Heroic Prokos lifts Maine S. over Metea V.
Goalkeeper makes key stops in shootout victory
By Chris Walker
ST. CHARLES – Athletes dream of being the hero.
They fantasize about digging into the batter’s box with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and hitting the walk off grand slam.
They dream about draining the fadeaway three-pointer to win a basketball championship game and being swallowed by their teammates and fans who storm the court.
They picture themselves as a taller version of Doug Flutie from 35 years ago, scrambling and then heaving a Hail Mary pass to win a football game and being walloped by a tidal wave from the Gatorade cooler that their teammates dump on them.
Maine South junior goalkeeper Tommy Prokos had his own heroic moment during Monday afternoon’s St. Charles Invitational game against Metea Valley. Prokos did not start, but took over in net for Luke Lorenc in the second half and remained there for the shootout.
Prokos denied Metea Valley junior Mark Thurow’s PK shootout attempt, which ended the five-round penalty kick session at 3-2 after a 1-1 regulation tie and lifted the Hawks to a thrilling victory.
“It’s your chance to become a hero and you have your teammates there by your side and whatever happens, you know you’ve tried your best,” Prokos said. “And PKs are a hard thing to (stop), but once you actually do it, it’s a great feeling.”
Prokos was named Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match for his clutch performance.
It’s not uncommon for a team not to participate in a shootout until their season is on the line in a regional. If anything for Metea Valley, at least they’ve now experienced one, albeit early in the season, that can go toward their preparation for the postseason. But, at the same time, the Mustangs still need to figure out who they’re go-to guys are for PKs, while trying to erase bad memories from last season as well.
Last year, the Mustangs season came to an abrupt end in the Class 3A Plainfield North regional championship game when they lost the PK shootout 3-0 against Oswego.
“We asked the kids who want to take one to step up and we’re proud of those eight guys who wanted to take one,” Mustangs coach Josh Robinsons said. “At this point of the year we’re asking the kids where they stand confidence-wise and what they want to do and go from there. But we’ll reassess this when we get later in the year for who’d we want there and make some decisions on who should or shouldn’t take them. And two of the guys that would’ve taken them were sitting on the bench with crutches and head injuries so that hurts too as we try to figure that out.”
Maine South had the first attempt in the shootout but senior captain Sam McGinnis was denied by Metea Valley goalkeeper Gandhi Cruz.
“The guys saved us, especially Prokos,” McGinnis said. “I’m really proud of these guys. This is the second time we’ve come from down 1-0 and tied it and then this one we come back and win it. I’m really happy with what we’ve been able to do.”
The Mustangs also missed their first attempt, but Maine South senior Giuliano Corazzina and Metea Valley senior Abraham Antar both converted their attempts to knot the squads at 1-1 entering the third round.
Senior Charlie Ryan then put the Hawks ahead 2-1, and it remained that way going into the fourth round after Prokos stopped Metea Valley sophomore Colin Bastianoni’s try.
Maine South then took a 3-1 advantage when senior Weston Bukar delivered, but the Mustangs stayed within 3-2 after junior Max Krehl was successful with his shot.
Needing a big-time stop to keep the Mustangs alive, Cruz actually ended up only having to watch as Maine South senior Konrad Kutrzuba skied his chance, keeping Metea Valley’s hopes alive.
The Mustangs needed to bury their final opportunity to send the game to an additional shooters, but Prokos made his biggest save of the game to win it.
“I wanted to end the game right there,” he said. “I wanted to become the hero for my team and put us in a good place in the tournament.”
But, if you’re wondering how he did it, you’re going to wonder for a long time as Prokos’ lips are sealed when it comes to the details of how he approached that final play.
“I can’t give away that secret,” he said with a smile.
And there certainly was a lot of smiling not just from Prokos, but from all the Hawks as they earned a big victory and remained unbeaten on the seson at 2-0-1. Earlier they beat Schaumburg and tied Sandburg.
“(Metea Valley) is good squad and solid around the park,” Hawks Eagles coach Dan States said. “On a Monday, a tough, hot day, I don’t think either team played to their full potential today because of some of those things. But our guys showed good poise and stayed focused, and we talked about that at halftime.”
The game was eerily similar to Maine South’s 1-1 tie against Sandburg on Aug. 28.
