Lions bounce back strong vs. Neuqua Valley
By Matt Le Cren

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Lyons Township and Neuqua Valley are two of the premier programs in the Chicago area, so their annual early-season contest has become must viewing for soccer fans.

Christian Sanchez had watched from the sidelines as the two sides played to hard-fought draws each of the past two years, so he was eagerly awaiting his chance at playing in the big game.

The LT freshman wasted little time in making his mark on the rivalry, scoring his first high school goal in the 15th minute to give the host Lions the early lead en route to a convincing 3-0 victory Saturday morning in LaGrange.

The Lions (2-1) applied pressure up front right from the opening whistle and it paid off when senior Jack Thomas intercepted a goal kick on the right wing, dribbled to the end line and fed a pass in front to Sanchez.

Sanchez received the ball on his right foot and had his path to the goal blocked, so he did a quick 180-degree spin to his left and rifled a left-footed shot from 10 yards out past Neuqua Valley goalie Zack Goldstein with 25:33 left in the first half. That play was emblematic of how the match went for LT, which rebounded impressively from a 4-1 loss to Naperville North.

“The kids played really well,” Lyons coach Paul Labbato said. “We focused in our training the last couple days on trying to keep the ball and bring pressure and we did a nice job.

“We ran probably eight forwards in all game so the tone was set by many kids being able to do the same type of thing, but absolutely Christian Sanchez is a very crafty, interesting freshman player that we’re working around up top and if he gets loose, he’s going to hit things in the goal.

“His runs off the ball were very good today and he found himself in a few times and when Jack gets around the end he can really make defenses panic a little bit.”

The Lions’ offensive pressure was in marked contrast to their play against Naperville North, one of their most one-sided in recent years.

“We really took that game personally,” Thomas said. “I’ve been on varsity for three years and never have I beat Neuqua, so this game was personal also. We’ve tied the past two years so I wanted to go out with a ‘W.’”

Thomas is one of four senior starters for the Lions, who have a relatively inexperienced team. But he’s impressed with the play of Sanchez.

“He’s only a freshman but he plays like he’s a senior,” Thomas said. “We were high-pressing them from the beginning and I think that really got to them.

“They played it short to me. I took it down the line and he was where he should have been and he did a nice turn and put it through.”

It was a goal Sanchez won’t soon forget.

“I saw the pass,” Sanchez said. “It was coming to me and I kind of slipped a little. I was looking to pass but then I noticed I was right in front of the goal so I wanted to take a shot for my first goal. I had to look for an open space and just kicked it.”

How did it feel to get his first score against a team like Neuqua?

“It was amazing. The atmosphere was great,” Sanchez said. “I saw the past few games [between the teams]. It was pretty intense, so I was pretty psyched for this game. We wanted to come back strong, beat Neuqua and get our pride back.”

Sanchez’s goal was far from the only highlight for the Lions, who did not allow a shot in the first half and enjoyed an overall 18-4 edge in shot attempts.

The hosts made it 2-0 on another nice combination play with 3:42 remaining in the first half. Sophomore Cole Gilchrist settled a corner kick and passed out to junior Kevin Kokaska on the left wing. Kokaska sent a hard header from 17 yards out that was saved by a leaping Goldstein.

But Goldstein gave up a rebound and senior Collin Smothers was waiting to ram home the rebound to make it 2-0.

The Lions would have had an even greater lead if not for the play of Goldstein, who was brilliant in making 10 saves, including a couple of highlight reel stops. One came in the 32nd minute when LT worked another combo play to perfection, with Sanchez and Cole Gilchrist making passes to set up Kokaska for a 15-yard rocket that Goldstein somehow deflected over the crossbar with a dive to his right.

“Zack played well,” Neuqua Valley coach Skip Begley said. “He made a couple key plays to keep us in the game. He did the same thing against Morton and in the shutout against Bartlett. We’ve got to do a little bit better job of protecting him. I’m very pleased with his play and the work that he’s done.”

Labbato was pleased with the Lions’ effort, saying this was their most complete effort of the young season. The offense was especially sharp in keeping possession and creating openings.

“We came out really flat against Naperville North,” Thomas noted. “We weren’t really being as creative as we should have been so the last few practices we’ve been working on combinations and runs with our forwards.”

“One of our big problems was we didn’t match their intensity early on,” Begley said. “We came out Thursday and did that to Bartlett, came out early on, got a goal early and then they tried to chase the game as we did [today]. The tables were turned a little bit.

“They high-pressured and we did not handle it. We just tried to hold on.”

Though the Wildcats (1-2) played better in the second half and generated a couple of long-range chances, the Lions added an insurance goal when Frankie Kocimski scored off a short corner with 5:59 left.

“I thought in that 30 minutes of the beginning of the second half, obviously it’s a different mindset for Lyons being up 2-0, but I thought we disrupted their play better,” Begley said. “They didn’t run at us quite so much as they did in the first half because we were on them with tighter marking instead of backing up and giving them space.”

LT goalie David Fiflis had to make only two saves in recording his first shutout, easily taking care of long shots from Jake Loncar and Kevin Osoba.

The Wildcats are still trying to jell offensively, having scored just one goal in their first three games under first-year coach Begley, a veteran boss who guided the Hinsdale Central girls team to the 2009 state championship.

“Part of it is my adjustment to them, part of it is their adjustment to me and we’re trying to figure out what the personality of the team is, and I think we’ve learned a lesson today and hopefully we can take that and build on it,” Begley said. “Obviously, you’re not very happy with [losing] 3-0. We’ve not been a consistent 80 minutes. I think they’re trying to find out where they fit and we’re trying to play a lot of people.”