Lemont offense drenches Oak Forest
Hosts remain perfect in South Suburban Conference with 6-0 win
By Dave Owen
LEMONT -- The rain had mainly stopped by the second half Saturday.
Lemont’s offensive deluge never let up.
Possessing the ball more than 95 percent of the time in the game, Lemont took the lead over visiting Oak Forest nine minutes in and maintained complete control en route to a 6-0 South Suburban Conference Blue Division win.
With Paige Bingen perfectly coordinating the attack in the middle, Lemont star striker Suzie Knutte was sprung for limitless bursts up the left wing.
“Paige had a wonderful game,” said Knutte. “She's so good in the middle. Paige's communication and her ability to switch the field, and just her connecting … she controls the ball really well and having her in the middle is a keystone of our entire team.”
Knutte was just as brilliant, scoring two first half goals and placing a dangerous corner kick send that resulted in an own-goal. She and Bingen shared Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors.
“I just try to work hard,” Bingen said. “And everyone pushes each other to get better. In practice we all push each other and that just goes into the game.”
Knutte’s first shot over the net just 30 seconds in set the tone for Lemont's soggy but successful day.
And 31:55 before halftime her goal-scoring prowess, that has produced two hat-tricks and a four-goal game this month, put Lemont ahead.
Off a pass from Nina Pavlica, Knutte nicely dribbled around defenders into the middle of the box and lasered a low 12-yard shot inside the left post.
“It's definitely a lot of help from the team,” Knutte said of her 15-goal spring. “And they help keep me high-spirited when I get disappointed after a play.”
Having defeated Oak Forest 2-0 earlier this season in a Windy City Ram Classic match, Lemont (12-4-0, 7-0-0) was intent on quickly removing any doubt about the outcome Saturday.
“We wanted to beat them by more than 2-0 this time, Oak Forest being one of our main competitors,” Bingen said. “We went out there 100 percent and knew if we got the first goal in the first few minutes of the game, the momentum would shift.”
Said Lemont coach Rick Prangen: “We played them before on an artificial surface that’s narrower. You come out here (Saturday), and it’s grass and a bigger field. It’s harder to defend.”
Lemont overcame some obstacles in the win.
“We were shorthanded,” Prangen said. “We have quite a few kids out: Nicole (Bobcik) is out, and Emma Amberg and Mia Stojakovic. And we don’t have a big roster as it is (with just four available subs Saturday). So, for them to do what they did here was phenomenal.”
Oak Forest (5-7-3, 4-2-2) had its own injury issues Saturday, turning what is often an uphill battle for visiting teams at Lemont into a veritable barefoot hike through the Rockies.
“We didn’t really have our standard lineup,” Bengals coach Pam Whitehead said. “We play three center mids, so if we’re missing two girls there like we are, those are the two that can make the difference. Now people are filling in, and we’re putting forwards or outside mids there.”
With the score 1-0, Knutte and Brianna Sanchez were table setters on Lemont’s next bid, setting up Natalia Zalinski for a shot that angled inches wide of the left post.
The early flurry continued in the 10th minute, when a Bella Simpson pass set up Knutte for a left-side cross/shot that Oak Forest goalkeeper Serenity Berrios denied with a leaping fingertip catch.
With 17:54 left, Knutte created a set piece with a shot off an Oak Forest defender for a corner kick. Then on the send from the left corner into a strong crosswind, Knutte’s first of two well-placed corner kicks on the day made it 2-0.
Her send towards the back post resulted in an attempted header clearing attempt by a Bengals defender, which caromed into the upper right corner of the net for an own-goal.
While Knutte may have needed just a touch of help on that well-placed corner, her next corner kick finish from the same spot 2:24 before halftime was all her own doing.
Knutte curled that corner directly into the back-right corner of the net, and the Lemont lead had expanded to 3-0 at halftime.
“This season corner kicks for me have been going really well,” Knutte said. “I've had maybe four goals (go in) just off of taking corner kicks.
“We do a lot in practice working on striking the ball (on corner kicks) and curving them. I'm not always trying to score on those though, and the wind kind of helped today.
