Confident Crystal Lake South
remains on roll
Makes it 3 straight wins with thriller over Cary-Grove
By Matt Misiek
CRYSTAL LAKE -- Many people get their thrills from making trips to certain theme parks, movies, or other attractions.
Perhaps they should add wherever the Crystal Lake South boys’ soccer team suits up for a game to their list.
After their victory over rival Jacobs Sept. 22 in Algonquin, coach Brian Allen and company let a 2-0 lead slip at home to Dundee-Crown last Thursday before rallying to win on penalty kicks.
Tuesday afternoon was another rival matchup, on homecoming week, against Cary-Grove. True to the script, it was a tightly contested match with both teams presented opportunities. The Gators got the ultimate breakthrough and knocked off the Trojans 1-0, to improve to 8-5-3 overall but more importantly 3-0 in the Fox Valley Conference’s Valley Division.
“With the Valley, the way that it is this year, as loaded as it is, you’re going to take a win any way you can get it,” said coach Allen. “We’re thrilled. Cary-Grove is a heck of a team.”
The first half saw the defensive units of Cary-Grove (6-4-2, 0-2-0 in the Valley Division) and Crystal Lake South limit each other’s ability to create offensive chances. The Cary-Grove's Tomas Kvapil did a nice job early-on in the seventh minute when he took the ball off of Gator Andrew Grabowski as the forward looked to turn upfield. Kvapil also stopped a sequence in the 10th minute when Grabowski worked a run with midfielder Nikolas Getzinger.
Crystal Lake South’s defensive back-four had many big plays in the first half as Cary-Grove’s dangerous attacking midfielder Esteban Angeles played a through ball that Jake Canfield cleared away in the 18th minute.
Canfield stepped up three minutes later and made another clearance to stop an attack from Trojan forward Michael Arenberg.
Senior defender Kennan Grissom also had three clearances in a row in a sequence where Cary-Grove put on extended pressure working through Angeles and Arenberg.
Coach Allen felt that the backline did a great job of controlling Angeles, who was identified as a scoring threat before the match.
“Zach Schmidt was huge for us,” Allen said. “He did a great job containing Esteban as much as possible.”
Cary-Grove coach Mark Olson praised his team’s effort and recognized some standouts in the first half.
“We played with a lot of heart and emotion,” he said. “I thought (midfielder) Brett Schuerg and (midfielder) Luis Lemus did a great job moving the ball. As far as effort is concerned, nobody is going to fault us for our effort.
The half ended scoreless in a very even contest. Against the wind in the second half, Crystal Lake South came out re-energized and put enormous offensive pressure on the Trojan backline.
In the 42nd minute, Grabowski was in the middle of things once again, making a great individual run into the box. The ball deflected right to the feet of teammate and freshman midfielder Ryan Coughlin, but his effort inside the 18 sailed over the crossbar. Three minutes later, the best chance of the match occurred when Getzinger sprinted past the Trojan defense and shot across goal but saw it go wide of the left post.
After Gator goalie Spencer Traub made a save on Cary-Grove’s Riley Conroy in the 50th minute, Getzinger had another glorious opportunity for a free header off of a Grabowski cross inside the 18, but that glanced wide left.
In the 56th minute, Getzinger could not settle the ball down after a service again from Grabowski.
The Gators finally broke through on the next attack. After a few passes, Getzinger threaded a through-ball to the left area of the 18. With Trojan goalie Sergio Lemus charging out, Skyler Pentico placed a left-footed shot to the left of the charging Lemus into the back to net.
Pentico, the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match was excited, but shared that the opportunity was a bit nerve-wracking for him.
“I just got the butterflies in my stomach," he said. “I knew Zinger (Getzinger) was going to get me the ball in the right spot. It all started with the team effort, and I was able to finish it in the end.”
“For Sky (Pentico) to get a goal and the team to get a goal and a huge win, its amazing.” said Getzinger.
Coach Allen spoke about the efforts of his midfielder duo.
“Skyler plays consistent,” he said. “Skyler has his moments, and he talked about a goal he wish he had earlier. I told him that his opportunity for a big one would come. For him to grab that opportunity today was great. Zinger (Getzinger) playing box-to-box, winning 50-50s, knows he could have had one or two today but is always putting teams under consistent pressure.”
