9/28/2010 Coal City
Playing their 7th game in 8 days, the Lions took on Coal City in the last conference game of the the season. It was also senior night, where the Lions took time to honor their two senior players, Francesco LaRosa and Grant Fitzgerald. Normally the team gives a gift to the departing seniors and this year was no exception, however Grant decided to give a gift back, as he scored a hat trick and led the Lions the 3 to 0 win over Coal City.
The heavy schedule down the stretch made this game a trap game, in which the Lions might be too tired to really put forth a good effort. This was talked about before the game and Grant made sure that was not going to be the case.
Just 3 minutes into the game, Grant recieved a short crossing pass from Pat Webb, sent the ball to the far post and actually hit the far post and the ball bounce back to the other side and in the goal for the quick 1 to 0 lead. While that was the half time score, the Lions were in complete control, allowing just 3 shots to Coal City, none of which were too dangerous. Pat Webb hit the post and cross bar twice with some close shots and then put a hand full over the top. Eric Osika also missed a few close in.
At the half, Francesco and Grant were honored and thanked for their career's in Lisle and just before the 2nd half started, it appeared the team was not focused on getting back out and playing more soccer. After coach did a little yelling, Grant said, "Don't worry coach, we got this handled." He the went out and scored his 2nd of 3 goals in the first 2 minutes of the half, also assisted by Pat Webb. In the 67th minute Grant scored number 3 from an Elijah Bester pass.
The Lions defense held the Coalers to just one shot in the 2nd half. The team played at a pretty good
level considering how much soccer they had played the past week. With a day off tomorrow the Lions get
right back into it on Thursday as they travel to Montini for a make up game.
Coal City Game Stats
9/27/2010 St. Joe's
After an exhausting weekend, the Lions had little rest as they traveled to St. Joe's for an non-conference battle against a very good AA level team. It was Senior night for St. Joe's and they played several of their non-starting seniors well into both halfs. That worked to Lisle's advantage as the Lions did a nice job of hanging with St. Joe's. The final score was 2 to 0, with both goals being scored by St. Joe's normal starting group, very late in the first half.
The Lions opened up the action with a corner kick, that Brad Blechschmidt almost put away. Brad got his head on the ball came with in inches of taking the 1 to 0 lead. The game went back and forth from there with both sides getting some good chances. However, 20 minutes in, St. Joe's brought in all there normal starting players. The Lions defense played well however, but were a bit tired.
St. Joe's scored there first goal with about 8 minutes left in the half, when there wing mid was left open about 20 yards out. He hit a really great shot and scored on the short side of the goal. The 2nd goal came in the last minute of the half, when St. Joe's had the ball on the left side of the goal and a centering pass came into the Lisle six. There was an uncovered forward right in the middle of the goal and he was able to push the finish past a diving Kazim Khan.
The 2nd half went similar to the 1st, where St. Joe played their non-starting Sr. for the first 20 minutes or so and the game was very even during that point. Lisle missed several goal scoring opportunities with either poor shots, or bad positioning on the ball. St. Joe again came back with their normal starting unit about 20 minutes in to the half. This time however, the Lions defense was able to keep them out of the net. And in fact the Lisle offense still had a few chances to score, but were unable to finish.
Overall a good effort by a very tired squad.
St. Joe's Game Stats
9/24/2010 to 9/25/2010 Glenbrook North Tournament
GreysLake North High School - Game 3
In the 3rd game of the tournament, the Lions took on AA Greyslake North High School. In a slugfest with 24 fouls called the Lions came away with their first win, in 3 years of trying in this upper level tournament. The Lions won 2 to 1 to complete a very tough and challenging 2 days of soccer.
The first half ended in a scoreless tie where both teams had opportunities but neither could put a solid shot on net. The Lions defense played a very "tight" zone, making the plays thay needed to make.
The 2nd half started with some good ball movement for Lisle and some great chances for goals. In the 47th minute of the game, Greyslake was called for a foul and while the player called for the foul was taking his time getting 10 yards back for the free kick, the ref said something to him. Right at that time, Pat Webb, send the restart kick towards the goal. The Greyslake defense was frozen due to the conversation between the ref and the defender called for the foul, but an alert Grant Fitzgerald made a move to the ball and headed it past the surprised keeper. The goal was allowed and Lisle had a 1 to 0 lead.
