Falcons watch early 3-0 slip away against Lancers

By Darryl Mellema

No one was smiling on or near Wheaton North's bench after the Falcons' Saturday contest with Lake Park.

And whether outwardly unhappy in both words and actions or silently brooding, no one blamed the Falcons fir their anger at all.

That's because a 3-0 lead in the final match at the 2010 Lancer Soccer Classic – secured in dramatic circumstances in just 20 minutes against the Lancers had turned into an even more improbable 4-3 defeat.

"When you're sitting where we are at the moment, it's hard to find additional ways to pick yourself back up. But that's what we have to do," Wheaton North coach Bryce Cann said.

The Falcons (1-5) raced to their lead, starting with Sam Klatt's goal three minutes into the match. Andrew Carlburg fed Klatt, who scored at the right post.

Klatt was hugely influential in Wheaton North's early goal barrage. After seven minutes, Jacques Ntahoturi shot along the ground from the right side of the penalty area.

On the Falcons' second score, Klatt ran over the ball as it went toward the goal, momentarily freezing the Lancers defense.

The dummy run, while not an official assist, certainly had something to do with Ntahoturi's goal.

Later in the match, Klatt himself scored Wheaton North's third goal as part of a goal scramble after a goalkeeping error by the Lancers.

"(Klatt) does a great job of finding the right place at the right time," Cann said. "That's what you want from a forward.

"Both his goals come today because he's put himself in a position to pick up goals. Everybody likes to score the pretty ones. But you've also got to be able to grind them out and get those workhorse goals."

From that moment forward, Lake Park (5-1-1) dominated. The Lancers hit the crossbar three minutes after Klatt's second goal and finally took the lead with 1:09 to play in the half through Justin Castello.

"We talked on the bench that we were up 3-0 with 60 minutes to play," Cann said. "The message was that we needed four. You've got to push to make it 4-0.

"When they scored before halftime to make it 3-1, now it's a two-goal game, a totally different game, coming out."

Matters got worse for the Falcons 20 seconds into the second half when an immediate flurry in the penalty area led to Joe Passarelli scoring to reduce the lead to 3-2.

"We gave that up because we dived at the ball and didn't clear and then it becomes a one-goal game," Cann said.

Klatt fed Ntahoturi, who had a solid shot saved with 15 minutes to play.

That proved to be the last strong scoring chance for the Falcons, who suffered from a pair of Elson Divinigracia goals in the final 10 minutes.

First Divinigracia headed a Tim Adelman cross into the goal. Then, with 4:39 to play, he dribbled past two defenders at the top of the penalty area and shot high into the left of the goal.

"That happened because we took our foot off the gas," Cann said. "Give credit to Lake Park. They just kept hammering and hammering and digging at it and we didn't respond real well to it."

With the tournament play concluded and with DuPage Valley Conference competition to begin this week, Cann said there were still good things to take away from Saturday's match.

"The positive side is we put ourselves in great position to be successful," Cann said. "That's the third time we've taken the lead at the end of the first half and we've been able to maintain it once."