Red Devils can't convert on chances against Lions

By Curt Herron

Hinsdale Central definitely put the heat on Lyons Township during the squads' West Suburban Silver clash on Tuesday.

In a showdown of first place teams before a large and enthusiastic crowd, the Red Devils had far more chances than did the host Lions.

But LT managed to find the net twice during the opening half while Hinsdale could not and that set the tone for Lyons' 3-0 victory in Western Springs.

"I thought for the first 35 minutes that we had the better of the play and really the better of the opportunities and chances," Red Devils coach Mike Wiggins said. "But it's a credit to them that they had two that they put away.

"For us to have created the number of opportunities that we did in that period of time certainly kept us optimistic going into halftime since we felt that 2-0 wasn't really indicative of the way that the first half went.

"We spent a lot of time talking about mental toughness and the emotion that goes into this game and the rivalry. And for the most part I thought that our guys kept a level head throughout the course of the game."

Cameron Legan supplied much of the pressure, sending in a barrage of threatening free kicks and throw ins during the opening 40 minutes.

The first of those free kicks came less than 10 minutes into the match and was followed in short order by several more good chances.

Mitch Reavis sent a grounder to LT keeper Sully Fox and later headed a ball off the crossbar following a defensive stop on a shot by Eric Loebig.

Around the midpoint of the first half, Lenny Zavala had a shot on goal before a header was cleared by an LT defender following a Legan throw in.

Lyons (12-3, 3-0) struck for the first time with 16:09 remaining in the half when Luke Skertich connected following an assist from Elliot Borge.

The Red Devils (7-6-2, 2-1) threatened a short time later with another long free kick from Legan and then a corner kick from Taylor Cole.

With just under nine minutes left before the break, Legan took a pass from Mike Bucheleres and sent in an attempt which was deflected by Fox.

Mike Oleszkiewicz had a short shot stopped about three minutes after that but LT responded a short time later with its second score.

Hamdija Fejzic made it a 2-0 game with 3:19 left in the first half after taking a pass from Borge and putting a shot past keeper Jack O'Donnell.

Hinsdale had one more good chance in the first half as Andrew Worthington hit the crossbar before getting stopped on the rebound try.

"They were solid right from the back to the front and it was so hard to break them down. And when we did on the set plays as I sent through balls in, they'd go off the post or crossbar.

"It was hard to see them not go into the net. Once we were down a goal we thought we could come back from that and then we tried to step it up even more when we went down by two goals."

While the Red Devils had plenty of opportunities during the first half, they may have had a couple of good chances after the break.

The first came with about 27 minutes when Loebig sent a header which was stopped by the LT keeper, who got injured on the play.

With Fox sidelined, the Lions turned to Kevin Beglen but he only needed to stop a long free kick that Legan sent in his direction.

LT relied on its defense of Billy McGuinness, Dan Wielgos, Peter Kralovec-Kirchherr, Chris Meingast and Fejzic to post its tenth shutout.

The Lions picked up a final score with 9:32 left in the match after Horacio Sanchez headed in a shot following a cross by Fejzic.

Huge turnout for HC-LT rivalry match

By Curt Herron

Yes, there really was a very large crowd that attended a soccer match on Tuesday.

In a sight usually reserved for big postseason clashes, one of the bigger regular regular season crowds you'll see assembled on Tuesday.

They came in large numbers to Lyons Township's Bennett Field in Western Springs to see the clash between Hinsdale Central and the host Lions.

Thanks to the presence of hundreds of AYSO players as well as lower level performers from both programs, the gathering approached one thousand fans.

Beside first-place implications in the West Suburban Silver, the showdown between the Lions and Red Devils involved local bragging rights.

In a first half that featured plenty of oohs and aahs from both sides, the Red Devils dominated in chances but LT grabbed a 2-0 halftime advantage.

The Lions added another score in the second half and then blanked Hinsdale the rest of the way to record their tenth shutout of the season.

"What was impressive about tonight was the community turnout," Red Devils coach Mike Wiggins said. "Too bad, at least on our end, that we couldn't gave given the Hinsdale side a little more to talk about on the way home.

"The turnout tonight was great and to cover the letters 'LTHS' in the bleachers was impressive and not an easy thing to do. This is a community-involved effort where we're able to recognize the kids in the youth program.

"They got the chance to come out and see what this rivalry is all about. That created an environment which teams advancing in the postseason would probably see. It was a disappointing result but the night was good for us.

"Everything that we do has an eye to the end of the year. The learning doesn't come from you win or you lose but it's about all the things that go into it. So will this make us better for the end of the year? Absolutely."

Although there may have a bit more drama than he'd cared for, LT coach Paul Labbato was happy to see a good battle played out for large crowd.

"I want this game to back and forth since Hinsdale Central against Lyons Township is one of the five oldest rivalries in the state," Labbato said. "It's a great rivalry and coach Wiggins did a great job of preparing his team.

"I felt that both sides did an outstanding job of promoting this game get the AYSO and club teams out here. Both programs also agreed to cancel all practices and not schedule any games so all of those kids were able to be here.

"This was probably the biggest crowd that we've ever had here for soccer. I did some promoting but the relentless promoting that Mike Wiggins did was great and his e-mail list for something like this is as big as it gets."

Red Devils starters vs. Lions

Red Devils Schedule