4 minutes later, Grant found Eric Osika with a through ball, between the sweeper and wing defender and Eric finished it off to give Lisle the 2 goal lead.
Greyslake responded with some intense play and had some good chances, but Kazim Khan was amazing in goal and made a few great stops to keep the Lions ahead. However, in the 62nd minute, the wing mid from Greyslake got open and had easy shot to cut the lead in half. It was an exciting half the rest of the way with both sides have good opportunities. The play of the game occured in the 72 minute, when a Greyslake forward broke free and headed for what looked like the game tying goal. Kazim was already on the ground from a previous save, and the left side of the goal was wide open. The forward send a shot towards the opening and Kazim somehow propelled himself toward the ball and just got his finger tips on it. He pulled the ball in close and made a great save.
That seemed to take he air out of Greyslake and while they continued to try to get the equalizer, the Lions defense
of Tayor Morton, Mitch Boyce, Jake Soukup and Matt Gill closed things out, by sending every loose ball back up the field.
This was the first time the Lions have won a game in this tournament and it felt pretty good.
Greyslake Game Stats
Lake Forest Academy - Game 2
By far the best team the Lions have faced this season, Lake Forest Academy pretty much did what ever they wanted to do. Scoring 3 goals in the first half and 4 in the 2nd half. Mean while the Lions could only muster 2 shots on goal. They did have some opportunities to score, but were unable to convert.
Part of the issue today was the effort they put forth on Friday night and then the quick turn around
for this game. About 10 hours. Fatigue was a factor in this game. Kazim Khan stayed sharp in net
getting 7 saves during the game.
Lake Forest Academy Game Stats
Glenbrook North - Game 1
Even though they were out matched, the Lions played a great game, against a much high level team. The final score was 3 to 0, and the stats over favored Glenbrook North, however, the Lions never backed down and played with tremendous heart for the entire 80 minutes.
Glenbrook North scored in the 11th minute of the game, when one of their forwards won a header on a crossed ball. It was really the only good goal of the evening. It took them another 25 minutes and two poor calls or should I say lack of calls by the ref's in the game. With 5 minutes in the half, Glenbrook lined up for a restart after a hand ball was called. The Lions played the off sides trap on the ensueing kick and had 5 GBN players off sides. However, the lines ref, did not make the call and the GBN wing mid walked in for the easy score.
With less than a minute to play, GBN had the ball deep in Lisle territory but a mis play by the forward pushed the ball out of bounds. However no whistle was blown and the forward brought the ball back into play and made the goal for th 3 to 0 lead, at the half.
The Lions defense led by Matt Gill, Taylor Morgen, Jake Soukup and Mitch Boyce played an outstanding 2nd half, keeping the GBN offense far enough away from the goal
to allow Keeper Kazim Khan enough room to make the saves. Kazim made 15 saves for the night and kept the Lions
in the game. While the result was never in doubt, the Lions never gave up and played with a great game
of defense. Klaudias Zemaitis played outstanding in the wing mid position. It was the first time he ever
played there and helped give rest to the starters, Brad Bleckschmidt and Billy Dickey. Max Tarasewicz also
saw some good time in the game and stepped up to the challange.
Glenbrook North Game Stats
9/23/2010 Westmont
The Lions scored often and early, taking the quick lead and then playing good defense the rest of the way to defeat Westmont 4 to 2. Freshmen Kyle Hendzel got the show going in the 8th minute of the game with a very nice shot to the upper right corner of the goal. Elijah Bester made a nice play to get the ball and then pass into Kyle for the assist.
Just a few minutes later, Kyle centered a ball up to Grant Fitzgerald and Grant sent the ball to the far right side of the goal out of the Westmont Keepers reach. The Lions had Westmont back on their heels and kept the pressure up. Less then 2 minutes later, Pat Webb found Grant in the same position where he got his first goal and Grant repeated the same shot and the Lions had the 3 to 0 lead.
A few minutes later, George Ancede was attempting to back pass to the Jake Soukup on the defensive end and a Westmont forward intercepted the pass and took it stright to the goal and scored on Keeper Kazim Khan. But the Lions got it right back less then 2 minutes later, when Eric Osika, found Grant open in front of the Westmont goal with a nice centering pass and Grant had the Hat Trick and the Lions had the 4 to 1 lead.
