1,873 fans watch Huskies top Fenwick
Lamm-to-Huettel goal stands up in 1-0 win at OPRF

By Darryl Mellema

Until a week ago, Chris Ingvaldsen was a pretty happy junior-varsity keeper and transfer student from Oslo, Norway in the Oak Park and River Forest boys’ soccer program.

But things can change in a hurry in athletics sometimes, and Ingvaldsen found himself grinning ear to ear on Friday after he kept goal for the Huskies' 1-0 victory over cross-town rival Fenwick.

Ingvaldsen's chance to play for the varsity team came this week after OPRF stalwart starting keeper Sam Euler was ruled out with mononucleosis.

“This is amazing,” Ingvaldsen said. “This is bigger than anything I've ever experienced. I walked out there to do the best I could.”

Ingvaldsen is a keeper by trade, and emerged from an impromptu midseason trial organized by Huskies coach Paul Wright after the severity of Euler's illness became known. Euler has been ruled out at least three weeks.

And what a game to have as a debut. By official count, there were 1,873 fans at OPRF's stadium as these two neighborhood rivals battled – an all-time record for a soccer game at the school, according to Wright.

And after the match, Ingvaldsen admitted he now has one more reason to send some e-mails back to friends and family in Norway.

“This is the biggest game I've ever played in,” Ingvaldsen said. “It was really fun to be here and to have this opportunity.”

Euler is a dominating presence in goal. Ingvaldsen may not have quite the same aura, but he was very vocal on Friday night, constantly communicating with his defense.

“It's tough, any change in the defense,” OPRF defender Kelly Foran said. “We've had such a strong defense going forward all year. With Euler out, that's a huge change in communication.”

The Huskies (11-2-2) also missed Zack Wiegel on Friday, who was suspended for one match after accumulating five yellow cards this season.

“He's like our brute force through the middle,” Foran said. “So it's tough, but our guys managed very well.”

With two key defensive-minded cogs out of their lineup, the Huskies had some question marks entering Friday's game.

“We've had to make some changes,” Wright said. “The guys really came together. We had our varsity backup and our junior-varsity keepers come in and we wanted to see who would gel with our defense like Euler normally does. Ingvaldsen had some intangibles with his punt and he was aggressive off his line and we felt we could go with him.”

Foran said working with Ingvaldsen wasn't a problem at all, which says something to the adaptability of the team because he only moved up to the varsity this week and had only a handful of practices to get used to working with his new teammates.

“Chris was outstanding,” Foran said. “We still don't know a lot about him. But he went out there and handled his game. He didn't talk as much as Euler, but he really picked his game up.”

From a scoring standpoint, the match was over very quickly. OPRF attacked from the opening kickoff and scored inside of 2 minutes when Thomas Lamm fed Ryan Huettel for what proved to be the only goal of the match.

“It's great for Ryan to get a goal,” Wright said. “We've been hounding on him all year to stay wide and to not get sucked into the play. He could judge that the ball was coming because he was out wide, and he ran in and put it away. That's what you're supposed to do as an outside mid, so it was great to see that.”

That goal eased the pressure only marginally for the Huskies. Fenwick tried to pressure the OPRF goal for the remaining 78 minutes, but was thwarted by solid whole-field defense. Ingvaldsen did not have much work because the midfield and defense were very effective in breaking up attacks.

“We played hard and that's the thing we've been working on, trying to play hard for all 80 minutes,” Foran said. “Some games we've started well and then let up. This game, we played well all 80. We just went all out.”

The large crowd added to the atmosphere. Fenwick brought a large contingent which began chanting midway through the second half to try to lift their team's spirits. And there were certainly plenty of fans for the hosts as well.

“It's awesome,” Foran said. “It's great for the community to have this rivalry, which is always huge.”

The match became secondary with 21 minutes left when Fenwick's Jack Alberts went down after a collision following a corner kick and immediately gestured to the sideline. An ambulance was called and Alberts was taken from the field with a broken leg.

“The turnout of kids from both schools was incredible,” Wright said. “It's a great game. But I feel really bad for the kid with the leg break. That's not what this game is about. Most of these guys grew up together and they know each other.”