GK Lekki shines, Lake Park holds off AT
Lake Park wins 2-1 on huge save, 2 Costa goals
By Gary Larsen
ADDISON — On the second night of the season, Addison Trail’s Melvin Mora hit one of the best shots anyone will see all year.
With his team trailing Lake Park by a goal in the game’s 78th minute Tuesday, Mora charged the net on the left side and hit a bona fide laser off the outside of his right foot from eight yards, a bending shot with malice that was surely headed inside the post.
But as great as the shot was, Lake Park keeper Christian Lekki's save was even better.
From six feet off the post, seemingly in the blink of an eye, Lekki sprang to his right. He extended his right hand and unbelievably pinned Mora’s shot on the post. Lekki’s remarkable save preserved Lake Park’s 2-1 nonconference victory.
“Every one of us thought it snuck in,” Lake Park coach Sean Crosby said. “I don’t know how he got there.”
Lekki offered a matter-of-fact explanation of a truly thrilling save.
“I was off the post. I didn’t expect it to go over me so I just slid over and reached for it,” he said. “That was as far as I could reach.”
Mora, on the other hand, was left shaking his head. “That was an amazing save,” he said.
Lekki’s late heroics marked his second lead-preserving save of the second half. At 52 minutes, Mora sent a long diagonal ball from the left side to the right corner, where teammate Luis Silva ran it down.
Silva served a ball to the far post, and Lekki raced back along the goal line to stuff a shot off the foot of Addison Trail’s Anthony Hernandez.
“He’s very good, he’s experienced, and he’s been doing that for three years for us,” Crosby said of Lekki. “I’ve seen him make that play and run into a post before to make that kind of a save. I don’t know how he gets from post to post like that.”
Lekki earned Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match honors for making those two pivotal saves to barely edge out teammate Matteo Costa for the honor. The senior scored both of Lake Park’s goals in the first half on his only two true scoring chances of the game, both on beautiful strikes.
Addison Trail’s Leonardo Acosta scored for the host Blazers, on a great shot from a tough angle on the right side that tied the game at 1-1 with 23 minutes left in the first half.
Great saves, perfect shots, a wild finish; season openers don’t normally carry so many quality features.
“For the first game of the year, the intensity was playoff-like,” Addison Trail coach Ryan Dini said. “It was physical, up-and-down, and both teams had chances. You’re never happy with a loss but from a competing standpoint, I thought both teams played well.”
Lake Park (1-0-0) struck first just seven minutes in, after Max Ellenbecker sent a freekick to the top of the penalty area. An attempted clear hit the carpet, where Costa took a touch to his right and blistered a shot from 20 yards to the upper 90.
Costa led Lake Park with 11 goals last season and he placed his first shot of the new season to a place where neither Addison Trail keeper Sam Sandoval nor any other keeper could have reached it.
“Last year we had a hundred chances that we just couldn’t put away, so finishing was a big training piece going into this year,” Crosby said.
Addison Trail defender Matthew Moran did fine work dispossessing Lake Park’s Franco Presta in the corner at nine minutes, and Mora and Julio Acosta took consecutive corner kicks in the 10th minute that went for naught. Lake Park’s Paul Grzybowicz headed a corner kick taken by teammate Jesus Juarez wide of net at 15 minutes.
It was a nice bit of work between Addison Trail brothers Leonardo and Julio Acosta that set up the game-tying goal. Deep in the Blazers’ final third, Leonardo fed Julio a square pass from the right touchline, and Julio sent a low shot in on Lekki at 17 minutes.
Lekki dove forward and got his hands on the shot, but it squirted free. Leonardo Acosta blistered a shot from deep on the right side that hit the underside of the crossbar and skipped to the back netting.
The next 20 minutes featured back-and-forth play, before Costa struck again. At 37 minutes, Lake Park outside defender Victor Pawlik intercepted an attempted clearing pass near midfield on the left side. Pawlik centered a pass to Costa, who took the ball around a defender on the right side and hit another fine shot from 14 yards that tore inside the post.
