Lake Park scoring slump
continues in Hoffman Estates loss
Lancers fall 1-0 in final Hillner Classic match
By Curt Herron
ROSELLE -- After settling for two draws in the first four matches at their own Norm Hillner Classic, Lake Park's players were determined to come away from the event with a win.
And while they certainly battled throughout Saturday's match with Hoffman Estates in their attempt to claim their first victory of the season, the Lancers allowed a goal in the opening minutes and were unable to get the equalizer at Ralph Krupke Memorial Field.
After collecting three goals in its opener against South Elgin, Lake Park (0-3-2) only scored once in its next four matches and dropped its last two tournament games 1-0.
The Lancers had many more good chances than did Hoffman Estates (2-3-1) and also had a one-man advantage for the final 18 minutes but still were unable to put one in the net.
Despite the tough start, Lancers coach Sean Crosby has seen defensive improvements from his squad by allowing just one goal in each of their last three matches and believes that they will begin to find the scoring touch.
"We just didn't capitalize," Crosby said. "I think we had enough of the game and had the ball inside of their half for the majority of the match.
"Unfortunately that's been kind of our trend. We've had the ball for a lot of matches and have not put it in dangerous-enough spots. Possession hasn't been a problem for us, and that's great, but we need to get more dangerous and get a little more creative in the attacking part of the field and put the ball in the back of the net. Once one goes into the net, they will be flying.
"This isn't the best start that we could have asked for, but I hope that it gives us things to build on. And right now in the tournament, what we have been able to build on is our defensive play, and it's really improved.
"We gave up a lot of goals to York (a 5-0 loss to the Hillner champion) and also to South Elgin and couldn't finish off with a win and settled with a draw against them. But since then, we've made a real commitment to defending, and the players have responded. That's a trend that if we can continue, we're going to be in every match that we play in.
"I hope that this is just a little bit of a growth for the start of the season, and it can build into us hitting into our stride at the hot part of the season, which is the postseason.
"We have a ton of attacking players so I know that the goal-scoring opportunities are there. We put three in in the first game and can do it again, we just have to recreate that."
After the Lancers failed to capitalize on a couple of good early opportunities, Hoffman Estates took advantage of its first good threat. Favour Justice fired in a liner that found the upper corner of the net in the sixth minute.
As the opening half progressed, Erik Reyes, Aidan Killmer, Jose Maldonado, Edgar Villagran, Josh Ortega and Jason Salwach all directed dangerous attempts toward Hoffman Estates keeper Mason Trinco, but he denied everything that came his way.
Meanwhile, the visitors had limited chances in the first 40 minutes. Keeper Jake Harmon stopped another scoring attempt from Justice later in the half.
"In every match we've been getting better," said Lancers senior captain Edgar Villagran. "We've been defending really well, too, we just need to learn how to put the ball in.
"Our attacking needs to improve and we just need that one goal. I just feel like each time that they score on us, we just put our heads down. and we lose some momentum.
"That needs to change a lot. We fought better in the second half and kept pushing and attacking, and it just didn't fall.
"In our past three matches, our chemistry has gotten a lot better, too. I just feel that we need to play for the full 80 minutes since it takes us time to get our chances. Our defending is really good, so throughout the season we'll get a lot better. "
The second half became a different story when Hoffman Estates began to apply more pressure. But Lake Park received an excellent performance in goal from junior Connell Travis, who played his first full half at the varsity level during the match. His dramatic stops during his debut performance prevented his team from having to dig out of an even bigger hole.
After a header by Shane Donnelly off of a free kick by Erdet Agaj was pulled in for the first Lancer threat of the final half, Hoffman Estates threatened a bit later but Travis punched away a free kick from Justice and then deflected the subsequent rebound try by Connnor Kurzynski.
In between a pair of threatening free kicks from Ortega, Travis held strong. He deflected a liner from Getsy Aguirre and then thwarted a corner kick that was sent in by Matheus DeCarvalho.
