Indians edged by hosts in Lemont I-355 invite finals

By Curt Herron

 

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After falling behind Lemont in the early going and then finding themselves facing a 2-0 deficit on a rainy day, Minooka could have been in for a long afternoon on Saturday.

But just as the steady rain produced by the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac started to lessen, things began to brighten for Minooka in Lemont's I-355 Tournament title match.

In the matchup of Indians, the visitors closed the gap to 2-1 shortly before the break and then continued to keep the pressure on the hosts through much of the final half.

While Lemont maintained that advantage and eventually went on to capture the title, Minooka walked away feeling encouraged by its good run through the tournament.

"It was a great game that was played well by both teams," Minooka coach Chris Brolley said. "Rick (Prangen) has done a great job of building up his program so to come out and compete with Lemont like that is a turning point in our season.

"This was an 80-minute game since not many of the guys got subbed out on a giant field on a wet day. So for them to persevere after being down a goal early is a positive. But we also need to see what we can do in order to get better as a team.

"We allowed them two opportunities today where they got two easy goals. We have to fix that or we're going lose games, no matter how many goals that we score. We also had two or three good opportunities that we know that we need to put away."

Brolley likes what he's seen from his squad thus far as they prepare for the start of Southwest Prairie Conference play, which begins Tuesday when they host Oswego East.

"We're not battling each others as teammates, that's the biggest thing," he said. "They're a real close group and have had a couple of good seasons together, and they're also a good, talented team, so they're going to find results.

"Even though we lost this game, in our minds, this is the best soccer that we've played. We've kind of been building up to this point so I'm really looking forward to seeing how we start our conference schedule that's coming up."

Lemont (5-1-1), which is unbeaten since a last-second loss in its opener with St. Ignatius, moved ahead for good on a score by Adam Strube in the fifth minute.

Strube also contributed toward the host's second goal, which came in the 28th minute, when Strube sent a pass to Roy Delatore, who then connected from close range.

Playing on the big grass field at Lemont's fine soccer complex, a 2-0 deficit on a rainy day against a quality program could have led to an easy win for the hosts.

But if the two-goal margin was too large to overcome, you wouldn't have known it by the way that Minooka (2-3-1) responded to its less than ideal circumstances.

In the 33rd minute, Mo Esquivel sent an attempt from the side which found the opposite corner of the net as the visitors pulled to within a goal to get back in it.

Both sides had some good chances during the final 40 minutes but Lemont held Minooka off and completed a 4-0 run through its own tournament to wrap up top honors.

That spelled good news for Rick Prangen's squad, which lost last year's finals in penalties to East Aurora and hadn't won the championship in the event since 2006.

"We're a young team and about half of our roster are underclassmen." Prangen said. "So the best thing about today is that we got to experience of playing in a championship game, which simulates the playoffs, and we can't do that in practice.

"Of course we wanted to win, but to get that type of experience is really good for a young team. I also liked out team's character. We started really bright and put them under a lot of pressure. After we gave a goal up, our response was good.

"If you'd have told me that we'd be 5-1-1 now, I would absolutely have taken it. I'm really happy with how we're maturing as a team. Winning this gives us a lot of belief and confidence and hopefully we'll be hungry for this experience again."

After Strube's quick goal put Lemont ahead, Minooka had a few chances over the next few minutes to try to even things but each try was stopped by keeper Piotr Okon.

Sergio Reyes and Strube exchanged shots within minutes of the initial goal and a bit later, Johnny Perez was denied before Esquivel had a try cleared by Kyle Hamann.

Shortly after the half's midpoint, Joe Koenig sent a free kick that bounced around in front of the net but Minooka was able to put in the loose ball to tie things.

Then after Lemont took its 2-0 advantage, it looked to add to it with tries by Tommy Gasienica and Lukasz Sulka, but both attempts were halted by keeper Ayhan Ozgen.

Esquivel's goal pulled Minooka to within 2-1 and that's how things remained after Ozgen stopped a pair of efforts from Teodor Trifunovski shortly before the break.

"Even though we fell behind early, we always pick our heads up since we have to keep on going," Reyes said. "Lemont is a great soccer team and all that we're trying to do is prove that Minooka is a good soccer team this year.

"Our motto is that there's no giving up in this game. The only way that we're going to get better is by learning from our mistakes and we will get better. What I like the most about this team is that we all pick each other up."

In the final half, Minooka challenged with a short try by Esquivel which was stopped and then an attempt by Craig Phillips which just went a bit wide of the mark.

Lemont had some good threats shortly after the midway mark of the final half when a Gasienica header was cleared by AJ Bever and then Ozgen stopped a Sulka liner.

Koenig was later stopped on a short try, Giacomo Raimondi saw a close attempt cleared by Ray Stieber and Reyes' last-second effort was headed away by Gasienica.

Despite dropping a close decision, Minooka's players feel good about how they've performed in the first half dozen matches and are looking forward to the season.

"We played the full 80 minutes and we battled to the finish, but unfortunately we just didn't get it into the back of the net often enough," Raimondi said. "Most teams put their heads down if they go down 2-0, but we're not like that.

"We played as a team throughout the whole tournament and didn't give up and it was an honor to play in the championship game. I like our team's chemistry. We've been playing together for awhile and know that you win or lose as a team."