Lemont nets milestone win
for coach, program at Reavis
Visitors post 400th-girls win in 5-0 victory
By Dave Owen
BURBANK -- Mystery quickly turned to history Tuesday at Reavis.
After his team's 5-0 win, Lemont coach Rick Prangen was providing a postgame summation. Then longtime assistant coach Mark Tomczak presented shirts to the entire team honoring Prangen’s 400th-career win.
“I did not know (it was the 400th),” Prangen said. “Mark gave a nice little history lesson to the kids on what we've done. I coached Mark’s wife my first couple years. I started the team up with two years of club. The first year we had varsity, Mark’s wife played for me (in a 9-8-0 season in 1995). So, there was a lot of emotion with that bringing back those memories.”
Those 400 wins worth of memories include a Class AA state runner-up finish, five other state top four trophies and an incredibly consistent run of success. After some early ups and downs as a new program, Lemont won its first regional in 2002 and has missed sectionals just one time since.
“I just think about all the great kids I've been able to coach,” Prangen said, “and working with Mark for 20 years has been an incredible experience.
“And just where the program came from: the first-year uniforms were T-shirts; and we played on a baseball diamond. I'm humbled by it, and honored to be able to coach this long. But it's about the great kids we've had for so long.”
The Knutte family has provided three of those great kids. Current standout forward Suzie Knutte played a big part in the milestone win.
Her two perfect corner kick sends with 30:51 and then 27:58 left in the first half resulted in back-post putaways by Ella Simpson to give Lemont (5-2-0, 1-0-0 in the South Suburban Conference Blue Division) a 2-0 halftime lead.
Then after Isabella Perski’s two extra-effort goals off loose balls in the box doubled the lead to 4-0 early in the second half, Knutte capped her MVP of the Match performance in high style.
On another corner kick with 10:33 to play, Knutte curled a right-of-the-net send into the far lower corner of the net to ice the 5-0 win.
“It was lucky,” she said. “One in the first half looked like it might go in, but I wasn't expecting to take that good a corner with my left (foot).
“We practice corners a lot, but that's my first time getting it in like that.”
Knutte’s sisters Maggie and Katie (a junior on Lemont’s 2018 state semifinalist who had a five-goal, eight-assist season last fall at Olivet Nazarene) also made contributions on the road to 400 wins, making the feat all that more significant for her.
“It's really cool,” she said, “especially having my two older sisters in the program to be a part of this and getting to carry that on. I still get called Katie in practice.”
Containing Suzie Knutte was equally confusing for Reavis.
On the first Lemont goal, her high corner kick cross needed to be headed away from the goal line by a Rams defender. But Simpson grabbed the rebound and tucked it inside the back (right) post for a 1-0 lead.
Then less than three minutes later, a Lenna Nabulsi steal at midfield set up a Simpson shot that was deflected wide for a corner kick.
Knutte’s ensuing corner from again the left edge resulted in a Simpson back-post header that barely eluded Reavis goalkeeper Jazmin Ayala andslipped into the net.
“Ella did a really good job of finishing those,” Knutte said. “I think practicing them a lot helped a lot.”
But instead of Reavis reeling from the sudden 2-0 deficit, the Rams (1-5-0, 0-1-0) slammed back with a strong finish to the first half.
Their first offensive chance of the match in the 16th minute resulted in an Olivia Smycz attack that was cleared away by Lemont defender Casey Kittridge.
After Ayala’s low catch at the post of a Simpson 23-yard free kick in the 18th minute, Reavis’ Emilia Kuca and Alexandra Mendez combined to clear the box on a Lemont threat in the 24th minute.
Mendez then played strong 1-v-1 defense to deny a run into the box by Lemont’s Emma Amberg one minute later.
Several Rams’ efforts against a strong Lemont side were notable, but Mendez earned special praise from Reavis midfielder Jasmin Pascual.
“All of us are good in a way,” said Pascual, “but Alex is one of the big defenders I appreciate the most. She does insane work. She goes in for every 50-50. She’s probably the best defender we have.”
Reavis’ offense also upped its game. A 70-second sequence produced a trio of throw-ins within 20 yards of the Lemont goal in the 26th minute. The third resulted in a Smycz 15-yard low shot saved by Lemont goalkeeper Michelle Nosal.
“I think overall we're getting better,” Reavis coach Konrad Dziedzic said. “It takes day by day learning the system. Overall, the fight is there, and the drive is there for the girls.
