Lake Park stuns no. 4
St. Charles East for Warrior title
Pauonov goal holds up for 1-0 win
By Matt Le Cren
AURORA – Ivalyo Paounov’s first career varsity goal was a very, very big one.
The Lake Park senior forward scored 24 seconds into the second half and the Lancers held on for a 1-0 upset against St. Charles East, ranked fourth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 2, in the Warrior Invitational championship match Saturday night at Waubonsie Valley.
“He picked the darn best game to do it,” an elated Lake Park coach Sean Crosby said. “He’s put himself in those positions plenty of times.
“Unfortunately he’s had some injuries this season and he hasn’t been able to connect and string a number of games together. Now he’s finally getting back into his rhythm, and he’s so active for us, holding the ball for us and being able to keep it for us has been great.
“To put that one away was awesome.”
Paounov had Lake Park’s only shot on goal in the first half as two tired teams combined for only five shots. St. Charles East goalkeeper Kevin Cook made a diving save on that shot in the box with 13:00 remaining.
But Paounov didn’t miss when Andrew Eliopoulos sent a pass into the right side of the box shortly after the second half kickoff. Paounov got a step on his defender and slid a shot underneath the charging Cook.
It was Lake Park’s only quality scoring chance of the second half.
“I felt pressure and just got the shot off in time,” Paounov said. “It went underneath the goalie.
“The first half I had an opportunity with the left foot, and it didn’t connect. I just felt it coming, and it came.”
St. Charles East (14-3-2), which advanced to the final by knocking off West Chicago 4-1 in the afternoon, felt at least one goal would come but it never did. Despite dominating in the offensive third, the Saints were shut out for just the second time this season and first time in a loss.
“They had one shot on target the entire game and beat us 1-nil,” St. Charles East coach Paul Jennison said. “As far as we’re concerned, that’s not acceptable for our standards.
“The reality of the situation is, the way we play and the chances we created - we had maybe 20 or 30 chances – we should be more than capable with the talent on our team to finish. That’s just not acceptable. We have got to be far better.
“Don’t get me wrong, they fought incredibly hard, and they maximized all they had, but considering what we generated, to lose 1-0 is simply not good enough from us.”
It wasn’t as if the Saints weren’t trying. They had 13 shots and four corner-kicks, but six shots were saved and the best chance, a runner from 25 yards off the toe of Mitchell Lucatorto, sailed just wide of the right post.
“We just couldn’t’ finish today but give them credit,” said Cook, who made four saves. “They played really well today. We just didn’t seem to start playing hard until we went down.
“I just feel like we had a breakdown on D, and it cost us the game. Going into playoffs we just can’t make those mistakes.”
Especially against Lake Park, which could be the Saints’ opening round opponent. If the Lancers (8-9-2) get past Bartlett in a play-in game Oct. 15, they would get another chance to stun the Saints in the St. Charles East Regional semifinals.
“That’s the team we could be facing and that just shows that we can get through,” Paounov said. “So we’re really excited as a team.”
The only silver lining for the Saints is the loss came in the regular season.
“Now is the better time to lose, because we know what it’s like,” Cook said. “The past couple years we’ve had great programs and gone into the playoffs and gotten upset.
“I feel like it’s better to lose now than in two weeks. If they beat Bartlett that will be a great game. They’re a good team.”
Indeed, the Lancers are more talented than their record indicates. They have several talented playmakers and their defense was tenacious in shutting out two teams with winning records in a four-hour span Saturday.
“We gave it everything we got,” said Lake Park defender Sebastian Glodz, who along with Matteo Costa scored the goals in his team’s 2-0 win over Waubonsie Valley earlier in the day. “We found the will within us to get to every 50-50 ball, clear the ball and do anything we could to stop them.
“We didn’t know what to expect in the beginning. But we saw the game before this and after that we found out what they tried to do, and we tried stopping it.”
The Lancers were under pressure in their own zone but players like Glodz, Jack Fischer, Yuriy Chernitskyy and Max Ellenbecker rose to the challenge. Midfielders Matteo and Lorenzo Costa and Alessandro Montes came back to help when needed.