Westmont scored their 2nd goal very late in the game, when a mix up between Mitch Boyce and Keeper Brian Fiedler over who was going to make the play on the ball, and the Westmont forward ended up getting the ball close to the goal and Brian was not able to make the save.
For the game, the Lions outshot Westmont 24 to 7 and were in control for the majority of the game.
Westmont Game Stats
9/21/2010 Sandwich
The Lions played a lack luster game, against one of the lower level teams, which also got shorted by rain and Thunder. They defeated Sandwich 2 to 0. Scoring in the first 10 minutes of the game as Grant Fitzgerald getting an assist from Kyle Hendzel. That was it for scoring in the first half. Taylor Morten added a penality kick score, after Kyle Hendzel was fouled in the 18.Then the rains came and the game was called just 10 minutes into the 2nd half.
The defense played decent, allowing only 1 shot, although a dangerous shot late in the first half.
The Lions did a nice job with possession, passing the ball well. However, play off the ball and teamwork
to try and score was poor. But as they say, a win is a win and we'll take it and move on.
Sandwich Game Stats
9/16/2010 Herscher
The Lions played their best game of the season tonight against Conference Leader Herscher. Herscher was undefeated in conference coming into Lisle. The Lions took care of that issue and won the the game 3 to 1. Eric Osika started for the first time this season, coming back from hip flexor injury. His impact was felt immediatly as he scored all 3 goals for the Lions.
Herscher struck first with a goal coming off a restart, when Lions Keeper Kazim Khan was called for grabbing the ball outside the 18 area. On the ensuing free kick, Herscher scored when the ball got past Kazim's on the short side. It only took about 4 minutes for the Lions to answer. Eric scored his first goal of the game, on pure hussle and determination. The Herscher keeper couldn't get a handle on a center ball and Eric found him self in the middle of crowd and was able to get his foot on the ball and pushed it past Herscher Keeper.
His 2nd goal came just 2 and half minutes later, after retrieving the ball on the right side of the goal, Eric dribbled back toward the middle putting about 3 moves on 3 different defenders and then put the shot out of the keepers reach to the far side of the net. That put the Lions ahead 2 to 1.
The 2nd half was a battle of wills between both teams, as the game went back and forth on the field, with both teams getting good chances and both Keepers making some good saves to keep their respective teams in the game. However, with just 7 minutes to go, Eric completed the hat trick scoring off a nice little pass from Kyle Hendzel. Eric made a nice little move to beat the last Herscher defender and slid the ball past the keeper. It was the insurance goal the Lions needed. It seemed to take a little steam out of Herscher and the defense, simply cleared away any of the Herscher attacks for the next 6 minutes.
The starting defense of Taylor Morten, Matt Gill, Mitch Boyce and Jake Soukup played their best game
of the season, showing some real heart and determination. Herscher is a team with great speed and the quartet
did not allow one break away all game. Kazim Khan, also played a great game in goal, getting to every loose ball
in the penalty area. Oveall the entire team played very well.
Herscher Game Stats
9/14/2010 Reed-Custer
It took a little while to get it going, but the Lions finally did against ReedCuster and came away
with they're highest scoring game of the season. The Lions defeated Reed-Custer 8 to 1.
Scoring for Lisle were:
Grant Fitzgerald (unassisted)
Pat Webb (Elijah Bester Assist)
Brad Blechschmidt (Unassisted)
Grant Fitzgerald (Pat Webb Assist)
Francesco LaRosa (Unassisted)
Pat Webb (Unassisted)
George Ancede (Ben Buchelt Assist)
George Ancede (Unassisted)
Lisle back up Keeper Brian Fiedler picked up the win in the nets and recorded one save. This was the 2nd
game in a row, where the Lions played to their potential. The improvement is beginning to show in games
as the Lions are gaining some confidence and some experience. They have a big game against Herscher on Thursday.
Reed-Custer Game Stats
9/9/2010 Peotone
The pulse of the Lions Soccer Team was taken tonight, and it showed a strong beating heart. However, after playing their best game of the season, they lost to a very good Peotone team in Penality kicks. It was an exciting a very well played game by both teams at Benedictine field.