“I try to take the wind into account, but I always aim for back post because there's always someone there rushing. That's the area you want it, and if it curves just a little more, it goes in.”
Knutte’s twisting corner strike that made the lead 3-0 came two minutes after another major blow to Oak Forest’s hopes.
Berrios made a great one-handed save at the near post on Simpson’s left-side run and eight-yard shot.
But Berrios aggravated an arm injury on the play, and midfielder Maggie Rollins had to step in at goalkeeper the rest of the way.
“She (Berrios) has a torn labrum and needs surgery after the season,” Whitehead said. “(The shoulder) pops in and out. The ortho told her she could play as long as she wants, so we’re letting her do it. She’s very good, and Maggie played really well too.”
Rollins made several nice saves under unrelenting pressure to limit Lemont’s damage, but the waves of attackers in blue and white were too often too much.
Just 24 seconds into the second half, Lemont essentially drenched any Bengals’ comeback ideas when a Simpson cross set up Zalinski for an open, back-post putaway and a 4-0 advantage.
“As a whole we weren’t really happy with the first half, even though we were up,” Prangen said. “There were things we were doing not that well. I thought in the second half you saw us lock it down a little bit better, and getting that fourth goal the first 30 seconds helps.”
Rollins later denied quality chances by Simpson (38 minutes left) and Yanna Krokos (a nice block and save of a 10-yarder at the left post with 14:50 to go) to keep the score 4-0 deep into the match.
But another Lemont corner kick added to the lead with 13:07 to play.
After receiving a pass back off her initial corner send, Simpson’s cross to the front was cleared out by the Bengals. But defender Casey Kittridge looked like a seasoned striker, fielding the loose ball and powering an 18-yarder into the net.
“I try my best to get a good shot off, but I get nervous in the box,” Kittridge said. “I guess that's why I play defense.”
With Lemont goalkeeper Michelle Nosal not touching the ball at all until 37:35 remained in the match, Kittridge and her fellow defenders did a good job denying any Bengals chances.
“I think in the back we played well,” Kittridge said. “And switching and then going forward on the flanks was really beneficial for us, and then playing it to the box.”
Coming off the hard-fought earlier win over Oak Forest, Lemont used its wider grass field as a special home-field advantage.
“I think the home-field was a big part of it,” Kittridge said, “and we get a lot of fans here also (more than 150 Saturday despite the rain and winds). And I think our mood was better going into this game than before when we played against Oak Forest.”
The squad had one added inspiration Saturday: pregame festivities honored Prangen for earning his 400th career win earlier this month.
“It was nice for everyone to come out and see that,” Knutte said. “That helped too, I think, with the effort on the field today.”
“We were switching the ball really well,” Bingen said, “and we knew it being Prangen’s 400th (ceremony). We really wanted to win for him. We were finding feet, and people were giving 100 percent effort the whole game.”
That max effort went until the final horn.
Simpson nearly scored on a skipping one-hop 12-yard liner with 10:20 to play, but was denied on that chance by Rollins’ nice low grab of the wet ball.
But a Simpson goal was only delayed. She capped the scoring by sending a loose ball just inside the open, right post with 23.9 seconds left.
The goal was an added reward for Simpson for her day of excellent table setting for teammates.
“I thought Ella and Paige absolutely ran the game in the central part of the midfield,” Prangen said. “They were the difference. Suzie gets chances because Ella and Paige are doing those things. I also thought Casey was very good, and Lenna Nabulsi had a very good game at center back.”
With a key conference win in the books, Prangen hopes May brings improved health as Lemont seeks its usual goal of peaking at the perfect time for playoff success.
“The hard thing about this year is, there’s been an inconsistency of who has been able to train,” Prangen said. “Casey was out for a week with an ankle injury and we just got her back today. And Bri Sanchez has played a million-and-one-different positions because we’ve had to plug holes. It’s been challenging.”
Knutte sees her team as beginning to elevate its level of play.
“We've been working a lot better in practice,” she said, “and the last week we played we had a more defined goal of how we want our last game to be our best game. That's helped with our work ethic, just putting a lot more effort in as we progress in the season.
