Young, Lane play to spirited draw
Sides display energy in scoreless nonconference contest
By Patrick Z. McGavin
CHICAGO — Forgetting gender, class or time of season for the moment, a soccer game involving Lane and Young has certain immutable characteristics: toughness; emotion; skill; and desire all jammed together. Nothing is left to chance.
“It’s always a battle back and forth,” Lane defender Ethan Peet said. “They weren’t giving us much, and we weren't giving them much either.
“That’s how it goes.”
The coaches were confident their side was the better one.
“They’re good,” Lane coach Andrew Ricks said.
“I thought we were the better team, but they score didn’t show it.”
In fact, the score itself was a double-blank, perhaps a fitting mark to a rivalry that always means a great deal more than just a score.
On a beautiful night in the West Loop, Lane and Young had moments of finesse, beauty and strength only to see their efforts neutralized in a 0-0 final Thursday.
In a new realignment of the Premier divisions of the Chicago Public League, Lane and Young are no longer in the same conference.
But that didn’t affect the tone of the game; it was ferocious, emotional and intense.
“I think tonight we were still thinking about our Tuesday game with Morton a little bit,” first-year Young coach Nick Maksa said.
“We got into our heads and came in this game thinking we’d walk all over these guys. That’s not how it works in a rivalry game.”
As a former player, and later an assistant coach on the boys and girls’ powerhouse programs at Naperville North, Maksa with many games against Naperville Central in his memory bank.
Lane (3-0-1) has not surrendered a goal this season. The team even played down a man in the final four minutes after a player was disqualified for allegedly directing a profanity against the center official.
Lane coach Andrew Ricks said the player disputed the official’s account. It spoke to the visceral nature of the battle.
The two keepers, Lane senior Gael Rodriguez and Young junior Jackson Sprenger, shared the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Man distinction.
“I have to give my team all the credit,” Rodriguez said. “I really appreciate the defense I have. They don’t let anything in or anything through.
“I’m going to be honest, I think they do more than me every single game.”
In the 80th minute, Young (1-1-2) had one the best scoring threats of the night, a free kick set just left of the top of the box.
Nikhil Bapat’s try sailed just above the bar.
“Those are really dangerous when you have those kind of shots just outside the box, especially with just 20 seconds left in the game like that,” Rodriguez said.
“That’s not something you want to have.”
Young entered the game off its most electrifying and perplexing performance of the season -- a 3-2 loss at Morton, which is ranked fifth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25.
In the Tuesday game, Young failed to protect a 2-0 second half lead. The Dolphins also failed to convert a penalty kick in the 73rd minute.
“That should not have happened on Tuesday,” said Young forward Reese Kruschke, who scored against the Mustangs.
“We were obviously disappointed, but you need a short-term memory.
“You can’t let it linger in your heads.”
The Dolphins have a skilled and very impressive freshman in forward M.J. Hicks.
Lanky and dynamic in the air, he created some compelling early opportunities.
The Dolphins were the more dangerous team throughout the first half and generated several corner kicks.
Diego Delgado, a defensive midfielder, had a header in the closing moments of the half push just wide of the mark.
Rodriguez was under a bit of duress for Lane.
“It’s just the mentality at this point,” Delgado said. “We have all the pieces. We just have to put them into place.
“We have shown we can play well against very good teams. Sometimes we’re not in the game mentally.”
Kruschke and Cole Hockman created some sharp and compelling actions at the top of Young’s formation.
“I thought we were better in the second half,” Maksa said. “I thought we turned it up a notch. We had a couple of opportunities.
“We had a couple of shots go across the face of the goal, and we were not in position to put them away.”
Scoring is an art, and its the hardest thing to achieve in a rivalry game of intense and deeply felt actions.
“Like I tell the guys, the little things win games,” Maksa said. “The fine details and the other things, sometimes we do them excellent, and sometimes we just aren’t quite focused enough.”
Sprenger is athletic and dynamic in the box. He made a couple of highlight reel stops that negated Lane scoring threats.
The most spectacular came in the 60th minute with a leaping stab off a sharp ball by Emiliano Gonzalez.
He also made an athletic and alert reaction to a ball from Benjamin Dopp in the 67th minute.
“This is my third time playing against them,” Sprenger said. “Once on the JV my freshman year, and now two on varsity.
“It’s a dogfight every time. It doesn’t matter who’s the better team in a rivalry. Whoever brings it most is going to win.”
Lane is a creative and fast team. Ricks has played around with his tactics, adopting a more open and democratic quick passing style in the manner of Solorio or Morton.
