Knights take early lead and coast to win at Wheeling

By Dan Santaromita

There's nothing like a goal in the first minute to boost a team's confidence, even if it wasn't a pretty goal.

Prospect jumped ahead of host Wheeling 47 seconds into the game and cruised to a 3-0 win in a Mid-Suburban League East match.

Wheeling goalie Chloe Majkowski (5 saves) dropped a cross and after a couple attempts to shove the loose ball over the line, sophomore Carly Hall poked the ball in the goal.

Prospect's early pressure continued and resulted in a second goal in the 15th minute.

Senior Susie Lello attacked the Wheeling defense from the right wing with some skillful dribbling.

After weaving her way into the box, Lello crossed to sophomore Jesse Petrovski, who volleyed home for a well-executed goal.

"Susie had a great carry down the side and I just happened to be there to poke it in so she did a lot of the work," Petrovski said.

Lello and Petrovski combined well throughout the game, factoring in most of the Knights' chances.

The Knights (4-3-1, 2-3-1), unbeaten in their last three, worked well together on offense Monday night.

Midfielders Kelli Iovino and Agnes Stankiewicz both made some nice passes forward to the Prospect attackers.

"I think our pace is a little slow, but we were connecting a little better than we usually have or we have been in the past," Petrovski said.

"There's definitely still room for improvement in terms of moving the ball quicker and finding the open players."

Prospect coach Tom Froats liked the way his offense was able to move the ball.

"There were some times where we were able to possess, you know, four, five or six passes and in that way I was impressed with them," he said.

"We kind of bogged down in the final third, but that's a tribute to Wheeling and the fact that they pack it in and when they get numbers behind the ball they are really strong defensively.

"I think we were fortunate in the first half to get a couple breaks that we were able to finish."

After securing the two-goal lead, the Knights seemed content and Wheeling had more possession, but the Wildcats were unable to create quality chances in the final third.

"I think we were lackadaisical and, you know, we didn't put forth a hard effort on every run I think, offensively or defensively," Froats said.

"I think we definitely need to work a little bit harder on defense and tracking back. We've talked about it. We haven't had a chance really to drill it as much as we should."

In the 66th minute Prospect would secure the win by scoring off a corner. Senior Maureen O'Keefe received the corner at her feet and slotted it past Majkowski.

"I liked our energy, maybe the last five or ten," Froats said. "We were a little bit more aggressive in the box and that led to that third goal for us certainly.

"Overall, I'm pleased with the win, but I think that certainly we still have areas of improvement that we have to work on."

Sophomore Megan McCabe made eight saves for the shutout, but most of the saves were routine.

The Wildcats couldn't take advantage of having more chances than the Knights in the second half.

"They had a couple good chances from kind of our lackadaisical effort on the defensive end at times and I think you get comfortable and we let our guard down a little bit," Froats said.

Froats wants to see a more complete effort from his team, who will host Rolling Meadows Wednesday.

"We have to have everybody working hard," he said. "We haven't gotten there yet. We have bits and pieces of three and four players working hard and then someone kind of taking their break and resting.

"We have to have all 11 going hard all the time and I think we're fortunate to have kept them off the board here."

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