"I played for 20 minutes at the end of the second half earlier in the tournament, so this was my first full half," Travis said. "They had some really good shots on me, and they were pressing hard. I just needed to keep the ball out of the net. We have a very good and solid defense. Everyone has chemistry, and we're good playing together.
Hoffman Estates' prospects of hanging on become more challenging when it lost a man to a red card in the 62nd minute, and the Lake Park did its best to connect as they fired off a series of good attempts in the final quarter hour. Several tries by Maldonado and shots from Raim Ramani and Anthony Juarez were thwarted.
"We were all trying to keep everybody’s heads up, " said Travis. "I was trying to be encouraging in the back to try to keep the energy up so that we could do what we could to get one in to save this game.
"It's really good to have the chemistry that we have, so even though we were down, we were able to stay with it.
"I just really enjoy the atmosphere all the way around. It's my first year on the varsity, so I'm kind of new to the whole environment, and I'm really getting into it. It's been really good so far. Even outside of the game and off the field, we've been close and are building good relationships all across the team."
The Lancers kick off play in the DuKane Conference on Tuesday when they host St. Charles East, the no. 2 team in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25.. Then they play a nonconference match at Glenbard West on Thursday and start play in the Streamwood Fall Classic on Saturday.
Starting lineups
Hoffman Estates
G - Mason Trinco
D - Heber Velasquez
D - Matheus DeCarvalho
D - Carlos Cotinieto
D - Elvis Varga
M - Yaj Patel
M - Getsy Aguirre
M - Connor Kurzynski
M - Anand Krishnan
F - Favour Justice
F - Logan Garcia
Lake Park
G - Jake Harmon
D - Shane Donnelly
D - Oscar Sagan
D - Erik Reyes
D - Matt Zakic
M - Frankie Caira
M - Edgar Villagran
M - Aidan Killmer
M - Anthony Juarez
F - Raim Ramani
F - Jason Salwach
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Edgar Villagran, sr., MF, Lake Park
Scoring summary
First half
HE - Favour Justice, 6
Second half
No scoring
continues in Hoffman Estates loss
Lancers fall 1-0 in final Hillner Classic match
By Curt Herron
ROSELLE -- After settling for two draws in the first four matches at their own Norm Hillner Classic, Lake Park's players were determined to come away from the event with a win.
And while they certainly battled throughout Saturday's match with Hoffman Estates in their attempt to claim their first victory of the season, the Lancers allowed a goal in the opening minutes and were unable to get the equalizer at Ralph Krupke Memorial Field.
After collecting three goals in its opener against South Elgin, Lake Park (0-3-2) only scored once in its next four matches and dropped its last two tournament games 1-0.
The Lancers had many more good chances than did Hoffman Estates (2-3-1) and also had a one-man advantage for the final 18 minutes but still were unable to put one in the net.
Despite the tough start, Lancers coach Sean Crosby has seen defensive improvements from his squad by allowing just one goal in each of their last three matches and believes that they will begin to find the scoring touch.
"We just didn't capitalize," Crosby said. "I think we had enough of the game and had the ball inside of their half for the majority of the match.
"Unfortunately that's been kind of our trend. We've had the ball for a lot of matches and have not put it in dangerous-enough spots. Possession hasn't been a problem for us, and that's great, but we need to get more dangerous and get a little more creative in the attacking part of the field and put the ball in the back of the net. Once one goes into the net, they will be flying.
"This isn't the best start that we could have asked for, but I hope that it gives us things to build on. And right now in the tournament, what we have been able to build on is our defensive play, and it's really improved.
"We gave up a lot of goals to York (a 5-0 loss to the Hillner champion) and also to South Elgin and couldn't finish off with a win and settled with a draw against them. But since then, we've made a real commitment to defending, and the players have responded. That's a trend that if we can continue, we're going to be in every match that we play in.
"I hope that this is just a little bit of a growth for the start of the season, and it can build into us hitting into our stride at the hot part of the season, which is the postseason.