“We've been communicating and connecting a lot more, with a lot of combinations up-top. Playing into the middle and then back out has worked really well. Everything's just been working a lot better with our communication and our style of play recently.”
Knutte’s excellence all season has earned her 15 goals. And Bingen’s continued improvement has made Lemont that much more dangerous.
“One thing I feel really good about is that Paige has really emerged as our team leader in the central part of the midfield,” Prangen said. “She’s running the show. Her work-rate on the ball creates everything else for us.
“The last couple of games she’s really stepped it up. I thought the Lincoln-Way West game she may have been the best player on the field even though we lost that game (2-0 on April 23). And she’s continually gotten better and better.”
With six shutout wins in its last seven games, Lemont is on the move.
“For next year I think we can pick it up a little bit sooner,” Knutte said. “Coming back off a weird season last year, and having basically a new team after losing nine seniors last year, this year has been different.
“But the group of girls we have now are all really close, and we're all working to make it how it’s supposed to be and where we think the program should be.”
Starting lineups
Oak Forest
GK Serenity Berrios
D Alani Villa
D Tereza Progri
D Kayla Mantia
D Erin Speaker
M Maggie Rollins
M Kara Mantia
M Maddie Walsh
M Jenna Cooper
M Cassidy Miller
F Emma Romano
Lemont
GK Michelle Nosal
D Sarah Shields
D Casey Kittridge
D Daria Koslosky
D Lenna Nabulsi
M Brianna Sanchez
M Ella Simpson
M Paige Bingen
M Nina Pavlica
F Suzie Knutte
F Natalia Zalinski
Chicagoland Soccer MVPs of the Match:
Suzie Knutte, jr. F, Lemont;
Paige Bingen, jr. MF, Lemont
Scoring summary
First half
L: Knutte (Nina Pavlica), 9’
L: Own-goal (Knutte corner kick), 23’
L: Knutte (corner kick), 37’
Second half
L: Natalia Zalinski (Ella Simpson), 41’
L: Casey Kittridge (Simpson), 67’
L: Simpson, 80’
Hosts remain perfect in South Suburban Conference with 6-0 win
By Dave Owen
LEMONT -- The rain had mainly stopped by the second half Saturday.
Lemont’s offensive deluge never let up.
Possessing the ball more than 95 percent of the time in the game, Lemont took the lead over visiting Oak Forest nine minutes in and maintained complete control en route to a 6-0 South Suburban Conference Blue Division win.
With Paige Bingen perfectly coordinating the attack in the middle, Lemont star striker Suzie Knutte was sprung for limitless bursts up the left wing.
“Paige had a wonderful game,” said Knutte. “She's so good in the middle. Paige's communication and her ability to switch the field, and just her connecting … she controls the ball really well and having her in the middle is a keystone of our entire team.”
Knutte was just as brilliant, scoring two first half goals and placing a dangerous corner kick send that resulted in an own-goal. She and Bingen shared Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors.
“I just try to work hard,” Bingen said. “And everyone pushes each other to get better. In practice we all push each other and that just goes into the game.”
Knutte’s first shot over the net just 30 seconds in set the tone for Lemont's soggy but successful day.
And 31:55 before halftime her goal-scoring prowess, that has produced two hat-tricks and a four-goal game this month, put Lemont ahead.
Off a pass from Nina Pavlica, Knutte nicely dribbled around defenders into the middle of the box and lasered a low 12-yard shot inside the left post.
“It's definitely a lot of help from the team,” Knutte said of her 15-goal spring. “And they help keep me high-spirited when I get disappointed after a play.”
Having defeated Oak Forest 2-0 earlier this season in a Windy City Ram Classic match, Lemont (12-4-0, 7-0-0) was intent on quickly removing any doubt about the outcome Saturday.
“We wanted to beat them by more than 2-0 this time, Oak Forest being one of our main competitors,” Bingen said. “We went out there 100 percent and knew if we got the first goal in the first few minutes of the game, the momentum would shift.”
Said Lemont coach Rick Prangen: “We played them before on an artificial surface that’s narrower. You come out here (Saturday), and it’s grass and a bigger field. It’s harder to defend.”