“It was the same circumstance as with Sandburg the other night,” States said. “We gave up a goal that we probably should not have given up so we had to take care of business, and we did.
“We had some chances earlier in both halves and couldn’t put them home and then Metea was pushing us, and they had some opportunities too. Frankly there were a couple times where we were fortunate for a lack of a finish. Our guys hung in there, but just were not effective in the final third to punch in a second goal. But we were good enough to get into the shootout.”
Creating scoring chances wasn’t nearly as big as a problem for the Metea Valley as finishing them was.
“I think we played a good game but again we’re running into the same thing we ran into in the first game,” Robinson said. “We hit the post twice during the game, and we had three or four breakaways. When it comes down to it, defensively, we played strong. We’re moving the ball well and out-possessing teams. We’re doing some really creative and dynamic things, which is awesome, but it just comes down to putting the ball in the net. Hopefully these kids can maintain some confidence in themselves to put it away.”
The Mustangs (0-1-2) remains winless against a tough schedule and have just two goals but a finish here or there and they easily could be undefeated. Keeping positive will be key.
“Obviously they’re young adults, and we keep telling them to be positive,” Robinson said. “But it’s one of those things where the longer you go, the more they are going to put pressure on themselves. We had a ton of opportunities, but we just were not finishing. We talked a little bit more about personal responsibilities, individual responsibilities on kids to go and bury and finish off chances to put the game away. And we could’ve been up by two or three in the first half and then maybe the second half isn’t what it is.”
Despite the loss, Thurow said the Mustangs remain positive because they’re doing a lot of things correctly, and they have faith that if they continue to do them their luck will change.
“We’re working hard and playing well as a team,” he said. “I think our defense is doing well in not letting in too many goals, and we just need to keep on working on our finishing when it comes to the final third. When we get the balls in, we’ve got to have guys crashing in to finish those opportunities.”
The Mustangs are only three games into the season and the calendar just turned over to September.
“We’ve had some guys graduate form last year so there are some new guys, including myself, who are working hard to fill those roles that guys from last year had,” Thurow said. “We need to keep on working hard.”
Metea Valley scored first as senior midfielder Joey Donovan took a ball that came all the way from goalkeeper Gandhi Cruz and found the back of the net at the 21:17 mark of the first half.
Maine South wasted little time coming out of halftime with the equalizer from junior forward John Cronnolly.
“I played it outside and saw (Luciano Cale) was going to cut the ball back, so I just stopped my run,” Cronnolly said. “I saw that the top right corner was open so I put it there.”
According to Cronnolly, the Hawks saw more opportunities as the game progressed.
“We moved the ball pretty well and got out wide a lot more in the second half,” he said. “We got a lot more crosses in and opportunities to score. I don’t think they had as many opportunities as we did in the second half.”
Things don’t get any easier for Metea Valley -- the Mustangs meet undefeated St. Charles East on Wednesday. Maine South will takes on Plainfield Central, a 6-1 loser to the Saints on Monday, on Wednesday as well.
The tournament rules award two points to Maine South for the PK win while Metea Valley received a single point for the PK loss. Teams winning straight-up in regulation receive three ponts while teams who lose in regulation are not awarded any points.
Last year’s champion, Elgin, lost its tournament opener 2-0 to St. Charles North on Monday morning.
Starting lineups
Maine South
GK Luke Lorenc
D Milosz Dykiel
D Konrad Kutrzuba
D Charlie Ran
D Matt Skorupa
MF Sam McGinnis
MF Weston Bukar
MF Peter Bahu
F Luciano Cale
F John Cronnolly
F Giuliano Corazzina
Metea Valley
GK Gandhi Cruz
D Matthew Dovalovsky
D Jusin Hines
D Tyler Kero
D Clarke Simonich
MF Abrahama Antar
MF Colin Bastianoni
MF Joey Donovan
MF Davis Quarles
MF Nick Sanchez
F Alex Krehl
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Tommy Prokos, jr., GK, Maine South
Scoring summary
Maine South 2, Metea Valley 1 (MS wins PKs 3-2)
Maine South 0 1 - 1
Metea Valley 1 0 - 1
First half
Metea Valley – Joey Donovan (Gandhi Cruz) 21:17
Second half
John Cronnolly (Luciano Cale) 34:53
Goalkeeper makes key stops in shootout victory
By Chris Walker
ST. CHARLES – Athletes dream of being the hero.
