Prospect stays unbeaten in MSL win over Elk Grove

By Gary Larsen

Prospect continued to stake its claim to a fine season in 2009, topping MSL rival Elk Grove 4-1 on Monday night.

The Knights got a pair of goals from Patryk Ruta and a goal each from Richard Lenke and Brayhan Nunez to improve to 4-0 on the young season.

“We played Maine East last week and then two weaker teams,” Prospect coach Kurt Trenkle said. “This was an MSL game, and it was ‘let’s see how good we really are’.”

Elk Grove’s goal late in the second half was the first scored on Prospect’s boys in back in four games.

“The defense has been solid and (Kyle) Mataloni was a stud tonight. You couldn’t get around him,” Trenkle said.
Mataloni swept things clean throughout against a Grens squad that was missing a pair of key starters due to injury.

“We’re a little banged up and we knew that Prospect has a very solid team,” said Grens coach Joe Bush. “Nothing got past (Mataloni) and on our defensive end we were playing without our two starters on the outside.”

“We’ll be all right and this was a good test against a good team. It’s still early.”

Elk Grove opened the contest with a quick corner and a cross that Prospect keeper Jim Brault snared in the air at the far post.

Action mainly occurred between the 18s for the next 10 minutes. Elk Grove sent a few long shots wide of frame and Ruta sent the Knights’ first shot on net in the 13th minute, a low roller handled easily by Grens keeper Mike Monegato.

Monegato saved a Ruta head shot in the 20th minute before Prospect earned a series of corner kicks spanning the next five minutes. Brault fielded another long Elk Grove shot and Prospect’s Will Hall sent a decent chance just wide of the post thereafter.

The night’s first pivotal moment came when Prospect’s Tyler Bengtsen cleared an Elk Grove shot off the goal line in the 33rd minute. Prospect’s Richard Lenke quickly provided the game’s next big moment one minute later.

Lenke scored at the near post in the 34th minute on a feed from Francisco Nunez, and the lead held to halftime. The sophomore has been a spark off the bench since Game One, grabbing the team scoring lead with 5 goals in 4 games.

“Francisco and Patryk have picked their games up, and Lenke has drawn three penalty kicks already this year,” Trenkle said. “All three of them can stretch the field and give us places to put the ball.”

Prospect’s 1-0 lead held to the 64th minute when Ruta converted a penalty kick. The sophomore has been itching to finish on a shot during the run of play this year, and he did just that in the 71st minute.

Ruta broke in alone on net thanks to a ball sent forward by Sam Slusher and finished to put Prospect up 3-0. Slusher has been an assist machine through four games.

“We didn’t play as well as we should have in the first half, but in the second half we stepped it up and scored a couple goals,” Ruta said. “It was really satisfying to get this win.”

Elk Grove’s Steve Pruim ended the Knights’ shutout streak at 3 games, scoring from 20 yards out in the 73rd minute.
Brault was steady all night in cutting off crosses and keeping a lid on net through nearly four full games. The lone shot thus far to get past him came when Pruim’s long, low shot redirected off a crowd in the box and slipped inside the far post.

“He had that shot covered. It just took a bad bounce,” Trenkle said. “He’s been very solid.”

Brayhan Nunez scored on a head shot at the far post thanks to a cross from the right side by Ray LaTourette, and the night’s scoring was over.

“We tried a couple things to move the ball around early in the game, but it wasn’t happening,” Prospect senior Mike Stankiewicz.
“Later on we tried to spread out the field and play the wings more. After that the forwards found space through the alleys, so we tried to pass through there and we got those breakaways.”

Ruta was happy to see his squad get a win on a day his side had circled on the calendar.

“Since the summer we’ve worked very hard. We were preparing for this game,” Ruta said. “We knew the first couple games, the first week, were going to be a warm-up for this.”

Man of the match: Patryk Ruta

By Gary Larsen

Prospect sophomore Patryk Ruta simply wanted in on the action.

After watching Francisco Nunez and Richard Lenke each post a hat-trick in a win over Ridgewood last week, Ruta was ready to join in the fun.

And what's more fun that posting two goals against a conference rival?

“I think Patryk really kind of solidified his game today,” Prospect coach Kurt Trenkle said of Ruta.. “He’s been kind of pressing. He saw those guys get all those goals in our last game and he wanted to get a piece of that.”

“He was on his horse a little too fast at times and was offside. We had to pull him back a little, but he’s on his game now.”

Ruta converted his second penalty kick of the year early in the second half, and then netted his first goal during the run of play by running down a pass sent ahead by Sam Slusher and breaking in alone on net.

“I've been hungry for a goal. I just waited for that opportunity to open up," Ruta said. "We made a couple good passes that opened up the game tonight.”

“We’re not the type of team that’s going to kick the ball and run. We have some fast guys but we like to possess the ball and play smart. That’s our game.”

Starting lineup vs. Elk Grove