“The second goal is just Victor (Pawlik) anticipating a play,” Crosby said. “He’s a defender stepping up, winning it, and slotting it to Matteo. That’s what we’re trying to do defensively is just keep a solid shape, force, and then anticipate and jump on it. And that ended up getting us the game-winning goal.”
Mora rushed up the field with a ball on his feet on the left side at 39 minutes and turned the corner, but Lekki stuffed his shot at the post.
Lekki’s stellar second half performance was fueled by his frustration over giving up a first half goal.
“On their goal, I messed up,” Lekki said. “I had it and then it hit my knee and got away from me. But I recovered and played better in the second half.”
The Lake Park keeper was forced to shine in the second half, in the face of an Addison Trail attack that was motivated to find a tying goal.
“We have 11 seniors on this team and at halftime (Mora), as our leader, said ‘Come on, we have to step it up. It’s unacceptable,’” Dini said. “For them to get two (goals) in the first half against us kind of caught us off guard. But as the game went on, our guys kind of eased into the game.”
Players like Mora, Silva, the Acosta brothers, Anthony Hernandez, and Lukas Rodriguez combined well for solid stretches of play in the second half. But the Lake Park backline of Ellenbecker, Pawlik, Thomas Zakic, and Frankie Ciara kept danger to a minimum, and Lekki came up big when he needed to.
Addison Trail defenders Moran, Eduardo Huerta, Joseph Macedo and Brian Hernandez also kept the slate clean in the second half, and Sandoval made a quality save of a point-blank shot from Presta at 58 minutes.
Dini slid the talented Huerta forward to aid in the attack in the second half. The Blazers never found an equalizing goal but left their home field encouraged by a solid effort.
“We started out pretty nervous and that hurt us,” Mora said. “But in the second half, we had them. We kept going and attacking and just couldn’t get a goal. But it was a great effort by our guys. I liked the hustle we showed.”
Dini got strong efforts from players like Mora, Huerta, and the Acostas, and a quality day’s work from another young player.
“(Anthony) Hernandez, our sophomore, plays up-top and on the outside and we didn’t expect him to play that many minutes, but he played real well,” Dini said. “This is his first year on varsity. He was with the Fire last year, and he’s a weapon. He can run all day.”
Crosby also enjoyed quality performances across the board from his boys.
“I really loved what Paul (Grzybowicz), our holding mid, did tonight,” Crosby said. “He does those things that maybe go unnoticed to help us keep our shape, and Gabe (Mendrano) and Jesus (Juarez) are next to him -- they all did really well in the midfield. And then our two senior center backs, Tommy (Zakic) and Max (Ellenbecker), kept the backline in check.”
The Lancers have 15 seniors on their roster this year and Crosby also tipped his hat to their collective contributions.
“They make us better every single day,” Crosby said. “They don’t all get a ton of minutes on the field but they make us better every day in training and bring our level of play up.
“Today was a great litmus test -- (Addison Trail) has a very talented squad. They’ve got speed, and they really tested us. Their forwards made their runs off the ball very dangerously, and it gave our defense fits. But it was a very good test and a very good first game, so we couldn’t be happier that it worked out our way.”
Starting lineups
Lake Park
GK Christian Lekki
D Max Ellenbecker
D Thomas Zakic
D Victor Pawlk
D Frankie Ciara
M Franco Presta
M Paul Grzybowicz
M Jesus Juarez
M Gabriel Mendrano
F Matteo Costa
F Gray McClellan
Addison Trail
GK Sam Sandoval
D Matthew Moran
D Eduardo Huerta
D Brian Hernandez
D Joseph Macedo
M Julio Acosta
M Uriel Rojo
M Anthony Hernandez
M Lukas Rodriguez
F Luis Silva
F Melvin Mora
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Christian Lekki, sr., GK, Lake Park
Scoring summary
First half
Lake Park: Costa (UA) 7th minute
Addison Trail: L. Acosta (UA) 17th minute
Lake Park: Costa (Pawlik) 37th minute
Lake Park wins 2-1 on huge save, 2 Costa goals
By Gary Larsen
ADDISON — On the second night of the season, Addison Trail’s Melvin Mora hit one of the best shots anyone will see all year.