"We have a ton of attacking players so I know that the goal-scoring opportunities are there. We put three in in the first game and can do it again, we just have to recreate that."
After the Lancers failed to capitalize on a couple of good early opportunities, Hoffman Estates took advantage of its first good threat. Favour Justice fired in a liner that found the upper corner of the net in the sixth minute.
As the opening half progressed, Erik Reyes, Aidan Killmer, Jose Maldonado, Edgar Villagran, Josh Ortega and Jason Salwach all directed dangerous attempts toward Hoffman Estates keeper Mason Trinco, but he denied everything that came his way.
Meanwhile, the visitors had limited chances in the first 40 minutes. Keeper Jake Harmon stopped another scoring attempt from Justice later in the half.
"In every match we've been getting better," said Lancers senior captain Edgar Villagran. "We've been defending really well, too, we just need to learn how to put the ball in.
"Our attacking needs to improve and we just need that one goal. I just feel like each time that they score on us, we just put our heads down. and we lose some momentum.
"That needs to change a lot. We fought better in the second half and kept pushing and attacking, and it just didn't fall.
"In our past three matches, our chemistry has gotten a lot better, too. I just feel that we need to play for the full 80 minutes since it takes us time to get our chances. Our defending is really good, so throughout the season we'll get a lot better. "
The second half became a different story when Hoffman Estates began to apply more pressure. But Lake Park received an excellent performance in goal from junior Connell Travis, who played his first full half at the varsity level during the match. His dramatic stops during his debut performance prevented his team from having to dig out of an even bigger hole.
After a header by Shane Donnelly off of a free kick by Erdet Agaj was pulled in for the first Lancer threat of the final half, Hoffman Estates threatened a bit later but Travis punched away a free kick from Justice and then deflected the subsequent rebound try by Connnor Kurzynski.
In between a pair of threatening free kicks from Ortega, Travis held strong. He deflected a liner from Getsy Aguirre and then thwarted a corner kick that was sent in by Matheus DeCarvalho.
"I played for 20 minutes at the end of the second half earlier in the tournament, so this was my first full half," Travis said. "They had some really good shots on me, and they were pressing hard. I just needed to keep the ball out of the net. We have a very good and solid defense. Everyone has chemistry, and we're good playing together.
Hoffman Estates' prospects of hanging on become more challenging when it lost a man to a red card in the 62nd minute, and the Lake Park did its best to connect as they fired off a series of good attempts in the final quarter hour. Several tries by Maldonado and shots from Raim Ramani and Anthony Juarez were thwarted.
"We were all trying to keep everybody’s heads up, " said Travis. "I was trying to be encouraging in the back to try to keep the energy up so that we could do what we could to get one in to save this game.
"It's really good to have the chemistry that we have, so even though we were down, we were able to stay with it.
"I just really enjoy the atmosphere all the way around. It's my first year on the varsity, so I'm kind of new to the whole environment, and I'm really getting into it. It's been really good so far. Even outside of the game and off the field, we've been close and are building good relationships all across the team."
The Lancers kick off play in the DuKane Conference on Tuesday when they host St. Charles East, the no. 2 team in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25.. Then they play a nonconference match at Glenbard West on Thursday and start play in the Streamwood Fall Classic on Saturday.
Starting lineups
Hoffman Estates
G - Mason Trinco
D - Heber Velasquez
D - Matheus DeCarvalho
D - Carlos Cotinieto
D - Elvis Varga
M - Yaj Patel
M - Getsy Aguirre
M - Connor Kurzynski
M - Anand Krishnan
F - Favour Justice
F - Logan Garcia
Lake Park
G - Jake Harmon
D - Shane Donnelly
D - Oscar Sagan
D - Erik Reyes
D - Matt Zakic
M - Frankie Caira
M - Edgar Villagran
M - Aidan Killmer
M - Anthony Juarez
F - Raim Ramani
F - Jason Salwach
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Edgar Villagran, sr., MF, Lake Park
Scoring summary
First half
HE - Favour Justice, 6
Second half
No scoring