End of the road for Prospect

By Mike Garofola

No. 10 Carmel (14-5-2) broke the hearts of No. 7 Prospect (12-5-3) Wednesday night with a 4-1 victory at the Glenbrook North regional in Northbrook.

The ESCC champs would strike for a trio of goals in a 7-minute span, the last coming in the 40th minute when junior Aaron Ogunro finished close in to culminate a terrific quarter hour of play, which effectively put the Corsairs through and into Saturday's final with Deerfield at 3:00.

"It was kind of cat and mouse match for the first 15 minutes or so as each side was testing the other," began Prospect head coach Kurt Trenkle.

"But we didn't react well as a team after (their) first goal, and despite coming out and playing with a lot of energy after the break, we just could not get through against a team that defended well and dropped so many players to hold its 4-goal lead."

Jack Stefanski would breathe life into the Corsairs with a superb left-footed free kick that curled around the Knights' wall at 14 minutes. His club responded with a relentless tempo which attacked from the outside, and plenty of pressure in waves up the center channel.

"It seemed like my goal really helped open things up (for) us and at the same time appeared to really deflate Prospect," offered Stefanski.

The Knights would add another striker after the break as it looked to cut into its 4-goal deficit, and with the help of a strong wind at its back, and more urgency in its pace, it didn't take long for the MSL East champs to find the back of the net.

Brayhan Nunez finished a superb serve to the back post from Will Hall at 46 minutes, and moments later a Richard Lenke goal was pulled back after a slow flag from the assistant referee was eventually called offside.

"Credit Prospect for never giving up, despite being down by 4, and if that second goal was (good) who knows what might have happened with so much momentum going their way," said a gracious Carmel head coach John Halloran.

"It's a tough way to end to the season, but we have a lot of good things to reflect on when it is all said and done," said Trenkle.

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