Naperville N. stymies Lake Park
Huskies clinch 3rd-straight finals berth with hard-fought 1-0 win
By Mike Garofola
HOFFMAN ESTATES -- Naperville North's mission is on course
Patrick Koenig's 94th minute penalty combined with yet another magnificent performance for the Huskies rear guard helped send North (25-0-0) through to the final in a nail-biting, late night finish against Lake Park on Friday night at Garber Stadium on the Hoffman Estates High School campus.
Jim Konrad's men now meet Libertyville in a clash of titans Saturday night with the hope of lifting a third-consecutive championship trophy.
"It was by no means an easy one tonight," said a relieved Konrad, who watched his club fight past a Lancers side which had hoped to put an end to the Huskies long win streak.
"Sean Crosby does an unbelievable job at Lake Park and (in) just his third year there he's build a terrific program, and one that was worthy of reaching the last weekend of the season," Konrad said.
"We never thought this would be an easy semifinal, and it wasn't tonight with the way both sides played and with how hard we had to work to advance."
The Huskies, top ranked all season in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 and ranked no. 2 nationally by Top Drawer Soccer, and their first-class opponent saw play begin nearly 2 1/2 hours after the scheduled 5 p.m. kickoff when both AA matches earlier went to sudden death penalty kicks.
Lake Park (21-4-3) came out fighting.
"We had a great start tonight, came out on our front foot," said Crosby, Lake Park's manager. "Even though we knew what to expect, I felt like the boys came ready to play to immediately show we belonged out there tonight."
Naperville North noticed.
"Lake Park came out so strong - put us on our heels from the opening whistle," Konrad said. "So it took us awhile to find ourselves in order to get into the game and start to play the way we knew and wanted to."
The Lancers perfectly balanced start produced the first scoring effort of the match at three minutes. Grayden McClellan fired his strike off keeper Tom Welch, who quickly recovered to fall on top of the ball which had spilled free just a few feet in front of him.
"Two years ago we lost to North (3-2) after taking a 2-0 lead against them," said Lancers center back Thomas Zakic, who turned in a marvelous performance for his club in his 100 minutes of work. "So we were eager to hopefully have a chance against them once again. We came out ready to go and looked forward to showing we belong out there with one of the best in the nation tonight."
Despite its bright start, the Lancers could have easily enjoyed a two-goal advantage before the quarter hour.
At the other end of the field, if not for the back post and an alert Victor Pawlik who took a ball off the Lancers line, it very well could have been a much easier night for the reigning state champions.
"Yeah, I kind of found the post a couple of times tonight," said Patrick Koenig with a wry smile. He shared Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors along with Lancers keeper Christian Lekki, who was brilliant throughout the night between the sticks for his side.
Koenig had a go twice at Lekki in the 8th minute. His first attempt found the back post and the second was saved by Lekki.
When the Lancers allowed a Ty Konrad freekick to fall into the six-yard box four minutes later, it was a Pawlik clearing effort that saved the day for his club.
The Huskies ability to create several dead-ball chances during the first 20 minutes helped them get a stronger hold on the proceedings, while testing the fortitude of the Lancers, who expected this kind of pressure beforehand.
"(It's) one of several things North does so well - they bring up their big guys like Colin Iverson and send great balls into the box,: Crosby said. "That's how they score a lot of goals, while also putting the type of pressure on you that sooner or later you break.
"But tonight, Lekki was just phenominal, and our backline led by Zakic was up to the challenge. As the game wore on, we got a real good handle of those types of chances they created, which really helped even out the game for us."
One area in which the Lancers had trouble during the first period was their inability to keep Ty Konrad under control up the flanks, a spot in the park were his mates would spring him free with inch-perfect balls from out of the back or quality service from just behind the midline from the Huskies midfielders.
"Yeah, we had a lot of success in finding Ty in the first half because we had a lot of the play, and controlled the middle really well," Jim Konrad said. "But in the second half their four midfielders really stepped up to make it difficult for us to do the things we did in the first."
The younger Konrad creates problems for the Huskies' opponents.