Lemont overcame some obstacles in the win.
“We were shorthanded,” Prangen said. “We have quite a few kids out: Nicole (Bobcik) is out, and Emma Amberg and Mia Stojakovic. And we don’t have a big roster as it is (with just four available subs Saturday). So, for them to do what they did here was phenomenal.”
Oak Forest (5-7-3, 4-2-2) had its own injury issues Saturday, turning what is often an uphill battle for visiting teams at Lemont into a veritable barefoot hike through the Rockies.
“We didn’t really have our standard lineup,” Bengals coach Pam Whitehead said. “We play three center mids, so if we’re missing two girls there like we are, those are the two that can make the difference. Now people are filling in, and we’re putting forwards or outside mids there.”
With the score 1-0, Knutte and Brianna Sanchez were table setters on Lemont’s next bid, setting up Natalia Zalinski for a shot that angled inches wide of the left post.
The early flurry continued in the 10th minute, when a Bella Simpson pass set up Knutte for a left-side cross/shot that Oak Forest goalkeeper Serenity Berrios denied with a leaping fingertip catch.
With 17:54 left, Knutte created a set piece with a shot off an Oak Forest defender for a corner kick. Then on the send from the left corner into a strong crosswind, Knutte’s first of two well-placed corner kicks on the day made it 2-0.
Her send towards the back post resulted in an attempted header clearing attempt by a Bengals defender, which caromed into the upper right corner of the net for an own-goal.
While Knutte may have needed just a touch of help on that well-placed corner, her next corner kick finish from the same spot 2:24 before halftime was all her own doing.
Knutte curled that corner directly into the back-right corner of the net, and the Lemont lead had expanded to 3-0 at halftime.
“This season corner kicks for me have been going really well,” Knutte said. “I've had maybe four goals (go in) just off of taking corner kicks.
“We do a lot in practice working on striking the ball (on corner kicks) and curving them. I'm not always trying to score on those though, and the wind kind of helped today.
“I try to take the wind into account, but I always aim for back post because there's always someone there rushing. That's the area you want it, and if it curves just a little more, it goes in.”
Knutte’s twisting corner strike that made the lead 3-0 came two minutes after another major blow to Oak Forest’s hopes.
Berrios made a great one-handed save at the near post on Simpson’s left-side run and eight-yard shot.
But Berrios aggravated an arm injury on the play, and midfielder Maggie Rollins had to step in at goalkeeper the rest of the way.
“She (Berrios) has a torn labrum and needs surgery after the season,” Whitehead said. “(The shoulder) pops in and out. The ortho told her she could play as long as she wants, so we’re letting her do it. She’s very good, and Maggie played really well too.”
Rollins made several nice saves under unrelenting pressure to limit Lemont’s damage, but the waves of attackers in blue and white were too often too much.
Just 24 seconds into the second half, Lemont essentially drenched any Bengals’ comeback ideas when a Simpson cross set up Zalinski for an open, back-post putaway and a 4-0 advantage.
“As a whole we weren’t really happy with the first half, even though we were up,” Prangen said. “There were things we were doing not that well. I thought in the second half you saw us lock it down a little bit better, and getting that fourth goal the first 30 seconds helps.”
Rollins later denied quality chances by Simpson (38 minutes left) and Yanna Krokos (a nice block and save of a 10-yarder at the left post with 14:50 to go) to keep the score 4-0 deep into the match.
But another Lemont corner kick added to the lead with 13:07 to play.
After receiving a pass back off her initial corner send, Simpson’s cross to the front was cleared out by the Bengals. But defender Casey Kittridge looked like a seasoned striker, fielding the loose ball and powering an 18-yarder into the net.
“I try my best to get a good shot off, but I get nervous in the box,” Kittridge said. “I guess that's why I play defense.”
With Lemont goalkeeper Michelle Nosal not touching the ball at all until 37:35 remained in the match, Kittridge and her fellow defenders did a good job denying any Bengals chances.
“I think in the back we played well,” Kittridge said. “And switching and then going forward on the flanks was really beneficial for us, and then playing it to the box.”