With his team trailing Lake Park by a goal in the game’s 78th minute Tuesday, Mora charged the net on the left side and hit a bona fide laser off the outside of his right foot from eight yards, a bending shot with malice that was surely headed inside the post.
But as great as the shot was, Lake Park keeper Christian Lekki's save was even better.
From six feet off the post, seemingly in the blink of an eye, Lekki sprang to his right. He extended his right hand and unbelievably pinned Mora’s shot on the post. Lekki’s remarkable save preserved Lake Park’s 2-1 nonconference victory.
“Every one of us thought it snuck in,” Lake Park coach Sean Crosby said. “I don’t know how he got there.”
Lekki offered a matter-of-fact explanation of a truly thrilling save.
“I was off the post. I didn’t expect it to go over me so I just slid over and reached for it,” he said. “That was as far as I could reach.”
Mora, on the other hand, was left shaking his head. “That was an amazing save,” he said.
Lekki’s late heroics marked his second lead-preserving save of the second half. At 52 minutes, Mora sent a long diagonal ball from the left side to the right corner, where teammate Luis Silva ran it down.
Silva served a ball to the far post, and Lekki raced back along the goal line to stuff a shot off the foot of Addison Trail’s Anthony Hernandez.
“He’s very good, he’s experienced, and he’s been doing that for three years for us,” Crosby said of Lekki. “I’ve seen him make that play and run into a post before to make that kind of a save. I don’t know how he gets from post to post like that.”
Lekki earned Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match honors for making those two pivotal saves to barely edge out teammate Matteo Costa for the honor. The senior scored both of Lake Park’s goals in the first half on his only two true scoring chances of the game, both on beautiful strikes.
Addison Trail’s Leonardo Acosta scored for the host Blazers, on a great shot from a tough angle on the right side that tied the game at 1-1 with 23 minutes left in the first half.
Great saves, perfect shots, a wild finish; season openers don’t normally carry so many quality features.
“For the first game of the year, the intensity was playoff-like,” Addison Trail coach Ryan Dini said. “It was physical, up-and-down, and both teams had chances. You’re never happy with a loss but from a competing standpoint, I thought both teams played well.”
Lake Park (1-0-0) struck first just seven minutes in, after Max Ellenbecker sent a freekick to the top of the penalty area. An attempted clear hit the carpet, where Costa took a touch to his right and blistered a shot from 20 yards to the upper 90.
Costa led Lake Park with 11 goals last season and he placed his first shot of the new season to a place where neither Addison Trail keeper Sam Sandoval nor any other keeper could have reached it.
“Last year we had a hundred chances that we just couldn’t put away, so finishing was a big training piece going into this year,” Crosby said.
Addison Trail defender Matthew Moran did fine work dispossessing Lake Park’s Franco Presta in the corner at nine minutes, and Mora and Julio Acosta took consecutive corner kicks in the 10th minute that went for naught. Lake Park’s Paul Grzybowicz headed a corner kick taken by teammate Jesus Juarez wide of net at 15 minutes.
It was a nice bit of work between Addison Trail brothers Leonardo and Julio Acosta that set up the game-tying goal. Deep in the Blazers’ final third, Leonardo fed Julio a square pass from the right touchline, and Julio sent a low shot in on Lekki at 17 minutes.
Lekki dove forward and got his hands on the shot, but it squirted free. Leonardo Acosta blistered a shot from deep on the right side that hit the underside of the crossbar and skipped to the back netting.
The next 20 minutes featured back-and-forth play, before Costa struck again. At 37 minutes, Lake Park outside defender Victor Pawlik intercepted an attempted clearing pass near midfield on the left side. Pawlik centered a pass to Costa, who took the ball around a defender on the right side and hit another fine shot from 14 yards that tore inside the post.
