Lions proud of effort in tough loss to Neuqua

By Curt Herron
Photos courtesy of Ken Fox

A lot of squads would be very dejected after allowing a deciding goal with just a couple of minutes remaining in a second overtime period.

And that disappointment would be greater when you factor in that it happened to be against the state's top team and that the majority of the match was played in a steady rain.

That's just the scenario that unfolded for Lyons Township on Sunday when it met up with Neuqua Valley in the title match of the Pepsi Showdown at Toyota Park in Bridgeview.

So even though the Wildcats walked away with a hard-fought 2-1 win after scoring with 2:04 left before a shootout, the Lions walked away feeling very proud of their effort.

After all, LT got clobbered 4-0 when the squads met on August 29 in a match which both sides realized was a case of one squad performing well early while the other did not.

In Sunday's rematch, the Lions (10-2), who had won eight straight since their defeat to Neuqua (13-0-1), had many more good chances during the final 40 minutes of regulation.

And even though it fell behind 1-0 with just 5:04 remaining in regular play, LT showed great resiliency as it answered with a score just 1:42 later to force the overtimes.

"We were so relaxed today and I just kept telling the guys to just go out and have fun," Lions coach Paul Labbato said. "This was all about the experience and from the beginning of the day to the end it was such a blast. I give our players a ton of credit since we came out and did the things that we wanted to do.

"We wanted to defend well and to find our chances and get forward and I think we created a lot. We can get through the rest of the season on a high note and we can think about the next big challenges, and there's tons of them. I think this is one of those games that might be able to catapult us through those games."

Although concerned about playing on a big field against a team like Neuqua that possesses so well, the LT coach felt that the wet conditions may have benefited his squad.

"Overall I thought we had a good game plan," Labbato said. "I think that the rain made the ball skip and it helped us a little bit on some of the balls that they were sending through. I knew they were going to have a ton of possession and we were going to give them some of that in the back and let them come forward.

"Neuqua Valley played a tough game yesterday so hats off to them since they're in condition. We felt toward the end of the game that we could start to loosen up what we were doing at the start and come at them a bit and we had our chances for stretches, and that's all that you can ask for is to get those chances."

After LT recorded many more good scoring chances during the second half, Neuqua definitely had the upper hand in the nearly 18 minutes of overtime play.

Elliot Borge sent a header to Wildcat keeper Jack Turanchik following a pass from Billy McGuinness about three minutes into the initial overtime.

But then Neuqua took over, as Scott Davis had an attempt deflected away by McGuinness, which resulted in a corner that was punched away by keeper Sully Fox.

During the final minutes of the first overtime, Fox also stopped a header from Will Butler and a line drive attempt from Bryan Ciesiulka.

In the second overtime, Fox stuffed a Davis try in the early going but with 2:04 left, Patrick Doody got free after taking a pass from Ciesiulka and put a short shot into the upper corner.

"Until that last shot I believed we were going to win," Fox said. "There wasn't much I could do on it so you have to give him credit for a great shot.

"We can't hang our heads considering how good of a game we gave them. We went into their place and got slapped around and today we fought to the end.

"They're a great team and we're a great team so hopefully we'll meet again in the playoffs. Until then, we just have to be proud of how well we did."

A steady rain greeted both squads as they took the field during the second half. Following up on a scoreless first half, little happened during the opening minutes.

LT began to apply the pressure about 12 minutes into the second half when Horacio Sanchez was just wide of the net on a header after taking a pass from Kyle Kurfirst.

Less than two minutes later, Andrew Aviles took a pass from Chris Meingast and fired off an attempt that was deflected away, resulting in a corner kick.

The Lions kept up the attack a few minutes later when Borge took a pass from Meingast and headed a shot toward the net just before Zach Pearsall sent in a liner.

Neuqua got into the act shortly before the midpoint of the second half as Tom Terlep was just wide of the net and then Jacob Brindle had a shot try stopped by Fox.

Pearsall directed a long free kick toward the net a short time later but then there was a lapse of nearly 13 minutes where neither squad seriously threatened.

Meingast sent a liner that Turanchik hauled in with just under six minutes remaining but the Wildcats would finally break the scoreless deadlock a short time later.

With 5:04 left in regulation play, Doody sent in a pass to Davis, who got off a short shot attempt that Fox couldn't stop and the Wildcats owned a 1-0 advantage.

But just as it looked like that goal might stand, the Lions stunned the Wildcats by capitalizing on the match's next good scoring opportunity to force a tie.

Peter Kralovec-Kirchherr came up with a loose ball at the top of the box and sent in a shot that Turanchik couldn't get a handle on with 3:22 remaining.

"It was tough when they scored on us," Kralovec-Kirchherr said. "Everyones' morale got down but we knew that we had to just keep fighting.

"I was happy and relieved after scoring since I knew we were going to at least get into overtime so that we could give them another shot.

"They're obviously a great team and I was happy we got another chance to play them since we didn't play to our potential in the first game."

There was a little more drama remaining in the final minute of regulation, however, as Aviles sent in a free kick that got past defenders and deflected off the post.

Danny Paice managed to come up with the loose ball and fired off a short attempt but Turanchik made a kick save to assure that play would go to the overtime periods.

LT had the best chances in the initial half, beginning midway through when Brian Heimerdinger sent in a corner kick that was punched away by the Wildcat keeper.

Pearsall later sent in a line drive that Turanchik had to dive toward in order to stop and Heimerdinger also had another long shot attempt which was hauled in.

"They're a great team but we really wanted to prove that we weren't four goals worse than them, which we knew that we weren't," Meingast said.

"There were a lot of space which we played through. We had a lot of time in the back finding balls through the midfield, which played great.

"This was the big setting in the middle of the season to be able to play at Toyota Park. It was a big deal for us to be able to play here."

2009 Schedule