The style is dependent on having high-skilled players.
“There are risks involved when you play like this, but there are also benefits,” Ricks said.
“If players like it, which they do, then I have to embrace it. So far, those risks have turned out in our favor. They like having the ball at their feet, and now we have to clean up some other areas.”
Midfielder Kamil Pluta also generated some solid chances for Lane. An inadvertent hand ball against Hicks early in the second half gave Lane a decent shot on the right edge.
Jackson made a solid save.
It was that kind of night, back and forth, tough and engaged with both teams dialed in.
Young’s athletic, versatile defense featuring Delgado, Nate Chmielowicz, and Sascha Frias-Koehler met every challenge mounted by Lane.
Sometimes, self-criticism is the harshest. Both teams are bound up in tradition, honor and ambition.
“We have been on and off,” Delgado said. “We had a great game (1 0-0 tie Aug. 24) against Loyola the first game of the year, and then we slacked off against Payton (a 2-1 win Aug. 27).
“We had a great game against Morton. We beat Lane 3-0 last year, and that showed our true potential. This year we slacked off a bit.”
Scoreless ties are often a bittersweet pill to swallow, especially in the context of a Young-Lane soccer game.
“Those guys are going to battle, and they play hard,” Maksa said. “Ricks is a good coach, and he’s always going to have them ready to play hard.
“We have to get back to work. We have to bring the energy we had against Morton every night. If it’s once a week, then we are going to end up with a .500 record and a not-great sectional seed.”
Starting lineups
Lane
G: Gael Rodriguez
D: Emiliano Gonzalez
D: Kyle Hollman
D: Wilson Smiejek
D: Ethan Peet
MF: Brando Diaz
MF: Benjamin Dopp
MF: Kamil Pluta
MF: Mauro Ruiz
F: Alan Zavala
F: Diego Maldonado
Young
GK: Jackson Sprenger
D: Garen Petrulis
D: Diego Delgado
D: Sascha Frias-Kaehler
D: Nate Chmielowicz
MF: Alejandro Goldstein
MF: Cesar Lopez
MF: Nikhil Bapat
F: Cole Hockman
F: Reese Kruschke
F: M.J. Hicks
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match:
Gael Rodriguez, sr., Lane, GK;
Jackson Sprenger, jr., Young, GK
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
No scoring
Sides display energy in scoreless nonconference contest
By Patrick Z. McGavin
CHICAGO — Forgetting gender, class or time of season for the moment, a soccer game involving Lane and Young has certain immutable characteristics: toughness; emotion; skill; and desire all jammed together. Nothing is left to chance.
“It’s always a battle back and forth,” Lane defender Ethan Peet said. “They weren’t giving us much, and we weren't giving them much either.
“That’s how it goes.”
The coaches were confident their side was the better one.
“They’re good,” Lane coach Andrew Ricks said.
“I thought we were the better team, but they score didn’t show it.”
In fact, the score itself was a double-blank, perhaps a fitting mark to a rivalry that always means a great deal more than just a score.
On a beautiful night in the West Loop, Lane and Young had moments of finesse, beauty and strength only to see their efforts neutralized in a 0-0 final Thursday.
In a new realignment of the Premier divisions of the Chicago Public League, Lane and Young are no longer in the same conference.
But that didn’t affect the tone of the game; it was ferocious, emotional and intense.
“I think tonight we were still thinking about our Tuesday game with Morton a little bit,” first-year Young coach Nick Maksa said.
“We got into our heads and came in this game thinking we’d walk all over these guys. That’s not how it works in a rivalry game.”
As a former player, and later an assistant coach on the boys and girls’ powerhouse programs at Naperville North, Maksa with many games against Naperville Central in his memory bank.
Lane (3-0-1) has not surrendered a goal this season. The team even played down a man in the final four minutes after a player was disqualified for allegedly directing a profanity against the center official.
Lane coach Andrew Ricks said the player disputed the official’s account. It spoke to the visceral nature of the battle.
The two keepers, Lane senior Gael Rodriguez and Young junior Jackson Sprenger, shared the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Man distinction.
“I have to give my team all the credit,” Rodriguez said. “I really appreciate the defense I have. They don’t let anything in or anything through.
“I’m going to be honest, I think they do more than me every single game.”
In the 80th minute, Young (1-1-2) had one the best scoring threats of the night, a free kick set just left of the top of the box.
Nikhil Bapat’s try sailed just above the bar.
“Those are really dangerous when you have those kind of shots just outside the box, especially with just 20 seconds left in the game like that,” Rodriguez said.
