Lake Park reigns in the rain,
douses Geneva’s attack in 3-1 win
Donnelly, Diaz pace Lancers to satisfying DuKane victory
By Bill McLean
ROSELLE — Players slipped and skidded and probably wondered if they’d see Noah’s Ark 2.0 float by at some point Tuesday night.
Lake Park’s best move of all at Krupke Memorial Field was the figurative one they executed after downing Geneva 3-1 in relentlessly rainy, gusty conditions.
The Lancers vaulted the Vikings in the DuKane Conference standings in the regular-season finale for both crews.
Lake Park entered Tuesday in fifth place, two points behind fourth place Geneva. The result left Lake Park with a 3-3-1 record (10 points) in the league, good for fourth place, a point ahead of (2-2-3).
“Given the type of weather we had to deal with tonight, nobody expected touches, passes or shots to be 100 percent,” Lake Park coach Sean Crosby said after his side improved to 9-7-3 overall. “But we handled our chances well in what was one of
our better performances of the season.
“And all three of our goals were spectacular.”
Indeed. Waterlogged Lake Park senior striker Rodrigo Diaz — normally a slick, invaluable central midfielder — struck a gorgeous shot after settling a pass from junior midfielder Francesco “Frenchy” Cardone in the 23rd minute. Diaz hammered a 30-yard back-post shot that curled to the left, right before it entered an upper-90 quadrant.
Diaz then played a prominent role before the Lancers’ second goal some eight minutes later. He booted a free kick — from practically the same spot that served as the launching pad for his goal — toward the box and Lancers senior midfielder Devin Czeremuga, who headed the ball to senior midfielder Shane Donnelly.
The indispensable Donnelly, a captain, then foot-punched a three-yard shot past Geneva senior goalkeeper Matthew Towler (six saves).
Donnelly pocketed Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match recognition for splishing and splashing and authoring significant contributions at both ends of the pitch.
“Shane,” Crosby noted, “had box-to-box impact for us. He was doing good things for us all over the field. He helped in our attack and as a defensive midfielder.”
The hosts led 2-0 at the break.
Geneva (8-3-8 overall) cut the advantage in half in minute 52 via a goal from junior midfielder Liam O’Donoghue, who netted a 20-yard near-post shot off a pass from senior forward Trent Giansanti.
“Our second half was a little better,” said Vikings coach Jason Bhatta, whose club is an honorable mention team in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25. “Liam’s goal, followed by more chances … momentum shifted to our side. Clearly, though, not good enough. We did not defend well enough. Our energy wasn’t good enough.
“Lake Park,” he added, “defended well and won way more 50/50 balls than we did.”
Diaz and Cardone connected again to cap the scoring. Diaz thumped a 30-yard service to a sprinting Cardone in a finally rain-free Roselle. Cardone blasted home a 20-yard, near-post shot in the 77th minute.
That upped his season goal total to eight. Diaz has six goals entering the Class 3A postseason, while Donnelly has four.
“We still have a lot of work to do (before the start of the state playoffs next week),” said Diaz, a talented, fun-loving Lancer who also exudes serious confidence. “We have to continue to train, and we have to work on our positivity.”
There was nothing negative about the efforts of Lake Park center backs Jakub Tourillott, a junior, and Oscar Sagan, a senior, and senior keepers Connell Travis (three saves, first half) and Andrew Swacha (three saves, second half).
Swacha also came up big in non-save situations, diving forward aggressively to diffuse a dangerous moment with a two-handed clear in the 58th minute and, four minutes later, using his right leg to record another clear, this one landing in Geneva terrain.
Sagan blocked a sizzling shot by Vikings sophomore midfielder Jack Hatton near the top of the box in the 37th minute.
Tourillott stymied Geneva spurts and delivered smart passes to ignite clean transitions.
“Our center backs and keepers did such a great job all night,” Crosby said.
“It’s been a season of ups and downs for us, with both kinds of game streaks,” he continued. “To play the way we did, with phenomenal energy, was nice to see in our final regular-season game. And we did that against a physical, fast-moving Geneva team that has a dynamic attack.”
Lake Park, seeded eighth in the Class 3A St. Charles East Sectional, hosts ninth-seeded Glenbard North at 7 p.m. on Oct. 19 in a regional semifinal at the Lancers’ East Campus.
Lake Park defeated Glenbard North 3-2 on Sept. 27.
