Friends meet in Deerfield-Lakes friendly
By Patrick Z. McGavin
As Kevin Kullby prepares to take his team to Deerfield for an important game Saturday afternoon, the Lakes coach has a direct and personal approach that transcends the normal weekend nonconference tilt of two Lake County programs.
“Deerfield’s head coach (Elliott Hurtig) and I were college teammates at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and after college we played soccer together on the same club for many years,” Kullby said. “We are good friends, and so we like to play each other. I am sure he would like to win this game because last year his team dominated the game but we won on a last minute shot to take the game 1-0.”
The Eagles have played well, going 8-4-0 in the first month of the season. Lakes has been very good at home, where they are 5-0-0. The big concern was how the team would react to the graduation of star Cameron Beezley, now a freshman at DePaul.
The answer is the form of Jeff Milostan, a forward who has scored 11 goals and distributed four assists. “He’s our go-to guy,” Kullby said. “He is super fast and every team we have played thus far has had their hands full.” Kulby is also high on the of play of midfielder Andrew Gaetano.
“He is very steady, and he has scored a few goals and gotten a few assists,” Kullby said. Defensively, the anchor is keeper Danny Wieczorek, who has posted five shutouts.
Lakes plays in the recently formed Northern Lake County league, a two-year old conference, with solid programs like Round Lake, Grayslake Central and Grayslake North. The team has also played much bigger schools like Stevenson and Elgin and held their own.
The Warriors are looking to recover from a 7-0 Central Suburban League North Division loss against no. 8 Glenbrook North on Tuesday night in Northbrook. The Spartans scored four first half goals, all on dead balls or re-starts, including a penalty kick.
Hurtig said defending set pieces was not an especially significant issue in the Warriors’ previous games.
“This was the game that exposed us the most in the back, but it is something we will work on and get better,” he said. “A lot of it is mental and waiting for the ball to come to you. It looked like we were hoping the ball would not come in our direction.”
No team wants to lose 7-0 just to see how they respond. The Warriors have some experience. They lost by the same margin against no. 4 New Trier on September 5th. The Warriors responded well by playing a solid Maine South squad to a 1-0 loss and then reeling off three-consecutive wins, including Stevenson.
“The foundation of our team is character,” Hurtig said.
Now the Warriors just have to get healthy. They have had some time off since the Glenbrook North game to recover from injuries. Senior midfielder Louis Solovy played little after injuring his right shoulder midway through the first half.
Deerfield (5-7-0) is a rapidly improving team with a varied offensive attack and a quality defense, despite the New Trier and Glenbrook North showings. The Warriors feature three standout attacking pieces up-top with Cory Johnson, Nikita Bankevich and Ryan David.
Solovy is the top player to watch in the middle, and the team has strong depth. Hurtig does not lose anything when Barak Farhi, Evan Oldham and Jude Tatham fly in off the bench. Dylan Capp and Jack Hammontree are big, physical defenders. Ryan Grady, athletic and big, is the keeper.
The renewal of the friendship and the rivalry between the programs is well worth checking out.
“As far as Deerfield is concerned, I have not scouted them but this game should be a good one,” Kullby said. “Both teams are very comparable, and I see this game being very close. Some years Deerfield has clearly been better, or a year or two, we have been fortunate to win, like last year.”
By Patrick Z. McGavin
As Kevin Kullby prepares to take his team to Deerfield for an important game Saturday afternoon, the Lakes coach has a direct and personal approach that transcends the normal weekend nonconference tilt of two Lake County programs.
“Deerfield’s head coach (Elliott Hurtig) and I were college teammates at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and after college we played soccer together on the same club for many years,” Kullby said. “We are good friends, and so we like to play each other. I am sure he would like to win this game because last year his team dominated the game but we won on a last minute shot to take the game 1-0.”
The Eagles have played well, going 8-4-0 in the first month of the season. Lakes has been very good at home, where they are 5-0-0. The big concern was how the team would react to the graduation of star Cameron Beezley, now a freshman at DePaul.
The answer is the form of Jeff Milostan, a forward who has scored 11 goals and distributed four assists. “He’s our go-to guy,” Kullby said. “He is super fast and every team we have played thus far has had their hands full.” Kulby is also high on the of play of midfielder Andrew Gaetano.
“He is very steady, and he has scored a few goals and gotten a few assists,” Kullby said. Defensively, the anchor is keeper Danny Wieczorek, who has posted five shutouts.
Lakes plays in the recently formed Northern Lake County league, a two-year old conference, with solid programs like Round Lake, Grayslake Central and Grayslake North. The team has also played much bigger schools like Stevenson and Elgin and held their own.
The Warriors are looking to recover from a 7-0 Central Suburban League North Division loss against no. 8 Glenbrook North on Tuesday night in Northbrook. The Spartans scored four first half goals, all on dead balls or re-starts, including a penalty kick.
Hurtig said defending set pieces was not an especially significant issue in the Warriors’ previous games.
“This was the game that exposed us the most in the back, but it is something we will work on and get better,” he said. “A lot of it is mental and waiting for the ball to come to you. It looked like we were hoping the ball would not come in our direction.”
No team wants to lose 7-0 just to see how they respond. The Warriors have some experience. They lost by the same margin against no. 4 New Trier on September 5th. The Warriors responded well by playing a solid Maine South squad to a 1-0 loss and then reeling off three-consecutive wins, including Stevenson.
“The foundation of our team is character,” Hurtig said.
Now the Warriors just have to get healthy. They have had some time off since the Glenbrook North game to recover from injuries. Senior midfielder Louis Solovy played little after injuring his right shoulder midway through the first half.
Deerfield (5-7-0) is a rapidly improving team with a varied offensive attack and a quality defense, despite the New Trier and Glenbrook North showings. The Warriors feature three standout attacking pieces up-top with Cory Johnson, Nikita Bankevich and Ryan David.
Solovy is the top player to watch in the middle, and the team has strong depth. Hurtig does not lose anything when Barak Farhi, Evan Oldham and Jude Tatham fly in off the bench. Dylan Capp and Jack Hammontree are big, physical defenders. Ryan Grady, athletic and big, is the keeper.
The renewal of the friendship and the rivalry between the programs is well worth checking out.
“As far as Deerfield is concerned, I have not scouted them but this game should be a good one,” Kullby said. “Both teams are very comparable, and I see this game being very close. Some years Deerfield has clearly been better, or a year or two, we have been fortunate to win, like last year.”