Deerfield, Taft get a kick
out of impromptu PK session
Teams stage segment to prep for playoffs after 0-0 draw
By Bill McLean
DEERFIELD — Near the end of Tuesday night’s Taft-Deerfield match on Deerfield’s Senior Night, Deerfield coach Elliott Hurtig walked toward Taft coach Jeff Lucco in the waning seconds of a 0-0 stalemate.
An early post-game handshake?
No.
Hurtig had a unique proposal in mind.
“Want to have a practice PK session if this ends up in a tie?” Hurtig asked.
Lucco was all for it.
And why not?
The Taft-Deerfield clash at Adams Field was a bonus match for Taft, because Deerfield’s originally scheduled opponent Payton was busy winning in its way in to the title game Thursday with a 2-0 victory over Lane.
And why not play/practice more extra soccer on a delightfully mild night, ahead of the start of the state playoffs next week?
“We played well tonight, on one day’s notice, and we were coming off a tough loss (3-1) to (eventual CPL tournament finalist) Washington in a city quarterfinal,” Lucco said after his Eagles “lost” 3-2 in the impromptu PK segment.
“I’m glad we were able to add this game to our schedule.”
“Good energy,” Hurtig said of his Warriors’ effort, especially in the second half. “We played with much better purpose after halftime. We read the ball better and kept the ball in their half for most of the second half.
“Much better tonight than how we played against Grayslake North (a 4-3 Deerfield win last Saturday),” he added. “It’s cooler tonight, playoff weather. We’re better in these conditions than we are when it's humid.”
Deerfield’s defense disrupted numerous Taft transitions in the first half. Warriors senior forward Peter Straus and junior midfielders Addison Simon and Cole Gawin each recorded a steal in the first six minutes. Deerfield junior midfielder Ryder Coleman and sophomore reserve forward Mason Greitens committed legal thievery near the middle of the first half.
One of Taft’s most dangerous threats in the first 40 minutes was speedy junior wing-back Kamil Blachaniec, who initiated an impressive rush with a spot-on delivery to sophomore midfielder Daniel Korniat in the 10th minute.
The move of the night came from Taft senior forward Suriel Vital in the 27th minute. His deke-pause-shift-sprint maneuver didn’t just create space for the young man; it also elicited awestruck reactions from the Eagles’ bench.
Starting Deerfield senior goalkeeper Ryan Toback had three saves in the first half, while his counterpart, junior Sebastian Rodriguez, stopped four shots.
Hurtig deployed Deerfield freshman keeper Xander Yang in goal for the second half. The number of varsity minutes he had logged before Tuesday night: 0. His lone save, with a little more than four minutes remaining, came off a Taft free kick.
“That kid,” Lucco said seconds later, “made a great save.”
Yang denied a pair of PKs in the spur-of-the-moment exhibition after regulation.
“Xander,” Simon said, “handled his first varsity experience phenomenally.”
Deerfield’s bench players were almost as active as their mates on the pitch after the break, standing and shouting streams of encouraging words for most of the 40 minutes. A blast from Simon banged off the cross bar in the 43rd minute, and a sizzling shot by Coleman glanced off a post after the ball had been deflected by Rodriguez’s right hand in the 52nd minute.
“Unlucky,” Hurtig said of the opportunities.
Chicagoland Men of the Match honors went to Deerfield’s Simon and Taft junior midfielder Matej Sokola.
“Mat, he’s really good, super smart with great touch,” Lucco said. “Sneaky, too. He’s the master of the dark arts out there. Not dirty; dark. He just knows how to play the game well. He’s like an old, experienced man when he plays soccer.”
The hosts used three keepers — Yang, Toback and junior Daniel Simmons — in the PK session. Simmons saved a shot.
Coleman, senior back/midfielder Jack Wax and sophomore midfielder Andrew Babos notched PK goals for Deerfield; sophomore midfielder Gabriel Vidaurre and senior back/midfielder Giuseppe Lazzara netted PKs for Taft.
“Taft is a good team,” Simon said. “We played pretty well. Hard-fought game. We’re disappointed, because we could’ve won. But it’s hard to be completely disappointed; we got to play in a competitive game that helped us prepare for our playoff opener.”
Deerfield (8-5-3), seeded no. 8 in the Class AA Vernon Hills Sectional, hosts no. 12 Lakes in a regional semifinal Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Deerfield edged Lakes 2-1 on Oct. 4.