The Lions took the lead with a Grant Fitzgerald (Pat Webb Assist) goal off a corner kick, with 12 minutes left in the first half. Peotone struck back when Lisle was called for a foul deep in their own defensive third. The Peotone player placed a rocket of a shot, in the upper 90, over the wall and Kazim had no chance for the save. With just a minute left in the first half, Peotone got their 2nd goal of the game, after a long throw in towards the Lisle goal, the Peotone forward clearly used his forearm to bring the ball down, he settled it and scored a goal. But like many non-calls tonight (for both teams), the ref did not see it and allowed the play.
The Lions came out strong in the 2nd half and maintained possession with strong passing and their best effort of the season to get to every ball first. Lots of good tackles by the defense. Eric Osika saw his first action of the season and made an impact. He time was limited due to his injury, but he showed what kind of impact the Lions can expect as he gets back to full speed. Eric received the ball at mid field was able to dribble through the Peotone defense and take it down to the 18. He attempted to center the ball, but it bounced off a Peotone defender and went right to Grant, who was at the 10. Grant settled the ball and put it past the Peotone keeper. Lisle tied up the game 2 to 2.
With 7 minutes to go, Grant received a throw in from Eric and turned the ball into the Peotone penalty area and attempted to center the ball. It hit a Peotone defender on the hand and this time the same ref called the handball. (Although in my opinion, it should not have been called). Grant took and scored on the ensueing PK.
Peotone came right back and after a long throw in deep in Lisle territory, two missed header opportunities by Lisle resulted in a Peotone shot, right in front of the goal, which they made.
The game progressed into two overtimes, where Lisle dominated the first OT and Peotone the 2nd, but neither team as able to score the golden goal.
Finally to PKs, we go, Pat Webb's shot was saved by the Peotone keeper, Peotone made their first. Kyle Hentzel put his PK over the goal. Peotone made their 2nd. Matt Gill kept Lisle in the game by making his PK. But Peotone made their 4th, and winning the game.
Overall it was an exciting game to watch, but unfortunate to lose, as Lisle will have to win the rest of their conference games and hope that there is a big upset, amoungst the lower level teams in the conference to at least two of the big three. Hersher, Peotone and Manteno.
Kazim Khan played a great game in nets for the Lions and Jake Soukup had a very good game on defense for the Lions.
If the team will continue to work and improve like they did in tonights game, the play offs might be very
exciting for the Lions.
Peotone Game Stats
9/7/2010 Manteno
With Conference Championship ramafications, the young Lions decided to play their worst game of the year. losing to Manteno 5 to 1. Although the Lions scored first, there were too many good chances for Manteno early and even though they missed on several of them, it was clear Manteno was there to play and the Lions were mearly thinking about it.
Grant Fitzgerald scored the first goal, just 5 minutes in. He received the ball at the top of the penality area from Brad Blechschmidt and fired the shot to the far side of the goal for the 1 to 0 lead. The Lions defense kept dodging bullets the entire first half, giving up several break away chances. Lions Keeper Kazim Khan made some nice plays early to keep the Lions in the lead.
In the 20th minute a Manteno player had the ball on his foot and a Lisle defender reached for the ball and the offensive player moved around the defender and buried a nice shot past Kazim to tie the game. Just as it looked like the Lions were going to get out of the half, with the 1 to 1 tie, Manteno sent a lazy pass at the Lions goal. Kazim came out for the grab, but Francesco LaRosa, put his foot out trying to make a play and touched the ball in to the Lisle goal past Kazim. This occured with just 2 seconds left in the half.
The defense came out flat and played uninspired soccer the 2nd half, and gave up a quick goal in the first 90 seconds of the half. Allowing one Manteno forward to beat 3 or 4 defenders in close. It was simply a case of the Manteno player trying harder than the Lisle Players.
Manteno, scored 2 more goals in the 14th and 15th minute, on basic crossing plays, where again the Manteno Players went hard to the ball, with little challange from the Lions defense. Kazim had little chance to make a save in either case. With their team firmly in command, Manteno pulled a player back and doubled teamed Grant the rest of the way to make sure the Lions could not mount a comeback.
This was the Lions worst loss in conference in 6 years. It's time for this Lions team to dig deep and find
some heart at both practice and in the Thursday night game against Peotone.
Manteno Game Stats
9/3/2010 Somonauk
Somonauk came to Wilde Field tonight and took a quick 2 to 0 and it looked like it was going to be a long night for the Lions. But then something happened. A soccer team started to appear for the Lions as the team finally was able to put together some good possession as well as a tougher defense. The Lions clawed their way back into the game scoring two goals late, and ending the game with a 2 to 2 tie.
