Lemont can't solve Lockport
Suffers 1st loss of season in 2-0 defeat to ranked Porters
By Steve Millar
BURBANK – It’s not often a team returns its entire starting lineup, but Lemont has that luxury this season with all 11 starters from the spring season back along with a bevy of freshmen.
It was an encouraging first week for Lemont, which made a nice run to the Windy City Ram Classic quarterfinals.
However, a talented Lockport team, which is trying to defend its tournament championship from 2019 – the event was not held last season due to the pandemic, had too much Saturday.
Forward Danny Kajtezovic scored twice and the Porters, ranked no. 38 in the Chicagoland Soccer First 50 state-wide poll, topped Lemont 2-0 in the quarterfinals at Reavis.
“We gifted them a goal,” Lemont coach Rick Prangen said. “We made a mistake in the back and went down 1-0. High school soccer, if you go down 1-0 against a good side, you’re behind the eight ball.
“But we got through the first half down just 1-0. In the second half, we started getting into the game more. We created some set pieces where we were dangerous. We just missed on a couple of them. I think we wore down a little bit maybe at the end of the game.”
Kajtezovic took advantage of the error from Lemont (2-1-0) in the eighth minute. The senior was left unmarked and settled at the near post as Dominic Williams made a run down the sideline. Williams’ cross found Kajtezovic for an easy finish.
“Dom was going down the line and made a good run,” Kajtezovic said. “I saw the opening on the front post. I knew he was going to cross it. That’s a play we always practice. I had a tap-in goal. That was good to start it off. We got them a little nervous.”
Kajtezovic, Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match, said it was good for the Porters to earn a victory on a day he felt they didn’t play their best.
“We weren’t taking the ball that great,” he said. “This is one of the worst games we’ve played, but it’s still good to get the 2-0 win.
“We’re reigning champions. I wasn’t here for the first one, but we’re here to win it. Everyone wants to beat us, and we’re the team to beat.”
Lemont did not have a shot on goal against a relentless Lockport defense, led by the backline of Gabe Czako, Ryan Pavelka and Tyler Malczewski.
The Porters have not allowed a goal this season.
Lemont, though, was able to generate more offense in the second half.
In the 38th minute of the 70-minute game, Will Harris made a nice run down the left side and played a pass to Franco Calcagno at the top of the box. Calcagno’s shot was blocked.
Three minutes later, freshman Tyler Chrisman sent a dangerous corner kick into the box that Calcagno headed wide.
Lemont had a couple more chances on set pieces but could not create a good look at the goal.
Calcagno, Harris and Lukas Rabianski tried to spark the Lemont attack.
“I like that we didn’t collapse when it was 1-0, and we were pushing,” Prangen said. “We were actually on the front foot for the first 10 or 15 minutes of the second half, so I was OK with that. From a learning standpoint, I couldn’t be happier.”
Chrisman, a freshman, has impressed Prangen. Lemont played five other first-year players Saturday as the coach utilized a large bench on the hot day.
“We played a lot of guys today,” Prangen said. “We played some young guys. We had six freshmen playing to see what they could do. I think all of them handled themselves well.
“There were some moments where we lost some physical battles, but as a whole, I thought they all looked comfortable and confident. I’m really happy with that. That gives us greater depth and greater confidence to put more guys in.”
Chrisman has enjoyed the experience of starting as a freshman.
“It’s been fun,” he said. “I’ve been bonding with my teammates. We’ve been playing pretty well, creating our attack and playing physical. It’s been pretty good.”
Lockport got an insurance goal with 11:54 left in the game when Makonnen Stampley rushed down the right side of the field and played a cross to Kajtezovic, who buried a hard shot to make it 2-0.
“Danny is really stepping up this season,” Lockport coach Chris Beal said. “We give our forwards targets to reach. How many crosses can you get in? How many shots on goal can you have? How many goals can you score? If you put in assists or you’re scoring goals, you can’t argue with that. He’s doing both.”
Beal trusts his defense in every game.
“When you’ve got someone like Ryan Pavelka back there, he does so much to slow teams down,” he said. “Our whole backline has been really showing up. They’re a really fast, attacking, athletic backline. They’re hard to get through.”