Taft (4-7-7), seeded no. 15 in the Class 3A New Trier Sectional, faces second-seeded New Trier, which is ranked no. 1 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, in a Glenbrook North Regional semi Oct. 20 at 4:30 p.m.
“We’ll have to play better on the ground, possess better,” Sokola said. “Also no turnovers. We’ll have to play perfect soccer to have a chance against the top-ranked team in the state.
“Our mindset going in will be, ‘Win.’”
Footnotes
Deerfield finished in fourth place in the Central Suburban League North Division with a 2-2-1 record. … Lucco, on traveling to play matches in the suburbs: “We get to play in beautiful stadiums, like this one (in Deerfield).” … Hurtig praised his seniors for their dedication to Deerfield’s soccer program in his speech at the start of the Senior Night ceremony Tuesday. “The key word tonight,” he would add, “is ‘family.’” The honored players were Toback, Luke Barhoumeh, Straus, David Jotkus and Noah Weil … Deerfield’s scheduled foe Tuesday night, Payton, blanked Lane 2-0 in a CPL tournament semifinal Tuesday night, and will tangle with Washington for the title. … Yang, on life as a freshman student and goalkeeper on varsity: “I’ve met a lot of new people in school, and I’ve made some new friends in soccer. What helped was being familiar with many of my teammates through club soccer. Everybody has made me feel welcome.” Yang lauded Simon’s contributions to Deerfield in 2021: “Addison’s leadership skills — they help all of us. He talks, motivates, supports. I like his skills, too. He’s a very good distributor.”
Starting lineups
Taft
GK Sebastian Rodriguez
D Adrian Grden
D Roy Molina
D Edwin Alanis
D Kamil Blachaniec
MF Davyd Dubchak
MF Matej Sokola
MF Michael Sturgelewski
MF Daniel Korniat
F Suriel Vital
F Alex Mietka
Deerfield
GK Ryan Toback
D Justin Blumenthal
D Noah Weil
D Matthew Neumann
MF Nathan Garcia
MF Ari Shamberg
MF Addison Simon
MF Ryder Coleman
MF Cole Gawin
F Peter Straus
F James Weiner
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match: Matej Sokola, jr., MF, Taft; Addison Simon, jr., MF, Deerfield
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
No scoring
out of impromptu PK session
Teams stage segment to prep for playoffs after 0-0 draw
By Bill McLean
DEERFIELD — Near the end of Tuesday night’s Taft-Deerfield match on Deerfield’s Senior Night, Deerfield coach Elliott Hurtig walked toward Taft coach Jeff Lucco in the waning seconds of a 0-0 stalemate.
An early post-game handshake?
No.
Hurtig had a unique proposal in mind.
“Want to have a practice PK session if this ends up in a tie?” Hurtig asked.
Lucco was all for it.
And why not?
The Taft-Deerfield clash at Adams Field was a bonus match for Taft, because Deerfield’s originally scheduled opponent Payton was busy winning in its way in to the title game Thursday with a 2-0 victory over Lane.
And why not play/practice more extra soccer on a delightfully mild night, ahead of the start of the state playoffs next week?
“We played well tonight, on one day’s notice, and we were coming off a tough loss (3-1) to (eventual CPL tournament finalist) Washington in a city quarterfinal,” Lucco said after his Eagles “lost” 3-2 in the impromptu PK segment.
“I’m glad we were able to add this game to our schedule.”
“Good energy,” Hurtig said of his Warriors’ effort, especially in the second half. “We played with much better purpose after halftime. We read the ball better and kept the ball in their half for most of the second half.
“Much better tonight than how we played against Grayslake North (a 4-3 Deerfield win last Saturday),” he added. “It’s cooler tonight, playoff weather. We’re better in these conditions than we are when it's humid.”
Deerfield’s defense disrupted numerous Taft transitions in the first half. Warriors senior forward Peter Straus and junior midfielders Addison Simon and Cole Gawin each recorded a steal in the first six minutes. Deerfield junior midfielder Ryder Coleman and sophomore reserve forward Mason Greitens committed legal thievery near the middle of the first half.
One of Taft’s most dangerous threats in the first 40 minutes was speedy junior wing-back Kamil Blachaniec, who initiated an impressive rush with a spot-on delivery to sophomore midfielder Daniel Korniat in the 10th minute.
The move of the night came from Taft senior forward Suriel Vital in the 27th minute. His deke-pause-shift-sprint maneuver didn’t just create space for the young man; it also elicited awestruck reactions from the Eagles’ bench.
