West Suburban Sports

Knights dominate home opener vs. Wheeling

By Dan Santaromita

Prospect may not have as much flash as in years past, but the Knights have plenty of depth.

That depth was on display as five different players scored against Wheeling to give the Knights a 6-0 Mid Suburban League win in their home opener in Mt. Prospect.

Junior Jesse Petrovski turned and fired a shot on her first touch to open the scoring in the 15th minute. Petrovski finished with two goals. Agnes Stankiewicz, Adriane Falagario, Elena Cukurs and Rachel Suarez also found the net.

“Tonight one of the things we were hoping to do was to move the ball crisply and quickly with limited touches and I think we did that for good portions of the game,” Prospect coach Tom Froats said.

“Also we were looking to attack wide, to get width in our attack and I think we did well. I thought the finishes we got in the first half were really nice finishes on good service, which is something we’ve paid a lot of attention to recently.”

The Knights dominated the run of play from the start and Petrovski’s first goal opened up the floodgates. In the 19th minute Stankiewicz drilled a powerful shot across goal into the side netting to make it 2-0. Four minutes later Prospect finished three times in three minutes.

Falagario, a sophomore, started the scoring binge by volleying in a Suarez cross. Then Cukurs chipped Wildcats’ goalkeeper Liz McDaniel (11 saves) on a breakaway. Cukurs became the creator to make it 5-0 when she sent in a cross from the right to Petrovski, who headed home at the far post.

“I think it was good for us to score all those goals because we’ve had difficulty scoring goals lately and that will really help us going into Meadows on Wednesday,” Petrovski said.

Thanks to strong defensive play from Kelly Ziegenfuss, Taylor Smith and Sara Helwink Prospect was able to control the match and keep play in Wheeling’s end. Keeper Megan McCabe had to make only two saves.

“Definitely our strengths are on our defense because we’ve got the solid girls at the back and obviously Megan as our keeper,” Petrovski added.

Suarez banged in the final goal of the match early in the second half to continue the scoring distribution.

The different scorers showed the depth of a Knights attack that doesn’t have a lot of players that can take on multiple defenders.

“I think we’re pretty good depth wise,” Froats said. “I think in all of our positions we have some pretty good strengths and I think we just have to recognize what our strengths are and play to those. I think we need to attack as a group, not individually, no 1v1 or 1v2 but collectively with give and gos and combinations and get in behind the defense and get service off like we did a little bit.”

Petrovski showed a lot of quality on Monday and is probably the Knights’ best at going at defenders. She will be a key cog in the Knight’s attack this season.

“Jesse is creative,” Froats said. “She’s got a good touch and in a 1v1 environment she’s pretty tough and showed that tonight.”

Stankiewicz said the Knights spring break trip as well as having a lot of returning players from last season has resulted in good team chemistry.

“We didn’t have many seniors leaving, only about four or five from last year, so all of us are really close already,” the senior said. “We spent our spring break in North Carolina, so that was perfect team bonding before the season even began so I don’t think team dynamic and getting along is a problem at all. I think we all know how to play with each other so I think the future is looking good as far as the MSL and the next few games.”

As a captain Stankiewicz’s leadership is obviously important, but her game is coming along as well.

“I think Agnes is getting a little more comfortable and I think her first touch is improving and I think that’s only going to make her more dangerous as the season unfolds because I think with a good first touch she can certainly create a good service or even take a good shot,” Froats said. “She’s got a strong enough leg that she can shoot from good distance.”