Lemont will practice until it’s Sept. 4 game at Hinsdale South.
Chrisman said his team just needs to make simple adjustments.
“We have to play hard in the midfield and make sure we get more balls forward,” he said. “We want to get those balls to the bigger kids in front.”
Lemont opened the season with a 5-0 win over Providence in a weather-shortened game before earning a big 3-2 overtime win over South Suburban Conference Blue Division foe Bremen.
The Braves (2-1-0) have an upset win over no. 14 St. Laurence on their resume, so Prangen knew how big that victory was.
“I like what we have,” he said. “I think we have a nice mix of experience and younger guys. It’s still early, and I’m fine with how we’ve started the year. We’ve got a week of training now and we’ll have Hinsdale South next Saturday, so that’s great.”
Saturday’s game reinforced Prangen’s belief that his team can hang with good opponents.
“I think as long as they come together and support one another and work hard, I think this team could be a competitive team,” he said. “Now, how far we go and how much we win, there are a lot of factors there. But are we going to be a competitive side? I think so.
“Even this game, while I think Lockport had the run of play for the majority of the game, I don’t think we were outclassed. I think we worked our way into the game in the second half. I’m happy with that.”
Starting lineups
Lemont
GK: Amir Biba
D: Aidan Ontiveros
D: Peter Borzecki
D: Lukasz Otreba
D: Lucas Urban
MF: Tyler Chrisman
MF: Marek Skotnicki
MF: Adam Hornik
MF: Will Harris
F: Lukas Rabiauski
F: Franco Calcagno
Lockport
GK: Pat Marshall
D: Gabe Czako
D: Ryan Pavelka
D: Tyler Malczewski
MF: Adam Doyle
MF: Nathan Blazewski
MF: Danny Jimenez
MF: Dominic Williams
MF: Sean Flannery
F: Danny Kajtezovic
F: Makonnen Stampley
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Danny Kajtezovic, sr., F, Lockport
Scoring summary
First half
Lockport – Kajtezovic (Williams), 8th minute
Second half
Lockport – Kajtezovic (Stampley), 49th minute
Suffers 1st loss of season in 2-0 defeat to ranked Porters
By Steve Millar
BURBANK – It’s not often a team returns its entire starting lineup, but Lemont has that luxury this season with all 11 starters from the spring season back along with a bevy of freshmen.
It was an encouraging first week for Lemont, which made a nice run to the Windy City Ram Classic quarterfinals.
However, a talented Lockport team, which is trying to defend its tournament championship from 2019 – the event was not held last season due to the pandemic, had too much Saturday.
Forward Danny Kajtezovic scored twice and the Porters, ranked no. 38 in the Chicagoland Soccer First 50 state-wide poll, topped Lemont 2-0 in the quarterfinals at Reavis.
“We gifted them a goal,” Lemont coach Rick Prangen said. “We made a mistake in the back and went down 1-0. High school soccer, if you go down 1-0 against a good side, you’re behind the eight ball.
“But we got through the first half down just 1-0. In the second half, we started getting into the game more. We created some set pieces where we were dangerous. We just missed on a couple of them. I think we wore down a little bit maybe at the end of the game.”
Kajtezovic took advantage of the error from Lemont (2-1-0) in the eighth minute. The senior was left unmarked and settled at the near post as Dominic Williams made a run down the sideline. Williams’ cross found Kajtezovic for an easy finish.
“Dom was going down the line and made a good run,” Kajtezovic said. “I saw the opening on the front post. I knew he was going to cross it. That’s a play we always practice. I had a tap-in goal. That was good to start it off. We got them a little nervous.”
Kajtezovic, Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match, said it was good for the Porters to earn a victory on a day he felt they didn’t play their best.
“We weren’t taking the ball that great,” he said. “This is one of the worst games we’ve played, but it’s still good to get the 2-0 win.
“We’re reigning champions. I wasn’t here for the first one, but we’re here to win it. Everyone wants to beat us, and we’re the team to beat.”
Lemont did not have a shot on goal against a relentless Lockport defense, led by the backline of Gabe Czako, Ryan Pavelka and Tyler Malczewski.
