Knights put up good fight before falling to Fillies

By Mike Garofola

If Prospect can find a way to replicate the energy it had in the first five minutes of its second-half against Barrington Wednesday night, the postseason might end to be a memorable one.

For the second time in three days, the Knights fought hard against another one of the top clubs in the MSL, dropping a 2-0 home decision to Barrington, but in the process, finding out it could play with the best on any given day.

On Monday evening, coach Tom Froats' Knights (8-5-1) took MSL co-leader Schaumburg into OT, only to fall 2-1 on the road.

Then his club responded after a lackluster first half to push the Fillies (16-1-1) with a spirited second half of play, before a late goal by Emily Hyde put this match out of reach.

"We gave Barrington, not that they don't deserve (it), with way too much respect in that first half, so our effort was very average, bordering on lackluster in the first 40 minutes," began the Knights head coach.

"But we came alive after the break and nearly drew even with (them) and after that I think we showed that we can continue to play with the Barringtons and Schaumburgs of the world."

It was a tale of two halves for the Knights, which would do them in during the early stages.

As a nearly perfect start for the Fillies led to Alexa Rowe breaking down the Knights in their own end to thump her attempt into the back of the net, after the aforementioned Hyde provided a superb cross from the left endline.

"We've been working on going endline a little bit more, and tonight, even after Alexa's goal, we were able to do that whenever we wanted to in that first half," said the junior Hyde.

Barrington head coach Ryan Stengren, himself a star player back in the day at Hersey, had plenty of concern on how his team would adjust to playing its first match in 18 on natural grass.

And for the most part, the Fillies would possess and knock the ball around with relative ease in the first 40 minutes, however, not as quickly as it would normally do on its super-fast turf at home.

"We had some trouble getting comfortable at times, but for the most part, I thought we did pretty well in our passing game, while our backline was alert to the fact that the ball could take some unnatural bounces from time-to-time," Stengren said.

Froats would bring on Taylor Smith shortly after the Rowe goal and the sophomore defender helped solidify the Knights along the back, with mates Caroline Aubry and Kelly Ziegenfuss.

And although the trio took on plenty of pressure in the first-half, as a unit, they would bend, but not break in front of keeper Megan McCabe.

With Catie Curran and Sarah Fox running hard, and winning nearly every 50-50 in the middle of the park for the visitors, their counterparts, Kelli Iovino, Sara Helwink or Agnes Stankiewicz, earned their keep as each performed admirably as holding midfielders to help slow the Fillies' attack.

"They made it very difficult to operate in their (end) because they dropped so many numbers (back) and just defended like crazy in that first half," offered Hyde.

"On the tactical side, we wanted to play compact, while forcing everything into the middle, and for the most part we accomplished what we set out to do, especially in the first-half, it's just that Barrington moves the ball around very well," Froats said.

After surviving the first half, the Knights would come alive after intermission, putting a scare into Stengren and the Fillies' faithful, while nearly finding the equalizer just minutes into the second half.

Susie Lello, quiet in the first half from her spot on the outside-mid, exploded past the Fillies' last player to collect a ball out of the back, which put the senior in a 1 v 1 with Fillies keeper Kelly Pedersen.

Measuring up Pedersen, Lello would go over the bar from 12 yards, in what would be the Knights' best opportunity of the match.

"Obviously, the entire game changes if I could have put that one in, and that was pretty disappointing for me and the team," said a downcast Lello.

"But we played (them) even in that second half, and showed we can stay with anybody, at any time, we just have to put give 110 percent all of the time and not settle for anything less."

Lello, Maureen O'Keefe, Jessie Petrovski and Lizzie Robinson would shuttle in and out up top for the Knights, and the quartet managed to provide enough high-pressure to stay dangerous enough to keep the visitors wary at all times.

McCabe would save Rowe with a terrific move to her right in the 71st minute, however the sophomore could do little when Hyde would go past her with a low drive just inside the post to seal the deal at 78 minutes.

"We didn't respond well to (them) after the break, and they had the run of play for the first 10 minutes of the second half, but after settling down, we were able to keep their chances to a minimum to get the win," said Stengren, whose club is heading for a showdown next week at Schaumburg.

Next up for the Lady Knights is a trip to Moline, where they will meet Jacobs at 4:00 on Friday in their first match in the State Line Challenge.

"We're very pleased with the effort this week against two powerhouse teams in our conference, and if we can continue to play the way we did in the second half, then our postseason chances will improve as well," Froats said.

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