Nunez and Lenke net hat-tricks in win over Ridgewood

By Gary Larsen

First it was a Sam Slusher cross and a finish by Francisco Nunez. Then it was a serve from Sam Slusher and a finish by Francisco Nunez.

Then – just to mix in some variety – it was a Sam Slusher through-ball and a third goal by Francisco Nunez.

All of this occurred during the first five minutes of Prospect’s eventual 6-0 win against Ridgewood on Thursday.

“We just played well as a team,” Slusher said. “We moved the ball quickly and everything is there right now. And hopefully it gets better because we’re going to see tougher competition.”

“It’s just about playing excited and wanting to win,” Nunez said of his squad’s fast start.

Nunez sat down after netting his third goal and teammate Richard Lenke entered the game. All Lenke did was match Nunez, scoring twice before halftime and completing his hat-trick late in the contest.

Victor LaPorte and Brayhan Nunez assisted on two of Lenke’s goals, and the third came on a penalty kick.

“It was nice because it allowed me to rest some guys,” Prospect coach Kurt Trenkle said of the big early lead his starters provided. “This was our third game this week and we have a few guys that are nicked up.”

“It also gets some guys game experience, so they’re ready when we need them.”

Prospect improved to 3-0 with Thursday’s win, which was part of this year’s Maine West tournament. The Knights beat Taft 1-0 on Tuesday as part of tournament play after winning 1-0 over Maine East on Monday on a Lenke goal.

“They had a killer instinct in this game that they didn’t have on Tuesday against Taft,” Trenkle said. “They played a great game Monday night against Maine East but had a letdown on Tuesday.”

The Knights hung on against Taft despite playing less than their best, with Lenke earning a foul in the box and Patryk Ruta converting the penalty kick.

Trenkle was glad to see his forwards checking back to receive balls with more regularity against Ridgewood, and Nunez did it well.

“That’s his position. He’s that withdrawn forward that can turn quickly or lay the ball off,” Trenkle said. “That made a big difference in putting this game away early.”

The final score may have been lop-sided but Ridgewood earned a good handful of corner kicks and sent a good number of long-range shots on net. Knights’ keeper Jim Brault handled everything Ridgewood threw at him.

“You have to give credit to Jim in goal. He stayed focused the whole game,” Trenkle said. “He stayed very cool and did some nice things tonight.”

With Mike Eggert sweeping, David Spudic at defensive stopper, and LaPorte and Michael Hamman on the outside, the Knights posted their third shutout in three games.

Trenkle was naturally happy to see Thursday’s defenders earn the shutout but he wants them to continue working on quicker play out of the back.

“We just need to do a little better job,” Trenkle said. “Sometimes we try to do too much with the ball in back. I’d like to see them release faster.”

Slusher and Brayhan Nunez started at the central midfield for Prospect, with Ray LaTourette and Will Hall on the outside. Ruta was also busy in the attack throughout the contest.

Player of the match: Sam Slusher

By Gary Larsen

With Prospect frontrunners Francisco Nunez and Richard Lenke each netting hat-tricks against Ridgewood, you might think they’d share honors as co-players of the game.

Not so fast.

“I would make an argument for Sam in the middle,” Prospect coach Kurt Trenkle said. “He played an all-state game tonight. His distributing was outstanding. He probably could have had four assists in the first half.”

Sam Slusher guided things from his central midfield spot to the tune of three assists in roughly the first five minutes of the Knights’ 6-0 win on Thursday, all on feeds to Nunez.

So far, the senior feels pretty good about Prospect’s scoring prospects for 2009. After Thursday’s win he tipped his hat to Nunez, Lenke, and Patryk Ruta.

“We had a huge problem finishing the ball last year, but we’re off to a better start this year,” Slusher said. “The forwards have played exceptionally well.”

Answering like a true team captain, Slusher was also quick to point to a few areas that the Knights need to continue polishing.

“There are always things to improve with. The couple teams we’ve seen, we’ve given up too many shots on goal,” Slusher said. “We can’t do that when we get to teams that have all-state finishers.”

“We also lost the ball a few times a midfield tonight, and it’s never fun to watch the other team counterattack. So we can clean it up everywhere.”