Coming off the hard-fought earlier win over Oak Forest, Lemont used its wider grass field as a special home-field advantage.
“I think the home-field was a big part of it,” Kittridge said, “and we get a lot of fans here also (more than 150 Saturday despite the rain and winds). And I think our mood was better going into this game than before when we played against Oak Forest.”
The squad had one added inspiration Saturday: pregame festivities honored Prangen for earning his 400th career win earlier this month.
“It was nice for everyone to come out and see that,” Knutte said. “That helped too, I think, with the effort on the field today.”
“We were switching the ball really well,” Bingen said, “and we knew it being Prangen’s 400th (ceremony). We really wanted to win for him. We were finding feet, and people were giving 100 percent effort the whole game.”
That max effort went until the final horn.
Simpson nearly scored on a skipping one-hop 12-yard liner with 10:20 to play, but was denied on that chance by Rollins’ nice low grab of the wet ball.
But a Simpson goal was only delayed. She capped the scoring by sending a loose ball just inside the open, right post with 23.9 seconds left.
The goal was an added reward for Simpson for her day of excellent table setting for teammates.
“I thought Ella and Paige absolutely ran the game in the central part of the midfield,” Prangen said. “They were the difference. Suzie gets chances because Ella and Paige are doing those things. I also thought Casey was very good, and Lenna Nabulsi had a very good game at center back.”
With a key conference win in the books, Prangen hopes May brings improved health as Lemont seeks its usual goal of peaking at the perfect time for playoff success.
“The hard thing about this year is, there’s been an inconsistency of who has been able to train,” Prangen said. “Casey was out for a week with an ankle injury and we just got her back today. And Bri Sanchez has played a million-and-one-different positions because we’ve had to plug holes. It’s been challenging.”
Knutte sees her team as beginning to elevate its level of play.
“We've been working a lot better in practice,” she said, “and the last week we played we had a more defined goal of how we want our last game to be our best game. That's helped with our work ethic, just putting a lot more effort in as we progress in the season.
“We've been communicating and connecting a lot more, with a lot of combinations up-top. Playing into the middle and then back out has worked really well. Everything's just been working a lot better with our communication and our style of play recently.”
Knutte’s excellence all season has earned her 15 goals. And Bingen’s continued improvement has made Lemont that much more dangerous.
“One thing I feel really good about is that Paige has really emerged as our team leader in the central part of the midfield,” Prangen said. “She’s running the show. Her work-rate on the ball creates everything else for us.
“The last couple of games she’s really stepped it up. I thought the Lincoln-Way West game she may have been the best player on the field even though we lost that game (2-0 on April 23). And she’s continually gotten better and better.”
With six shutout wins in its last seven games, Lemont is on the move.
“For next year I think we can pick it up a little bit sooner,” Knutte said. “Coming back off a weird season last year, and having basically a new team after losing nine seniors last year, this year has been different.
“But the group of girls we have now are all really close, and we're all working to make it how it’s supposed to be and where we think the program should be.”
Starting lineups
Oak Forest
GK Serenity Berrios
D Alani Villa
D Tereza Progri
D Kayla Mantia
D Erin Speaker
M Maggie Rollins
M Kara Mantia
M Maddie Walsh
M Jenna Cooper
M Cassidy Miller
F Emma Romano
Lemont
GK Michelle Nosal
D Sarah Shields
D Casey Kittridge
D Daria Koslosky
D Lenna Nabulsi
M Brianna Sanchez
M Ella Simpson
M Paige Bingen
M Nina Pavlica
F Suzie Knutte
F Natalia Zalinski
Chicagoland Soccer MVPs of the Match:
Suzie Knutte, jr. F, Lemont;
Paige Bingen, jr. MF, Lemont
Scoring summary
First half
L: Knutte (Nina Pavlica), 9’
L: Own-goal (Knutte corner kick), 23’
L: Knutte (corner kick), 37’
Second half
L: Natalia Zalinski (Ella Simpson), 41’
L: Casey Kittridge (Simpson), 67’
L: Simpson, 80’