The Austin defense has stepped it up a notch with the return of Drew Oesterle to the lineup.

Wednesday, October 06, 1999

The Austin defense has stepped it up a notch with the return of Drew Oesterle to the lineup. With the junior co-captain playing in the last two Packers games after a four-game suspension, Austin has allowed zero goals in 170 minutes of play. That is, a 1-0 overtime win on Monday in Owatonna, and another 1-0 win, this time, over Mankato East (4-7-1, 2-5-1) Tuesday at Wescott Field.

"Winning 1-0 you have to be doing things right," Austin coach David Graham said. "The defense was executing great, playing strong, working hard, and hustling. And you need to be getting the breaks."

Those breaks included withstanding a point blank header by East. Off a corner kick in the waning seconds of the game, Ben Mauch got the open shot, but he directed the ball just over the cross bar.

"That was probably our best shot of the game," East coach Mike Smith said.

As always the defense was anchored by Erin Heimer who came forward to stop the East rushes when he needed to, then pushed the ball forward and made the clears when Austin was in retreat.

"Erin is so intelligent," Graham said. "He is a great student athlete. He is always thinking and making the right decisions. He is All-State caliber.

"Oesterle also played well. He is a marked man because of his aggressive play. Teams love to try to take him out of the game."

With just under 10 minutes left in the game, sophomore Jim Reetz scored Austin’s lone goal. The genesis of that goal shows how a coach can make the difference in a tight game situation.

"When Chris Lynch broke in alone on a shot, I noticed that their defense was playing three flat across the field," Graham said. "I brought Lynch over and told him to look for (that alignment on defense) to set up a breakaway opportunity. That defense is exposed to through balls."

"It worked," Lynch said.

"Yes, Lynch sent a through ball and Reetz made a couple of touches and, Bam!, we scored," Graham said.

When asked about what he was thinking on the goal, the taciturn Reetz said, "Don’t miss."

"Against a good team one mistake can cost a goal, and one goal can cost a game," coach Smith said.

Austin out shot the Cougars 17-8. Vladimir Blagojevic set up many of the Austin scoring opportunities with the help of Jesse Morgan and Mike Inthisane. A speedy freshman, Ivan Esquivel, also brought a charge to the offense when he came into the game in the second half. He had a hat trick in Monday’s junior varsity game and scored one goal in the JV game against East. The Austin junior varsity lost both games, 5-3 to Owatonna and 4-2 to East.

The Packer varsity (4-8-1, 4-7-0) next hosts Winona this Saturday at 1 p.m. The game is rescheduled from Sept. 25.