Somonauk's first goal came in the first 90 seconds as a corner kick came into the box. In a 50/50 ball Somonauks central midfielder got to the ball just a split second before a Lisle defender and keeper Kazim Khan. The Somonauk player hit the ball, it hit Kazim in the hands, but he gave up a rebound that hit the back of the Lisle defender and bounced into the goal for the quick 1 to 0 goal.
Just a quick 4 minutes later, Somonauk scored again, as the defense, allowed the wing mid player to get open deep in the defensive third. He dribbled in close and nailed the shot past Kazim and Somonauk had the 2 to 0 lead, just 5 and a half minutes into the game.
It was shortly after this point, where the Lisle players decided it was time to play soccer. The offense started to move the ball and string some passes together. The defense, started to play at a higher level and worked hard to keep Somonauk off the board the rest of the game. And while the half ended with a 2 to 0 deficit, there was a spark on the field.
After giving up 9 shots of goal, the defense came to life and limited Somonauk to just 3 shots on goal in the 2nd half. Meanwhile the offense was beginnig to show signs of life. It took sometime, but on the counter attack freshmen Billy Dicky took a pass and one touched back to the middle where Grant Fitzgerald was making a run (off the ball, wow). Grant settled the pass and put a shot the far side of the net and the Lions had cut the deficit in half. It was the 70th minute of the game and the Lions had some life.
The continued to press the Somonauk defense and 3 minutes later, Grant hit Brad Blechschmidt with a through ball and Brad to took two touches to settle and then put the ball in the same general place as Grant's goal and the Lions had the 2 to 2 going.
Kazim Khan came up big all night with some good saves to keep the Lions in the game all night. Jake Krpan did a great job subing for the injuried Kyle Hentzel, playing good defense from the forward position. This was clearly the best game of the season for the young lions.
The big question is whether this is a break through for the team, and will we play this hard the rest of the way.
Next week is championship week as the Lions take on Manteno on Tuesday and Peotone on Thursday. Two losses there
will put the Lions out of the race for conference Championship. Two wins will be set them up with a final big game the following
week against Herscher.
Somonauk Game Stats
9/2/2010 Wilmington
The Lions traveled to Wilmington to keep their current streak of 3 wins in a row going. It was a tough battle and a day of brutal hits, but the Lions managed to come away with a 1 to 0 win. The game was marred by 4 yellow cards, with several hits and plays from Wilmington that they had something else in mind, other then winning the game.
The injury list grew at this game, as Freshmen Forward Kyle Hentzel was taken out by a Wilmington defender. Early in the 2nd half, Kyle had just passed the ball and the defender came through Kyle with out any regard to the play. Kyle was down for a period of time and suffered a concussion and will miss at least the next game if not more. The Wilmington player was yellow carded for the play.
The Lions did score the games only goal in the 4th minute of the 2nd half, when Grant Fitzgerald came through the middle with the ball, and hit the corner of the net. While Wilmington out shot the Lions, most of the shots were off net, or Kazim Khan had easy saves notching his 2nd shutout. Other than the cheap play, Wilmington actually played one of their best games against the Lions, playing and challanging every ball. However, the sportsmanship or lack of it was fully on display tonight.
The Lions improve to 4 and 3 overall, and go to 2 and 0 in conference play.
Wilmington Game Stats
8/31/2010 Plano Plano came to Lisle to take on the Lions today and played the Lisle squad very tough. It tooks some work but Lisle ended up with the victory 3 to 0. Grant Fitzgerald was back from injury and played a key role in the game.
Although they control most of the first half, the Lions couldn't get a score until the 28th minute, when a Plano defender was called for a hand ball in the box. Grant was able to make the PK, even though the Plano Keeper got a hand on the ball. Just two minutes later, Pat Webb hit Grant with a through ball and Grant was in on the Plano goal and scored his 2nd goal of the game.
The defense kept Plano from getting any good looks on the goal during the first half. And the Lions took the 2 - 0 lead into halftime. Plano came out in the 2nd half, with a bit more pace and the Lions came out flat and lazy which resulted in several good looks for Plano. Fortunatly, Kazim Khan had things under control and made a few nice saves in the 2nd half. Plano also helped out by hitting the post 2 times on two very good shots. Once again the defense was getting flat and not supporting each other as they are supposed too.