"Ty is so fast and has such great control when he's bursting up the side," said Crosby. "It's something we had to address. So with more of a work rate and more success in winning balls in the middle from Matteo (Costa), Franco (Presta) and Jesus (Juarez), we were able to do a better job of keeping Ty under wraps."
After Koenig curled his free kick over the upper left corner, and Zakic and Max Ellenbecker squeezed the life out of a promising run into the box by Koenig, the last 6-7 minutes of the first half saw the Lancers attack come to life to make for an interesting ending of the period.
Twice, Presta tricked his way free after zig-zagging left-right-left and finally to his right before calling Welch into action with his efforts on frame.
Presta broke free of two defenders and sent a sublime early chip towards Welch and the onrushing McClellan, but Welch read things very well and his run off the line ended the hopes of the Lancers moments before the intermission.
The Huskies enjoyed a much brighter start to the second half than its opponent, offering a dangerous threat almost immediately that Lake Park had to take heed of.
Lekki took a well-aimed free kick from Christian Romano off the head of Iverson near the spot, then saved a pair of efforts from Koenig, who now along with Ty Konrad were at the heart of the Huskies attacking storm.
"It was the type of start we wanted in the second half," said Ty Konrad. "We were close a couple of times. So we knew if we could find one in the second half, we could turn it over to our defense, and it might be enough to get the win."
Lekki continued his wonderful work for Crosbys' men. He stopped Ty Konrad, then watched his backline block a Huskies shot from in-close, before saving another Iverson attempt after a Ty Konrad free kick.
The Lancers did well to survive this 10-minute onslaught, then went about finding their dynamic duo in the middle, Presta and Costa, who they hoped would help their club hold onto the ball and get something going through the run of play.
Pawlik latched onto a nicely played ball from Juarez, and, on the turn, whipped a ball towards the back post, before Juarez created a half-chance from a looping free kick driven towards Welch.
Costa went wide twice, then Gabriel Mendrano forced Welch off his line to punch away his 24-yard free kick. Suddenly, it was the Lancers who became the constant threat and not North.
"(Lake Park) was able to match the 'edge' that we always bring in that second half, so we knew at that time we were in for a tough second half, and as it turned out, the two extra overtime periods," said Jim Konrad.
The first offsides flag on the evening came in the 68th minute when Zach Smith unleashed a wicked drive at Lekki, who saved but conceded a free ball inside the six-yard box. It was there Koenig was detected to be in an offsides position.
This sequence signaled the start of a wide-open final 12 minutes of regulation highlighted by each club creating a pair of free kicks, a handful of deep throws and shots on frame that each keeper covered with ease.
"I had a lot of confidence in my defense all night, and especially when it got closer to overtime, so I never worried about anything tonight," said Lekki, who on Tuesday night recorded his 12th clean-sheet of the season in the Lancers 1-0 victory over Streamwood that sent his club into the last weekend for just the second time in program history.
Once into the first 10-minute extra session, it was clear both sides would play it cagey -- looking instead to either unleash a surprise counter, or find something from a dead ball opportunity.
Neither scenario would come to pass. Instead, it would be Ty Konrad heading straight into the box on a threatening run and carry that would sent the Huskies faithful into orbit in anticipation and the Lancers fans howling their disapproval when the referee immediately blew his whistle and pointed to the spot.
Koenig, with Huskies fans still roaring at the top of their lungs, remained cool before driving his spot-kick past Lekki, who had no chance on eventual game-winner.
"It wasn't by design that. I missed those 2-3 chances earlier, but it wasn't going to happen again," said Koenig of his sixth goal of the season.
Lake Park's Pawlik whipped a ball into the box just afterwards that caused Welch and a teammate to collide. The ball spilled freely into the box, but the Huskies keeper quickly regained his composure to collect the 97th-minute threat.
Lake Park threw as many balls into the box in a frantic last minutes as it could: but Iverson, Romano, Barry and Cam Ferus would have none of it and closed out the Lancers for good at 100 minutes.
"Naperville has a great team, and a lot of great players, but we played great ourselves. Sometimes things just don't go your way," Zakic said.
Said Crosby: "I really couldn't ask for much more from the guys than they gave tonight.
