Lancers, Sabres play to a draw for a good cause
$300 raised for breast cancer awareness

By Kevin Chroust

It was fitting, in a way, that the Lake Park and Streamwood boys’ soccer teams played to a scoreless draw on this particular day.

Goals were secondary to donations. Traditional school colors were forfeited in favor of pink. And the coaching staffs of each team, whose families have each been impacted by breast cancer, made sure awareness was every bit as much at the forefront Thursday night at Streamwood as soccer.

“Neither one of us necessarily wanted to tie, but it worked out OK,” said Lake Park coach Norm Hillner, whose wife, Kathy, has personally battled breast cancer. “It’s good for high school kids to see these realities, these slaps in the face that they might not be used to.”

“I think it’s great to just bring out awareness,” Kathy Hillner added. “It’s amazing the research that has gone through to make treatments so they can detect things earlier. I’m very fortunate in that respect. It’s very heartwarming to see this happening tonight.”

Early on, it looked as if Lake Park (8-4-2), wearing navy jerseys with light pink numbers, might make it a long night for Streamwood (1-12-1), which sported highlighted pink numbers on white jerseys with tie-dyed pink socks.

The Lancers attacked in the first 5 minutes with a strong south wind at their backs, but the Sabres settled in quickly and started to possess and make the Lancers chase. It just didn’t translate into scoring opportunities.

“Our record doesn’t show what we can do at all,” midfielder Nestor Ascencio said. “We know we’re a good team. We can play with the best of them. We just need to get the ball in the back of the net. We need to take more shots.”

The Lancers had the best chances of the half with four shots on goal, possibly the best coming in the 34th minute when right back Matt McCann, starting on an injury-depleted back line, stepped up and hit a shot from the edge of the right side of the penalty area, but Streamwood keeper Jose Resendiz made the save.

“I just put it on net to see what would happen,” McCann said. “The wind played to my advantage and the goalie just made the stop.”

Things opened up in the second half and the possession game for both teams largely went out the window.

Streamwood’s best chance of the match came in the 56th minute when, with the wind at his back, freshman midfielder Christian Vences hit a 30-yard shot from the middle of the field that barely cleared the crossbar.

Lake Park had two encouraging scoring chances in the last 5 minutes, but neither found the back of the net.

First, with 4:15 left, Oliver Huerta gathered a cross from Joe Passarelli, settled the ball and hit a shot wide form 12-yards. And with 1:30 left, Mike Catalano dribbled by a Streamwood defender and into the box, but his shot was stopped by a diving Resendiz.

The energetic back and forth play didn’t produce a goal, but it did result in an unfortunate collision. With just over 13 minutes remaining, Streamwood midfielder Adelaido Brito and Lake Park defender Jimmy Albright approached a bouncing ball head on, both at high speeds. They elevated for the header and collided in midair.

Both players left the match with cuts, but while Brito returned 7 minutes later, Albright had to leave the stadium for medical attention.

“It was the worst [gash] I’ve ever seen in soccer,” Hillner said of the injury.

While the Lancers felt a bit let down by not putting away a winner, Streamwood was pleased with the draw after a flurry of one-goal losses since knocking off Geneva late last month. Still, they’d like to do a little more in the offensive third.

“We gave everything we’ve got,” Streamwood coach Matt Polovin said. “We really tried to move the ball around quickly. … We just couldn’t connect on our finishing.”

Donations at the gate accumulated to nearly $300 for the cause, and no matter the result of the match, the players enjoyed the feelings associated with playing for something of higher importance.

“It was something special for me,” Ascencio said of playing for breast cancer awareness. “It was my first time freshman year here, but I’m looking forward to doing it again the next couple of years.”