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Palatine beats Lions, loses star
It was a tough day to watch soccer for the Saint Viator faithful. After witnessing its second straight loss of the young season, the big crowd on hand at sun-kissed Palatine yesterday morning watched as their own player, Bill Krawzak and star striker Matt Marturano from Palatine, collided on a 50-50 challenge near midfield resulting in Marturano breaking his leg and Krawzak sustaining a deep cut just below his knee. Marturano was scheduled to undergo surgery at Northwest Community Hospital in the early afternoon to reportedly repair a broken tibia and fibia, while Krawzak likely would require several stitches to close his wound. Jacob Velinski would strike the eventual game-winner at 49 minutes and the visitors would not allow a sputtering Lions (0-2-0) attack to jump-start in the second half as it stayed winless after two matches. "We've all seen thousands of 50-50 balls challenged just like (that) one and we rarely see such a violent result. It's really tough to see and I feel badly for (Palatine coach) Willie (Filian), his club and the player." Taylor would have little else to say about the less than sparkling 80 minutes of soccer his club would record in a rematch of the Lions' final match of the 2008 season, in which they would drop 1-0, on a rain-soaked, muddy pitch which has since been replaced by field turf. "There's not much to say (about) this match," said a disappointed Taylor. "Everyone played as individuals today, and we took a big step back from our match at Lake Zurich (3-1 loss) on Wednesday night." "We showed some good play against Lake Zurich, and that provided hope for a better performance and result today. But it was never there, not even at the start." Not much happened from either club during the first half hour, with most of the play found between the 18's, and without any possession or imagination when in the attack. Palatine keeper Kyle Held turned a Billy Hamilton blast around the bar at 12 minutes to keep it scoreless, and would later do the same at 33 minutes when Lions junior Matt Morsches struck on the turn. Filian would insert rookie Stephan Thabuteau for the injured Marturano and the first-year player, and along with junior Kosta Risteski, would provide the energy and pace to give the Lions fits in their own end for the rest of the match. Just before the break, the Pirates had a pair of superb chances to find the back of the net when Jose Quintero nearly one-timed a well-aimed missile from Willie Filian Jr, who easily is the most accurate and deadly throw-in artist in his area. It would be Filian who would create the lone goal of this match when the senior sent a long throw from the near touchline- to the back post- where his mate Velinski would slip free of his mark and thump a header past keeper Scott Faul, who was sent in for the second-half for starter Patrick Windle. Filian nearly connected with Josh Feldman at the spot on another throw moments later. And in the Lions' best, and only opportunity, Tyler Stanley would hit the bar with teammate Petar Milenkovich providing the helper. Taylor would remove captains Trevor Wheeler, Alan Aboona and Brendan King near the hour mark, and the trio would not return down the stretch as the veteran head coach would go with others instead. "We would have sat others if we had players available to go in," said Taylor, who is still without injured midfielders Kevin Cavers and Jack Horvath. "But it's a little different this (year) because we played so much worse than our first match, and right now we are playing as individuals instead of as a team." "We will see how things shake down for us this week at the Glenbrook South tournament.
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2009 Schedule
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