They fantasize about digging into the batter’s box with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and hitting the walk off grand slam.
They dream about draining the fadeaway three-pointer to win a basketball championship game and being swallowed by their teammates and fans who storm the court.
They picture themselves as a taller version of Doug Flutie from 35 years ago, scrambling and then heaving a Hail Mary pass to win a football game and being walloped by a tidal wave from the Gatorade cooler that their teammates dump on them.
Maine South junior goalkeeper Tommy Prokos had his own heroic moment during Monday afternoon’s St. Charles Invitational game against Metea Valley. Prokos did not start, but took over in net for Luke Lorenc in the second half and remained there for the shootout.
Prokos denied Metea Valley junior Mark Thurow’s PK shootout attempt, which ended the five-round penalty kick session at 3-2 after a 1-1 regulation tie and lifted the Hawks to a thrilling victory.
“It’s your chance to become a hero and you have your teammates there by your side and whatever happens, you know you’ve tried your best,” Prokos said. “And PKs are a hard thing to (stop), but once you actually do it, it’s a great feeling.”
Prokos was named Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match for his clutch performance.
It’s not uncommon for a team not to participate in a shootout until their season is on the line in a regional. If anything for Metea Valley, at least they’ve now experienced one, albeit early in the season, that can go toward their preparation for the postseason. But, at the same time, the Mustangs still need to figure out who they’re go-to guys are for PKs, while trying to erase bad memories from last season as well.
Last year, the Mustangs season came to an abrupt end in the Class 3A Plainfield North regional championship game when they lost the PK shootout 3-0 against Oswego.
“We asked the kids who want to take one to step up and we’re proud of those eight guys who wanted to take one,” Mustangs coach Josh Robinsons said. “At this point of the year we’re asking the kids where they stand confidence-wise and what they want to do and go from there. But we’ll reassess this when we get later in the year for who’d we want there and make some decisions on who should or shouldn’t take them. And two of the guys that would’ve taken them were sitting on the bench with crutches and head injuries so that hurts too as we try to figure that out.”
Maine South had the first attempt in the shootout but senior captain Sam McGinnis was denied by Metea Valley goalkeeper Gandhi Cruz.
“The guys saved us, especially Prokos,” McGinnis said. “I’m really proud of these guys. This is the second time we’ve come from down 1-0 and tied it and then this one we come back and win it. I’m really happy with what we’ve been able to do.”
The Mustangs also missed their first attempt, but Maine South senior Giuliano Corazzina and Metea Valley senior Abraham Antar both converted their attempts to knot the squads at 1-1 entering the third round.
Senior Charlie Ryan then put the Hawks ahead 2-1, and it remained that way going into the fourth round after Prokos stopped Metea Valley sophomore Colin Bastianoni’s try.
Maine South then took a 3-1 advantage when senior Weston Bukar delivered, but the Mustangs stayed within 3-2 after junior Max Krehl was successful with his shot.
Needing a big-time stop to keep the Mustangs alive, Cruz actually ended up only having to watch as Maine South senior Konrad Kutrzuba skied his chance, keeping Metea Valley’s hopes alive.
The Mustangs needed to bury their final opportunity to send the game to an additional shooters, but Prokos made his biggest save of the game to win it.
“I wanted to end the game right there,” he said. “I wanted to become the hero for my team and put us in a good place in the tournament.”
But, if you’re wondering how he did it, you’re going to wonder for a long time as Prokos’ lips are sealed when it comes to the details of how he approached that final play.
“I can’t give away that secret,” he said with a smile.
And there certainly was a lot of smiling not just from Prokos, but from all the Hawks as they earned a big victory and remained unbeaten on the seson at 2-0-1. Earlier they beat Schaumburg and tied Sandburg.
“(Metea Valley) is good squad and solid around the park,” Hawks Eagles coach Dan States said. “On a Monday, a tough, hot day, I don’t think either team played to their full potential today because of some of those things. But our guys showed good poise and stayed focused, and we talked about that at halftime.”
The game was eerily similar to Maine South’s 1-1 tie against Sandburg on Aug. 28.
