Hawks have too much firepower for Grayslake North
Triantos hat-trick paves the way at GBN tourney

By Mike Garofola

Bartlett finally erased its nearly two-week long scoring drought when it erupted for 6 first-half goals en route to a 7-0 romp over Grayslake North (4-6-0) Friday night, in its tournament opener of the Glenbrook North Invite.

The Hawks, who were coming off a disappointing 2-1 loss at Neuqua Valley on Thursday, arrived late for their 5:00 match but found itself in a bit of one-way traffic of its own - all in the direction of the Grayslake end.

Bartlett struck 4 times to all but put away this match before the quarter hour struck.

"It felt really good to have a game like this tonight, especially after having so many 1-goal results," said senior Andrew Triantos, who put in his third goal of the first half at 28 minutes to give the Hawks (8-4-0) a comfortable 5-0 advantage.

"After our loss the other night at Neuqua, we were all mad about the defeat, but not with our play because we showed in that second half that we're capable of playing well,” Triantos said.

"I think a lot of us have been a little frustrated with our play, and are inability to score, so tonight might have been the match to get us back on our feet and help us find our confidence again."

And confident the Hawks were.

Ben Beary's lads found the back of the net quick and often against a side which was coming off an emotional shoot-out victory on Thursday over Fox Valley Conference rival Huntley.

Grayslake North is also in the thick of Homecoming Week, a fact not lost on its coach, Jesse Wolter, who was leading the Knights on this evening in place of head coach Adam DeCaluwe.

"We played like our heads were at the Homecoming football game or dance," began Wolter, who not too long ago was a star player at Glenbrook South for his dad, and now retired Jim Wolter, who led South to the Class 3A Elite Eight in his final year at the school.

"Bartlett is a talented attacking team, you could see that. So to play with no energy or focus right from the opening whistle - well, you’re just asking for trouble and we got it."

A rampant Hawks' club took full advantage of Wolters' club just 7 minute into the match when Charlie Sordini, Carmelo Abate and Triantos played keep away with quick touches on the super-fast turf - with Triantos getting the final touch past a helpless Grayslake
North keeper Richard Klarck.

Klarck was defenseless 2 minutes later when, Tyler Lake emerged with the ball after a scrum initiated inside the box, tricked his way in closer on Klarck, and went past the Knights’ co-captain.

Triantos next burst into the area with an enterprising run up the right side, took a superb ball from Sordini in full stride and fired his second goal of the day.

"We were hanging our heads at (that) time, and I was worried we would just give up (for) good and that would have been the worst thing of all to happen to our team," admitted Wolter.

"I know we gave up two more goals before the break, but the guys picked themselves up, and played with a lot of heart and pride, knowing if (Bartlett) scored one more time to go up 7-0, then by state rules the second-half (time) would have been cut in half."

"We had a great half of attacking soccer," said Beary, as he watched the Kenosha Tremper-Wheeling match which followed the Hawks, hoping to scout his Saturday morning opponent in the championship bracket.

"Yes, maybe Grayslake North was a little outclassed, but they played hard and made us work for everything in that second-half,” Beary said. “But I was really happy to see us open up in the first 40 minutes to get back to where we attacked with speed and quickness ... the way we were in the early stages of this season."

Backliner Joey Morgan would go forward to add numbers for a Triantos freekick at 15 minutes, and the junior's deft touch would go up and over Klarck to make it 4-0. Then it was Jesus Rodriguez, brought on by Beary just moments earlier, who placed his name in the scorebook when his low drive found the back of the net, as the Knights left the junior unmarked just to the right of Klarck.

Hawks' keeper Alex Busch, who can thank Morgan, Dan Giera, David Wade and Brett Dini for an easy time of it on his way to a shutout, was asked to save an attempt on frame by Arnaud Laroche-Bataille just after intermission on the Knights' best chance of the match.

Although the Hawks' would never reach the level of pace its showed in the first half, it still had its moments after the break where it came this close to adding that 'magicial' 7th goal. Klarck saved Abate from 12 yards in the 58th minute, and then blocked a pair of close range blasts from Erick Kennebeck and Matt Seidle before stopping a Christian Castro shot.

The Hawks' would finally reach its 7-goal advantage when Abate was rewarded for his work on the night.

"We seemed to step back a bit after opening (up) at 6-0, then falling back to earth of late with a couple of tough losses and going 2-4 in our next 6 matches," offered Beary.