Saint Viator loses cohesion, falls to Lake Zurich

By Mike Garofola

Looking to banish the memory of its sudden and abrupt end to last season, Lake Zurich opened the 2009 season with a well-deserved 3-1 victory over visiting Saint Viator on an unusually cold August night.

The Bears’ talented trio of Tim Kreutz, Nick Janus and Eric Pothast are all committed to D-I programs next fall. The three potential all-state players proved a handful for the Lions, who entered their season-opener without 2 of its starters and perhaps a little too much inexperience to cope with the aforementioned strike force.

"Lake Zurich is a very good club. We played so well as a team in the first 15-20 minutes, but then began to play as individuals and it really ended up costing us the match," said Lions’ senior striker Alan Aboona, who along with mates Trevor Wheeler and Brendan King pulled on the captains’ armbands for head coach Mike Taylor.

"Alan said it best," began Taylor.

"We did play really well right from the opening whistle and for 20 minutes or so, but we stopped playing (together) and that combination, along with us getting a little tired cost us tonight."

The Lions came out well against a club which went 19-2-3 last season and returns nearly all of its first-11 to make them a favorite in the North Suburban Conference and likely one the best in the northern half of the state.

Without senior Kevin Cavers, who is just about back from a stress fracture (shin), the Lions midfield didn't miss a beat despite his absence, and in fact forced the home side to defend more than it wanted as the Lions possessed the ball beautifully from back to front.

"What we saw early on is something that we build off (of) as we ready ourselves for Palatine this Saturday," offered Taylor.

Aboona struck 6 minutes in when he brought down a King long ball out of the back, and after shielding a pair of Lake Zurich defenders he turned and blasted his shot past keeper Tyler Raineri, who had no chance on this one.

King, who played in front of all-state defender Matt Riggio, now at DePaul, has taken over the spot vacated by Riggio, and will lead a young back line after playing the stopper role in 2008 flawlessly.

"We've got (Jack) Horvath out in the middle, along with Kevin Cavers, and Bill Krawzak, normally an outside midfielder playing in the back, and he's not a hundred percent healthy yet either, so we had our hands full tonight against a ball club like Lake Zurich that just runs at you with a couple of big, strong and fast kids up top," said Taylor.

Pothast equalized at the 16-minute mark when the Bears worked a nifty short corner that allowed the Marquette-bound senior to redirect a helper from Kreutz.

Lions keeper Patrick Windle, in his second year as a starter, stopped Colin Rathe before intermission to keep it at 1-1, and made two other superb saves in the second-half, but was helpless on the final two strikes of the match.

Brimming with confidence after having the better run of play from spending a half hour forward, Lake Zurich found the eventual game-winner when Kreutz, on the tail end of a marvelous run, would easily slot past Windle at 48 minutes with his front line mate Janus providing the helper.

A short clear by Windle found an opportunistic Jose Corral, and the junior immediately located Kreutz, who ended the scoring on the night at 72 minutes.

"We found out some things about ourselves tonight and hopefully we can fix them in time for Saturday's ball game at Palatine," said Taylor.

Saint Viator player of the match: Alan Abooma

By Mike Garofola

Alan Aboona might just be the tonic the Lions attack will be looking forward to up top this fall as the 2A powerhouse goes in search of a spot in the last 4 of the final weekend of the soccer season in early November.

During the last few years, the Lions have fallen just short in its quest advance in the post-season because of its inability to have a true scorer on its roster, and if the 2-year starter can pick-up where he left off from last season, the Lions may hit the jackpot.

Aboona's overall play on both sides of the ball, coupled with his terrific goal on Wednesday against 3A Lake Zurich makes him our man-of-the-match.

"We've had back-to-back quick exits from the state playoffs after coming in (believing) we could go far," began Aboona.

"I would like to think that I can step (in) and be that consistent goal-scorer that we've been missing for awhile."

The 2-sport star (Aboona hopes to play basketball in college next year) struck for a pair of terrific goals in the Lions 5-0 win late last October over Buffalo Grove to help give Taylor his 400th career victory.

"We're expecting (Aboona) to be a top scorer for us this season, and along with Petar Milenkovich, and our 3 guys in the middle (Trevor Wheeler, Kevin Cavers and Billy Hamilton) we will have the players who can put the ball in the back of the net when we need it," said Taylor.

Bigger, faster and stronger than a year ago, Aboona says he's just looking to be consistent and to finish his opportunities when presented to him.