Libertyville restarts doom Mustangs in second half

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By Gary Larsen

One of the most dangerous things in all of Illinois soccer this season is a Libertyville restart.

Between corner kicks, Sam Kaplan or Marshall Hollingsworth free kicks, the long throws of Adam Witucki, and plenty of bodies fighting to get on the receiving end of those serves, last season’s state runner-ups in 3A are a handful on dead ball chances.

Morton fell victim to three of those restarts in the second half of its Pepsi Showdown semifinal on Saturday.

Witucki’s long throw-ins set up Libertyville goals at 48 and 57 minutes, first by Tomide Owolabi and then by Lloyd Chatfield, and both came on second-chance shots after initial saves and deflections in the Morton goalmouth.

“Those throws were dangerous but if we would have gotten them out at first, those goals would have never happened,” Morton captain and central defender Joel Leon said. “We didn’t get them out in the air. The first time, they headed it back across to the other post and someone (finished).”

“They kept it in play, put it back in the mixer, and gave themselves a chance,” Morton coach Mike Caruso said. “But I thought they out-hustled us for most of the game. We hustled in spurts but we need to put it together for a whole game.”

Witucki’s throw-in was a thorn in Morton’s side throughout the second half.

“He’s like a corner kick so thank God he’s back this year,” Libertyville coach Andy Bitta said. “We try to spread out, cover the near post, cover the middle, cover the far post, and that’s what happened on (Chatfield’s) goal. He was at the post and he finished it.”

Morton won last year’s Pepsi title by topping Libertyville at Toyota Park, a fact that wasn’t lost on any of the Wildcats.

“We wanted to come out hard and get revenge,” Libertyville senior Shane Reilly said. “We want to win it this year.”

After topping Morton, Libertyville went on to win this year’s Pepsi title, 2-1 in overtime against Lyons Township on Sunday. Caruso’s boys are now 9-2 overall and their only losses have been to the Chicago Sun-Times’ top two-ranked teams in No. 1 Naperville North and No. 2 Libertyville.

“I’d say Naperville North and Libertyville are head and shoulders above everybody else,” Caruso said. “I think we’re in that second tier of teams right now, but I think those are the two teams that are above everyone else.”

Saturday’s semifinal in LaGrange began with a wicked shot in the run of play that was tipped over the crossbar by Morton keeper Miguel Chacon. The Mustangs’ Leon-led back line kept the Wildcats from amassing dead-ball chances through 40 minutes and kept them mainly to shots from long-range.

The Mustangs pressed into their attacking third on several dangerous runs but the Wildcats’ boys in back were similarly up to the challenge, against a possession-oriented Morton team accustomed to finding dangerous looks on net.

“It was tough to find shots,” Leon said. “They were tough. But we’re not always going to win. We win as a team and we lose as a team and today we lost as a team.”

“They closed on the ball faster than any team we’ve played,” Caruso said of Libertyville. “They remind me of LT from a couple years ago. As soon as you take a touch, they’re right there. We had a couple chances – once at the beginning of the second half and once when it was 3-1, from 18 yards out, but we took an extra half-second to wind up and they closed on us.”

Morton (9-2) cut the lead in half at 65 minutes on an Alfonso Torres head shot goal off a free kick feed from Abdon Delgado, but Libertyville scored less than a minute later when Sam Kaplan unleashed a menacing free kick from 20 yards out that stretched the back netting.

“Give them credit because that was a beautiful goal they had,” Bitta said of Torres’ strike. “My keeper kind of hesitated and (Torres) came in and headed it in. It was a fantastic goal by a great team. We just had the better day today, but that was two big teams going at each other.”

Morton’s Joel Salmeron continued his return to play with intermittent spurts of time spent on the field against Libertyville, but the senior forward is still working his way back to form with a brace on his left knee. Salmeron netted 25-plus goals last season for the Mustangs.

“His doctor cleared him sooner than we anticipated and he’s slowly getting back,” Caruso said. “Once he’s back near a hundred percent we think that he and Jesus Morales will provide us with a pretty dangerous pair of players up top. He just needs a little more time going into contact and gaining confidence that he’s okay.

“I thought Abdon Delgado played hard, Joel Leon battled, and (Salmeron), for being 75 percent out there gave us what he could.”

Caruso was also happy with the job his side did in trying to slow down Libertyville's Hollingsworth, one of the state’s best midfielders. “He’s a handful in the middle,” Caruso said. “It wasn’t him on the goals and for most part I thought we contained him.”