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Prospect finally breaks through vs. Rolling Meadows By Gary Larsen
Now if the Knights could just finish on goals during the first halves of games, coach Kurt Trenkle could rest a little easier on the bench. The host Knights were locked in a scoreless affair with Rolling Meadows through more than 60 minutes on Thursday, sending shots on and off frame with regularity. “We just get into those funks every once in a while. We’ve had a lot of zero-zero scores at halftime,” Trenkle said. “I don’t have a lot of criticism at halftime except for fine-tuning the attack.” “We wanted to stretch (Rolling Meadows) out a little bit because they were doing a great job of not over-pursuing. We’d play the ball wide and we’d have to play it back in and then we couldn’t do anything with it.” Prospect (8-2-2, 5-1-1 in MSL play) finally broke through when Lenke buried a penalty kick, and ensured the win when Sylvestre Grimaldo buried a sweet head shot down the stretch, on a perfect cross from Ray Latourette. “I didn’t think it was going in because I’m kind of bad with my head,” Grimaldo said. “It was a great ball by (Latourette), and I just tried to get behind the defenders. Whenever coach puts me in, I just want to be ready.” Grimaldo is fighting a numbers game for playing time in the attack, but Trenkle likes what he’s getting from his junior when he sends him into the fray. “That goal from Sylvestre certainly deserves some credit,” Trenkle said. “He has really been maximizing his minutes. He’s got fantastic touch, he’s skilled with both feet, and he has a powerful left-footed shot.” For the duration of Prospect’s struggles to finish on Thursday, Kyle Mataloni, Victor La Porte, Mike Eggert, and Tyler Bengtsen, and Knights’ keeper Jim Brault made sure nothing got past them in the defensive third. The shutout was Prospect’s 7th in 12 games, posted by a back line that is making far fewer mistakes in crucial moments than it did last year. “Our defense is just stronger. We’re playing together and avoiding mistakes,” said Brault, who is playing at another level in net this season. “I feel a lot better in net than last year,” he said. “Last year I’d have a couple bad games and then my confidence was down. This year I’m a lot stronger and I’m feeling better. If you don’t have your confidence, you second-guess every decision you have to make. When you have confidence you make stronger decisions and that’s been the difference for me this year.” Prospect pushed into its attacking third with regularity in the second half, and the Knights back line consistently kept Rolling Meadows from finding dangerous space. After a slew of Prospect corner kicks went for naught, a handball call against the Mustangs set up Lenke’s PK conversion. Grimaldo’s goal was set up when Ruta laid a ball off to Latourette on the right side. Latourette touched it once and sent it towards the back stick, where Grimaldo leaned in and headed it home.
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Man of the match: Kyle Mataloni By Gary Larsen
Prospect’s Kyle Mataloni isn’t having a very good season. He isn’t even having a decent season. “He’s having the best season of his career,” said Knights’ coach Kurt Trenkle. “He takes all of the momentum out of the other team’s attack.” “It’s almost like judo. He uses the momentum of their attack to start up ours. When it’s working really well, it’s fun to watch.” Mataloni’s rock-solid defensive play throughout Thursday’s 2-0 Knights’ win over visiting Rolling Meadows helped Prospect to its seventh shutout of the year. The senior points to his noggin in explaining Trenkle’s assessment of his play this year. “I’m playing smarter,” Mataloni said. “Last year there were times when I would over-commit, and then you try to do too much. I’m trying to play a little more simple, smart, and just get the job done without having to do anything spectacular.” Trenkle has moved Mataloni forward one spot from his sweeper’s spot recently, where he can become a more integral part of the Knights’ attack. “One of our questions this year was how do we get Kyle more involved in the offense, when we need him in back?” Trenkle said. “We’ve been able to do it because of how well everyone else is playing in back.” Mataloni’s value to Prospect’s effort on Thursday was simple. “He played mistake-free ball, and when he plays mistake-free ball, we win,” Trenkle said.
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With Sam Slusher, Mike Stankiewicz, Patryk Ruta, Francisco Nunez, Richard Lenke and a handful of others, Prospect has more than enough potential to apply attacking pressure against every team it plays.