The Porters have not allowed a goal this season.
Lemont, though, was able to generate more offense in the second half.
In the 38th minute of the 70-minute game, Will Harris made a nice run down the left side and played a pass to Franco Calcagno at the top of the box. Calcagno’s shot was blocked.
Three minutes later, freshman Tyler Chrisman sent a dangerous corner kick into the box that Calcagno headed wide.
Lemont had a couple more chances on set pieces but could not create a good look at the goal.
Calcagno, Harris and Lukas Rabianski tried to spark the Lemont attack.
“I like that we didn’t collapse when it was 1-0, and we were pushing,” Prangen said. “We were actually on the front foot for the first 10 or 15 minutes of the second half, so I was OK with that. From a learning standpoint, I couldn’t be happier.”
Chrisman, a freshman, has impressed Prangen. Lemont played five other first-year players Saturday as the coach utilized a large bench on the hot day.
“We played a lot of guys today,” Prangen said. “We played some young guys. We had six freshmen playing to see what they could do. I think all of them handled themselves well.
“There were some moments where we lost some physical battles, but as a whole, I thought they all looked comfortable and confident. I’m really happy with that. That gives us greater depth and greater confidence to put more guys in.”
Chrisman has enjoyed the experience of starting as a freshman.
“It’s been fun,” he said. “I’ve been bonding with my teammates. We’ve been playing pretty well, creating our attack and playing physical. It’s been pretty good.”
Lockport got an insurance goal with 11:54 left in the game when Makonnen Stampley rushed down the right side of the field and played a cross to Kajtezovic, who buried a hard shot to make it 2-0.
“Danny is really stepping up this season,” Lockport coach Chris Beal said. “We give our forwards targets to reach. How many crosses can you get in? How many shots on goal can you have? How many goals can you score? If you put in assists or you’re scoring goals, you can’t argue with that. He’s doing both.”
Beal trusts his defense in every game.
“When you’ve got someone like Ryan Pavelka back there, he does so much to slow teams down,” he said. “Our whole backline has been really showing up. They’re a really fast, attacking, athletic backline. They’re hard to get through.”
Lemont will practice until it’s Sept. 4 game at Hinsdale South.
Chrisman said his team just needs to make simple adjustments.
“We have to play hard in the midfield and make sure we get more balls forward,” he said. “We want to get those balls to the bigger kids in front.”
Lemont opened the season with a 5-0 win over Providence in a weather-shortened game before earning a big 3-2 overtime win over South Suburban Conference Blue Division foe Bremen.
The Braves (2-1-0) have an upset win over no. 14 St. Laurence on their resume, so Prangen knew how big that victory was.
“I like what we have,” he said. “I think we have a nice mix of experience and younger guys. It’s still early, and I’m fine with how we’ve started the year. We’ve got a week of training now and we’ll have Hinsdale South next Saturday, so that’s great.”
Saturday’s game reinforced Prangen’s belief that his team can hang with good opponents.
“I think as long as they come together and support one another and work hard, I think this team could be a competitive team,” he said. “Now, how far we go and how much we win, there are a lot of factors there. But are we going to be a competitive side? I think so.
“Even this game, while I think Lockport had the run of play for the majority of the game, I don’t think we were outclassed. I think we worked our way into the game in the second half. I’m happy with that.”
Starting lineups
Lemont
GK: Amir Biba
D: Aidan Ontiveros
D: Peter Borzecki
D: Lukasz Otreba
D: Lucas Urban
MF: Tyler Chrisman
MF: Marek Skotnicki
MF: Adam Hornik
MF: Will Harris
F: Lukas Rabiauski
F: Franco Calcagno
Lockport
GK: Pat Marshall
D: Gabe Czako
D: Ryan Pavelka
D: Tyler Malczewski
MF: Adam Doyle
MF: Nathan Blazewski
MF: Danny Jimenez
MF: Dominic Williams
MF: Sean Flannery
F: Danny Kajtezovic
F: Makonnen Stampley
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Danny Kajtezovic, sr., F, Lockport
Scoring summary
First half
Lockport – Kajtezovic (Williams), 8th minute
Second half
Lockport – Kajtezovic (Stampley), 49th minute