Knights' scoring woes continue in loss to Buffalo Grove

CLICK TO SEE PHOTO GALLERY OF THE MATCH

Photos courtesy of Andy Schnepf

By Dan Santaromita

When you're in a slump, sometimes the ball just won't find the back of the net no matter what you do.

Prospect took its fourth shutout defeat in five games when it suffered a 1-0 loss to Buffalo Grove on Friday in the Knights' homecoming.

After a first half where the ball was mostly in the middle of the field, Buffalo Grove breathed some life into the match with a goal early in the second half.

An Alex Hughes throw-in in the 48th minute found Markus Fiordaliso's head for the match's only score. Fiordaliso pounded the ball high over Prospect goalkeeper Jeff Geldmyer (6 saves), who had no chance for a save.

Once the Knights trailed, they revved up the intensity and the pressure but were unable to beat Nick Landsberger, who collected an amazing 21 saves.

"Nick Landsberger came up with a lot of good saves at the end there," Fiordaliso said. "He helped us out a lot and I thought our back line never gave up."

Prospect (10-5-2, 6-5) appeared to be going through the motions until it fell behind.

The final half hour was filled with Prospect chances that Landsberger was up to the task for.

"We played not at the same rhythm that we're used to playing," Prospect midfielder Mario Morales said.

"In the second half we moved the ball around a little, better than the first half. I think we took this team for granted."

Richard Lenke had a breakaway less than five minutes after the Bisons' goal, but was stuffed by Landsberger.

Brayhan Nunez created problems for Buffalo Grove (6-9-1, 3-7-1) on the right side but his crosses never made a clean connection with a teammate.

"I think this hopefully for us will be the learning experience that as we near the end of the season, 80 minutes have to be 80 minutes of solid play and 80 minutes of effort," Prospect coach Kurt Trenkle said.

"We need to realize that we can't do what we did in the first 15 minutes of the second half. We came out of that second half completely dead without any sense of urgency, without any sense of skill and that's where the game was lost."

The recent struggles have coincided with a tough stretch in Prospect's schedule, but there seems to be more to it than playing tougher opposition.

The Knights were lifeless for much of the game. Still, Trenkle didn't believe the team wasn't into the match because they had recently been eliminated from the MSL East race.

"You've got seniors here playing their homecoming game, it still mattered," he said. "Now we're going to be tied for second place with Rolling Meadows in the division.

"We could have had second place outright. There were things on the line that they should have been playing for and I'm disappointed that that didn't happen."

Prospect couldn't solve the Bisons' defense. The Knights played the long ball too much for Trenkle's liking and didn't possess well enough from the start.

Morales, a winger himself, says the team needs to play the ball more to the outside of the pitch instead of sending the forwards with through balls.

"Earlier in the year we were playing weaker teams so I think we were able to beat the guys by sending the forwards and we're trying to get that against strong teams and it's not happening because people study what teams do before a game," the senior said.

"Obviously, they've learned we like to do that a lot so they've tried to not let us go by. Maybe that's a big problem with us."

Clearly time is running out for the Knights to turn things around if they wish to avoid a repeat of last year's early playoff exit.

The team will play at Glenbrook South Saturday at noon and has a MSL crossover match Tuesday to close out the regular season.