Geneva, seeded fifth in the same sectional, faces 11th-seeded Wheaton North in a Conant Regional semifinal at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 19. The squads tied 1-1 in their conference meeting at Geneva on Oct. 4.
Footnotes
Geneva topped visiting Lake Park 4-0 Oct. 12, 2021. The Vikings then defeated Wheaton North and Bartlett by 1-0 margins in the playoffs to claim their second regional championship in three seasons and ninth in program history. … Geneva’s O’Donoghue and Hatton each admitted Tuesday night’s tough road loss on a drenched grass pitch was, on one level, fun. There’s something about playing in a downpour that brings out the giddy tot in teenagers. But each Viking also expressed serious thoughts. “We were strong defensively at the beginning of the year,” O’Donoghue said. “Lately, though, we’ve been kind of leaky. We’re a better team than we showed tonight. We’re so much better when we move the ball.” Said Hatton: “We made silly mistakes tonight. We’ll regroup; I’m sure we will.” … Crosby praised Lancers assistant coach Chris Fruehling (a 1988 Hoffman Estates graduate) for making a vital position decision before kickoff. “Chris,” Crosby said, “deserves an assist tonight.” … Fruehling provided a helper — an assessment of the Lancers in Tuesday’s deluge — for a journalist as he exited Krupke Memorial Field with Crosby: “That was a pure 80-minute effort from our team.”
Starting lineups
Geneva
GK Matthew Towler
D Carter Konkey
D Colin Hasty
D Ben Schuemer
D Luke Easter
MF Gabriel Boivin
MF Liam O’Donoghue
MF Nathan Branstad
MF Nicholas Plata
F Trent Giansanti
F Genel Jaffer
Lake Park
GK Connell Travis
D Jakub Tourillott
D Oscar Sagan
D Lucas Boebel
D Jack Tucci
MF Shane Donnelly
MF Devin Czeremuga
MF Nick Gironda
MF Francesco Cardone
F Alessandro Scalera
F Anthony Juarez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Shane Donnelly, sr., MF, Lake Park
Scoring summary
First half
Lake Park — Diaz (Cardone), 23’
Lake Park — Donnelly (Czeremuga, Diaz), 31’
Second half
Geneva — O’Donoghue (Giansanti), 52’
Lake Park — Cardone (Diaz), 77’
douses Geneva’s attack in 3-1 win
Donnelly, Diaz pace Lancers to satisfying DuKane victory
By Bill McLean
ROSELLE — Players slipped and skidded and probably wondered if they’d see Noah’s Ark 2.0 float by at some point Tuesday night.
Lake Park’s best move of all at Krupke Memorial Field was the figurative one they executed after downing Geneva 3-1 in relentlessly rainy, gusty conditions.
The Lancers vaulted the Vikings in the DuKane Conference standings in the regular-season finale for both crews.
Lake Park entered Tuesday in fifth place, two points behind fourth place Geneva. The result left Lake Park with a 3-3-1 record (10 points) in the league, good for fourth place, a point ahead of (2-2-3).
“Given the type of weather we had to deal with tonight, nobody expected touches, passes or shots to be 100 percent,” Lake Park coach Sean Crosby said after his side improved to 9-7-3 overall. “But we handled our chances well in what was one of
our better performances of the season.
“And all three of our goals were spectacular.”
Indeed. Waterlogged Lake Park senior striker Rodrigo Diaz — normally a slick, invaluable central midfielder — struck a gorgeous shot after settling a pass from junior midfielder Francesco “Frenchy” Cardone in the 23rd minute. Diaz hammered a 30-yard back-post shot that curled to the left, right before it entered an upper-90 quadrant.
Diaz then played a prominent role before the Lancers’ second goal some eight minutes later. He booted a free kick — from practically the same spot that served as the launching pad for his goal — toward the box and Lancers senior midfielder Devin Czeremuga, who headed the ball to senior midfielder Shane Donnelly.
The indispensable Donnelly, a captain, then foot-punched a three-yard shot past Geneva senior goalkeeper Matthew Towler (six saves).
Donnelly pocketed Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match recognition for splishing and splashing and authoring significant contributions at both ends of the pitch.
“Shane,” Crosby noted, “had box-to-box impact for us. He was doing good things for us all over the field. He helped in our attack and as a defensive midfielder.”
The hosts led 2-0 at the break.
Geneva (8-3-8 overall) cut the advantage in half in minute 52 via a goal from junior midfielder Liam O’Donoghue, who netted a 20-yard near-post shot off a pass from senior forward Trent Giansanti.
