Knights can't recover from strong start by Vikings

CLICK FOR PHOTOS COURTESY OF ANDY SCHNEPF

By Dan Santaromita

Prospect has had a great season so far, but if it wants to take that next step, it will have to beat teams like Fremd.

The Knights were unable to defeat the ranked Vikings in Palatine Tuesday night, but they learned how high the bar is set in a 1-0 loss.

Fremd 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 made 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 impressed by the Vikings' performance.

"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."

Viking forward Lorenzo Savino caused problems for Prospect all game and turned his team's 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.

"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.

The Knights (9-2-2, 5-2) turned things around in the second half, but weren't able to convert 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."

Prospect is in the middle of a tough portion of its schedule. The Knights drew another well-regarded side in Crystal Lake South on Saturday.

And they have a crucial MSL East match against Elk Grove on Thursday. The Knights lead the division by three points over the Grenadiers.

"I think we saw in both of these games, 1-1 (against CL South), one-nil (tonight), that we're playing up with the elite teams," Trenkle said. "Unfortunately, I think this loss will hurt us in our seed.

"I think we should still do pretty well and no one scares us. We know we can play. In the second half we played with them and gave them lots of problems. They just need to be able to do it for 80 minutes."

After Elk Grove, Prospect plays MSL West contenders Barrington and Conant.

"We've got three good teams coming up and if we don't put together two good halves, there's no way we're going to win this conference," Reibel said. "We can't come out flat anymore."