Huskies blank St. Ignatius in home opener

By Curt Herron

Oak Park and River Forest owned late leads in its first three matches of the season but allowed late goals in its last two outings and had to settle for draws.

So as the Huskies kicked off their home schedule on Monday against St. Ignatius, they were determined to get the lead and not let their opponent stage a late rally.

After grabbing a 1-0 halftime lead and then scoring again quickly at the start of the second half, OPRF put itself in the perfect position to capture a victory.

An insurance goal midway through the final half assured that and as a bonus, the Huskies also recorded their first shutout following a 3-0 win at Oak Park Stadium.

The victory kicked off a big week featuring key nonconference home matches against a pair of the better teams who were in the same sectional with OPRF a year ago.

OPRF (2-0-2), which hosts Whitney Young on Friday at 7 p.m., settled for a 1-1 draw with Larkin on Saturday and tied Leyden 2-2 two days earlier in Leyden's Invite.

But there was no such drama on Monday as the Huskies executed well on offense and didn't allow the Wolfpack (1-1-1) many opportunities to put the ball into the net.

While OPRF's attack seemed to get bogged down in the high grass at Leyden's field, its ball movement was much more efficient on the turf surface at the Stadium.

Add in a good defensive effort to go with the goal-scoring success and it's easy to see why OPRF coach Paul Wright was able to enjoy the final stages of the match.

Click to hear coach Paul Wright interview

St. Ignatius didn't allow a goal in its first two matches, but that streak was snapped when Roman Zwarycz connected shortly after the midway point of the first half.

Zwarycz also assisted Dimeji Williams on a goal just 99 seconds into the second half and Thomas Lamm also later found the net, following a pass from Cory O'Donnell.

As an interesting extra attraction to Monday's match, two of the state's finest keepers, OPRF's Sam Euler and St. Ignatius' Zak Allen, met up with each other again.

Euler was the starter and Allen his backup on the Chicago Fire Academy team that won the U.S. Soccer Development Academy U-15/16 championship in California in July.

But while the Huskie keeper had a fairly easy evening in the net on Monday, his counterpart was tested often by the home team, especially during the second half.

Meanwhile, Euler benefited from the work of defenders Bryan Johnson, Max Neuman, Danny Pasternak and Zack Weigel to help him post his first shutout of the season.

Click to hear Sam Euler interview

The Huskies got the only score that they would eventually need with about 16 minutes left in the opening half when they were halt St. Ignatius' scoreless streak.

Following a corner kick, Allen punched the attempt away from the net but Zwarycz was able to come up with the loose ball and then put in a shot from close range.

Neither squad threatened much for the remainder of the first half but the Huskies struck quickly after the break and then kept the pressure on the rest of the way.

With 38:21 left to play, Williams challenged the Wolfpack keeper at the side of the net before firing off a short line drive that deflected off of the crossbar.

But Zwarycz was positioned near where the attempt landed and he promptly sent a pass back toward Williams, who easily connected from close range on his next try.

A short while after O'Donnell sent a line drive to Allen, the Wolfpack collected one of their few attempts that challenged Euler on a free kick from Dan Delaney.

Less than a minute after that, the Huskies collected their final score on a well-executed sequence which originated with a long free kick from the OPRF keeper.

After Euler sent the ball forward, O'Donnell headed it toward Lamm, who was able to put in a short shot to give the hosts a 3-0 advantage with 21:07 remaining.

Click to hear Thomas Lamm interview

OPRF continued to challenge the Wolfpack keeper, who punched away an attempt by O'Donnell and hauled in a liner from Henry Burt shortly after the final goal.

Not long after that. Allen deflected a free kick from Mike Bower before Burt sent a pass toward the net that just missed connecting with a charging Williams.

The Wolfpack had one more chance to spoil the shutout but Delaney's shot bounced off of Pasternak, resulting in a corner kick lined past the front of the net.

OPRF remained on the attack as Stephen Golz was denied on a line drive and Marcus Machado and Gian luca Locasto also had short shots halted in the late going.