Maine South, Cronnolly beat buzzer, hand New Trier 2nd-consecutive loss
Hawks shock top-ranked team, end winless streak at 3
By Michael Wojtychiw
PARK RIDGE - Maine South needed this one.
After dropping games to Glenbrook South and Evanston and tying Niles West last week to start Central Suburban League South Division play, the Hawks needed to get back in the win column. They started the year 5-0-1 in nonconference action.
But to do that, they'd have to go through Chicagoland Soccer's top-ranked team, New Trier, which was coming off its first loss of the year Monday night, a 1-0 decision to third-ranked Warren.
Maine South got its own memo and took down the Trevians 2-1 in dramatic fashion. John Cronnolly’s goal with 2.1 seconds left gave Maine South its first over the Trevians since 2015.
"This shows how difficult the CSL is," Maine South manager Dan States said. "It's loaded with teams that on any given night, anything can happen.
"For us, going through some injuries and guys being sick, it took us out of our rhythm. We're starting to get some of those guys back, and we played a really good match against one of the best, if not the best, teams in the state."
With under 20 seconds left in regulation, it looked like the teams were destined for overtime deadlocked at 1-1. But Maine South’s David Skorupa and his teammates had other plans.
"It was really important for us," the junior said. "We got a lot of confidence from this game tonight. We didn't play that great the last couple games and our coach said 'Come here with energy; be the better team.' And we won, we took the dub."
The Cronnolly goal ended a half that saw the Trevians put tons of pressure on Maine South (6-2-2, 1-2-1). But the Hawks and goalie Tommy Prokos kept the New Trier offense at bay for the majority of the half, which included multiple sprawling saves from the keeper to keep his team in it.
"They're a good team, they're talented and know how to move the ball well," Skorupa said. "Toward the end of the game though, we brought more energy and that broke them down. That late energy was what helped us take the game."
"We didn't put enough pressure on them in the backline in the first half," New Trier manager Matt Ravenscraft said. "We weren't getting enough guys up to score. We play a possession style of soccer, but it's an attacking style and I think we lost that a little early.
"It took us a little bit of time, and we were on our back foot. That's our second game in a row where we conceded the first goal, and it makes your job so much more difficult as a team when you're chasing the other team."
The Trevians (11-2-0, 3-1-0) got the equalizer with nine minutes, 38 seconds remaining on Evan Kanellos' second goal of his first varsity campaign.
"At halftime we were talking about getting our wingers inside and our outside backs up," he said. "My job was to get to the end line, I got there and put it in."
Following Monday's setback, Ravenscraft wanted to keep his team’s heads held high as it returned to conference play and a rivalry game. Losing a physical battle with a highly skilled team can be draining for some squads and the fifth-year Trevian manager knew that.
"It's tough because it's two losses in two days and if anything, it's on me for the way the schedule shook out," he said. "I told them that I asked a lot of them over the past 24 hours and really pushed them to their physical limit.
"Sometimes it can be a game of inches; it can be cruel sometimes. This is going to sting, and it should for a little bit. But I told them we can't let this loss beat us twice. We lost the game tonight, and that's tough; but we move forward."
Maine South got the scoring started when Cronnolly, who was named Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match, broke through the New Trier defense and put a ball past New Trier keeper Aidan Crawford and into the lower left corner.
"Coach always tells us to press them. I saw an opportunity, because their center backs were five yards apart from each other and thought I could get in between them," he said. "Once I got the ball past them, I took a couple dribbles and put it past the goalie."
The tricky part for the Hawks no that it had the lead was to keep it. Maine South scored first in the April 3 loss to Glenbrook South but saw the Titans rally for the 2-1 victory.
Cronnolly and his teammates wouldn't let last week's mistakes continue to haunt them this week.
"It's a bit of a letdown, especially when you get up early and give up goals like that," he said. "But each game is a new day, and you can't really let that bother you, especially when you play good teams.
"But we learned from that. Once we got our first goal, we just had to keep the pressure on them, force them to shoot from distance."
The loss did not destroy New Trier’s conference title chances. The Trevians currently lead the Central Suburban League South Division with a 3-1-0 record and nine points, two points ahead of second place Evanston.
With a win against Niles West on Thursday, the Trevians would lock up their fifth-consecutive league title overall and fourth-consecutive outright title.
"We control our destiny," Kanellos said." We still have a chance to win conference Thursday night and we'll see them again next week (in the conference round-robin), so we've got a chance to get this one back next week."
The two teams will meet again next week in Northfield in Central Suburban League pool play where they will join Glenbrook South and Evanston.
"We're always onto the next game, not one game is the pinnacle," States said. "We're looking to get better, and tonight was a great game defensively. We haven't had that in a while.
"It was fun."
Starting Lineups
New Trier
GK: Aidan Crawford
D: Peter Norhead
D: Tommy Schindler
D: Ely Wilson
D: James Paden
MF: Zach Moskowitz
MF: Jake Krueger
MF: Will Franzen
F: Collin Donnelly-Maine
F: Ronan O'Neil
F: Peter Kanellos
Maine South
GK: Tommy Prokos
D: Jack Winkler
D: Aidan Hansen
D: Matt Skorupa
D/MF: Ryan Downing
MF: Jackson Wambach
MF: David Skorupa
MF: Andrew Mashni
MF: John Cronnolly
F: Stefan Iricanin
F: Stefan Zelenovic
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: John Cronnolly, senior MF, Maine South
Scoring Summary
First half
Maine South - John Cronnolly, 26th minute
Second Half
New Trier - Evan Kanellos, 70th minute
Maine South - Cronnolly (Jimmy Gurgone), 80th minute
Hawks shock top-ranked team, end winless streak at 3
By Michael Wojtychiw
PARK RIDGE - Maine South needed this one.
