St. Francis battles Riverside-Brookfield
Spartans fall in OT but bring the fight

 

By Gary Larsen

Shattered seniors, scattered on the ground around the pitch, is the worst of signals that a team’s soccer season is over.

But boy, did St. Francis go out with a bang.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the way we played,” Spartans coach Kristin Keigley said. “It’ll take some time to take the sting out of the loss, but they have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.”

The Spartans lost 4-3 on a Riverside-Brookfield goal scored in the second overtime of their Class 2A regional semifinal game on Wednesday. This, after St. Francis fought back from a 2-0 deficit to take a 3-2 lead in a game marked by high drama and emotion for almost 100 minutes of play.

The adrenaline-fueled game between the 8th-seeded Spartans and 9th-seeded Bulldogs saw R-B grab a 2-0 lead by the 30th minute. And playing from behind has not been the Spartans’ strong suit this year.

“We’d get down a goal and hang our heads,” Keigley said. “But I didn’t have any doubt that they’d fight their way back today. Their adrenaline was going and this is a team that fights when they have something to play for.”

It was Drew Mascari’s flick in the box off a Perry Poulos free kick feed that told the crowd that St. Francis wasn’t going to tolerate a 2-goal deficit. Mascari’s goal came less than a minute after the Bulldogs’ Ruben Chavez gave his side a 2-0 lead.

The junior Mascari was perpetually around the ball throughout the first 40 minutes, winning balls at midfield, turning and taking on defenders, and laying off quality feeds to the wings.

The Bulldogs were dangerous early on long balls sent over the top, but the Spartans’ back line of TJ Kliebhan, Kyle Bhatia, Perry Poulos, and Matt Bonner retreated well, and goalkeeper Ryan Suerte left his line aggressively to cut off serves being sent his way.

It was Riverside-Brookfield’s Ruben Chavez who scored the Bulldogs’ first two goals, first when he danced his way through and around a few defenders and went around Suerte to an open net at 27 minutes.

Chavez struck again near the goalmouth three minutes later on a cross from Alejandro Amaya, another lightning-quick attacking player for the Bulldogs. The Spartans answered quickly with Mascari’s goal and trailed 2-1 at halftime.

Neither Chavez nor Amaya made the Spartans’ pay again. Bhatia thwarted Amaya several times up the sideline in the second half, as he and fellow defender Kliebhan battled well on the outside, and Poulos and Bonner kept the middle strong.

St. Francis tied the game at 55 minutes when Poulos sent in a free kick from 40 yards out. Mascari flicked it towards the far post, where Nick Konchel calmly planted a head shot in the back netting.

The Spartans’ Michael Vale took his turn in the spotlight one minute later, giving his side a 3-2 lead with a beauty of a left-footed blast from 22 yards out that found the upper ninety at the far post.

“(Vale) has been in and out as a starter and we put him in as a starter tonight in a huge game, and he handled it well,” Keigley said.

The Spartan’s lead held for 15 minutes, until the Bulldogs’ Jonathon Kingzette finished in the goalmouth on the end of a long throw-in. The 3-3 tie held for the final 9 minutes of regulation. Riverside-Brookfield’s Adam Kuta ended the game three minutes into the second overtime period, roofing a shot at the far post on a low feed across the goalmouth.

The Spartans’ grit and high work rate never waned on Wednesday, and Keigley only wished her boys hadn’t strayed so frequently from their strength.

“The set pieces and throw ins were great but they didn’t play the soccer they normally play. They normally possess, and they played too much kick-ball tonight,” Keigley said.

Keigley was Lockport’s head coach before taking over at St. Francis prior to the start of the current season, and she has immensely enjoyed her first year as head coach.

“I hope no one from Lockport reads this, but this is my favorite team that I’ve coached,” Keigley said. “Seniors can make or break a team but they immediately bought into it this year. Andres (Pena) shook my hand on the first day of practice in the summer and introduced himself, Kyle Bhatia introduced himself right away – they are just stand-up young men.”

“Their personalities and their positive attitudes are going to be very sorely missed.”

St. Francis will bid farewell to 7 graduating seniors, in Pena, Bhatia, Kliebhan, Konchel, Vale, Joe Cox, and Wes Dorman.

“Wes is always level-headed, he can contain and possess, and his talking is something that will be missed,” Keigley said of her senior mid.

“Last year was a rough year for this team and this year could have been rough with a new coach, let alone a female coach,” Keigley said. “But on the first day of summer camp, they fell into line. They bought in. They did anything I asked them to do.

Key starters in midfielders Mascari and David Kaminky, center backs Poulos and Bonner, and keeper Suerte will be back next season, along with rostered juniors Blake Behlman, Pat Holman, Keegan Miulli, Anthony Farace, Tim Fuller, Mitch McShane, and Chris Thomason.

“Next year we’ll have a lot of consistency in our middle, and we have two sophomores that we pulled up from our jayvee for today. And two of our sophomores – Andy Wood and Jon Mifsud – couldn’t play today but will be big parts of the team next year.”