“I have to give my two center backs Jade Guzman and Alex Mendez credit, and my captain Jasmin Pascual. They all played very well today. They played tough and deserve all the praise they can get.”
While Lemont produced the final two good chances of the half (Ayala saves on Nina Pavlica and Knutte in the final five minutes), Prangen was less than enthralled by his team’s play after the two early scores.
“I wasn't overly pleased with the game in general,” he said. “I thought it was our sloppiest and least hard-working game I've seen this year. I really wasn't happy defensively. We were sloppy with way too many balls bouncing. I don't think we touched the ball in the air on a punt, and I thought we gave the ball away way too easily many times.
“Against a better side like Andrew who beat us (2-0 on Friday) you do that and you'll be defending all the time. This was not the game I was looking for after Friday. I expected a sharper effort from us. Score is irrelevant to me. I'm gauging it by what level we should be at, and today was a below average day for us.
“I don't think a single player was playing to their ability in the first half.”
Prangen made that point clear to his squad at halftime, and the results were quick.
Just 1:17 into the second half, a Pavlica cross to the front of the net resulted in a battle for the loose rebound. Perski won the battle and scored for a 3-0 lead.
Then from almost the same spot with 36:24 to go, Knutte’s initial cross was batted away by Ayala but rebounded into the net again by Perski.
“I think I finally hustled more in the second half and got more into it,” said Perski, echoing her coach’s halftime message.
“Honestly it's a lot more intimidating when she (the keeper) is taller,” Perski added about the battles in front. “But it worked out really well. Suzie had a great pass in.”
For Reavis, the two rebound finishes were deflating.
“It was unfortunate. A couple of mistakes early in the second half put us down 4-0,” Dziedzic said. “That's when the energy drained down, but after going down 2-nil in the first half we played well. We had some chances. We created some opportunities and were defensively solid. Then those first two goals in the second half really took the energy level down.”
Veronica Rimsky took over at goalkeeper for Reavis and made nice saves to deny Knutte (a 12-yard shot with 34:50 left), Paige Bingen (a stop on her knees of a 15-yard drive with 26 minutes to go) and Perski (15-yard shot with 17:40 remaining).
“Rimsky played well the last 30 minutes coming in,” Dziedzic said. “For us compared to last year where we were vs. teams like Lemont (a 7-0 loss), we are in the game more. It's just little mistakes, and they're putting those away. If we don't make those mistakes I think 2-0 or 3-0 could have been a fair score. But we’re getting better. It's just going to take some time.”
Reavis’ last quality chance came with 19:05 left, when a Smycz corner kick was deflected wide from 10 yards by Kuca running into the box.
“I personally felt like our team gave it our all,” Pascual said. “We got the loss, but we'll take this loss as a lesson and go from there.
“Obviously communication is a big thing we always need to learn. But the effort is always there. This team has shown a lot of improvement.”
While it was an up-and-down day of sorts for Lemont, Knutte’s pretty corner kick goal and the postgame celebration and picture taking to honor Prangen’s 400th win put a nice final upturn to the squad’s day.
“It's an honor to be part of his 400th win and see how much dedication he has,” junior Perski said, “and to be part of the future here.
“It's my first year on varsity so I'm definitely proud of where I'm at, but I think we need to keep improving and working well.”
The toast of the postgame party is painfully aware of that fact.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Prangen said. “We have Eisenhower and Lincoln-Way East this week. If we play like this there will be problems.
“There were OK moments today, but intermingled with poor decision-making and poor movement off the ball.”
That sort of quest for perfection has made Lemont a special program, and the players plan to keep rising to the occasion.
“The tradition is everything,” Knutte said. “It helps you get into it more and practice even harder.”
Starting lineups:
Lemont
GK Michelle Nosal
D Daria Koslosky
D Casey Kittridge
D Brianna Sanchez
D Nicole Bobcik
M Lenna Nabulsi
M Paige Bingen
M Ella Simpson
F Isabella Perski
F Suzie Knutte
F Nina Pavlica
Reavis
GK Jazmin Ayala
D Emily Chavez
D Alex Mendez
D Jade Guzman
D Naomi Rangel
M Jasmine Juache
M Jasmin Pascual
M Yamileth Torres
F Olivia Smycz
F Natalie Carriedo
F Erica Divizio
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Suzie Knutte, jr. F, Lemont
Scoring summary
First half
L- Ella Simpson (Suzie Knutte), 10’
L- Simpson (Knutte), 13’
Second half
L- Isabella Perski (Nina Pavlica), 42’
L- Perski (Knutte), 44’
L- Knutte (corner kick directly in), 69’
for coach, program at Reavis
Visitors post 400th-girls win in 5-0 victory
By Dave Owen
BURBANK -- Mystery quickly turned to history Tuesday at Reavis.