“The second goal is just Victor (Pawlik) anticipating a play,” Crosby said. “He’s a defender stepping up, winning it, and slotting it to Matteo. That’s what we’re trying to do defensively is just keep a solid shape, force, and then anticipate and jump on it. And that ended up getting us the game-winning goal.”
Mora rushed up the field with a ball on his feet on the left side at 39 minutes and turned the corner, but Lekki stuffed his shot at the post.
Lekki’s stellar second half performance was fueled by his frustration over giving up a first half goal.
“On their goal, I messed up,” Lekki said. “I had it and then it hit my knee and got away from me. But I recovered and played better in the second half.”
The Lake Park keeper was forced to shine in the second half, in the face of an Addison Trail attack that was motivated to find a tying goal.
“We have 11 seniors on this team and at halftime (Mora), as our leader, said ‘Come on, we have to step it up. It’s unacceptable,’” Dini said. “For them to get two (goals) in the first half against us kind of caught us off guard. But as the game went on, our guys kind of eased into the game.”
Players like Mora, Silva, the Acosta brothers, Anthony Hernandez, and Lukas Rodriguez combined well for solid stretches of play in the second half. But the Lake Park backline of Ellenbecker, Pawlik, Thomas Zakic, and Frankie Ciara kept danger to a minimum, and Lekki came up big when he needed to.
Addison Trail defenders Moran, Eduardo Huerta, Joseph Macedo and Brian Hernandez also kept the slate clean in the second half, and Sandoval made a quality save of a point-blank shot from Presta at 58 minutes.
Dini slid the talented Huerta forward to aid in the attack in the second half. The Blazers never found an equalizing goal but left their home field encouraged by a solid effort.
“We started out pretty nervous and that hurt us,” Mora said. “But in the second half, we had them. We kept going and attacking and just couldn’t get a goal. But it was a great effort by our guys. I liked the hustle we showed.”
Dini got strong efforts from players like Mora, Huerta, and the Acostas, and a quality day’s work from another young player.
“(Anthony) Hernandez, our sophomore, plays up-top and on the outside and we didn’t expect him to play that many minutes, but he played real well,” Dini said. “This is his first year on varsity. He was with the Fire last year, and he’s a weapon. He can run all day.”
Crosby also enjoyed quality performances across the board from his boys.
“I really loved what Paul (Grzybowicz), our holding mid, did tonight,” Crosby said. “He does those things that maybe go unnoticed to help us keep our shape, and Gabe (Mendrano) and Jesus (Juarez) are next to him -- they all did really well in the midfield. And then our two senior center backs, Tommy (Zakic) and Max (Ellenbecker), kept the backline in check.”
The Lancers have 15 seniors on their roster this year and Crosby also tipped his hat to their collective contributions.
“They make us better every single day,” Crosby said. “They don’t all get a ton of minutes on the field but they make us better every day in training and bring our level of play up.
“Today was a great litmus test -- (Addison Trail) has a very talented squad. They’ve got speed, and they really tested us. Their forwards made their runs off the ball very dangerously, and it gave our defense fits. But it was a very good test and a very good first game, so we couldn’t be happier that it worked out our way.”
Starting lineups
Lake Park
GK Christian Lekki
D Max Ellenbecker
D Thomas Zakic
D Victor Pawlk
D Frankie Ciara
M Franco Presta
M Paul Grzybowicz
M Jesus Juarez
M Gabriel Mendrano
F Matteo Costa
F Gray McClellan
Addison Trail
GK Sam Sandoval
D Matthew Moran
D Eduardo Huerta
D Brian Hernandez
D Joseph Macedo
M Julio Acosta
M Uriel Rojo
M Anthony Hernandez
M Lukas Rodriguez
F Luis Silva
F Melvin Mora
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Christian Lekki, sr., GK, Lake Park
Scoring summary
First half
Lake Park: Costa (UA) 7th minute
Addison Trail: L. Acosta (UA) 17th minute
Lake Park: Costa (Pawlik) 37th minute