“Our second half was a little better,” said Vikings coach Jason Bhatta, whose club is an honorable mention team in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25. “Liam’s goal, followed by more chances … momentum shifted to our side. Clearly, though, not good enough. We did not defend well enough. Our energy wasn’t good enough.
“Lake Park,” he added, “defended well and won way more 50/50 balls than we did.”
Diaz and Cardone connected again to cap the scoring. Diaz thumped a 30-yard service to a sprinting Cardone in a finally rain-free Roselle. Cardone blasted home a 20-yard, near-post shot in the 77th minute.
That upped his season goal total to eight. Diaz has six goals entering the Class 3A postseason, while Donnelly has four.
“We still have a lot of work to do (before the start of the state playoffs next week),” said Diaz, a talented, fun-loving Lancer who also exudes serious confidence. “We have to continue to train, and we have to work on our positivity.”
There was nothing negative about the efforts of Lake Park center backs Jakub Tourillott, a junior, and Oscar Sagan, a senior, and senior keepers Connell Travis (three saves, first half) and Andrew Swacha (three saves, second half).
Swacha also came up big in non-save situations, diving forward aggressively to diffuse a dangerous moment with a two-handed clear in the 58th minute and, four minutes later, using his right leg to record another clear, this one landing in Geneva terrain.
Sagan blocked a sizzling shot by Vikings sophomore midfielder Jack Hatton near the top of the box in the 37th minute.
Tourillott stymied Geneva spurts and delivered smart passes to ignite clean transitions.
“Our center backs and keepers did such a great job all night,” Crosby said.
“It’s been a season of ups and downs for us, with both kinds of game streaks,” he continued. “To play the way we did, with phenomenal energy, was nice to see in our final regular-season game. And we did that against a physical, fast-moving Geneva team that has a dynamic attack.”
Lake Park, seeded eighth in the Class 3A St. Charles East Sectional, hosts ninth-seeded Glenbard North at 7 p.m. on Oct. 19 in a regional semifinal at the Lancers’ East Campus.
Lake Park defeated Glenbard North 3-2 on Sept. 27.
Geneva, seeded fifth in the same sectional, faces 11th-seeded Wheaton North in a Conant Regional semifinal at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 19. The squads tied 1-1 in their conference meeting at Geneva on Oct. 4.
Footnotes
Geneva topped visiting Lake Park 4-0 Oct. 12, 2021. The Vikings then defeated Wheaton North and Bartlett by 1-0 margins in the playoffs to claim their second regional championship in three seasons and ninth in program history. … Geneva’s O’Donoghue and Hatton each admitted Tuesday night’s tough road loss on a drenched grass pitch was, on one level, fun. There’s something about playing in a downpour that brings out the giddy tot in teenagers. But each Viking also expressed serious thoughts. “We were strong defensively at the beginning of the year,” O’Donoghue said. “Lately, though, we’ve been kind of leaky. We’re a better team than we showed tonight. We’re so much better when we move the ball.” Said Hatton: “We made silly mistakes tonight. We’ll regroup; I’m sure we will.” … Crosby praised Lancers assistant coach Chris Fruehling (a 1988 Hoffman Estates graduate) for making a vital position decision before kickoff. “Chris,” Crosby said, “deserves an assist tonight.” … Fruehling provided a helper — an assessment of the Lancers in Tuesday’s deluge — for a journalist as he exited Krupke Memorial Field with Crosby: “That was a pure 80-minute effort from our team.”
Starting lineups
Geneva
GK Matthew Towler
D Carter Konkey
D Colin Hasty
D Ben Schuemer
D Luke Easter
MF Gabriel Boivin
MF Liam O’Donoghue
MF Nathan Branstad
MF Nicholas Plata
F Trent Giansanti
F Genel Jaffer
Lake Park
GK Connell Travis
D Jakub Tourillott
D Oscar Sagan
D Lucas Boebel
D Jack Tucci
MF Shane Donnelly
MF Devin Czeremuga
MF Nick Gironda
MF Francesco Cardone
F Alessandro Scalera
F Anthony Juarez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Shane Donnelly, sr., MF, Lake Park
Scoring summary
First half
Lake Park — Diaz (Cardone), 23’
Lake Park — Donnelly (Czeremuga, Diaz), 31’
Second half
Geneva — O’Donoghue (Giansanti), 52’
Lake Park — Cardone (Diaz), 77’