Cary-Grove had few opportunities in the second half. Midfielder Patrick Kingdon almost had a one-on-one opportunity in the 72nd minute on goal but Gator goalie Traub slid and grabbed the ball to prevent any damage.
Coach Olson agreed that the first half featured the better offensive performance from his Trojans.
“We couldn’t find the feet of our mids," he said. “We stopped looking for them. Credit South for putting us under a lot of pressure in the back and kicking it long. It was hard to play off of that.”
The final two minutes was Cary-Grove’s best spell. An Arenberg free kick from 40 yards out was cleared by Coughlin. Then the Trojans had a free kick and two-straight corners in the final minute. Arenberg’s restart was headed out for the first corner. The Trojans nearly got the equalizer but a header was cleared off of the near post by Pantico. The ball was in the air off the second corner and time expired as Traub caught the ball.
“This win means a lot,” said Grabowski. “Three conference wins, two more to go. They are still going to be really tough games. But it is nice to have a district rival come in and put on a show and win. We need to give our perfect effort against McHenry on Thursday and go out and play our style.”
Starting lineups
Cary-Grove
1 GK Sergio Lemus
23 D Eliot Kmiec
24 D Maxwell Green
13 D Tomas Kvapil
14 D Oscar Solis
10 M Luis Lemus
11 MF John O’Brien
12 MF Riley Conroy
9 MF Brett Schuerg
17 MF Esteban Angeles
3 F Michael Arenberg
Crystal Lake South
0 GK Spencer Traub
2 D Jeff Kirshenbaum
3 D Zach Schmidt
8 D Jake Canfield
11 D Kennan Grissom
6 M Mike Woeste
7 M Skyler Pentico
9 M Ryan Coughlin
10 M Nikolas Getzinger
13 M Carlos Merida
23 F Andrew Grabowski
Man of the Match: Skyler Pentico, MF, Crystal Lake South
Officials: Kevin Brophy (center); Tim Jackson; Jerry Watters
remains on roll
Makes it 3 straight wins with thriller over Cary-Grove
By Matt Misiek
CRYSTAL LAKE -- Many people get their thrills from making trips to certain theme parks, movies, or other attractions.
Perhaps they should add wherever the Crystal Lake South boys’ soccer team suits up for a game to their list.
After their victory over rival Jacobs Sept. 22 in Algonquin, coach Brian Allen and company let a 2-0 lead slip at home to Dundee-Crown last Thursday before rallying to win on penalty kicks.
Tuesday afternoon was another rival matchup, on homecoming week, against Cary-Grove. True to the script, it was a tightly contested match with both teams presented opportunities. The Gators got the ultimate breakthrough and knocked off the Trojans 1-0, to improve to 8-5-3 overall but more importantly 3-0 in the Fox Valley Conference’s Valley Division.
“With the Valley, the way that it is this year, as loaded as it is, you’re going to take a win any way you can get it,” said coach Allen. “We’re thrilled. Cary-Grove is a heck of a team.”
The first half saw the defensive units of Cary-Grove (6-4-2, 0-2-0 in the Valley Division) and Crystal Lake South limit each other’s ability to create offensive chances. The Cary-Grove's Tomas Kvapil did a nice job early-on in the seventh minute when he took the ball off of Gator Andrew Grabowski as the forward looked to turn upfield. Kvapil also stopped a sequence in the 10th minute when Grabowski worked a run with midfielder Nikolas Getzinger.
Crystal Lake South’s defensive back-four had many big plays in the first half as Cary-Grove’s dangerous attacking midfielder Esteban Angeles played a through ball that Jake Canfield cleared away in the 18th minute.
Canfield stepped up three minutes later and made another clearance to stop an attack from Trojan forward Michael Arenberg.
Senior defender Kennan Grissom also had three clearances in a row in a sequence where Cary-Grove put on extended pressure working through Angeles and Arenberg.
Coach Allen felt that the backline did a great job of controlling Angeles, who was identified as a scoring threat before the match.