"We fought the defending champs for 100 minutes, challenged ourselves to elevate our game to meet their game, and that's what we did.
"I'm not thrilled the outcome was decided in the fashion that it was, but that's not to take anything away from North and the way in which Jim's guys played. They're a tremendous team, and (we) could end up losing to the eventual state champions."
Lake Park will meet Collinsville (18-6-2) in the third-place game at 5 p.m. Saturday, while the Huskies, after a long sleep to rest their tired legs and minds, prepare for the rematch of the 2017 final with Libertyville.
"This is our third-straight time here at Hoffman Estates, so I really feel we're quite comfortable with being here and in these surroundings. We'll treat the final just as we did this one -- just another game," said Ty Konrad.
Not since Granite City's five-year dominance of the big trophy (1976-1980) and Gibault (2005-2007) has a club won three-straight. The Huskies take a 44-game win streak, and 21 clean-sheets into the 2018 final.
"This is what these guys have worked for from the very first day," said Jim Konrad. "I fully expect another big test from Libertyville, just as the one we had tonight with Lake Park."
Starting lineups
Lake Park (4-5-1)
G- Christian Lekki
D- Anthony Magner
D- Thomas Zakic
D- Max Ellenbecker
D- Victor Pawlik
M- Jesus Juarez
M- Gabriel Mendrano
M- Matteo Costa
M- Franco Presta
M- Paul Grzybowicz
F- Grayden McClellan
Naperville North (4-3-3)
G- Tom Welch
D- Myles Barry
D- Colin Iverson
D- Christian Romano
D- Cam Ferus
M- Nata Rojas
M- Cesar Recendez
M- Zach Smith
F- Patrick Koenig
F- Ty Konrad
F- Ali Khorfan
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match: Patrick Koenig, jr., F, Naperville North
Christian Lekki, sr. GK, Lake Park
Officials: John Anderson (referee); Paul Marconi (assistant); Hanah Shehaiber (assistant); Dave Kintz (4th)
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
No scoring
First overtime
No scoring
Second overtime
Naperville North: Konrad (PK), 94'
Huskies clinch 3rd-straight finals berth with hard-fought 1-0 win
By Mike Garofola
HOFFMAN ESTATES -- Naperville North's mission is on course
Patrick Koenig's 94th minute penalty combined with yet another magnificent performance for the Huskies rear guard helped send North (25-0-0) through to the final in a nail-biting, late night finish against Lake Park on Friday night at Garber Stadium on the Hoffman Estates High School campus.
Jim Konrad's men now meet Libertyville in a clash of titans Saturday night with the hope of lifting a third-consecutive championship trophy.
"It was by no means an easy one tonight," said a relieved Konrad, who watched his club fight past a Lancers side which had hoped to put an end to the Huskies long win streak.
"Sean Crosby does an unbelievable job at Lake Park and (in) just his third year there he's build a terrific program, and one that was worthy of reaching the last weekend of the season," Konrad said.
"We never thought this would be an easy semifinal, and it wasn't tonight with the way both sides played and with how hard we had to work to advance."
The Huskies, top ranked all season in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 and ranked no. 2 nationally by Top Drawer Soccer, and their first-class opponent saw play begin nearly 2 1/2 hours after the scheduled 5 p.m. kickoff when both AA matches earlier went to sudden death penalty kicks.
Lake Park (21-4-3) came out fighting.
"We had a great start tonight, came out on our front foot," said Crosby, Lake Park's manager. "Even though we knew what to expect, I felt like the boys came ready to play to immediately show we belonged out there tonight."
Naperville North noticed.
"Lake Park came out so strong - put us on our heels from the opening whistle," Konrad said. "So it took us awhile to find ourselves in order to get into the game and start to play the way we knew and wanted to."
The Lancers perfectly balanced start produced the first scoring effort of the match at three minutes. Grayden McClellan fired his strike off keeper Tom Welch, who quickly recovered to fall on top of the ball which had spilled free just a few feet in front of him.