After his team's 5-0 win, Lemont coach Rick Prangen was providing a postgame summation. Then longtime assistant coach Mark Tomczak presented shirts to the entire team honoring Prangen’s 400th-career win.
“I did not know (it was the 400th),” Prangen said. “Mark gave a nice little history lesson to the kids on what we've done. I coached Mark’s wife my first couple years. I started the team up with two years of club. The first year we had varsity, Mark’s wife played for me (in a 9-8-0 season in 1995). So, there was a lot of emotion with that bringing back those memories.”
Those 400 wins worth of memories include a Class AA state runner-up finish, five other state top four trophies and an incredibly consistent run of success. After some early ups and downs as a new program, Lemont won its first regional in 2002 and has missed sectionals just one time since.
“I just think about all the great kids I've been able to coach,” Prangen said, “and working with Mark for 20 years has been an incredible experience.
“And just where the program came from: the first-year uniforms were T-shirts; and we played on a baseball diamond. I'm humbled by it, and honored to be able to coach this long. But it's about the great kids we've had for so long.”
The Knutte family has provided three of those great kids. Current standout forward Suzie Knutte played a big part in the milestone win.
Her two perfect corner kick sends with 30:51 and then 27:58 left in the first half resulted in back-post putaways by Ella Simpson to give Lemont (5-2-0, 1-0-0 in the South Suburban Conference Blue Division) a 2-0 halftime lead.
Then after Isabella Perski’s two extra-effort goals off loose balls in the box doubled the lead to 4-0 early in the second half, Knutte capped her MVP of the Match performance in high style.
On another corner kick with 10:33 to play, Knutte curled a right-of-the-net send into the far lower corner of the net to ice the 5-0 win.
“It was lucky,” she said. “One in the first half looked like it might go in, but I wasn't expecting to take that good a corner with my left (foot).
“We practice corners a lot, but that's my first time getting it in like that.”
Knutte’s sisters Maggie and Katie (a junior on Lemont’s 2018 state semifinalist who had a five-goal, eight-assist season last fall at Olivet Nazarene) also made contributions on the road to 400 wins, making the feat all that more significant for her.
“It's really cool,” she said, “especially having my two older sisters in the program to be a part of this and getting to carry that on. I still get called Katie in practice.”
Containing Suzie Knutte was equally confusing for Reavis.
On the first Lemont goal, her high corner kick cross needed to be headed away from the goal line by a Rams defender. But Simpson grabbed the rebound and tucked it inside the back (right) post for a 1-0 lead.
Then less than three minutes later, a Lenna Nabulsi steal at midfield set up a Simpson shot that was deflected wide for a corner kick.
Knutte’s ensuing corner from again the left edge resulted in a Simpson back-post header that barely eluded Reavis goalkeeper Jazmin Ayala andslipped into the net.
“Ella did a really good job of finishing those,” Knutte said. “I think practicing them a lot helped a lot.”
But instead of Reavis reeling from the sudden 2-0 deficit, the Rams (1-5-0, 0-1-0) slammed back with a strong finish to the first half.
Their first offensive chance of the match in the 16th minute resulted in an Olivia Smycz attack that was cleared away by Lemont defender Casey Kittridge.
After Ayala’s low catch at the post of a Simpson 23-yard free kick in the 18th minute, Reavis’ Emilia Kuca and Alexandra Mendez combined to clear the box on a Lemont threat in the 24th minute.
Mendez then played strong 1-v-1 defense to deny a run into the box by Lemont’s Emma Amberg one minute later.
Several Rams’ efforts against a strong Lemont side were notable, but Mendez earned special praise from Reavis midfielder Jasmin Pascual.
“All of us are good in a way,” said Pascual, “but Alex is one of the big defenders I appreciate the most. She does insane work. She goes in for every 50-50. She’s probably the best defender we have.”
Reavis’ offense also upped its game. A 70-second sequence produced a trio of throw-ins within 20 yards of the Lemont goal in the 26th minute. The third resulted in a Smycz 15-yard low shot saved by Lemont goalkeeper Michelle Nosal.
“I think overall we're getting better,” Reavis coach Konrad Dziedzic said. “It takes day by day learning the system. Overall, the fight is there, and the drive is there for the girls.
“I have to give my two center backs Jade Guzman and Alex Mendez credit, and my captain Jasmin Pascual. They all played very well today. They played tough and deserve all the praise they can get.”
