Bison take Hillner Classic crown
By Mike Garofola

CLICK HERE FOR BISON'S TEAM PAGE

Buffalo Grove capped a sensational week of soccer at 21st annual, newly-renamed Hillner Classic, hosted by Lake Park.

The Bison put on an impressive display during a 4-2 victory over the host Lancers to capture the championship trophy Saturday morning at Krupke Field. The former Lancer Classic was renamed for long-time hall of fame coach Norm Hillner, who stepped down after last season.

After mashing its first three tourney opponents to the tune of 17 goals, the Bison (5-0-0) overcame a disastrous, but not fatal start against Lake Park coach Anthony Passi’s youthful side. The Lancers struck for two goals in the first 10 minutes to put their opponents in the position of chasing the lead for the first time during the tournament.

"I think we kind of surprised them," Passi said. "We had a great start against a very good soccer team, and I have a feeling if we could somehow found a third goal, we might have been in very good shape the rest of the way.

"But (Buffalo Grove) is so good at attacking, and all of their midfielders can do a lot of things with and without the ball. Their experience as a team really showed as the match went on, and we just weren't able to stop them in that second half."

The Lancers (4-3-0) got off to a rip-roaring start thanks in part to the work of Kris Lopez, Oliver Horgan, Kevin Coria and James Proctor, who each had a hand in the first two goals of the game, as the Bison struggled to play clean and sharp in its own end at the outset.

"It wasn't very pretty out there at the start," admitted Bison midfielder Irving Eloiza, who would help turn around the fortunes of his club later on.

"To be truthful, I was kind of glad that we opened so poorly, because we haven't been in that position before and it was a good test for all of us to see how the team would respond to falling behind."

A bad sequence of poor decision making with the ball led to an opportunity for Lopez to finish on a Coria helper, and the sophomore did just that with a nifty touch the other way past on-rushing keeper Anthony Pawlicki, who raced off his line and tried to force Lopez into spraying his shot wide.

With a 1-0 lead just five minutes in, the home side quickly found itself with a chance to double the lead, and the Lancers did so when the Bison failed to clear a long throw out of the box. Horgan fired past Pawlicki with a nice touch from just 8 yards out to make it 2-0.

"It took us fifteen or twenty minutes to find our game today, but I wasn't too worried, because I know what these boys can do. But regardless, that wasn't the ideal way to begin today," said Bison head coach Rick Carlson, who in his first year in charge last fall took his club close to a sectional final before dropping a heart-breaking shoot-out loss to MSL champ Prospect.

The Lancers midfield played a little more compact after the Horgan strike, almost daring the Bison to play wide or over the top.

The home crowd roared when it thought one of its own was pushed to the turf down near the far flag, but after the center official waved off that suggestion it was a quick combination of passes from Eloiza and Irving Balboa that set Zach Masciopinto free near the spot, and the Bison sophomore finished under keeper Stephen Mack to cut the deficit to 2-1.

"This team is very capable of scoring, so I don't think anyone felt any panic when we went down two goals," offered Masciopinto.

The match opened up following the 13th-minute strike, with the Lancers looking to regain their two-goal advantage and the Bison hoping to equalize before intermission.

The clearest of opportunities fell to the Bison in the 22nd minute.

Balboa, who was later named MVP of the tournament, sent a superb crossfield serve to the back post, where Masciopinto met it and sent a redirected header the other way and into the back of the net.

"When you see that your opponent has scored 17 goals in their three previous games, you have to be a little concerned that they can come back and strike really quick," began Lake Park junior midfielder Joe Keane.

"We got off to a great start against them, but they were hard to hold off and when we had trouble marking and staying organized in the second half, things turned in their favor pretty fast."

The Bison, now brimming with confidence, enjoyed the run of play for the final quarter hour before the break, going close with a handful of chances created.

Mack would do well to punch an Eloiza freekick out of the area, and then stop a driven blast from the Bison captain moments later.

Now in its trademark counter-attack frenzy, the visitors would stay in the Lancers end until the first period was whistled over. An Allan Santiagullo strike was blocked in close on the way in, and Mack turned away an Eloiza shot just before halftime, on a feed from Demo Drakoulis.

"You can see how experience and knowing what the other guy is going to do, or where he's going to be, is a big advantage to a team like Buffalo Grove," said Lake Park junior Gustavo Contreras, who joined teammates Sean Lang, Proctor and Keane on the all-tournament team.

"Our team is made up of ten new players to the varsity, and two sophomores, and although the effort and work rate has been very good, we're going to have games like this against an experienced, quality team while we go through some growing pains."

While having plenty of the ball for the first 20 minutes after intermission, it would take some time for the Bison to build a two-goal lead after needing just four minutes to go ahead for good.

That's when Masciopinto would record his hat-trick after a bending Drakoulis corner was kept alive by Aldo Figueroa long enough to give Masciopinto time to place one under the roof from the endline.

The Bison should have doubled its lead on several occasions afterwards, but once again, it was the ever-alert Mack who punched an attempt by Alberto Eloyza out of his 6-yard box, and saved again 2 minutes later.

Cassidy Fauser saw his shot veer wide in the 53rd minute, the first serious chance on frame for the Lancers of the second half, and Contreras had a go on newly-installed Bison keeper Dillon Eaton.

But that would be it for the Lancers.

At the hour mark, the Bison would add to its lead, and it was Drakoulis who do the honors. At the end of an enterprising, non-stop run up the center channel, the senior striker -- who bagged 9 goals last season -- would beat Mack to a 50-50 ball just around the spot, and then squeeze his well-paced shot under the fallen keeper and into the back of the net.

After that, the Bison backline Daniel Ramirez, Alexix Herrera, Rafa Arcos, Figueroa, and freshmen Ryan Drum, helped shut down the Lancers going forward for the final 20 minutes to preserve the victory. 

"We are fortunate to have a team that can possess, control and actually play, and they can be fun to watch at times as well," said Carlson.

"We'll have to clean some things up as we prepare for the start of our conference schedule, but I feel like we'll be able to compete for the top spot in the MSL East before it's over."

The Lancers’ Passi is just as optimistic as his coaching counterpart, even in defeat.

"We lost to a very good team today, a team which could end up winning their conference championship," he began.

"We lost almost our entire varsity roster from a year ago, and are obviously are starting over. We lack experience but we do have a great group of kids who are willing to put the work in to get better. They just have to keep their heads up, but this game behind them, and next time out they have to realize it's an 80-minute game, and to play with the same energy and passion they showed in the first 10-15 minutes today. If they do, we'll be just fine going forward."