Pat Webb got into the goal scoring when he stole the ball off a Plano pass, took the ball through a group of Plano defenders and then clamly put the ball in net and the Lions had their 3 goal lead.
Lisle evened their record at 3 wins and 3 loses for the season and are 1 - 0 in conference play.
Plano Game Stats
8/27/2010 - 8/28/2010 Bradley Bourbannais Tournament
The Lions completed a very tough first week of the season, playing 5 games in 6 days. All with out several players as the injury bug continues to plague the Lions. However, they did complete the week on a high note, winning the Bradley Bourbonnais consolation Championship. By the time the Lions finished Saturdays 2nd game, there were 7 players out with injury and several more that were banged up. However, the back ups played well enough on Saturday to win two games and got some great playing experience.
Kankakee - Consolation Championship Game
The pace of the game was pretty slow as both Kankakee and Lisle both had finished the morning games and then had just 15 minutes rest before starting this game. However, the Lions were able to take an early lead, when Kyle Hentzel received an entry pass from Jake Krpan and Kyle then sent the ball towards the Kankakee goal and the keeper missed the save. The Lions had the lead, in the 27th minute of the first half.
The score stayed that way until the mid point of the 2nd half, when Kankakee got a goal off a corner kick. Kazim Khan in goal for the Lions got his hands on the ball, but couldn't bring it in. It fell to the back post and a Kankakee player was there to put it in.
With 3 minutes to go in the game, Kyle Hentzel was fouled in the 18 and Pat Webb attempted a PK, unfortunatley, Pat hit the post and the ball bounced back to Pat and he put the rebound in the net. However, the rule for that play says that someone other than the PK kicker must touch the ball first. So no goal. The game ended in the tie and went to PK, using the tournament style PK.
Pat Webb made up for his earlier miss and connected on the first PK. Kazim then rose to the occasion and blocked
Kankakee's first attempt. Kyle Hentzel made his attempt as did the Kankakee player. Matt Gill then connected on his PK, and Kazim
worked his magic and stopped the 3rd Kankakee Player from scoring. Mitch Boyce's attempt was saved by the Kankakee keeper.
With the 3 to 1 lead, the 4th Kankakee player had to score. But Kazim was too tough one more time, stuffing the last attempt
and the Lions had the Consolulation Championship.
Kankakee Stats
Bishop MacNamara
In a pretty even game, the Lions were able to defeat Bishop McNamara 2 to 1 for their first victory of the season and of the BB Tournament. Freshmen Kyle Hentzel started the scoring, after receiving the ball from Brad Bleckschmidt, Kyle turned toward the goal the BMac keeper came at him and ran Kyle over, but Kyle had already release the ball to the far corner of the goal, and the Lions had the early lead.
4 minutes later, the defense allowed a BMac player open pretty deep in their 18, and he had a wide open shot to the goal. Lisle Keeper Brian Fiedler had little chance to make the save and the game was tied. Less than 2 minutes later a hand ball was called on the BMac player in his own penality area, and Pat Webb connected on the the PK to give the Lions the 2 to 1 lead.
The defense started to play better (Matt Gill, Jack Soukup, Mitch Boyce, Jimmy Gill and Klaudijus Zemartis) and
with their help, Brian Fiedler was able to shut down BMac the rest of the way.
Bishop MacNamara Stats
Danville
In a very physical and poorly officiated game, the Lions were defeated by Danville 3 to 0. Several Lions went down with injuries during the course of the game, as the officials allowed way too much contact from both sides. Danville also lost a player or two during the course of the game.
However, the Lions did not lose the game due to the officials. Danvilles Defense smothered the Lisle offense and shut down the Lions pretty well. With Grant Fitzgeral and Eric Osika still out with injury there wasn't much the offense could do.
The lions defense played well through much of the first half allowing only one goal. They kept the team in the game to the mid point of the 2nd half.
Danville did a good job of counter attacking and the with out a strong offensive possession game, the defense just wore down
and finally gave up two more goals late in the 2nd half.
