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Prospect and Hersey tie in MSL showdown By Mike Garofola Prospect continued its near perfect start to the 2009 soccer season with a hard-earned 2-2 draw at defending MSL champion Hersey Tuesday night, in a match that could well determine who will represent the division at the annual MSL Soccer Cup in mid-October. A quick-fire goal from senior Mike Stankiewicz, his second of the match, helped cancel a strike from Hersey striker Kyle Pietro just moments before intermission arrived, helping the visiting Knights (4-1-1) to pull even at the break. With the draw the Knights now stand at 1-0-1 in the MSL table with 4 points overall. "It's kind of funny that I had my halftime speech all set before Mike scored just before the break," joked Prospect head coach Kurt Trenkle. "After the goal my assistant came over to me and said now I had to change that speech." The always well-organized, impregnable defense in which Hersey head coach Darren Llewellyn has built since coming aboard has helped the Huskies (2-3-1) win an unprecedented three straight MSL titles. Despite a nearly rebuilt backline, the home side looked just as comfortable as always, despite conceding two goals to the visitors. "I really give Darren and his staff a lot of credit for the way that they train their guys to stay composed in their end and make it so difficult to get in on them with any regularity," offered Trenkle. The Knights, who had outscored opponents 13-3 leading up to this match, slowly began to earn the run of play thanks in part to Stankiewicz and his mate alongside, Sam Slusher. Prospect has an attacking group of players who can become quite vibrant when going forward. "Prospect is tough in the middle, and their guys on the outside keep coming and have a very good work rate," Llewellyn said. The Knights were patient for most of the evening in their build-up, but it was from the counter which saw them strike first at the quarter hour. Stankiewicz had enough pace on his shot in close to get past a diving Hersey keeper Greg Janicki to give the Knights the lead, with the help of sophomore Patryk Ruta. Janicki, a key figure in the Hersey run towards its title last season, was superb in goal for the entire 100 minutes of soccer, and was equally important in his club's attack. The big senior stepped up and took all of the free-kick opportunities from the mid-line and forward with terrific pace and accuracy. A late call on a foul just inside the box gave Kyle Pietro the chance to equalize at 22 minutes, and the senior easily converted his spot kick when Prospect keeper Jim Brault guessed the other way. "Not sure if it was indeed a foul, but that was the call and we moved on from it very well," observed Trenkle. Hersey stunned the visitors at 39 minutes when it scored against the run of play, with Pietro going past Brault after taking a nice ball from Connor Miklasz. Stankiewicz answered the call moments later when he stayed composed long enough to unload what Llewellyn would call a 'professional looking' goal from 14 yards to pull Prospect even at the break. "The work rate, pace and skill level of (Stankiewicz) is second to none, and he has to be one of the best in the area at his position," offered Llewellyn. Prospect began to dominate possession without really threatening, a trademark of Hersey's defensive tactics, however the visitors still managed to harass and challenge in and around the box up to the end of regulation and during the two, 10-minute extra periods. Stankiewicz and Slusher each had moments of genius in the attack, as did Francisco and Brayhan Nunez, who seemed to be nearly everywhere from each touchline, either creating with the ball or while helping open space for others. Francisco Nunez appeared to have hit the golden goal winner in the 94th minute, however the assistant referee correctly called the senior offside before his redirected header would find the back of the net on a Stankiewicz cross. "We just weren't sharp enough inside the (box) or when we got in the final third to finish off all of the chances that we created," admitted Stankiewicz. "All of us were looking forward to this on our soccer calendar because we knew how important a match this would be for us. It's a little disappointing coming away with just a tie but we'll pick-up and move forward." |
2009 Schedule
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