Lions blank Trojans again to reach Pepsi Showdown semis

By Matt Le Cren
Photos courtesy of Ken Fox

Lyons Township hadn't faced many offenses as potent as Downers Grove North's this season.

On the other hand, it's fair to say Downers North had yet to encounter a defensive effort as stingy as the Lions put forth twice this week.

In a surprisingly good showing for a unit that was thought to be a question mark for the reigning Class 3A state champions, LT shut out the Trojans for the second time in three days.

On Thursday, LT edged Downers North 1-0 in a Pepsi Showdown quarterfinal in LaGrange.

The victory, which advanced LT into Saturday’s semifinals versus Morton, came 48 hours after the Lions (8-0-2) had beaten previously-unbeaten North 2-0 in a West Suburban Conference Silver Division match in Downers Grove behind two goals from Horacio Sanchez.

Before facing the Lions, Downers North (8-2-1) had been averaging three goals per game and had not been shut out.

"They're an absolute handful," Lyons coach Paul Labbato said of the Trojans.

"We have some good players back there and they've been waiting their turn and they've stepped in and they're learning how to play together. We did a good job of doubling back on Paul Hogan, who is an outstanding player, and that was part of the game plan."

Hogan was held to just two shots, both of which were saved by LT goalie Max Hadley, who made four saves in recording the Lions' third consecutive shutout and sixth overall.

The Lions gave up only five shots and opponents have managed to score eight goals in 11 matches against them.

"Any time you lose a player like Billy McGuinness [to graduation] you're obviously going to have a big hole to fill," LT defender Alex Economou said. "But the three of us - me, KK [Peter Kralovec-Kirchherr] and [Matt] Thomas have been working hard in the summer and we've been working to build chemistry. If one of us messes up, the others make sure to be there to support. The team needs us there.

"We played Neuqua earlier in the season and [Labbato] told us that when we're playing good forwards we've got to step up and make sure that the forwards can't turn, and I think that with more experience and more time this team has put into defense, we've learned that we need to step up to that man and make sure that he doesn't turn and [then] the other players got to drop in and support him."

To defend against Downers stars Hogan, A.J. Jeffries and Azmi Sharif, Labbato began the game in a 4-5-1 formation and the move paid off as the Lions completely dominated the midfield behind stalwarts Elliot Borge, Kyle Kurfirst and Peter Gabrek.

Every time the Trojans would win a ball and try to move into the attack, the Lions would win it right back.

"I don't know if you could ask for a better midfield," Economou said. "Kurfirst, Gabrek and Borge just might be the best midfield in the state, so when they win everything out of the air it makes our job a lot easier."

The Lions switched back to their usual 4-4-2 formation after intermission, but even then the Trojans couldn't mount much of an attack until making a final push in the last 10 minutes.

Kralovec-Kirchherr even had a hand in the game's only goal, launching a throw-in from the right side that Kyle Kurfirst headed home with 29:06 remaining.

"It's not that we've really changed our strategy or anything – it's that we’re starting to jell as a defense more," Kralovec-Kirchherr said. "We're understanding each other's moves and so we're playing as a team now.

"At the same time, we can't get cocky after these two wins. We're playing another really good team [Morton] on Saturday, so we can't just look past them and say, 'We have this because we beat Downers.'"

The Lions could be excused if they did. Most observers expected the two sides to split their two games and Labbato was keying more on winning Thursday's match.

"I don't know if you can say any one game is more important than the other but I can definitely say that we did want to go back to Toyota [Park] and that's the goal," Economou said.

"I think everyone just rallies on the idea that we want to keep that No. 1 ranking in the state and we know that Downers is right there behind us. We want to prove that we're the best team in the state and we're doing it here against Downers."

Downers North, which had won eight straight before the two losses to LT, did have a few highlights.

Goalie Matt Paprocki made a highlight reel save on Sanchez with 13:45 left in the first half, full extending in a dive to his left after Sanchez one-timed a cross from Kurfirst.

Paprocki made six saves, including another on Sanchez when he charged out to take the ball away from the LT star on a breakaway. He was shaken up after a collision on that play but stayed in the game.

But for most part, Downers North coach Brian Gervase was left miffed with the result.

"We weren't really intense out there today," Gervase said. "You've got to be hungry to score goals and we were not hungry today. That's not us.

"I'm moderately disappointed that we didn't play a better game than we did on Tuesday. I really thought we were going to have a better match today and I thought we played better Tuesday."

But Gervase gave credit where credit was due.

"They did a nice job of matching us man-for-man," he said. "They played five in the midfield with us so that was a nice adjustment by them. They were composed enough to wait for their little goal. They're a good team and I think we know that we're fully capable of playing with them. We just didn't have it today."

Both sides know they will have to bring the fire if they meet for a third time, a real possibility as they have been assigned to the Argo Sectional.

"We need to pick our intensity up," Gervase said. "We've been purposely in practice trying to keep it loose, keep things fun and energetic and keep our swagger up a little bit, but perhaps that softened us up a little too much and perhaps we have to go back to a little bit more blue-collar work.

"We're not taking a bad loss out of this. We lost 1-0 to the state champs at their place. I thought we played a decent game. Maybe it's just me being over prideful in what we are."