Trojans battle but fall to LT in Downers Grove
By Matt Le Cren

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To say that Lyons Township has a busy schedule this week would be an understatement.

The Lions play three conference games, all on the road and all on the artificial turf they don’t really like, capped by Saturday’s trip to rival Hinsdale Central, a match that will likely be for sole possession of first place in the West Suburban Conference Silver Division.

Then on Sunday LT travels to Toyota Park to face reigning state champion Morton in the championship match of the Pepsi Showdown.

So LT coach Paul Labbato took a calculated risk by clearing his bench Tuesday night against Downers Grove North. This on a night when he was already without starters Frankie Kocimski and Spiros Kass.

“We played everybody tonight,” Labbato said. “But we made a commitment with the long week that we have that everyone will play and we’ll limit some minutes here and there.

“To our credit, when we took some of the starters out we pressed a little bit more with the next group. They did a nice job and I’m pretty happy getting out of this place.

“It’s a weird week for us. This is the one to get by because that’s a quality team and they played very well tonight.”

The Lions (9-2-1, 2-0) received goals from two of their youngest players in extending their winning streak to six matches with a 2-1 victory over the host Trojans at Carstens Field in Downers Grove.

Sophomore reserve Cole Gilchrist tallied his first career varsity goal and freshman Cristian Sanchez added his sixth goal on a spectacular shot to give the visitors a 2-0 lead before Downers Grove North (6-6-1, 1-2) rallied and made it interesting in the final half hour.

Gilchrist’s goal came with 12:51 remaining in the first half off a pass from junior Pearce Clarke, who was starting in place of Kocimski. The two worked a give-and-go into the Downers North box before Gilchrist fired a 15-yard shot into the lower right corner. Trojans goalie Jim Barkei, who had another fine effort between the pipes with five saves, got a hand on it but couldn’t stop it.

“Pearce had a nice ball into the middle,” Gilchrist said. “It is nice to score my first goal. I’ll take it sophomore year.”

Gilchrist is one of four sophomores on a young team that has only six seniors. But the Lions have exceeded expectations despite their youth.

“We’re doing better than I think we expected,” Gilchrist said. “We’re strong this year. We didn’t start off as well but then we came back and we started playing together as a team pretty well.

“Everybody is strong on this team. We have a good bench, so it’s not like there is a difference between the players that start the game and that come off the bench. We’re a solid team all-around.”

He’ll get no argument from Downers North coach Brian Gervase, who has never beaten the Lions in his eight-year tenure. The Trojans are 0-11 against LT since Gervase took over in 2005, including playoff losses the past two seasons.

“They are what I call the bane of my existence,” Gervase said with a smile. “They’ve been a team that’s had our number. Maybe they’ll be in our sectional again this year and we should know that we can compete with them and that they are a team that’s beatable.

“But Coach Labbato always has a great team. I think Coach Labbato is one of the best coaches in our conference. He prepares them well. They reload real well.”

That is evident in the play of Sanchez, a rookie who is proving to be a deadly sniper. He extended LT’s cushion to 2-0 with 32:23 to go in the second half with a 22-yard rocket into the upper right corner of the net.

Sanchez, who had been dribbling 1-on-2 just outside the top of the circle, calmly took two dribbles to give himself some room before unleashing his left-footed effort into the only part of the net that Barkei couldn’t get to.

“I saw the goalkeeper out of his goal,” Sanchez said. “He was out pretty far so I decided to kick it high and upper 90. It feels great. This is our first win in an away game on a turf field so it feels pretty nice to overcome our weaknesses.”

Sanchez’s goal did not break Downers North’s spirit. The Trojans got on the board less than two minutes later on a goal by Josh Triechel at the 30:41 mark. A long ball into the box was headed backward by Reid Melton to Triechel, who volleyed it past LT backup goalie David Fiflis to cut the gap to 2-1.

Though there was plenty of end-to-end action after that, the Trojans mustered only one more shot, an easy stop for Fiflis, who relieved starter Peter Nolan at halftime. Nolan made two saves.

“The guys fought hard,” Gervase said. “It’s disappointing because I think that’s a team we can handle. Our best half of soccer was the second half against Benet [in the season opener] and we’ve struggled up until now to play that type of soccer again, and I thought we played it today.”

The Trojans did have several solid individual efforts. Barkei was strong in the nets after being cleared to play by doctors just before the game. The junior had suffered a cut near his eye during Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Lake Forest Academy at the Pepsi Showdown.

Another highlight came courtesy of junior defender Jake Maurer, who kept the game scoreless with a great defensive play at the 16:15 mark of the first half.

Gilchrist was on a breakaway when he dribbled when the charging Barkei thought we would shoot. Barkei went sailing by 40 yards away from the goal but Gilchrist’s shot was deflected by the diving Maurer and the Trojans eventually tracked the ball down in the corner.

“We’re a big fan of Jake,” Gervase said. “He’s a solid center back for us and we’re looking forward to a lot of good things from him. I hope for him to be a captain of the team next year.”