Hornets follow up on big win by beating L-Way East

By Curt Herron

Hinsdale South coach James VanDenburgh was very concerned about Wednesday's match with Lincoln-Way East, and with good reason.

That's because his Hornets were coming off of an emotional 2-1 win over rival Hinsdale Central the previous day and were still trying to bounce back.

Then there was the issue of juggling his lineup to account for some of the absences which were the direct result of the tough match with the Red Devils.

His chief concern focused on a defense where several of his starters were out for various reasons, a bad sign heading into a matchup with almost anyone.

And the Hornets also caught East at a bad time, considering that it had one of its best offensive efforts the day before in a 4-2 win over Oswego East.

Needless to say, there was plenty at stake in the battle between two squads who had both gotten off to 1-0 starts in Hinsdale Central's Red Devil Cup.

But thanks to a real team effort, the Hornets overcame all of the adversity that they faced and captured a 3-1 victory over the Griffins in Darien.

T.J. Kubiesa scored a pair of goals and added an assist while Nick Henry chipped in with a goal and an assist to lead the Hornets' offensive attack.

Paras Patel stopped nearly everything that came his way in goal while Stephen Beavis, Adam Garcia and Matteo Hoch made key contributions defensively.

Beavis moved back from the outside midfield, Garcia shifted over to the inside of the defense and Hoch stepped up from his recent role as a reserve.

Thanks in part to those efforts, the Hornets claimed a 2-0 lead early in the second half and added another score before holding a spirited East rally.

As a result of its victory, South (2-2) moved a step closer to playing in Saturday's 3 p.m. championship of the Red Devil Cup at Centennial Field.

If the Hornets win at Oswego East on Saturday morning, they will assure themselves of a spot in the tournament's title match later that afternoon.

South is 2-0 in the tournament and owns victories over the other two squads who can finish 2-1 or better in pool play, the Red Devils and Griffins.

Click to hear coach James VanDenburgh interview

South set a good tone in the early going of Wednesday's match when it moved in front for good after scoring a goal just 11:17 into the contest.

Henry put in a short attempt from directly in front of the net following a pass from Kubiesa to account for the only scoring of the initial half.

Although the Hornets dominated in the first half chances, the Griffins (2-3) nearly tied things up shortly after the hosts scored their first goal.

Just 1:13 after South took a 1-0 lead, East's Anthony Cetera lined a free kick from just outside the box which forced Patel to punch over the net.

Click to hear Paras Patel interview

After an exchange of liners from Garcia and Cetera around the midpoint of the first half, South had all of the best chances in the next 20 minutes.

And all of those came thanks to Kubiesa, who had a short grounder stopped before sending a similar attempt just wide of the net a short time later.

The Hornets junior forward was also just wide on a shot attempt just half a minute before the break and South settled for a 1-0 halftime advantage.

It was more of the same in the early going of the final 40 minutes as Kubiesa was denied on a short attempt less than two minutes into the new half.

Things clicked again for the Hornets with 35:53 left after Henry sent a long free kick that Joe Petrak got a touch on before Kubiesa headed it in.

East tried to respond to that score a few minutes later when they got a shot from close range but William Will sent a grounder that Patel grabbed.

South built its advantage to 3-0 with 26:54 remaining when Edwin Cisneros lined a shot off a defender and Kubiesa put in the rebound for a score.

Click to hear Joey Gangi interview

It was good that the Hornets enjoyed a lot of success on offense up to that point since they would need those scores in order to hold off East.

Coach Brian Papa's Griffins had most of the good chances the rest of the way, beginning with a grounder from Alex Frenzel that went to Patel.

With just under 15 minutes left, Jon Lavin sent a header to Patel, who a bit later blocked a shot before a South defender stopped a rebound try.

The Griffins finally connected with 5:43 left to pull to within 3-1 when Andrew Young scored on a short header following a throw in by Conor Ryan.

East kept the pressure up and had two more good chances as Cetera sent a header to Patel, who later punched away a long free kick from Cetera.

Click to hear coach Brian Papa interview