“It was the same circumstance as with Sandburg the other night,” States said. “We gave up a goal that we probably should not have given up so we had to take care of business, and we did.
“We had some chances earlier in both halves and couldn’t put them home and then Metea was pushing us, and they had some opportunities too. Frankly there were a couple times where we were fortunate for a lack of a finish. Our guys hung in there, but just were not effective in the final third to punch in a second goal. But we were good enough to get into the shootout.”
Creating scoring chances wasn’t nearly as big as a problem for the Metea Valley as finishing them was.
“I think we played a good game but again we’re running into the same thing we ran into in the first game,” Robinson said. “We hit the post twice during the game, and we had three or four breakaways. When it comes down to it, defensively, we played strong. We’re moving the ball well and out-possessing teams. We’re doing some really creative and dynamic things, which is awesome, but it just comes down to putting the ball in the net. Hopefully these kids can maintain some confidence in themselves to put it away.”
The Mustangs (0-1-2) remains winless against a tough schedule and have just two goals but a finish here or there and they easily could be undefeated. Keeping positive will be key.
“Obviously they’re young adults, and we keep telling them to be positive,” Robinson said. “But it’s one of those things where the longer you go, the more they are going to put pressure on themselves. We had a ton of opportunities, but we just were not finishing. We talked a little bit more about personal responsibilities, individual responsibilities on kids to go and bury and finish off chances to put the game away. And we could’ve been up by two or three in the first half and then maybe the second half isn’t what it is.”
Despite the loss, Thurow said the Mustangs remain positive because they’re doing a lot of things correctly, and they have faith that if they continue to do them their luck will change.
“We’re working hard and playing well as a team,” he said. “I think our defense is doing well in not letting in too many goals, and we just need to keep on working on our finishing when it comes to the final third. When we get the balls in, we’ve got to have guys crashing in to finish those opportunities.”
The Mustangs are only three games into the season and the calendar just turned over to September.
“We’ve had some guys graduate form last year so there are some new guys, including myself, who are working hard to fill those roles that guys from last year had,” Thurow said. “We need to keep on working hard.”
Metea Valley scored first as senior midfielder Joey Donovan took a ball that came all the way from goalkeeper Gandhi Cruz and found the back of the net at the 21:17 mark of the first half.
Maine South wasted little time coming out of halftime with the equalizer from junior forward John Cronnolly.
“I played it outside and saw (Luciano Cale) was going to cut the ball back, so I just stopped my run,” Cronnolly said. “I saw that the top right corner was open so I put it there.”
According to Cronnolly, the Hawks saw more opportunities as the game progressed.
“We moved the ball pretty well and got out wide a lot more in the second half,” he said. “We got a lot more crosses in and opportunities to score. I don’t think they had as many opportunities as we did in the second half.”
Things don’t get any easier for Metea Valley -- the Mustangs meet undefeated St. Charles East on Wednesday. Maine South will takes on Plainfield Central, a 6-1 loser to the Saints on Monday, on Wednesday as well.
The tournament rules award two points to Maine South for the PK win while Metea Valley received a single point for the PK loss. Teams winning straight-up in regulation receive three ponts while teams who lose in regulation are not awarded any points.
Last year’s champion, Elgin, lost its tournament opener 2-0 to St. Charles North on Monday morning.
Starting lineups
Maine South
GK Luke Lorenc
D Milosz Dykiel
D Konrad Kutrzuba
D Charlie Ran
D Matt Skorupa
MF Sam McGinnis
MF Weston Bukar
MF Peter Bahu
F Luciano Cale
F John Cronnolly
F Giuliano Corazzina
Metea Valley
GK Gandhi Cruz
D Matthew Dovalovsky
D Jusin Hines
D Tyler Kero
D Clarke Simonich
MF Abrahama Antar
MF Colin Bastianoni
MF Joey Donovan
MF Davis Quarles
MF Nick Sanchez
F Alex Krehl
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Tommy Prokos, jr., GK, Maine South
Scoring summary
Maine South 2, Metea Valley 1 (MS wins PKs 3-2)
Maine South 0 1 - 1
Metea Valley 1 0 - 1
First half
Metea Valley – Joey Donovan (Gandhi Cruz) 21:17
Second half
John Cronnolly (Luciano Cale) 34:53