After dropping games to Glenbrook South and Evanston and tying Niles West last week to start Central Suburban League South Division play, the Hawks needed to get back in the win column. They started the year 5-0-1 in nonconference action.
But to do that, they'd have to go through Chicagoland Soccer's top-ranked team, New Trier, which was coming off its first loss of the year Monday night, a 1-0 decision to third-ranked Warren.
Maine South got its own memo and took down the Trevians 2-1 in dramatic fashion. John Cronnolly’s goal with 2.1 seconds left gave Maine South its first over the Trevians since 2015.
"This shows how difficult the CSL is," Maine South manager Dan States said. "It's loaded with teams that on any given night, anything can happen.
"For us, going through some injuries and guys being sick, it took us out of our rhythm. We're starting to get some of those guys back, and we played a really good match against one of the best, if not the best, teams in the state."
With under 20 seconds left in regulation, it looked like the teams were destined for overtime deadlocked at 1-1. But Maine South’s David Skorupa and his teammates had other plans.
"It was really important for us," the junior said. "We got a lot of confidence from this game tonight. We didn't play that great the last couple games and our coach said 'Come here with energy; be the better team.' And we won, we took the dub."
The Cronnolly goal ended a half that saw the Trevians put tons of pressure on Maine South (6-2-2, 1-2-1). But the Hawks and goalie Tommy Prokos kept the New Trier offense at bay for the majority of the half, which included multiple sprawling saves from the keeper to keep his team in it.
"They're a good team, they're talented and know how to move the ball well," Skorupa said. "Toward the end of the game though, we brought more energy and that broke them down. That late energy was what helped us take the game."
"We didn't put enough pressure on them in the backline in the first half," New Trier manager Matt Ravenscraft said. "We weren't getting enough guys up to score. We play a possession style of soccer, but it's an attacking style and I think we lost that a little early.
"It took us a little bit of time, and we were on our back foot. That's our second game in a row where we conceded the first goal, and it makes your job so much more difficult as a team when you're chasing the other team."
The Trevians (11-2-0, 3-1-0) got the equalizer with nine minutes, 38 seconds remaining on Evan Kanellos' second goal of his first varsity campaign.
"At halftime we were talking about getting our wingers inside and our outside backs up," he said. "My job was to get to the end line, I got there and put it in."
Following Monday's setback, Ravenscraft wanted to keep his team’s heads held high as it returned to conference play and a rivalry game. Losing a physical battle with a highly skilled team can be draining for some squads and the fifth-year Trevian manager knew that.
"It's tough because it's two losses in two days and if anything, it's on me for the way the schedule shook out," he said. "I told them that I asked a lot of them over the past 24 hours and really pushed them to their physical limit.
"Sometimes it can be a game of inches; it can be cruel sometimes. This is going to sting, and it should for a little bit. But I told them we can't let this loss beat us twice. We lost the game tonight, and that's tough; but we move forward."
Maine South got the scoring started when Cronnolly, who was named Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match, broke through the New Trier defense and put a ball past New Trier keeper Aidan Crawford and into the lower left corner.
"Coach always tells us to press them. I saw an opportunity, because their center backs were five yards apart from each other and thought I could get in between them," he said. "Once I got the ball past them, I took a couple dribbles and put it past the goalie."
The tricky part for the Hawks no that it had the lead was to keep it. Maine South scored first in the April 3 loss to Glenbrook South but saw the Titans rally for the 2-1 victory.
Cronnolly and his teammates wouldn't let last week's mistakes continue to haunt them this week.
"It's a bit of a letdown, especially when you get up early and give up goals like that," he said. "But each game is a new day, and you can't really let that bother you, especially when you play good teams.
"But we learned from that. Once we got our first goal, we just had to keep the pressure on them, force them to shoot from distance."
The loss did not destroy New Trier’s conference title chances. The Trevians currently lead the Central Suburban League South Division with a 3-1-0 record and nine points, two points ahead of second place Evanston.
With a win against Niles West on Thursday, the Trevians would lock up their fifth-consecutive league title overall and fourth-consecutive outright title.
"We control our destiny," Kanellos said." We still have a chance to win conference Thursday night and we'll see them again next week (in the conference round-robin), so we've got a chance to get this one back next week."
The two teams will meet again next week in Northfield in Central Suburban League pool play where they will join Glenbrook South and Evanston.
"We're always onto the next game, not one game is the pinnacle," States said. "We're looking to get better, and tonight was a great game defensively. We haven't had that in a while.
"It was fun."
Starting Lineups
New Trier
GK: Aidan Crawford
D: Peter Norhead
D: Tommy Schindler
D: Ely Wilson
D: James Paden
MF: Zach Moskowitz
MF: Jake Krueger
MF: Will Franzen
F: Collin Donnelly-Maine
F: Ronan O'Neil
F: Peter Kanellos
Maine South
GK: Tommy Prokos
D: Jack Winkler
D: Aidan Hansen
D: Matt Skorupa
D/MF: Ryan Downing
MF: Jackson Wambach
MF: David Skorupa
MF: Andrew Mashni
MF: John Cronnolly
F: Stefan Iricanin
F: Stefan Zelenovic
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: John Cronnolly, senior MF, Maine South
Scoring Summary
First half
Maine South - John Cronnolly, 26th minute
Second Half
New Trier - Evan Kanellos, 70th minute
Maine South - Cronnolly (Jimmy Gurgone), 80th minute