Knights pull a tie out of the fire at Hinsdale Central
By Gary Larsen

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If ever there was a soccer cliché begging to be tossed on the scrap heap, it’s the one which states that 2-0 is the most dangerous lead in soccer.

Unfortunately, Prospect and Hinsdale Central showed why that old trope may never be retired, in a 2-2 tie on a crisp night in Hinsdale.

Hinsdale Central took a 2-0 lead on a pair of Casey May goals before Prospect fought back in the game’s second half and got goals from Jesse Petrovski and Kelli Iovino to pull even.

“Sometimes a tie feels like a win and maybe this is one of those nights for us, considering how we started,” Prospect coach Tom Froats said.

The first 40 minutes saw a young Hinsdale Central (0-2-2) team play some of the best offensive soccer of the young season. The Red Devils’ quick touches and good passing had Prospect (1-2-1) on its heels for much of the first half.

“We’ve worked on playing combinations up the side, and trying to find the center mids, and trying to connect balls to go to the opposite side,” Red Devils sophomore Meghan Schick said. “We were pretty successful and we found balls going through because they were playing flat, so we were able to exploit that.”

Central’s possession game found quality shots that finally bore fruit at 28 minutes, when the junior May found a good chance on her foot and buried it, capping a fine attacking effort by coach Michael Smith’s girls.

“We’ve been focusing so much on the offensive side because we weren’t creating chances the last few games, so everything we’ve been working on in training has been in and around the final third,” Smth said. “It was great for the girls to see that it’s working, what we’ve been working on in training. We tested the goalkeeper today.”

May struck again five minutes into the second half, on a shot from the right side that arced over Prospect keeper Eileen McTigue.

To that point, the visiting Knights struggled to contain the Red Devils.

“I think it was mostly communication,” Prospect senior Lauren MacNab said. “We weren’t communicating in the beginning and that’s how they were getting open in spaces very easily. But after we had our discussion at halftime I thought we really came together, talked it out and got our marks, so we were able to possess the ball better.”

Froats wanted his side to stop surrendering space and get after it in the second half.

“I think we were flat in the first half and Hinsdale did a nice job of knocking the ball around,” Froats said. “We gave them too much time and space and they were able to kind of freely move the ball around. Once we picked up our effort, we were able to get position and some quick counters. We did a nice job offensively. We went with three up top in the second half and that gave us a better look.”

Petrovski cut Central’s lead in half soon after May’s second goal. The senior launched a shot from the right side that touched the far post and went in, and the Knights played with urgency from there.

Central’s Darby Moran forced a nice save from McTigue on a free kick from 25 yards out and May sent a shot over the crossbar at 52 minutes. Prospect nearly tied the game at 57 minutes on a McNab corner kick that trickled behind Central goalkeeper Riley Glenn at the near post, but Central freshman Erin Smith’s goal-line clear preserved a one-goal lead.

“Erin Smith has been a wonderful addition to the program,” Smith said. “She’s playing beside her sister Kaitlin, and she’s a left-footed player who’s willing to mix it up. Of all our freshmen – and we have a lot of them – Erin has solidified herself as someone that belongs in the starting lineup. The composure she plays with as a freshman is amazing.”

Petrovski hit a shot just wide of the post at 65 minutes and MacNab sent a free kick wide from 30 yards out a minute later.

Central flirted with a two-goal lead when sophomore Lily Chetosky broke behind the defense and sent a shot off the post.

The game’s tying goal came at 68 minutes when Iovino located a long McNab free kick on the left side in the penalty area and tapped it past a charging Glenn from six yards out.

“I was trying to send it to the far post and luckily she ended up tipping it into goal, so I was really happy with that,” MacNab said. “(Froats) knew we were a better team than we showed in the first half, and we really needed to pick up our work rate in the second. We do have a really strong team and I believe we have the capability to go far. In the second half we picked up our work effort and we tried harder, together, as a team.”

Froats got a fine days’ work on the outside from MacNab and junior Rachel Suarez, and sophomore Elena Cukurs’ energy was instrumental to the Knights’ second-half attack after moving up top from the back line.

May forced a McTigue save at the post on a hard-hit shot at 78 minutes, MacNab bent a free kick into the waiting arms of Glenn a minute later, and Schick took a good rip on net in the game’s waning seconds from distance, but McTigue made a nice stop on it to preserve the tie.

Nobody on the Central side was happy with the surrender of a 2-0 lead, but a team with only two seniors on its roster had its best attacking spell of soccer of the year in Friday’s game.

“The girls don’t want to hear it, because they want to win now, but I have faith that as we continue to be tested and challenged, by late April we’ll be a team that teams won’t want to play,” Smith said.

Junior Caitlin Smith impacted the game for Central wherever her coach moved her on the back line, while junior holding mid Katie Camden did a fine job of winning balls in the air and looking to change the point of attack throughout the contest.

“But I think everyone collectively is offering something,” Smith said. “As long as we keep perspective and everyone keeps buying in, we’ll be fine.”

Prospect’s losses this year have come to a highly-touted Conant team in a game that the Knights controlled for 40 minutes, and to an unbeaten Buffalo Grove team that recently won a team title at the Lake Park tournament.

“We just have to play with more confidence. We hang our heads at times when we make a mistake, and you can’t do that,” Froats said. “But tonight was a good effort on our part, so I’m pleased. Over (spring) break sometimes it’s tough, mentally, to be in it but I thought they rose to the challenge tonight.”