“That’s not something you want to have.”
Young entered the game off its most electrifying and perplexing performance of the season -- a 3-2 loss at Morton, which is ranked fifth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25.
In the Tuesday game, Young failed to protect a 2-0 second half lead. The Dolphins also failed to convert a penalty kick in the 73rd minute.
“That should not have happened on Tuesday,” said Young forward Reese Kruschke, who scored against the Mustangs.
“We were obviously disappointed, but you need a short-term memory.
“You can’t let it linger in your heads.”
The Dolphins have a skilled and very impressive freshman in forward M.J. Hicks.
Lanky and dynamic in the air, he created some compelling early opportunities.
The Dolphins were the more dangerous team throughout the first half and generated several corner kicks.
Diego Delgado, a defensive midfielder, had a header in the closing moments of the half push just wide of the mark.
Rodriguez was under a bit of duress for Lane.
“It’s just the mentality at this point,” Delgado said. “We have all the pieces. We just have to put them into place.
“We have shown we can play well against very good teams. Sometimes we’re not in the game mentally.”
Kruschke and Cole Hockman created some sharp and compelling actions at the top of Young’s formation.
“I thought we were better in the second half,” Maksa said. “I thought we turned it up a notch. We had a couple of opportunities.
“We had a couple of shots go across the face of the goal, and we were not in position to put them away.”
Scoring is an art, and its the hardest thing to achieve in a rivalry game of intense and deeply felt actions.
“Like I tell the guys, the little things win games,” Maksa said. “The fine details and the other things, sometimes we do them excellent, and sometimes we just aren’t quite focused enough.”
Sprenger is athletic and dynamic in the box. He made a couple of highlight reel stops that negated Lane scoring threats.
The most spectacular came in the 60th minute with a leaping stab off a sharp ball by Emiliano Gonzalez.
He also made an athletic and alert reaction to a ball from Benjamin Dopp in the 67th minute.
“This is my third time playing against them,” Sprenger said. “Once on the JV my freshman year, and now two on varsity.
“It’s a dogfight every time. It doesn’t matter who’s the better team in a rivalry. Whoever brings it most is going to win.”
Lane is a creative and fast team. Ricks has played around with his tactics, adopting a more open and democratic quick passing style in the manner of Solorio or Morton.
The style is dependent on having high-skilled players.
“There are risks involved when you play like this, but there are also benefits,” Ricks said.
“If players like it, which they do, then I have to embrace it. So far, those risks have turned out in our favor. They like having the ball at their feet, and now we have to clean up some other areas.”
Midfielder Kamil Pluta also generated some solid chances for Lane. An inadvertent hand ball against Hicks early in the second half gave Lane a decent shot on the right edge.
Jackson made a solid save.
It was that kind of night, back and forth, tough and engaged with both teams dialed in.
Young’s athletic, versatile defense featuring Delgado, Nate Chmielowicz, and Sascha Frias-Koehler met every challenge mounted by Lane.
Sometimes, self-criticism is the harshest. Both teams are bound up in tradition, honor and ambition.
“We have been on and off,” Delgado said. “We had a great game (1 0-0 tie Aug. 24) against Loyola the first game of the year, and then we slacked off against Payton (a 2-1 win Aug. 27).
“We had a great game against Morton. We beat Lane 3-0 last year, and that showed our true potential. This year we slacked off a bit.”
Scoreless ties are often a bittersweet pill to swallow, especially in the context of a Young-Lane soccer game.
“Those guys are going to battle, and they play hard,” Maksa said. “Ricks is a good coach, and he’s always going to have them ready to play hard.
“We have to get back to work. We have to bring the energy we had against Morton every night. If it’s once a week, then we are going to end up with a .500 record and a not-great sectional seed.”
Starting lineups
Lane
G: Gael Rodriguez
D: Emiliano Gonzalez
D: Kyle Hollman
D: Wilson Smiejek
D: Ethan Peet
MF: Brando Diaz
MF: Benjamin Dopp
MF: Kamil Pluta
MF: Mauro Ruiz
F: Alan Zavala
F: Diego Maldonado
Young
GK: Jackson Sprenger
D: Garen Petrulis
D: Diego Delgado
D: Sascha Frias-Kaehler
D: Nate Chmielowicz
MF: Alejandro Goldstein
MF: Cesar Lopez
MF: Nikhil Bapat
F: Cole Hockman
F: Reese Kruschke
F: M.J. Hicks
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match:
Gael Rodriguez, sr., Lane, GK;
Jackson Sprenger, jr., Young, GK
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
No scoring