Starting Deerfield senior goalkeeper Ryan Toback had three saves in the first half, while his counterpart, junior Sebastian Rodriguez, stopped four shots.
Hurtig deployed Deerfield freshman keeper Xander Yang in goal for the second half. The number of varsity minutes he had logged before Tuesday night: 0. His lone save, with a little more than four minutes remaining, came off a Taft free kick.
“That kid,” Lucco said seconds later, “made a great save.”
Yang denied a pair of PKs in the spur-of-the-moment exhibition after regulation.
“Xander,” Simon said, “handled his first varsity experience phenomenally.”
Deerfield’s bench players were almost as active as their mates on the pitch after the break, standing and shouting streams of encouraging words for most of the 40 minutes. A blast from Simon banged off the cross bar in the 43rd minute, and a sizzling shot by Coleman glanced off a post after the ball had been deflected by Rodriguez’s right hand in the 52nd minute.
“Unlucky,” Hurtig said of the opportunities.
Chicagoland Men of the Match honors went to Deerfield’s Simon and Taft junior midfielder Matej Sokola.
“Mat, he’s really good, super smart with great touch,” Lucco said. “Sneaky, too. He’s the master of the dark arts out there. Not dirty; dark. He just knows how to play the game well. He’s like an old, experienced man when he plays soccer.”
The hosts used three keepers — Yang, Toback and junior Daniel Simmons — in the PK session. Simmons saved a shot.
Coleman, senior back/midfielder Jack Wax and sophomore midfielder Andrew Babos notched PK goals for Deerfield; sophomore midfielder Gabriel Vidaurre and senior back/midfielder Giuseppe Lazzara netted PKs for Taft.
“Taft is a good team,” Simon said. “We played pretty well. Hard-fought game. We’re disappointed, because we could’ve won. But it’s hard to be completely disappointed; we got to play in a competitive game that helped us prepare for our playoff opener.”
Deerfield (8-5-3), seeded no. 8 in the Class AA Vernon Hills Sectional, hosts no. 12 Lakes in a regional semifinal Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Deerfield edged Lakes 2-1 on Oct. 4.
Taft (4-7-7), seeded no. 15 in the Class 3A New Trier Sectional, faces second-seeded New Trier, which is ranked no. 1 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, in a Glenbrook North Regional semi Oct. 20 at 4:30 p.m.
“We’ll have to play better on the ground, possess better,” Sokola said. “Also no turnovers. We’ll have to play perfect soccer to have a chance against the top-ranked team in the state.
“Our mindset going in will be, ‘Win.’”
Footnotes
Deerfield finished in fourth place in the Central Suburban League North Division with a 2-2-1 record. … Lucco, on traveling to play matches in the suburbs: “We get to play in beautiful stadiums, like this one (in Deerfield).” … Hurtig praised his seniors for their dedication to Deerfield’s soccer program in his speech at the start of the Senior Night ceremony Tuesday. “The key word tonight,” he would add, “is ‘family.’” The honored players were Toback, Luke Barhoumeh, Straus, David Jotkus and Noah Weil … Deerfield’s scheduled foe Tuesday night, Payton, blanked Lane 2-0 in a CPL tournament semifinal Tuesday night, and will tangle with Washington for the title. … Yang, on life as a freshman student and goalkeeper on varsity: “I’ve met a lot of new people in school, and I’ve made some new friends in soccer. What helped was being familiar with many of my teammates through club soccer. Everybody has made me feel welcome.” Yang lauded Simon’s contributions to Deerfield in 2021: “Addison’s leadership skills — they help all of us. He talks, motivates, supports. I like his skills, too. He’s a very good distributor.”
Starting lineups
Taft
GK Sebastian Rodriguez
D Adrian Grden
D Roy Molina
D Edwin Alanis
D Kamil Blachaniec
MF Davyd Dubchak
MF Matej Sokola
MF Michael Sturgelewski
MF Daniel Korniat
F Suriel Vital
F Alex Mietka
Deerfield
GK Ryan Toback
D Justin Blumenthal
D Noah Weil
D Matthew Neumann
MF Nathan Garcia
MF Ari Shamberg
MF Addison Simon
MF Ryder Coleman
MF Cole Gawin
F Peter Straus
F James Weiner
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match: Matej Sokola, jr., MF, Taft; Addison Simon, jr., MF, Deerfield
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
No scoring