"Two years ago we lost to North (3-2) after taking a 2-0 lead against them," said Lancers center back Thomas Zakic, who turned in a marvelous performance for his club in his 100 minutes of work. "So we were eager to hopefully have a chance against them once again. We came out ready to go and looked forward to showing we belong out there with one of the best in the nation tonight."
Despite its bright start, the Lancers could have easily enjoyed a two-goal advantage before the quarter hour.
At the other end of the field, if not for the back post and an alert Victor Pawlik who took a ball off the Lancers line, it very well could have been a much easier night for the reigning state champions.
"Yeah, I kind of found the post a couple of times tonight," said Patrick Koenig with a wry smile. He shared Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors along with Lancers keeper Christian Lekki, who was brilliant throughout the night between the sticks for his side.
Koenig had a go twice at Lekki in the 8th minute. His first attempt found the back post and the second was saved by Lekki.
When the Lancers allowed a Ty Konrad freekick to fall into the six-yard box four minutes later, it was a Pawlik clearing effort that saved the day for his club.
The Huskies ability to create several dead-ball chances during the first 20 minutes helped them get a stronger hold on the proceedings, while testing the fortitude of the Lancers, who expected this kind of pressure beforehand.
"(It's) one of several things North does so well - they bring up their big guys like Colin Iverson and send great balls into the box,: Crosby said. "That's how they score a lot of goals, while also putting the type of pressure on you that sooner or later you break.
"But tonight, Lekki was just phenominal, and our backline led by Zakic was up to the challenge. As the game wore on, we got a real good handle of those types of chances they created, which really helped even out the game for us."
One area in which the Lancers had trouble during the first period was their inability to keep Ty Konrad under control up the flanks, a spot in the park were his mates would spring him free with inch-perfect balls from out of the back or quality service from just behind the midline from the Huskies midfielders.
"Yeah, we had a lot of success in finding Ty in the first half because we had a lot of the play, and controlled the middle really well," Jim Konrad said. "But in the second half their four midfielders really stepped up to make it difficult for us to do the things we did in the first."
The younger Konrad creates problems for the Huskies' opponents.
"Ty is so fast and has such great control when he's bursting up the side," said Crosby. "It's something we had to address. So with more of a work rate and more success in winning balls in the middle from Matteo (Costa), Franco (Presta) and Jesus (Juarez), we were able to do a better job of keeping Ty under wraps."
After Koenig curled his free kick over the upper left corner, and Zakic and Max Ellenbecker squeezed the life out of a promising run into the box by Koenig, the last 6-7 minutes of the first half saw the Lancers attack come to life to make for an interesting ending of the period.
Twice, Presta tricked his way free after zig-zagging left-right-left and finally to his right before calling Welch into action with his efforts on frame.
Presta broke free of two defenders and sent a sublime early chip towards Welch and the onrushing McClellan, but Welch read things very well and his run off the line ended the hopes of the Lancers moments before the intermission.
The Huskies enjoyed a much brighter start to the second half than its opponent, offering a dangerous threat almost immediately that Lake Park had to take heed of.
Lekki took a well-aimed free kick from Christian Romano off the head of Iverson near the spot, then saved a pair of efforts from Koenig, who now along with Ty Konrad were at the heart of the Huskies attacking storm.
"It was the type of start we wanted in the second half," said Ty Konrad. "We were close a couple of times. So we knew if we could find one in the second half, we could turn it over to our defense, and it might be enough to get the win."
Lekki continued his wonderful work for Crosbys' men. He stopped Ty Konrad, then watched his backline block a Huskies shot from in-close, before saving another Iverson attempt after a Ty Konrad free kick.
The Lancers did well to survive this 10-minute onslaught, then went about finding their dynamic duo in the middle, Presta and Costa, who they hoped would help their club hold onto the ball and get something going through the run of play.
Pawlik latched onto a nicely played ball from Juarez, and, on the turn, whipped a ball towards the back post, before Juarez created a half-chance from a looping free kick driven towards Welch.
Costa went wide twice, then Gabriel Mendrano forced Welch off his line to punch away his 24-yard free kick. Suddenly, it was the Lancers who became the constant threat and not North.
