First half goal flurry leads Knights to 3-2 win over Deerfield

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO GALLERY courtesy of Andy Schnepf

By Dan Santaromita

Prospect’s season opener against Deerfield had some expected jitters in the early minutes, but once both teams got comfortable they provided plenty of action.

When the dust settled on Monday night, Prospect defeated the visiting Warriors 3-2 after scoring three times in seven minutes during the opening half.

Both teams were cautious in the first fifteen minutes and struggled to connect in the final third.

"The beginning was a little rough, but it's the beginning of the season obviously and we had jitters," Prospect forward Richard Lenke said. "We pulled together in the end."

Deerfield had less possession, but looked more dangerous going forward and took the lead in the 20th minute.

A low cross was sent in front of goal and finished by Andrew Sloan, who slid to poke the ball past Prospect goalkeeper Jeff Geldmeyer (3 saves).

The Knights responded well to the goal and went on the offensive for the rest of the half.

In the 28th minute, Brayhan Nunez rolled the ball off an indirect free kick to set up co-captain Patryk Ruta, who sent a laser of a shot high into the goal from about 25 yards out.

Ruta's strike started the Knights' goal barrage.

"You need something to finally say 'Okay, we can score goals,'" Prospect coach Kurt Trenkle said. "It was a big catalyst."

In the 34th minute, Alex Schnepf showed good vision when he spotted Lenke making a run on the left and made a lob pass to him.

Lenke fought off a Deerfield defender and poked the loose ball over the charging keeper to give himself an easy tap in.

Then not even a minute later, the roles were reversed and it was Schnepf that was on a breakaway. His shot went off the Deerfield keeper's hands and into the net to make it 3-1.

"As soon as me and Schnepf came in, it was us together, we had that speed up top," Lenke said. "Once we were finding those long balls through the back we were just blowing through the back line and finishing.

"Me and Schnepf were flick, goal, flick, goal. We were playing well together."

The goal binge came after the Knights were unable to create a shot on goal in the first 25 minutes.

"Deerfield did a great job getting behind the ball and putting numbers behind the ball," Trenkle said. "That's something that we need to be able to solve. We were able to finally figure that out when we played that entry pass that opens up space behind us.

"We were trying to play the ball over the top where we didn't have the number advantage. When we actually started to do our game of actually working passes to the wings and into our forward checking back, it pulled them out of their shape and that opened up space for our fast guys up top.

"We've got speed up top, we know we're going to win that ball so as soon as that pass opened up and we were able to hit that I think that's where we saw the success."

Senior defender Mike Eggert had a simpler explanation.

"It just clicked," Eggert said. "It was about time because we just keep sending through balls. We got fast forwards. I think with the intensity we have up there with Lenke and (Bill) Cooney and Ruta I think once one went in we just want to keep rolling. It was almost unstoppable at that point."

Deerfield came out strong to start the second half and pulled a goal back a few minutes after the break.

Matthew Zussman lobbed a long shot that dipped in the goal, bouncing in off the bottom of the crossbar.

The Warriors piled on the pressure for the rest of the game, but were unable to break Eggert and the Knights' defense again.

Eggert, Michael Hamman and Ethan Graven did well to mark Deerfield's talented forward, Joey Calistri.

"At halftime we figured out what he was good at," Eggert said of Calistri. "He wanted to go line the whole time so when he went there me or Hamman or Graven, we'd help out each other.

"If he got by them I'd be there behind them just to try to contain him because he was pretty quick and he did have a good shot, too. We just wanted to calm him down a lot because he just wanted to go up and down all game."

Trenkle was pleased with his defense despite a couple mistakes.

"I'm real pleased with especially Ethan (Graven), sophomore in his first game," Trenkle said.

"He came in off the bench and did a great job of shutting (Calistri) down. Eggert and Hamman passing him off in the back when he was coming across. He was obviously their best and most talented player and we gave him a difficult time."

The win against a talented Deerfield team was a good start to the season for a team that lost a lot of seniors from last year's team.

"We're a different team than we were last year," Trenkle said. "We obviously lost some talent, but there's a lot of talent over there and they fully expect to have success and build upon that.

"Some opening night jitters from some of the guys, some of the touches were iffy and you know that kind of showed. All and all I thought some really good showings from some of the guys and it was a good start so I'm pleased."

Eggert, a senior co-captain, was optimistic about the team's outlook for the season.

"We lost a lot of seniors, but we want to have a good season obviously," he said. "We got some good seniors on the team; we want to finish out well. We want to make a statement in the (MSL) East and in the conference as well.

"We want to go far because we had a bad ending to the season last year and we want to make up for that and go farther in the playoffs as well."

Mario Morales and Nunez were strong on the wings for the Knights and, along with Patrick Sitko, should allow Prospect to possess the ball well and spring Cooney, Ruta, Lenke and Schnepf up top.

Prospect is back at it again Tuesday when it hosts Taft as part of the Maine West Invite at 6:30 p.m.