“Zach Schmidt was huge for us,” Allen said. “He did a great job containing Esteban as much as possible.”
Cary-Grove coach Mark Olson praised his team’s effort and recognized some standouts in the first half.
“We played with a lot of heart and emotion,” he said. “I thought (midfielder) Brett Schuerg and (midfielder) Luis Lemus did a great job moving the ball. As far as effort is concerned, nobody is going to fault us for our effort.
The half ended scoreless in a very even contest. Against the wind in the second half, Crystal Lake South came out re-energized and put enormous offensive pressure on the Trojan backline.
In the 42nd minute, Grabowski was in the middle of things once again, making a great individual run into the box. The ball deflected right to the feet of teammate and freshman midfielder Ryan Coughlin, but his effort inside the 18 sailed over the crossbar. Three minutes later, the best chance of the match occurred when Getzinger sprinted past the Trojan defense and shot across goal but saw it go wide of the left post.
After Gator goalie Spencer Traub made a save on Cary-Grove’s Riley Conroy in the 50th minute, Getzinger had another glorious opportunity for a free header off of a Grabowski cross inside the 18, but that glanced wide left.
In the 56th minute, Getzinger could not settle the ball down after a service again from Grabowski.
The Gators finally broke through on the next attack. After a few passes, Getzinger threaded a through-ball to the left area of the 18. With Trojan goalie Sergio Lemus charging out, Skyler Pentico placed a left-footed shot to the left of the charging Lemus into the back to net.
Pentico, the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match was excited, but shared that the opportunity was a bit nerve-wracking for him.
“I just got the butterflies in my stomach," he said. “I knew Zinger (Getzinger) was going to get me the ball in the right spot. It all started with the team effort, and I was able to finish it in the end.”
“For Sky (Pentico) to get a goal and the team to get a goal and a huge win, its amazing.” said Getzinger.
Coach Allen spoke about the efforts of his midfielder duo.
“Skyler plays consistent,” he said. “Skyler has his moments, and he talked about a goal he wish he had earlier. I told him that his opportunity for a big one would come. For him to grab that opportunity today was great. Zinger (Getzinger) playing box-to-box, winning 50-50s, knows he could have had one or two today but is always putting teams under consistent pressure.”
Cary-Grove had few opportunities in the second half. Midfielder Patrick Kingdon almost had a one-on-one opportunity in the 72nd minute on goal but Gator goalie Traub slid and grabbed the ball to prevent any damage.
Coach Olson agreed that the first half featured the better offensive performance from his Trojans.
“We couldn’t find the feet of our mids," he said. “We stopped looking for them. Credit South for putting us under a lot of pressure in the back and kicking it long. It was hard to play off of that.”
The final two minutes was Cary-Grove’s best spell. An Arenberg free kick from 40 yards out was cleared by Coughlin. Then the Trojans had a free kick and two-straight corners in the final minute. Arenberg’s restart was headed out for the first corner. The Trojans nearly got the equalizer but a header was cleared off of the near post by Pantico. The ball was in the air off the second corner and time expired as Traub caught the ball.
“This win means a lot,” said Grabowski. “Three conference wins, two more to go. They are still going to be really tough games. But it is nice to have a district rival come in and put on a show and win. We need to give our perfect effort against McHenry on Thursday and go out and play our style.”
Starting lineups
Cary-Grove
1 GK Sergio Lemus
23 D Eliot Kmiec
24 D Maxwell Green
13 D Tomas Kvapil
14 D Oscar Solis
10 M Luis Lemus
11 MF John O’Brien
12 MF Riley Conroy
9 MF Brett Schuerg
17 MF Esteban Angeles
3 F Michael Arenberg
Crystal Lake South
0 GK Spencer Traub
2 D Jeff Kirshenbaum
3 D Zach Schmidt
8 D Jake Canfield
11 D Kennan Grissom
6 M Mike Woeste
7 M Skyler Pentico
9 M Ryan Coughlin
10 M Nikolas Getzinger
13 M Carlos Merida
23 F Andrew Grabowski
Man of the Match: Skyler Pentico, MF, Crystal Lake South
Officials: Kevin Brophy (center); Tim Jackson; Jerry Watters