Late PK gives Taft tie,
inside track over Young for title
Sokola's equalizer gives Eagles edge in tiebreaker in Premier NW
By Michael Wojtychiw
CHICAGO -- Matej Sokola felt the weight on his shoulders when he stepped into the box to take a penalty kick with 33.7 seconds remaining in the game.
The Taft senior needed to make the shot. A miss would almost certainly give opponent Young the Chicago Public League Northwest Division title. Both teams entered the game with a 3-0-0 conference mark.
Besides the pressure, there was something else that stood against his chance to score -- his opponents’ familiarity with him.
"I usually go to the right side, but they all know me. "I always do that hesi(tation) before," he said.
"I saw the goalie's foot go a little to his right, so I knew he was going to try to go left.”
Sokola had made his mind up to stay with his strength.
“I was just confident and struck it. He almost got there anyway, but luckily it went in," he said.
The Taft senior slotted the ball past Young keeper Jackson Sprenger and forced the contest to end in a 1-1 deadlock.
The goal was Sokola’s second successful spot-kick and third score of the year. That bested his total from last season.
Taft manager Jeff Lucco was pleased with the effort.
"I liked that we found a way," he said. "I liked that in the first half we were composed. I thought we played really well; we just weren't dangerous.
"I liked that our guys found a way to stay in it, because we made some bad mistakes. Our heads dropped a little bit, but they recovered."
The game started off slow for Young, which celebrated the 11 members of its Class of ’23 on Senior Night. The Dolphins allowed the visitors to get deep into their defensive zone and earn numerous free kicks and a couple of corners.
Young's first true offensive opportunity came with just less than three minutes remaining in the half when a header went just wide of the goal. The game was scoreless at the half.
"If we take care of some things in the front end and earlier in the game, we're not in a position where a call in the box can cost us," Young manager Nick Maksa said. "I thought we were much better in the second half, it took us too long to find our legs in the first half.
"We had multiple chances to put the game away, and we didn't take them. But that's soccer. It can be very cruel. This brings you back to Earth."
Something changed, however after halftime.
Young started to get more offensive traction, with Szymon Szkodon getting two prime opportunities in the first eight minutes of the half, first on a steal from the keeper, which he sent just wide of the goal, and then a header that also traveled just wide.
"Our coach and captains really inspired us at the halftime," Young's Sam Henle said. "They told us how we had to be first to every 50/50 ball and get ahead of them when we could."
"We work on getting in the box a lot," Maksa said. "We work hard but then aren't in the spot to finish it at the end. At practice we're working on our runs. They've committed to making sure they're in those right spots.
"I'm incredibly fortunate that we've got some talent. Szymon has stepped in for us recently. He hadn't gotten a lot of time early, because he was adjusting to varsity play. But he had a big goal against Evanston, a big goal against (University). We're really excited about what he's going to do for us in the future."
Taft's best scoring chance before the penalty kick came 10 minutes after halftime when the Young keeper misplayed a ball, and Taft's Gabriel Vidaurre pushed toward net. A Dolphins defender cleared his shot just before it traveled over the goal line.
Young broke the deadlock with 24 minutes, 10 seconds remaining. Henle took a pass from Cole Hockman and slotted it past Taft keeper Sebastian Rodriguez.
It was the first goal Taft surrendered during conference play.
"We had a good buildup going, more of a counterattack because we had caught them off guard," Henle said. "Then Cole had a great layoff to me. I shot it and hoped for the best."
The draw put Taft in the driver’s seat for the conference title. The Eagles own a sizeable lead in the goal-differential tiebreaker. Taft has outscored its conference opponents by a margin of 17-1; while Young holds a 9-2 edge.
Taft’s final league game is Wednesday at home against Von Steuben on Senior Night. Young concludes the conference campaign at Northside on Wednesday.
The Taft defense has been the bedrock of the team.
"Our defense is incredible this year," Sokola said. "Practice has had a lot to do with that, our guys work really hard.
"Plus, we've got a lot of experience in the back. They all gel really well, the chemistry is there. We shouldn't concede a lot with the backline."
He also feels that playing strong nonconference programs early has prepared Taft for this moment.
Both teams will get high seeds for the Chicago Public League tournament, which starts next week. IHSA playoff seeds come out Tuesday, and they hope for a good placement.
There’s a chance the teams could meet in the Chicago Public League tournament, but there's plenty of work to be done before then.
"We've got to put our chances away, and that's been a problem all year," Maksa said. "It's not something new tonight. We've had trouble scoring goals and everybody knows that.
"Tonight, it bit us a little bit. We just have to focus on the little things. Being in the right places, making the right passes, can we find the trailer, things like that. But I feel good."
Taft’s players are confident good things lie ahead.
"Before the season, we all knew that this was going to be the best Taft team there's ever been," Sokola said. "We knew we have talent. Everyone is good on the ball. We knew we had something special here."
Starting lineups
Taft
GK: Sebastian Rodriguez
D: Adrian Grden
D: Daniel Korniat
D: Jakub Kieras
D: Victor Lewicki
MF: Xavier Gamez
MF: Matej Sokola
MF: Bart Wojda
MF: Roy Molina
MF/W: Jair Duenas
F: Gabriel Vidaurre
Young
GK: Jackson Sprenger
D: Garen Petrulis
D: Nate Chmielowicz
D: John Stanton
D: Sascha Frias-Kaehler
M: Alejandro Goldstein
M: Nikhil Bapat
M: M.J. Hicks
F: Reese Kruschke
F: Szymon Szkodon
F: Cesar Lopez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Matej Sokola, sr., MF, Taft
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Young - Sam Henle (Cole Hockman), 56th minute
Taft - Matej Sokola (PK), 80th minute
inside track over Young for title
Sokola's equalizer gives Eagles edge in tiebreaker in Premier NW
By Michael Wojtychiw
CHICAGO -- Matej Sokola felt the weight on his shoulders when he stepped into the box to take a penalty kick with 33.7 seconds remaining in the game.
