Vikings use strong start to claim 1-0 victory over Knights

CLICK FOR PHOTOS COURTESY OF ANDY SCHNEPF

By Dan Santaromita

Fremd has been highly-ranked during the season and showed Prospect on Tuesday why it is deserving of those honors.

The Vikings pounced on the Mid Suburban League East-leading Knights early and picked up a 1-0 win in an MSL crossover in Palatine.

Fremd (9-2-2, 5-2) took control of the match in the opening minute, forcing Knights' goalkeeper Brad Reibel to make the first of many great saves.

Reibel, who finished with 16 saves, made eight in the first 20 minutes. On the other side, Fremd keeper Scott Sutarik only had to make four saves.

"You come out early and you're not expecting that to happen," the Knights' junior keeper said. "They were just skilled up top. They made some great shots.

"They got shots off that a lot of other teams don't even get off. I mean our defense honestly didn't play that bad it was just that they're skilled."

Knights coach Kurt Trenkle was also impressed by how the Vikings started the match.

"Fremd has earned the accolades they've gotten this year," Trenkle said. “Fremd came out of the gates at full speed and we were back on our heels from the first minute and that was it."

Forward Lorenzo Savino caused problems for the Knights all game and turned the Vikings' early pressure into a lead in the 20th minute.

The senior juked a couple defenders to create some space and ripped a left-footed shot into the upper 90 giving Reibel no chance.

"Instead of being cute, I was effective and took my chance and scored," Savino said.

"They looked sharp," Fremd coach Steve Keller said of his team's hot start. "I think combining all that, the way they came out and they were connecting and linking with one another.

"It just created a barrage of shots. We got one of them in. It was unfortunate that we didn't get more in. Their keeper made some brilliant saves."

Prospect forwards Richard Lenke, Bill Cooney and Alex Schnepf didn't have many chances with the ball to cause Fremd's defense problems with their speed.

Fremd's midfield dominated the play, thanks to strong contributions from Yusuke Kanada, Matthew Burkhardt and Spencer Filosa.

"We talked about the best way to defend is not let a guy get the ball," Keller said. "Especially in the first half, they were phenomenal at reading where the ball was going and being first to it.

"We didn't have to defend the speed and didn't allow those guys to have much space to turn and come at us. If you can do that you're in good shape."

The Knights turned things around in the second half, but weren't able to convert on a couple quality chances.

In the 53rd minute, Cooney dribbled by a few Fremd defenders to get into the box and put a ball across the goal, but somehow the ball went clear through.

In the last five minutes of play, Lenke hit a terrific cross to a wide-open Schnepf in the area, but Schnepf put the shot over the crossbar.

Keller said allowing that opportunity is the type of thing his team has done throughout the year.

"You can point to certain points in a game where we have a mental lapse and a breakdown and give a sitter that they easily could have tied the game on," Keller said.

"If you want to advance far in the playoffs, you can't make those mental mistakes. That was a string of things. I think more of the mistakes we're making are mental and maybe that will cause us to make a physical mistake."

Trenkle said he was pleased with his team's second half performance considering the poor start, but was frustrated that they didn't convert on their chances.

"We generated chances, but we just didn't score," Trenkle said. "In an MSL game against a team like Fremd at the top of the table, you might get one or two chances a game that you have to do something with. They did it and we didn't."

The Vikings sit three points behind Conant for the MSL West lead, but have a game in hand on the Cougars. Fremd’s next match is at crosstown rival Palatine on Thursday.

"We knew we had to win tonight and Thursday night against Palatine, two big games," Savino said.