“Tired legs were there for sure, but we just found the power within us to keep going and keep motivating each other to finish the game off strong,” Glodz said. “This win means a lot to us right now.
“It keeps our momentum going to the next game and the postseason. It was huge.”
And unexpected.
“I can’t begin to describe what I saw today,” Crosby said. “If you asked me what I would have expected, I probably would have said at the start of the day I’m not sure what team we’re going to see.
“This week was such a battle for us. You could have told me this would have happened, and I still would have had trouble believing it.
“It was just amazing the way we played. It seemed like not a single guy was tired, it seemed like not a single guy had an injury, didn’t seem like a single guy was willing to give up on any play.
“This is something we’ve been waiting to see as a staff and even the players have been waiting to see. To be able to put it all together today was incredible.”
Most impressively, it came at the end of the busiest week of the season that saw the Lancers go 3-0 in pool play, also beating Batavia and Lemont, while losing DuPage Valley Conference games to Glenbard North and Neuqua Valley.
“This is our (sixth) game in (six) days, so we’ve had ups and down through the week, but we’ve really found a consistency throughout the whole game as defenders, midfielders and forwards,” Paounov said. “We just told ourselves we’re going to play physical against a big team, and we played well.”
It may not be a fluke.
“We played Naperville North and we showed we can compete with them; we were leading 2-0 at halftime,” Paounov said. “We can compete with the better teams. Our record just doesn’t show it.”
But the Lancers showed Saturday what Crosby always knew they were capable of.
“It was incredible and that’s what they can do when they put every ounce they have into a game,” Crosby said. “I can’t be more proud of the team doing that today.”
For the Saints, who received goals from Lucatorto, Nick Cayton, Rajin Bains and Truitt Battin in the win over West Chicago, the loss was a wake-up call.
“No excuses from us,” Jennison said. “We’ve got to be better.
“We could see them in two weeks time and that could have been our season over right there. So if these lads didn’t have any harsh realities to look at than this is definitely one.
“Soccer is the one game in the world where the team that generates the most doesn’t always win. We’ve got to do a better job.”
Starting lineups
Lake Park
GK Christian Lekki
D Yuriy Chernitskyy
D Max Ellenbecker
D Sebastian Glodz
D Jack Fischer
M Jesus Juarez
M Lorenzo Costa
M Matteo Costa
M Alesxandro Montes
M Franco Presta
F Ivaylo Paounov
St. Charles East
GK Kevin Cook
D Keiran Willig-Friedrich
D Zachary Neslon
D John Kempff
D Riley Arnold
M Aldo Bautista
M Truitt Battin
M Davis Frey
M Rajin Bains
F Nicholas Cayton
F Tyler Villanueva
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ivalyo Paounov, F, Lake Park
St. Charles East for Warrior title
Pauonov goal holds up for 1-0 win
By Matt Le Cren
AURORA – Ivalyo Paounov’s first career varsity goal was a very, very big one.
The Lake Park senior forward scored 24 seconds into the second half and the Lancers held on for a 1-0 upset against St. Charles East, ranked fourth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 2, in the Warrior Invitational championship match Saturday night at Waubonsie Valley.
“He picked the darn best game to do it,” an elated Lake Park coach Sean Crosby said. “He’s put himself in those positions plenty of times.
“Unfortunately he’s had some injuries this season and he hasn’t been able to connect and string a number of games together. Now he’s finally getting back into his rhythm, and he’s so active for us, holding the ball for us and being able to keep it for us has been great.
“To put that one away was awesome.”
Paounov had Lake Park’s only shot on goal in the first half as two tired teams combined for only five shots. St. Charles East goalkeeper Kevin Cook made a diving save on that shot in the box with 13:00 remaining.
But Paounov didn’t miss when Andrew Eliopoulos sent a pass into the right side of the box shortly after the second half kickoff. Paounov got a step on his defender and slid a shot underneath the charging Cook.
It was Lake Park’s only quality scoring chance of the second half.
“I felt pressure and just got the shot off in time,” Paounov said. “It went underneath the goalie.
“The first half I had an opportunity with the left foot, and it didn’t connect. I just felt it coming, and it came.”