"(Lake Park) was able to match the 'edge' that we always bring in that second half, so we knew at that time we were in for a tough second half, and as it turned out, the two extra overtime periods," said Jim Konrad.
The first offsides flag on the evening came in the 68th minute when Zach Smith unleashed a wicked drive at Lekki, who saved but conceded a free ball inside the six-yard box. It was there Koenig was detected to be in an offsides position.
This sequence signaled the start of a wide-open final 12 minutes of regulation highlighted by each club creating a pair of free kicks, a handful of deep throws and shots on frame that each keeper covered with ease.
"I had a lot of confidence in my defense all night, and especially when it got closer to overtime, so I never worried about anything tonight," said Lekki, who on Tuesday night recorded his 12th clean-sheet of the season in the Lancers 1-0 victory over Streamwood that sent his club into the last weekend for just the second time in program history.
Once into the first 10-minute extra session, it was clear both sides would play it cagey -- looking instead to either unleash a surprise counter, or find something from a dead ball opportunity.
Neither scenario would come to pass. Instead, it would be Ty Konrad heading straight into the box on a threatening run and carry that would sent the Huskies faithful into orbit in anticipation and the Lancers fans howling their disapproval when the referee immediately blew his whistle and pointed to the spot.
Koenig, with Huskies fans still roaring at the top of their lungs, remained cool before driving his spot-kick past Lekki, who had no chance on eventual game-winner.
"It wasn't by design that. I missed those 2-3 chances earlier, but it wasn't going to happen again," said Koenig of his sixth goal of the season.
Lake Park's Pawlik whipped a ball into the box just afterwards that caused Welch and a teammate to collide. The ball spilled freely into the box, but the Huskies keeper quickly regained his composure to collect the 97th-minute threat.
Lake Park threw as many balls into the box in a frantic last minutes as it could: but Iverson, Romano, Barry and Cam Ferus would have none of it and closed out the Lancers for good at 100 minutes.
"Naperville has a great team, and a lot of great players, but we played great ourselves. Sometimes things just don't go your way," Zakic said.
Said Crosby: "I really couldn't ask for much more from the guys than they gave tonight.
"We fought the defending champs for 100 minutes, challenged ourselves to elevate our game to meet their game, and that's what we did.
"I'm not thrilled the outcome was decided in the fashion that it was, but that's not to take anything away from North and the way in which Jim's guys played. They're a tremendous team, and (we) could end up losing to the eventual state champions."
Lake Park will meet Collinsville (18-6-2) in the third-place game at 5 p.m. Saturday, while the Huskies, after a long sleep to rest their tired legs and minds, prepare for the rematch of the 2017 final with Libertyville.
"This is our third-straight time here at Hoffman Estates, so I really feel we're quite comfortable with being here and in these surroundings. We'll treat the final just as we did this one -- just another game," said Ty Konrad.
Not since Granite City's five-year dominance of the big trophy (1976-1980) and Gibault (2005-2007) has a club won three-straight. The Huskies take a 44-game win streak, and 21 clean-sheets into the 2018 final.
"This is what these guys have worked for from the very first day," said Jim Konrad. "I fully expect another big test from Libertyville, just as the one we had tonight with Lake Park."
Starting lineups
Lake Park (4-5-1)
G- Christian Lekki
D- Anthony Magner
D- Thomas Zakic
D- Max Ellenbecker
D- Victor Pawlik
M- Jesus Juarez
M- Gabriel Mendrano
M- Matteo Costa
M- Franco Presta
M- Paul Grzybowicz
F- Grayden McClellan
Naperville North (4-3-3)
G- Tom Welch
D- Myles Barry
D- Colin Iverson
D- Christian Romano
D- Cam Ferus
M- Nata Rojas
M- Cesar Recendez
M- Zach Smith
F- Patrick Koenig
F- Ty Konrad
F- Ali Khorfan
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match: Patrick Koenig, jr., F, Naperville North
Christian Lekki, sr. GK, Lake Park
Officials: John Anderson (referee); Paul Marconi (assistant); Hanah Shehaiber (assistant); Dave Kintz (4th)
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
No scoring
First overtime
No scoring
Second overtime
Naperville North: Konrad (PK), 94'