While Lemont produced the final two good chances of the half (Ayala saves on Nina Pavlica and Knutte in the final five minutes), Prangen was less than enthralled by his team’s play after the two early scores.
“I wasn't overly pleased with the game in general,” he said. “I thought it was our sloppiest and least hard-working game I've seen this year. I really wasn't happy defensively. We were sloppy with way too many balls bouncing. I don't think we touched the ball in the air on a punt, and I thought we gave the ball away way too easily many times.
“Against a better side like Andrew who beat us (2-0 on Friday) you do that and you'll be defending all the time. This was not the game I was looking for after Friday. I expected a sharper effort from us. Score is irrelevant to me. I'm gauging it by what level we should be at, and today was a below average day for us.
“I don't think a single player was playing to their ability in the first half.”
Prangen made that point clear to his squad at halftime, and the results were quick.
Just 1:17 into the second half, a Pavlica cross to the front of the net resulted in a battle for the loose rebound. Perski won the battle and scored for a 3-0 lead.
Then from almost the same spot with 36:24 to go, Knutte’s initial cross was batted away by Ayala but rebounded into the net again by Perski.
“I think I finally hustled more in the second half and got more into it,” said Perski, echoing her coach’s halftime message.
“Honestly it's a lot more intimidating when she (the keeper) is taller,” Perski added about the battles in front. “But it worked out really well. Suzie had a great pass in.”
For Reavis, the two rebound finishes were deflating.
“It was unfortunate. A couple of mistakes early in the second half put us down 4-0,” Dziedzic said. “That's when the energy drained down, but after going down 2-nil in the first half we played well. We had some chances. We created some opportunities and were defensively solid. Then those first two goals in the second half really took the energy level down.”
Veronica Rimsky took over at goalkeeper for Reavis and made nice saves to deny Knutte (a 12-yard shot with 34:50 left), Paige Bingen (a stop on her knees of a 15-yard drive with 26 minutes to go) and Perski (15-yard shot with 17:40 remaining).
“Rimsky played well the last 30 minutes coming in,” Dziedzic said. “For us compared to last year where we were vs. teams like Lemont (a 7-0 loss), we are in the game more. It's just little mistakes, and they're putting those away. If we don't make those mistakes I think 2-0 or 3-0 could have been a fair score. But we’re getting better. It's just going to take some time.”
Reavis’ last quality chance came with 19:05 left, when a Smycz corner kick was deflected wide from 10 yards by Kuca running into the box.
“I personally felt like our team gave it our all,” Pascual said. “We got the loss, but we'll take this loss as a lesson and go from there.
“Obviously communication is a big thing we always need to learn. But the effort is always there. This team has shown a lot of improvement.”
While it was an up-and-down day of sorts for Lemont, Knutte’s pretty corner kick goal and the postgame celebration and picture taking to honor Prangen’s 400th win put a nice final upturn to the squad’s day.
“It's an honor to be part of his 400th win and see how much dedication he has,” junior Perski said, “and to be part of the future here.
“It's my first year on varsity so I'm definitely proud of where I'm at, but I think we need to keep improving and working well.”
The toast of the postgame party is painfully aware of that fact.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Prangen said. “We have Eisenhower and Lincoln-Way East this week. If we play like this there will be problems.
“There were OK moments today, but intermingled with poor decision-making and poor movement off the ball.”
That sort of quest for perfection has made Lemont a special program, and the players plan to keep rising to the occasion.
“The tradition is everything,” Knutte said. “It helps you get into it more and practice even harder.”
Starting lineups:
Lemont
GK Michelle Nosal
D Daria Koslosky
D Casey Kittridge
D Brianna Sanchez
D Nicole Bobcik
M Lenna Nabulsi
M Paige Bingen
M Ella Simpson
F Isabella Perski
F Suzie Knutte
F Nina Pavlica
Reavis
GK Jazmin Ayala
D Emily Chavez
D Alex Mendez
D Jade Guzman
D Naomi Rangel
M Jasmine Juache
M Jasmin Pascual
M Yamileth Torres
F Olivia Smycz
F Natalie Carriedo
F Erica Divizio
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Suzie Knutte, jr. F, Lemont
Scoring summary
First half
L- Ella Simpson (Suzie Knutte), 10’
L- Simpson (Knutte), 13’
Second half
L- Isabella Perski (Nina Pavlica), 42’
L- Perski (Knutte), 44’
L- Knutte (corner kick directly in), 69’