Kanada's header lifts Vikings past Naperville Central

By Paul LaTour

Through his first three games at the Naperville Central helm, Troy Adams has seen his team score some pretty nice goals. They’ve come on 30-yard blasts into the upper 90, 40-yard rockets and 1-2-3 touch plays.

It’s happened so often that Adams joked after Central dropped a 1-0 decision to visiting Fremd on Tuesday that if fans want to see brilliant goals they should come watch the Redhawks.

Unfortunately for Adams, this time the brilliant goal didn’t come from his team – it came from the Vikings. Junior midfielder Yusuke Kanada came off the bench and scored on a header in the 54th minute to lift Fremd in the Best of the West Tournament opener for both teams.

Kanada sprinted into the middle to redirect a crossing pass from Spencer Filosa past goalkeeper Zach Richter. It was the first goal of the season allowed by the Redhawks (3-1).

“I just ran into the space and the ball came and I was able to finish it,” Kanada said. “We always practice running in on those plays.”

The goal helped the Vikings (2-0-2) remain unbeaten on the season, and aided in easing the frustration of blowing a 2-0 lead against Downers Grove South before settling for a 2-2 tie.

“We haven’t lost yet so that’s a good sign,” Kanada said. “But in two of the games we were ahead and the other team tied us up. The last 10 minutes (against Central) everyone was thinking the same thing. We had to close the game out and we did.”

A scoreless first half wasn’t without opportunities for both teams.

Fremd had the first early on when Lorenzo Savino nearly surprised Richter with a quick shot from 30 yards out. Richter dived to his right to make the save against the post.

The Redhawks had the majority of the chances for the next 30 minutes or so, but a little Vikings good fortune and a couple nice saves from keeper Scott Sutarik kept Central off the board.

Sutarik leaped up to catch a shot from the right touchline in the 25th minute. Three minutes later he made an even bigger save, diving to his left to stop a low, hard shot from Greg Burnett after he charged down the right side.

Savino had another chance immediately following that but missed on a high shot over Richter from just inside the penalty box.

Central had its best chance in the 32nd minute when Mike West slid a shot past Sutarik from the left side. But the ball careened off the far post and the Vikings were able to clear it from danger.

“If you have opportunities and you don’t put them in, it always comes back to bite you in the end,” Adams said. “You can almost feel it. That’s a learning process – putting balls away early. We’ve talked about that repeatedly. That is the difference between an average team and a good team – good teams put the ball in the net when they have the opportunity; average teams waste them. We’ve been both at different times this season.”

After allowing the Redhawks to often penetrate into the attacking third during the opening 40 minutes, the Vikings were the ones pushing the attack for the majority of the second half.

“In the first half we looked flat,” Vikings coach Steve Keller said. “We were lethargic. No energy. We talked at halftime about it and they definitely got the message. The second half we did what we had to do, but I would have liked us to close it out better. In the last 10 minutes there was a flurry (in front of our goal).”

The Vikings had several scoring chances before their goal, including early in the second half when Savino ripped a shot of the goal post from just outside the penalty area.

Losing the game was only part of the Redhawks’ woes. They suffered injuries to two players, one that might be season-ending.

Sophomore forward Conner Allen was injured in the 12th minute after a mid-air collision with Sutarik at the top of the box. Allen fell backward and hit his head on the synthetic turf. He left the game with a possible concussion.

With 15 minutes remaining in the game, senior forward Joe Yarshen reinjured his left shoulder seriously enough he may miss the remaining of the season. Adams said Yarshen first hurt his shoulder over the summer. The game was stopped for more than 10 minutes as paramedics attended to Yarshen on the field.

“We lost two very good players,” Central senior midfielder Peter Beasley said. “I think Conner will be all right, but I’m feeling really bad for Joe. If he doesn’t come back this season it’s really going to hurt the team. He’s a player we’re really going to miss.”