Knights give Trenkle 80 minutes vs. Wheeling

By Dan Santaromita

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO GALLERY COURTESY OF ANDY SCHNEPF

Prospect started Mid Suburban League play with a complete effort on both ends, resulting in a 4-0 win over Wheeling.

“I think it was probably the best 80 minutes we’ve played as a team all year,” coach Kurt Trenkle said.

That’s high praise considering the team is unbeaten through six games (5-0-1).

“We were marking incredibly well, getting numbers behind the ball,” Trenkle said. “The outside mids were getting back all day. The back line was solid. No one was out of shape for most of the game.”

Richard Lenke was taken down in the box in the 12th minute, Patryk Ruta converted the penalty kick and the Knights were off to the races.

Some nice combination play between Stefano Dolomas and Alex Schnepf resulted in the second Knights’ goal.

After receiving a pass from Schnepf, Dolomas flicked a lob ahead of Schnepf who chased it down and scored on the resulting breakaway.

“Me and Schnepf, usually in practice we’re really good at one-twos and it kind of showed in the game right there,” Dolomas said. “We had that connection.”

Schnepf comes off the bench for Prospect, but would be a top forward for a lot of teams in the area.

“He could be in the starting lineup if I chose to, but I know he’s got speed and he’s got toughness,” Trenkle said. “He knows everyday he’s coming in at the 20 minute mark fresh after Lenke and Cooney and Ruta have been banging on the defense for a while. First time he touches the ball he gets a goal today.”

The Wildcats almost pulled back to within one midway through the half, but sophomore defender Ethan Graven blocked the shot while goalkeeper Brad Reibel was out of position.

Reibel finished with 12 saves to pick up a shutout on his birthday.

“The three in the back are really solid, a lot more solid than I thought it would be,” Graven said. “We’re communicating, passing off the forwards to each other and not letting them get the through balls as easily.”

Not even five minutes into the second half, the Knights made it 3-0 through junior Bill Cooney. Cooney out muscled a defender for a loose ball and got his shot off just before the charging keeper could get there.

About five minutes later Dolomas caused more problems for the Wildcats. This time he struck a wicked dipping ball from about 40 yards out that came in just under the crossbar.

“First when the ball was coming it was coming pretty fast and my first touch was good,” Dolomas said. “Then no one was in front of me so I was like ‘Alright, whatever, I’ll just take it,’ and it went in.”

Prospect had a good flow to its game. Both Trenkle and Graven mentioned transitioning from defense to offense in the middle third as something the team has been working on.

“With the solid defense that we’ve been playing and the solid work we’ve been doing in the offensive zone, where we’ve been lacking is the transition back to front and I think we did a pretty good job of that today,” Trenkle said.

That solid work in the offensive zone has come from multiple sources so far this season.

“I think that’s one of the things that makes us a dangerous team this year,” Trenkle said. “You can shadow Ruta all day long and there’s going to be three guys open and we’ve got a lot of speed up there.”

Prospect won the MSL East last year and looks like they will contend for the MSL again and possibly more.

“We’re actually doing really good and I think we’re better than most teams out there and we have a chance at state so we’ll see in the long run,” Dolomas said.

“Right now, I love the way we’re playing,” Trenkle said. “Wheeling is an inexperienced team, but they’re gaining the experience. They held it together against us. Give them credit for not giving up because they kept coming at us and they got the ball deep. We’ve been playing really well for the last two weeks. Who knows how long we can continue this roll, but we got to keep working and keep sharp.”

The Knights will hope to keep the roll going when they visit Mundelein Saturday at noon.