Prospect gets back on track against Fremd

By Mike Garofola

After taking a step backwards on Tuesday night against MSL-leading Palatine, Prospect took four big steps forward on its home pitch Wednesday night.

The Knights (6-2-2, 3-1-1-10 pts.) used a 4-goal explosion in the second half to overwhelm visiting Fremd 4-0 to get itself back on top of the division race over idle Elk Grove.

"We needed a game like this," offered senior midfielder Sam Slusher.

"There has been some opportunities for us to break out of (our) scoring slump against Hoffman Estates, then last weekend (with) Glenbrook South, and even when Palatine shut us out the other night."

"But we needed to get that first one tonight to help open up the floodgates a little bit for all of us."

Fremd, which opened the season 2-0-0, and since has gone 0-6-1, was put under pressure almost from the start with Slusher and his compatriot Mike Stankiewicz leading the charge out of the middle, while sophomore Patryk Ruta and Francisco Nunez had far too much pace and energy up top for the Vikings.

"We had a lot of trouble marking people up from the middle on back, and with a team like Prospect that likes to knock it around and get everyone involved, that is going to lead to trouble," said Fremd head coach Steve Keller.

The Knights also showed a new look along the back for the first time this season with head coach Kurt Trenkle moving his all-conference sweeper, Kyle Mataloni, forward to the stopper role, while sending junior Mike Eggert to his spot, with Tyler Bengtsen and Victor LaPorte on the outside alongside Eggert.

"Tyler played a terrific game for us tonight, and Eggs (Eggert) has been coming along very well of late, and with Victor a main-stay back there, it was easier for us to move Kyle to get a little more physical play from that spot, while also giving our opponents another player who can get into the attack and help create," offered Trenkle.

Both coaches would mention later that Fremd keeper Eric Ciura helped keep the visitors in the match at the break with a couple of shining saves, including early on when the senior denied both Nunez and Ruta before the match was five minutes old.

However, despite dominating the play for the first 20 minutes, the Knights found themselves with nothing to celebrate as their strong play and challenge began to fade and become more difficult to generate any type of quality attack.

"We just haven't been sharp enough in the final third of late," admitted Slusher.

Fremd captain Spencer Filosa, who began the match in the back, was sent into the middle later on, and finally up top by Keller for the last quarter hour, helped produce the Vikings' best chance with intermission nearing.

The senior was on the end of a well-placed serve to the back post from teammate Michael Heika, and nearly headed in past Knights keeper Jim Brault if not for a superb save high in the air after crashing into the on-rushing Filosa.

"It was a frustrating night for us," began Filosa.

"We've had some improvement in the last couple of matches, but we're really struggling to possess and string passes together, and in turn... not able to get into the back of the net."

Prospect did just that after the break.

With one eye-pleasing goal after another, the home-side would slowly take control beginning with a strike at 46 minutes when Will Hall ran onto a cross from the left side by Stankiewicz and easily headed past a helpless Jeff Vasudevan, brought on by Keller for Ciura.

Vaseudevan would stop Brayhan Nunez moments later, and his counterpart Brault would do the same on the other end when the Vikings leading scorer, Lorenzo Savino, broke through on the left side.

Ruta would make it 2-0 when his 18-yard bomb from the right side found the far inside netting at 57 minutes.

The attacking quartet of Filosa, Savino, Travis Laschiava and Ryan Kreis worked hard to help the Vikings find a goal to cut the lead in half, but the newly-formed Knights backline did well to keep play in front of them and away from Brault, up to, and after yet another sensational goal by the home-side.

Stankiewicz and Mario Morales would exchange passes before Morales drove home his drive at 68 minutes, before Sylvestre Grimaldo finished things up with a spectacular late goal in which the junior unleashed from 35 yards that whistled in just under the woodwork.

"We play with a lot of heart, but unfortunately, when we get down," said Keller. "Ciura keep us in the match with a couple of good stops at the beginning, but we're are own worst enemy."

"That third goal was a direct result of some poor passing in our own end, which was compounded by our inability to track back and defend."

Both clubs will have the rest of the week off to train, with Fremd next taking on MSL East foe Buffalo Grove next Tuesday on the road while the Knights travel to Wheeling in a divisional match.

"We did a lot of good things tonight on both sides of the ball, and it was great to see us find the back of the net while creating plenty of chances all throughout the match," Trenkle would say.

Man of the match: Sam Slusher

By Mike Garofola

Sam Slusher helped keep Prospect's disappointing loss to MSL West-leading Palatine on Tuesday evening in perspective, and it was with that understanding which helped his club turn things around 24 hours later in a match which was just as important in the race for top honors and the ultimate prize four weeks from now.

"We were all talking (about) how important our match with Palatine was, and how they were leading their division, and how we (could) be playing against them in the MSL Cup later in the season," began the 2-year starter, and tri-captain.

"But after we lost (3-0) there were a lot of guys (down) on the bus ride home, which worried me because even though we were all disappointed, it was important for everyone to know that our season wasn't over after that loss, and what really mattered was for us to go out (against Fremd) and get back to playing well and winning."

Slusher figured a blow-out was in order to really jump-start the club, and although 40 minutes of soccer would find not a single shot deposited into the back of the Vikings net, the next 40 would see an eruption of sorts, with each goal better than the last.

"We've been really struggling in the final third, and I knew if we could get (one) then others would follow and our confidence would (be) restored."

Prospect head coach Kurt Trenkle says there's a reason Slusher, a senior midfielder, wears the captains armband.

"It's like having another coach (out) there," says Trenkle. "Sam sees the game so well, and when we come together at the break, he just seems to know what we need to fix or change, on both sides of the ball."

After the Knights drew with defending MSL champ Hersey last week, Hersey head coach Darren Llewellyn suggested that both Slusher and his teammate, Mike Stankiewicz, might be two of the best midfield partners in the area.