The Taft senior needed to make the shot. A miss would almost certainly give opponent Young the Chicago Public League Northwest Division title. Both teams entered the game with a 3-0-0 conference mark.
Besides the pressure, there was something else that stood against his chance to score -- his opponents’ familiarity with him.
"I usually go to the right side, but they all know me. "I always do that hesi(tation) before," he said.
"I saw the goalie's foot go a little to his right, so I knew he was going to try to go left.”
Sokola had made his mind up to stay with his strength.
“I was just confident and struck it. He almost got there anyway, but luckily it went in," he said.
The Taft senior slotted the ball past Young keeper Jackson Sprenger and forced the contest to end in a 1-1 deadlock.
The goal was Sokola’s second successful spot-kick and third score of the year. That bested his total from last season.
Taft manager Jeff Lucco was pleased with the effort.
"I liked that we found a way," he said. "I liked that in the first half we were composed. I thought we played really well; we just weren't dangerous.
"I liked that our guys found a way to stay in it, because we made some bad mistakes. Our heads dropped a little bit, but they recovered."
The game started off slow for Young, which celebrated the 11 members of its Class of ’23 on Senior Night. The Dolphins allowed the visitors to get deep into their defensive zone and earn numerous free kicks and a couple of corners.
Young's first true offensive opportunity came with just less than three minutes remaining in the half when a header went just wide of the goal. The game was scoreless at the half.
"If we take care of some things in the front end and earlier in the game, we're not in a position where a call in the box can cost us," Young manager Nick Maksa said. "I thought we were much better in the second half, it took us too long to find our legs in the first half.
"We had multiple chances to put the game away, and we didn't take them. But that's soccer. It can be very cruel. This brings you back to Earth."
Something changed, however after halftime.
Young started to get more offensive traction, with Szymon Szkodon getting two prime opportunities in the first eight minutes of the half, first on a steal from the keeper, which he sent just wide of the goal, and then a header that also traveled just wide.
"Our coach and captains really inspired us at the halftime," Young's Sam Henle said. "They told us how we had to be first to every 50/50 ball and get ahead of them when we could."
"We work on getting in the box a lot," Maksa said. "We work hard but then aren't in the spot to finish it at the end. At practice we're working on our runs. They've committed to making sure they're in those right spots.
"I'm incredibly fortunate that we've got some talent. Szymon has stepped in for us recently. He hadn't gotten a lot of time early, because he was adjusting to varsity play. But he had a big goal against Evanston, a big goal against (University). We're really excited about what he's going to do for us in the future."
Taft's best scoring chance before the penalty kick came 10 minutes after halftime when the Young keeper misplayed a ball, and Taft's Gabriel Vidaurre pushed toward net. A Dolphins defender cleared his shot just before it traveled over the goal line.
Young broke the deadlock with 24 minutes, 10 seconds remaining. Henle took a pass from Cole Hockman and slotted it past Taft keeper Sebastian Rodriguez.
It was the first goal Taft surrendered during conference play.
"We had a good buildup going, more of a counterattack because we had caught them off guard," Henle said. "Then Cole had a great layoff to me. I shot it and hoped for the best."
The draw put Taft in the driver’s seat for the conference title. The Eagles own a sizeable lead in the goal-differential tiebreaker. Taft has outscored its conference opponents by a margin of 17-1; while Young holds a 9-2 edge.
Taft’s final league game is Wednesday at home against Von Steuben on Senior Night. Young concludes the conference campaign at Northside on Wednesday.
The Taft defense has been the bedrock of the team.
"Our defense is incredible this year," Sokola said. "Practice has had a lot to do with that, our guys work really hard.
"Plus, we've got a lot of experience in the back. They all gel really well, the chemistry is there. We shouldn't concede a lot with the backline."
He also feels that playing strong nonconference programs early has prepared Taft for this moment.
Both teams will get high seeds for the Chicago Public League tournament, which starts next week. IHSA playoff seeds come out Tuesday, and they hope for a good placement.
There’s a chance the teams could meet in the Chicago Public League tournament, but there's plenty of work to be done before then.
"We've got to put our chances away, and that's been a problem all year," Maksa said. "It's not something new tonight. We've had trouble scoring goals and everybody knows that.
"Tonight, it bit us a little bit. We just have to focus on the little things. Being in the right places, making the right passes, can we find the trailer, things like that. But I feel good."
Taft’s players are confident good things lie ahead.
"Before the season, we all knew that this was going to be the best Taft team there's ever been," Sokola said. "We knew we have talent. Everyone is good on the ball. We knew we had something special here."
Starting lineups
Taft
GK: Sebastian Rodriguez
D: Adrian Grden
D: Daniel Korniat
D: Jakub Kieras
D: Victor Lewicki
MF: Xavier Gamez
MF: Matej Sokola
MF: Bart Wojda
MF: Roy Molina
MF/W: Jair Duenas
F: Gabriel Vidaurre
Young
GK: Jackson Sprenger
D: Garen Petrulis
D: Nate Chmielowicz
D: John Stanton
D: Sascha Frias-Kaehler
M: Alejandro Goldstein
M: Nikhil Bapat
M: M.J. Hicks
F: Reese Kruschke
F: Szymon Szkodon
F: Cesar Lopez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Matej Sokola, sr., MF, Taft
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Young - Sam Henle (Cole Hockman), 56th minute
Taft - Matej Sokola (PK), 80th minute