Boys soccer: Lake Central edges Highland for first victory of the season
By Kevin O’Keefe Post-Tribune correspondent August 20, 2012 11:18PM
Highland's Danny Alamillo and Lake Central's Adam VanMilligan go for the header in the first half Monday evening at Highland. | Jeffrey D. Nicholls~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: September 22, 2012 6:32AM
HIGHLAND — Lake Central made an Ethan Kawalak goal in the 57th minute stand up to win a 1-0 nail-biter Monday night in Highland.
Kawalak also was huge on the back line for the Indians, thwarting many Trojan scoring opportunities.
“I thought Ethan was the man of the match tonight,” said Lake Central coach Jereme Rainwater.
“I thought our entire back line was outstanding for us and I did something I haven’t done in my 14 years here, I started a freshman keeper tonight, Anthony Doreski.
“I had Anthony in class today and asked him if he was nervous. He said ‘Coach, it’s soccer, why should I be nervous?’”
That was a good enough answer for Rainwater.
Even though the half ended in a scoreless tie, both teams had scoring opportunities.
The Trojans made themselves felt early and late as Joey Goodeve nearly scored in the third minute as he picked up a loose ball played by Doreski and fired it just high and wide.
In the 39th minute, Marco Guerrero fired a shot that Doreski deflected just wide.
The Indians (1-2) nearly had a score in the 29th minute on a free kick, but Trojans keeper Austin Walters grabbed Kawalak’s header.
While the Indians had the better of the scoring chances in the second half, the Trojans had a couple of opportunities in the final minutes to tie the score.
Mike Mastey had two great chances himself, one of which was fired over the crossbar and his last second rush was kicked wide of the net.
It was another heartbreaker for the Trojans (0-2) early in the campaign. In both of their losses, only one goal was enough to beat them.
“That’s the luck of the draw,” said Highland coach Pere Dorsuleski.
“They played their hearts out tonight, they were winners tonight. That was Highland soccer tonight, the way it is supposed to be played back from the (former coach) Scott Hankins era.”