Danville Stats
8/25/2010 Timothy Christian
The defending State Champs came to Lisle today to take the Lions in this young season. Timothy Christian showed why they should be considered a favorite to repeat or at least get back to state as they handled the Lions, defeating them 4 to 1. The Lions did make TC earn the victory by keeping it close, but the better team today was TC.
TC got on a board early with a mini break away and the Lisle Keeper Kazim Khan was not able to come up the save, after colliding with the TC forward. The result was a 1 to 0 lead for TC. Pat Webb tied the score 10 minutes later, after receiving the ball form Matt Gill. Pat took the ball to the end line and made a great shot on a very tough angle. For the next15 minutes the game played pretty even with both sides getting chances.
In the 32nd minute, TC had a throw in deep in the Lisle defensive third and the ball came right to a big group of players in front of the Lisle goal. However a TC forward got his head on it first, sent the ball toward net. Kazim got his hands on the ball, but couldn't haul it in and TC was up 2 to 1. It stayed that way until half time.
TC came out hard in the 2nd half, and the Lions were able to contain them for a long time, however, without a sustained possession for the Lisle squad, it was too much to ask, to keep TC out of the nets. They scored one in the 66th minute and another goal in the 71st minute, both on hustle plays, getting past our defense and getting easy goals in front of Kazim. Fatigue was a factor in the outcome, but the Lions will need to sharpen their defensive positioning and execution to avoid these types of goals in games to come.
The injury bug continues to keep the Lions a few players short as both Grant Fitzgerald and Eric Osika are still out.
Timothy Christian Stats
8/23/2010 Joliet West
The Lisle Lions started off the 2010 season with a trip to Joliet to take on Joliet West H.S. The Lions knew it was going to be a difficult game as the Tigers from Joliet were a AAA size school. But to the Lions credit they hung in the game and played tough the entire game. Unfortunatly, between injuries and the size of Joliet, it was just too much for the Lions to handle, as they lost 5 to 0.
Realization that the game is played at a much higher pace and with more physical contact then most of our players are used to, hit early, as the Tigers BROUGHT IT to the Lions. But the Lions battled and had a few opportunities of their own. The Lions kept the Tigers off the score board for 22 minutes, until Bret Ponczek was called for a trip in the penality area, giving the Tigers a PK, which they made. The Tigers added a 2nd goal, when a ball rolling towards our goal was called by Kazim in goal, but before he could get it, Joliet Wests forward, out raced our defense and Kazim to the ball and just touched it past Kazim and it rolled in for the 2 to 0 lead. Both of these first half goals could have and should have been avoided. The Lions almost got on the board late, then Brad Blechschmidt recieved a pass from Grant Fitzgerald and looked to have a break away. The Tigers keeper came out to challange, and Brad put the ball past, but just wide of the net.
The 2nd half, started quick for Joliet as they kept the ball deep in Lisle territory and it took some time the Lions to get it gear. Grant came out of the game 9 minutes in to the half, as he had been battling a sprained Patella tendon, it finally got the best of him. He played as long as he could, but it's a long season and there was no need to make the injury worse. Also missing from the line up was Eric Osika, out with an injury. Mising two of our best 3 players and playing up with a AAA team was too much for the team to handle for an entire 80 minutes. Just a few minutes after Grant left, the Tigers scored thier 3rd goal, off of a corner kick. The Tigers size was too much as no one was able to challange a header in the middle of the defense.
The defense tightened up and made Joliet work hard for their next goal. In fact it looked like the Lions were going to keep the game at 3 to 0. But in the 72 minute, fatigue took it's toll and the Lions gave up another goal, via a header off a cross, right in front of the goal. Joliet scored their final goal at the buzzer after the official allowed the Tigers forward to foul Taylor Morton, and take the ball in.
Pat Webb had a great game in the middle and gave the Lions a few more goal scoring chances in the 2nd half. Elijah Bester, got a break away from Pat, but the Tigers Keeper came out hard and stopped Elijah.
Coaches Note:
The effort was there the entire game, however, a lesson to be learned is to go full speed on every play.
Our Opponents did that tonight, but we did not. We are a young team and if we continue with
the effort we put in, we will straighten out the errors, both mental and tactical. I think you all
now understand my intensity during practices last week, we did not prepare properly for this game and the season.
You must bring your best effort to practice EVERYDAY. We have 4 more games against teams of this calibar during the season
and we MUST be able to do more than just compete against them. See you at practice.
Joliet West Stats