Nunez-to-Ruta lifts Prospect past Conant

By Mike Garofola

Prospect put the finishing touches on its MSL East division title in spectacular style when sophomore Patryk Ruta stunned visiting Conant, scoring the game-winner in the 87th minute to help the Knights (12-3-3, 8-2-1) grab a 2-1 victory.

Next up for coach Kurt Trenkle's lads is the 2009 MSL Cup next Thursday at Palatine (7:00) as the Knights look to avenge a 3-0 defeat on September 15 at the hands of the Pirates, which earlier this week would clinch the MSL West crown with a 2-0 victory at Conant.

"(This) was a very good match for us to have in preparation of our championship match next week," admitted Trenkle, who thought his club wasn't as sharp as it could have been in the early stages.

"The sloppy, wet conditions, homecoming week, and of course, Conant being such a good team really seemed to effect the way we came out to play today."

"But I liked the way we were able to get our attack going later on in the second half, and especially right off the whistle in (OT) to eventually get the win."

A week full of rain and ugly weather dictated a much more conservative pace for the home-side, which had trouble playing through its midfield duo of Mike Stankiewicz and Sam Slusher.

This reduced the Knights attack plenty as the club was unable to get enough contact on the ball to find its front-runners, Ruta, Francisco Nunez, and Richard Lenke, when Trenkle would bring on the talented sophomore.

"It was really sloppy out there, especially after the match went on for 15-20 minutes," admitted Ruta.

The Cougars (12-2-4, 9-2-0) who have had a marvelous season themselves, were without leading scorer Kevin Reddington (13 goals) who did not dress following his red card booking 2 days ago in the Cougars match with Palatine.

However, the visitors would suffer an even bigger blow to its chances on Friday when back-up keeper Stefan Hyde was shown a red card at 35 minutes when the center official deemed the senior intentionally redirected an oncoming ball - with his hands, and outside the box.

At first glance, it would appear the call was a rather harsh decision, and one that, at the very least, should have resulted in a yellow card.

"The referee said he had to make the call because (Hyde) was the last man," said a disappointed Conant head coach Jason Franco.

"It actually looked like the ball might have even skipped up on (him) because of the slick conditions, and just hit or glance off of him around his thigh."

"It was a touch call, and one that led to a goal."

Stankiewicz would step up and bend his free-kick from 22 yards around the Cougars wall and just inside the far post, giving keeper Bobby Potratz no chance to stop or turn away.

The second half opened with each side showing more pace and energy, and despite playing a man down, Conant would gradually see the pendulum swing back in its favor thanks to its midfield winning more 50-50 balls, and its ability to connect with the speedy junior striker Shivam Patel.

Patel would trick his way to the near post, where he his nifty chip attempt of Jim Brault would test the Knights keeper and force his one-handed save to help keep things a 1-0 in the 55 minutes.

Moments later Potratz would react quickly on his race of his line to persuade a Ruta shot wide after Ruta and Francisco Nunez worked a nice 1-2 in close.

Brault went strong into the air to punch a well-paced corner from Stefan Zaharinov, however in doing so, the keeper gave up a rebound to Patel who thumped in the equalizer at 68 minutes.

As regulation neared, the Knights put an all-out push to go ahead, and nearly did when Lenke, Mario Morales and Will Hall each had a touch inside the 6-yard box, but were unable to finish.

"We told the guys at the break to play (more) simple and get some shots on frame and things might happen," said Trenkle.

"It seems like we finally (got) it late in the match, and especially in OT leading up to Patryk's goal."

The Ruta strike was a thing of beauty, and the slow track could not stop the super-quick exchange between the big striker and Francisco Nunez who sent his teammate through.

"Francisco gave me a great ball, and the defender (seemed) to miss to give me enough space to find the upper right corner," recounted Ruta.

"Jason has to be proud of the way his team played, especially after going a man down so early in the match," Trenkle would say.

"It was a tightly played match all throughout, and particularly in the second-half, and I’m happy we could come out of here, on homecoming night, with a win."

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