Red Devils top L-Way East for season's first win

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By Matt Le Cren

Hinsdale Central escaped from the ranks of the winless while knocking Lincoln-Way East from the realm of the unbeaten on Thursday, but both sides had plenty to be excited about after the host Red Devils beat the Griffins 2-1 on the final day of group play at the Red Devils Cup.

The result was a breakthrough for Hinsdale Central (1-2-2), which had struggled through a pair of one-goal losses and a two scoreless draws in its first four outings.

“It’s a great feeling,” Hinsdale Central junior midfielder Mike Krohn said. “We’re all really happy about it. It took long enough.”

While disappointed with its first loss, Lincoln-Way East had already wrapped up first place in the group, thus securing a spot in Saturday’s tournament championship game against Morton. The Griffins (2-1-1), who will be making their first appearance in the title match, will take on the Mustangs (3-1) at 11 a.m. at Hinsdale Central.

“We’re shocked,” Lincoln-Way East co-captain Anthony Cetera said. “Hard work put our team there. Morton is a really good team and we’re looking for a good game Saturday.”

Cetera, a senior midfielder, gave the Griffins a 1-0 lead at the 33:34 mark of the first half when he intercepted an errant clearing attempt in the Hinsdale Central box and blasted a 10-yard shot past Red Devils goalie Will Meyer.

The advantage was short-lived, however, as Mark Tyler tied the game 4:28 later when he pounced on a loose ball in front of the Lincoln-Way East net and tapped it in. Gareth Parsons, who assisted on both Hinsdale goals, started the play by lofting a 45-yard free kick from the left wing that Griffins keeper Rich Torres failed to corral.

“I think the goalie came out for a punch and then Mark was there to tap it in,” Parsons said. “We work a lot on those kind of set plays from distance, so we’ve got set runners and I know where they’re going to be. I know where I have to put it every time so as long as I put it in the air, I know we’re going to get a good chance.

“Mark’s always making those runs at the goalie. He’s had two of those this season.”

Parsons also set up the game-winning goal, which came 2:19 into the second half. The senior forward’s pass in the midfield sprung Krohn on a run up the right wing, where he drove one-on-one against a defender and used a nice cutback move to his left to free himself. Seconds later, Krohn slipped a shot under the arm of a charging Torres for a 2-1 lead.

“I just tried to beat [the defender] on the right and beat him from the outside and then I took it inside with my left foot,” Krohn said of his second goal of the year. “The goalie came out and I put it under him.”

Though it is only one game, the Red Devils seem to have put their earlier frustrations behind them.

“I think we went into [this game] with a lot more intensity and we really wanted it this time,” Krohn said. “We wanted to take it to the team that’s going to the championship [match] and we just wanted to say we’re the team that also beat the champions.

“We were talking a lot more today. Our communication up to this game has been not as good as we’d like it to be and we really yelled out there and a lot of times that’s intimidating to other teams. I think that helped us today.”

The Red Devils had several more solid scoring chances and could have easily increased the lead, but Torres made five of his six saves in the second half, a hard shot by Lenny Zavala missed wide left and a header by Phillip Gutman went inches over the crossbar.

“I think we’ve been dominating most of the games we’ve played this season,” Parsons said. “The other day against Oswego [East] we broke through with three but they scored four so we didn’t do well defensively.

“We didn’t want to lose [today]. We had lost so many games, we just came out and we knew we were scoring goals. We had to put them away when we had chances. We’ll make a run.”

So might the Griffins, who in the early going look much improved from the squad that had compiled a 39-46-7 record over the past four seasons.

“Today was a tough one,” Cetera said. “We struggled in the back a little bit. We didn’t get enough shots off, either.

“One thing is this year, unlike all the other years, we actually believe. We believe we’re a good team, whereas the other years we just thought we were a mediocre team. So it’s more about believing that we can play with any team we want and show them what we can do.”

Lincoln-Way East coach Brian Papa, whose squad was missing outside defender Michael Roth [flu], had some strong words for the Griffins at halftime but is pleased with their overall improvement.

“Our outside backs just weren’t there today and that’s what our offense is predicated on that,” Papa said. “If you’re going to give the ball to the other team all the time and they’re countering on us, we’re going to get caught.

“Our strength has been possession. It wasn’t today. But the kids have been playing hard for the past couple days. I’ve got no qualms. I know we’re going to be a good team down the road.”

Papa substituted liberally in the 92-degree heat, giving a lot of reserves some playing time, and said those players learned a valuable lesson.

“I just wish we would have done a little bit more in the box,” said Papa, whose team was outshot 16-6, including 11-4 in the second half. “If we’d have played the last 10 minutes when we were pooped the whole game…that’s a learning situation.”

The Griffins, who beat Oswego East 4-3 and Downers Grove South 1-0 in their other group matches, are learning how to win, a process Papa says will take time.

“When you lose the way we’ve lost the last couple years, with all the injuries, the hardest thing to teach is to win,” Papa said. “There are two things that are hard to break. It’s hard to break a winning tradition. It’s hard to break a losing tradition, and we are right in the middle of it. Hopefully it pans out.”

That said, Papa is not surprised that East has a chance to win the Red Devil Cup.

“I did expect to be here,” he said. “I really believe this team is a very good team, but we are not the deepest team in the world. We’ll see if we come back ready to play against Morton. That will be a good test.”