team is better when we’re playing for the guy beside us, and that team mentality has carried us all season. I think you see it in the way we play, the willingness to pass and move and the willingness to work on defense.”
It was a typical game for the No. 4 Patriots. The offense outscored its opponent and the defense pitched another shutout. That would be NVs 11th shutout this season.
On offense, Dane Cessac had a hat trick and scored three goals. Lane Patin scored NV’s first goal on a free-kick at the 32:26 mark of the first half.
NV goalkeeper Dante Boudreaux was not too busy. He recorded under 10 stops in the match.
A shutout is what NV’s defense strides far.
“That’s the goal every game,” Gigliotti said. “This is our field, we don’t concede often, and we want that shutout. That’s another pride thing within the team to stop them. Dante (Boudreaux) is a fantastic goalie, he’s had a fantastic season, but our defense is stout. We keep the ball in front of us, and we don’t give up a lot of great opportunities for teams, but it’s a pride thing that we have on not conceding the goals.”
The weather forecast for Monday or Tuesday’s match is cold and possibly wet. Because soccer is a winter sport, it is always great to play a match in 70-degree weather.
“This was beautiful weather right here,” Gigliotti said. “If we could have this next week, that’d be great. It looks like it might be that wintry mix, but you know what, we love this little wind that comes in here, and we’ll use that to our advantage. We’re ready to play.”