Lancers, Lupou bring the effort against Glenbard East

By Mike Garofola

In what was easily the best match of the young season, tournament host Lake Park (3-1-0) defeated Glenbard East 2-0 Tuesday night at Krupke Field to run its Lancers Classic record to 2-1-0 in advance of its next match on Thursday against Conant.

Lou Cesario struck the actual game-winner at 21 minutes and teammate Sal Cali added an insurance goal in the 67th minute to give keeper Marty Lupou and the Lancers the shutout.

"Yes, I would say this was our best effort of the season so far," said Lupou, who was flawless all throughout the match, especially on several well-placed crosses that Glenbard East (0-3-0) sent into the box in hopes of stretching and breaking down a water-tight backline.

"Marty was terrific tonight, and with the help of our defense, especially Nick Ricciardi, we were able to keep things clean in our own end," added captain Mike Keane.

Keane, Lupou, Ricciardi and striker Dewey Admire could all make a case for man-of-the-match honors on this night.

Admire was a thorn in the side for the Rams who had to be cautious with the super-quick senior who, if given a step, was past the backline and on his way into or near the box and keeper Elia Mrakovich, who himself, had a terrific match in goal.

"There was a lot more intensity out there from our entire team, and I think that's what has been missing in our other matches this season so far," Keane said.

The visiting Rams had the better run of play in the early stages, albeit not by much, as both sides played entertaining soccer with plenty of good touches and possession all over the pitch, in a spirited first quarter hour of play.

"We feel we have the players who can play and possess, and move the ball around with pace and energy. However, what we've been lacking is the confidence needed in the final third to find the back of the net," offered Glenbard East head coach Josh Adler, the former NIU star under then head coach Willy Roy.

The best chance of the match fell to Cesario and the Lancers outside midfielder didn't let it go to waste. His blast in close exploded into the back of the net at 21 minutes.

After the Cesario goal, East struggled to find the pace that it brought from the opening whistle, and nearly watched a late goal before intermission by the Lancers find its way into the back of the net if not for an alert clear near the spot from Ben Arellano.

Keane helped initiate the Lancers second goal by playing a strong ball up the right flank, and it was all Sal Cali after that.
Cali, with his motor running in high gear, never gave up until driving a wicked shot in from the near side and off an unfortunate Glenbard East defender, before finding its way past Mrakovich at the post.

Lupou was called upon to challenge a handful of serves into the box during the final 10 minutes, as the Rams looked to cut the lead in half. But the big keeper proved impossible to penetrate on Tuesday.

"We still have a long way to go, but tonight you could see that we played together as a team much better than any other match thus far, and that we have a better understanding of what we need to do to compete and win matches," Lancers coach Norm Hillner said.

"This team had 10 seniors in our starting line-up last year, and it's hard to replace that many starters the next year," offered Lupou.

"There's a lot of guys who are still figuring out the speed of play and what it takes to play on the varsity level, but tonight I think we took a step forward in our development," added Keane.

2009 Schedule