Chicagoland Soccer

Crusaders can't make early lead stand in loss to Wolfpack

By Curt Herron

After using a five-match win streak to move over the .500 mark, Saint Ignatius College Prep saw its momentum halted on Tuesday.

That's when the Wolfpack kicked off play in the Chicago Catholic League Blue Division by dropping a 3-0 decision at St. Joseph.

Saint Ignatius hoped to return to its winning ways on Thursday when it hosted struggling Brother Rice in another CCL Blue match.

Even though the Crusaders hadn't won any matches yet, Wolfpack coach Jim Luzzi figured that they would give his team a battle.

After all, the two programs have had plenty of good matches during the lengthy careers of both Rice's Nick Markulin and Luzzi.

Not surprisingly, Rice was up to the challenge and came out strong with a first-half goal after missing some earlier chances.

Facing the unpleasant prospect of an 0-2 start in the league, it was time for the Wolfpack to step up in the final 40 minutes.

And that's just what SICP did, connecting three times within a 13-minute span early in the second half to change the momentum.

That quick burst of offense proved to be sufficient as the Wolfpack went on to capture a 3-1 win on Chicago's Near West Side.

Brandon Medina collected the first two goals for Saint Ignatius (8-6, 1-1) while Dan McIlhattan added the host's other score.

"One team that we play that I've never had a problem with the kids getting up for is Brother Rice," Luzzi said. "It didn't matter what the teams' records were since a lot of the kids knew each other.

"I thought we were pretty much up for them at the beginning of the game, even though we didn't play with as much intensity as I wanted. There was intensity and hustle, but not a focused intensity.

"At halftime and we told our defense to play a little deeper since they were playing a little high. We also told the boys that we needed to keep possession with purpose and to cut down on turnovers.

After suffering a disappointing loss in their CCL opener, Luzzi was pleased with how his squad responded in Thursday's match.

Now he hopes they can build on this win as they head into a tough stretch which kicks off with a trip to Leyden on Saturday.

"We have Leyden on Saturday and play Loyola on Tuesday and Fenwick on Thursday, but that's the way our schedule is," Luzzi said.

"We told our kids that this is one of the toughest schedules that we have ever put together and hopefully we can benefit from it.

"If they can take something away from this game and the St. Joseph game then I think that it will hopefully be to our advantage."

The tide began turning in Thursday's match in the 46th minute when Medina fired in a liner after a ball deflected right to him.

A couple of minutes after the tying goal, Markulin replaced his starting keeper, Kevin Myren, with freshman Gerardo Guiterrez.

Saint Ignatius took the lead for good exactly four minutes after it had forced a tie when it again made the most of a restart.

Keeper Zak Allen sent a long free kick toward the opposite net where John Barkidjija got it and flicked the ball toward Medina.

After Medina's initial attempt was cleared by a defender, he eventually got the ball back and connected on a close-range try.

"I thought the coaches did a good job of moving the pieces around at halftime," Medina said. "And we were on our own field and were losing 1-0 so it was a case of pride about not losing at home.

"At halftime we had two choices, either to quit and have another bad half or to leave it all on the field. The first 10 minutes of the second half were pretty intense and we dominated after that.

"It doesn't matter who you're playing against in the Catholic League because of the rivalries. That's especially true with Brother Rice since their coach has been here just as long as Mr. Luzzi.

"Sasha Simon had been out two or three weeks and A.J. Swarm is finally back after being injured for six months. We still have big expectations for this year, it's just a matter of pushing ourselves."

Brother Rice (0-7-5, 0-4) tried to get the equalizer a bit later but Brian Kane's curving corner kick was hauled in by Allen.

Medina nearly collected his third score not long after that when he sent in a grounder which required Guiterrez to dive for.

The Wolfpack added a key insurance score in the 59th minute when Sean McDonald sent a pass to McIlhattan, who found the net.

SICP had a couple of late chances but the Crusader keeper stopped a long try from Luke McIlhattan and later halted a corner.

"We came out in the second half with a lot more energy," said SICP's Sasha Simon. "We started slowly, just as we did against St. Joseph. But getting a few injured people back helped with our energy.

"In the first half they were dumping the ball to one forward up top and that didn't work as well in the second half because we got the back line in order and they started playing better defensively."

Rice had some good chances in the opening half but had nothing to show for it until it finally connected in the 31st minute.

Alex Borys got free past defenders and made a run down the sideline before firing in an attempt to give his team a 1-0 lead.

Saint Ignatius tried to even things up in the 36th minute but Erich Eklin's short try deflected of a defender for a corner.

On the subsequent restart, the corner kick went into the box and Jeremy Palcan got his head on it, but the attempt went wide.

It was the latest in a tough stretch of losses for the Crusaders, who have come close several times but haven't posted a win.

For example, in its three previous matches, Rice lost a pair of one-goal decisions, one in overtime, and settled for a draw.

"We had a great first half but we only led 1-0," Markulin said. "We had two one-on-ones, but one of them hit the post and the other went right to the goalie.

"But in the second half it was just mental mistakes in the back. We gave some easy ones away and after that we were playing catch up and Jimmy has a nice team.

"We're not aggressive enough and that's evident all over the field. We're getting better but we need to do it for the entire game on defense and in the midfield."