Sabres put up good fight before falling to Huskies

By Curt Herron

It would have been perfectly understandable if Streamwood had been unable to put up much of a fight in Thursday's Pepsi Showdown match at Oak Park and River Forest.

After all, the Sabres were coming off back-to-back tough matches from the previous two days, where they dropped close decisions to St. Charles East and Libertyville.

Add to that the fact that their Thursday opponent was another quality side who just happened to be coming off a Tuesday decision that they weren't pleased with.

And then consider that the youthful Sabres are also down about the news that one of their two returning starters, senior Ivan Arce, may be lost for the year to injury.

Considering all of those factors, it wouldn't have come as complete surprise if Streamwood's players wound up going through the motions against the Huskies.

However, as coach Paul Wright told his Huskies heading into the match, and they found out on the field, the Sabres weren't interested in tossing in the towel.

Although OPRF dominated in possession and scoring chances, Streamwood managed to keep it off of the scoreboard during the initial 40 minutes of play.

And then after the Huskies finally connected early in the second half, the Sabres kept fighting until their hopes were eventually dashed by a late score.

Thanks to a pair of goals from Thomas Lamm, OPRF posted its third straight home shutout after it claimed a 2-0 win over the Sabres at Oak Park Stadium.

But despite seeing his squad fall to 1-10 after suffering their sixth-straight defeat, Sabres coach Matt Polovin was proud of his players' performance.

Click to hear coach Matt Polovin interview

The Huskie defense limited Streamwood to only a few good chances, including two long free kicks, with all of them easily being handled by keeper Sam Euler.

Meanwhile, the hosts moved the ball around effectively on the turf surface, and that was shown in their ability to keep steady pressure on the Sabres' net.

OPRF (4-0-2) can count on being in any match that it plays with the talented Euler in the net, Streamwood also has a pretty good goalkeeper in Jose Resendiz.

The Sabres' keeper had his hands full during the opening 40 minutes but managed to stop everything that came his way, which as it turned out, was quite a bit.

Shortly before the midway point of the opening half, he stopped a short attempt by Mike Rajter and then punched away a corner kick from Gian luca Locasto.

A little later, Marcus Machado had a shot that was deflected away which resulted in a corner and Kelly Foran sent a liner that was headed away by a defender.

During the final 10 minutes of the first half, a long free kick led to Lamm's header to Ryan Huettel, who sent another header that hit the crossbar.

Shortly after Euler hauled in a long free kick from Victor Aguilar, Resendiz came out of the net to stop Lamm's efforts to head a short shot toward the net.

Click to hear coach Paul Wright interview

Streamwood had the first shot on goal following the break, albeit on another long free kick by Aguilar that was lined directly at the Huskie keeper.

OPRF finally broke through with 34:45 remaining when Williams found Lamm, who chipped in an attempt to give his team the only goal that they would need.

There were more chances prior to the midpoint of the second half with Stephen Golz sending two grounders on while Williams was high and Cory O'Donnell wide.

Later, Locasto had a corner kick punched away and was denied on a short try before Henry Burt had to clear away a Sabre attempt which followed a corner kick.

The Huskies kept up the pressure as O'Donnell lined a shot off the post and Huettel sent in a liner on a free kick that was stopped by the Sabres' keeper.

In between that sequence, Streamwood looked like it might catch a break when Alejandro Avalos briefly got free in the box and lined a shot toward the net.

Although the Sabres reacted as if they believed that there was a hand ball on the attempt, the referee saw things differently and no penalty kick was given.

OPRF closed out the scoring with 6:16 to go when Lamm came up with a loose ball and fired in a line drive for his first multiple-goal effort of the season.

Streamwood plays Saturday at 2:40 p.m. at Lyons Township against Glenbrook South, who tied OPRF 1-1 on Tuesday in a match that still needs to be concluded.