Knights win shootout over Stevenson in regional final

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By Rusty Silber

It's been quite a long time since Prospect's boys’ soccer has won a regional championship – 30 years, to be exact.

The No. 2 seed of the Palatine sectional notched its first regional crown since 1981 by topping No. 8 Stevenson on Saturday, in a 2-1 game that was decided on penalty kicks.

Nine days earlier, the Knights won their first MSL crown in a shootout over Schaumburg, and they earned a 3-2 edge in the shootout the Class 3A Stevenson regional final in Lincolnshire.

Prospect (19-0-2) will next play another Mid-Suburban League foe in No. 6 Buffalo Grove  (13-4-6) in the Palatine sectional semifinal Tuesday at 7 p.m.  The Knights won 3-0 over the Bison in their regular-season conference meeting.

"It has been a long time." Prospect coach Kurt Trenkle said. "I have a special group of boys. We just don't have one or two special players. but we have several players that fill roles and know exactly what to do. It starts with great goaltending, we have finishers, guys in the middle, and a solid backline.

"In this one it was heart and getting it done."

It all came down to the penalty kicks after both Prospect and Stevenson (11-5-3) played through 80 minutes of regulation tied at one goal a piece. Then, going through four ten-minute overtimes without another goal.

Prospect goalkeeper Brad Reibel, who made 9 saves in the game, had two key saves during the penalty kicks on Saturday night.

"In a shootout, you get lucky sometimes." Reibel said, ""We did blow couple of PK shots here and got away with it. You got to go in with confidence and say you've done this before. Maybe (Stevenson) hasn't been here this season.

"When it comes to PK’s you've got to knock them in and its tough to do it."

Richard Lenke came forward for the winning kick and broke the 2-2 tie on the final one kick of the shootout for the Knights.

"I literally did it the same exact way as I did against Schaumburg," Lenke said. "It came down to the last shot, I stepped up and just put it away. You've got to forget about the rest of the game. Just go for the one shot.

"We've taken PK’s every day in practice for this type of moment. You might get unlucky and hit one off the bar or miss a little wide. It does happen. It all comes down to hitting that one shot."

The other PK goals for Prospect came off the feet of Bill Cooney and Alex Schnepf, while Stevenson got PK conversions from Ricky Lekakh and Max Gonzalez-Lopez.

After a scoreless first half, Prospect scored the game’s first goal in the 49th minute, when Ihor Lehkiv sent a free kick towards the goal and Matthew Burikas scored on a head flick.

Stevenson found the tying goal in the 63rd minute off a corner kick from Constantine Kuhlman as Alex Smith scored.

The Patriots had a young team throughout this season and arguably managed to play even with the unbeaten Knights.

"It was hard fought with two well-coached teams," Stevenson coach Mark Schartner said. "It was amazing athleticism out there.

"Let's say Prospect hit two off the post. It's a game of inches. Every game matters, every game counts. Somebody has got to walk away without a victory. It takes nothing away from the journey. It takes nothing away from the game. It's a sad way to lose."