Prospect pulls one out of the fire in Crystal Lake
Nunez goal in 79th minute ends match in dramatic fashion vs. CL South

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO GALLERY COURTESY OF ANDY SCHNEPF

By Mike Garofola
Photos courtesy of Keith Allmandinger

High atop their respective conference tables, Prospect and Crystal Lake South got together Saturday afternoon on the Gators’ extra-wide home pitch in a non-conference match, to see where both rate against top-flight opponents.

It would difficult to grade one over the other after a 1-1 draw, but it's clear each side is now ready for perhaps what appears to be the most important upcoming week of the regular season.

Brayhan Nunez, who along with mates Stefano Dolomas and David Spudic were key figures for Prospect throughout, dashed the hopes of the Gators' faithful and its club by scoring the equalizer in the 79th minute, and help end the match even after 80 minutes.

"It was a fair result," echoed both coaches Brian Allen and Kurt Trenkle, who now point towards a week of play where their clubs could go a long way towards clinching divisional titles.

Allen -- who would see his squad’s closest Valley Division rival in the FVC, Jacobs, take up a portion of the bleachers on the far touchline for a scouting mission -- hosts the Golden Eagles on Tuesday.

CL South holds a one-game lead in the Valley, while Trenkle’s Knights (8-1-2) open a huge 4-game week with Hoffman Estates on Monday, before taking on MSL West co-leader Fremd, and then Elk Grove two nights later in what could the decisive match for the MSL East title.

"This was a great test for us today, and I like the way that we responded to some of the things that Prospect did to us today, to prepare us for the week ahead," said South head coach Brian Allen.

"They have some very good talent and exposed us from time-to-time, while having success on the outside, especially from their No. 7 (Nunez),” Allen continued. “But we responded pretty well today, and worked and played hard, so we should be ready to go on Tuesday against Jacobs."

The Gators (14-1-2) who are unbeaten in their last 15 matches, were forced to defend bravely in the early stages. The Prospect quartet of Bill Cooney, Richard Lenke, Patryk Ruta and Nunez caused CL South backliners Jacob Stock, Alex Anderl, Adam Gatza and Matt Bierderwolf constant problems in pursuing their high-flying opponents.

In the first quarter hour alone, this group controlled 90% of the possession, created a handful of dead-ball opportunities, and enjoyed the run of play, while Dolomas and Spudic ruled the middle of the park and slowed 20-goal scorer Charlie Oliver enough to make the talented junior a non-factor during this time.

"We really enjoyed playing on such a wide pitch, it felt like we were really playing soccer out there today," Ruta said with a smile.

"Both Stefano and David were terrific for us out there today," began Trenkle.

"They each held that part of the field so well (for) us, which was really important because of the size of this place, and they helped keep Oliver under wraps, who we tried to double as often as we could because of his ability to do so much when he has the ball."

Dolomas said his side embraced the challenge of slowing Oliver.

"That was our job out there today and we knew we had to mark him as close as we could because he's so dangerous," said Dolomas, who at times went forward to add numbers in the Knights' attack.

Although quiet for most of the first-half, Oliver flashed a well-struck inward swinger that narrowly missed the upper right corner at 24 minutes. Oliver and Bittenbender combined on the right side in the waning minutes of the half.

"We were a little lax with our play in the first half, creating just a few chances for ourselves, but I thought in the second half we picked up the pace and played (Prospect) even,” Oliver said. “We had times when we dominated the play with our possession.”

Most of the play after the break was between the 18's, with both clubs’ managers keeping legs fresh in preparation for what appeared to be a fierce final 20 minutes of action, and the next 7 days of play.

The homeside fans suffered a scary moment at the hour mark when its keeper David Walsh ventured far off his line to challenge some mischief from Cooney and Lenke. If not for some quick thinking and alert retreating from Walsh, Lenke's shot would have nestled into the back of the net had the senior keeper not pulled the attempt out of the air.

The last quarter hour was an exciting thrill ride for the chilly faithful on hand. The game looked to go in the favor of the Knights' when Cooney drilled his shot on frame from in close, only to watch the bar reject the near-goal off the shooting boots of the junior.

As it happens so many times in this sport, the Knights' inability to finish would come back to haunt them when disaster struck just moments after the Cooney strike.

That's when Alex Allmandinger went clear of the last man on the outside left, and sealed his run with a scoring finish up and over Knights keeper Jeff Geldmyer. Geldmeyer had left his line correctly to challenge Adam Gatza's well-aimed freekick from just inside the mid-line.

"How could I not finish that shot? Adam put the ball right on top of my head," admitted Allmandinger.

Frustration and emotion would run a little high on both sides of the ball, forcing officials to book players on both sides with yellow cards here and there. Once past this sequence, the homeside, with their new found energy and confidence looked to double its lead, while the Knights searched to find the equalizer.

Prospect did so in sensational fashion.

"If we found out one thing today, is that you have to play 80 minutes, not (79) if you expect to win and compete in any game, regardless of the opponent or situation," Allen said.

"I was thrilled that we finally scored off a set-piece, because that's been something we've been working on, but it was not okay to give one away (the same way) and not finish strong at the end."

Nunez drilled his shot into the far inside netting by running clear through and free from the right side to catch up to Ruta's superb serve to complete the Knights' comeback in grand style.

"I was really proud of the way we fought today, especially in the end when we were finally able to get into the back of the net," said Ruta.