St. Charles East (14-3-2), which advanced to the final by knocking off West Chicago 4-1 in the afternoon, felt at least one goal would come but it never did. Despite dominating in the offensive third, the Saints were shut out for just the second time this season and first time in a loss.
“They had one shot on target the entire game and beat us 1-nil,” St. Charles East coach Paul Jennison said. “As far as we’re concerned, that’s not acceptable for our standards.
“The reality of the situation is, the way we play and the chances we created - we had maybe 20 or 30 chances – we should be more than capable with the talent on our team to finish. That’s just not acceptable. We have got to be far better.
“Don’t get me wrong, they fought incredibly hard, and they maximized all they had, but considering what we generated, to lose 1-0 is simply not good enough from us.”
It wasn’t as if the Saints weren’t trying. They had 13 shots and four corner-kicks, but six shots were saved and the best chance, a runner from 25 yards off the toe of Mitchell Lucatorto, sailed just wide of the right post.
“We just couldn’t’ finish today but give them credit,” said Cook, who made four saves. “They played really well today. We just didn’t seem to start playing hard until we went down.
“I just feel like we had a breakdown on D, and it cost us the game. Going into playoffs we just can’t make those mistakes.”
Especially against Lake Park, which could be the Saints’ opening round opponent. If the Lancers (8-9-2) get past Bartlett in a play-in game Oct. 15, they would get another chance to stun the Saints in the St. Charles East Regional semifinals.
“That’s the team we could be facing and that just shows that we can get through,” Paounov said. “So we’re really excited as a team.”
The only silver lining for the Saints is the loss came in the regular season.
“Now is the better time to lose, because we know what it’s like,” Cook said. “The past couple years we’ve had great programs and gone into the playoffs and gotten upset.
“I feel like it’s better to lose now than in two weeks. If they beat Bartlett that will be a great game. They’re a good team.”
Indeed, the Lancers are more talented than their record indicates. They have several talented playmakers and their defense was tenacious in shutting out two teams with winning records in a four-hour span Saturday.
“We gave it everything we got,” said Lake Park defender Sebastian Glodz, who along with Matteo Costa scored the goals in his team’s 2-0 win over Waubonsie Valley earlier in the day. “We found the will within us to get to every 50-50 ball, clear the ball and do anything we could to stop them.
“We didn’t know what to expect in the beginning. But we saw the game before this and after that we found out what they tried to do, and we tried stopping it.”
The Lancers were under pressure in their own zone but players like Glodz, Jack Fischer, Yuriy Chernitskyy and Max Ellenbecker rose to the challenge. Midfielders Matteo and Lorenzo Costa and Alessandro Montes came back to help when needed.
“Tired legs were there for sure, but we just found the power within us to keep going and keep motivating each other to finish the game off strong,” Glodz said. “This win means a lot to us right now.
“It keeps our momentum going to the next game and the postseason. It was huge.”
And unexpected.
“I can’t begin to describe what I saw today,” Crosby said. “If you asked me what I would have expected, I probably would have said at the start of the day I’m not sure what team we’re going to see.
“This week was such a battle for us. You could have told me this would have happened, and I still would have had trouble believing it.
“It was just amazing the way we played. It seemed like not a single guy was tired, it seemed like not a single guy had an injury, didn’t seem like a single guy was willing to give up on any play.
“This is something we’ve been waiting to see as a staff and even the players have been waiting to see. To be able to put it all together today was incredible.”
Most impressively, it came at the end of the busiest week of the season that saw the Lancers go 3-0 in pool play, also beating Batavia and Lemont, while losing DuPage Valley Conference games to Glenbard North and Neuqua Valley.
“This is our (sixth) game in (six) days, so we’ve had ups and down through the week, but we’ve really found a consistency throughout the whole game as defenders, midfielders and forwards,” Paounov said. “We just told ourselves we’re going to play physical against a big team, and we played well.”
It may not be a fluke.
“We played Naperville North and we showed we can compete with them; we were leading 2-0 at halftime,” Paounov said. “We can compete with the better teams. Our record just doesn’t show it.”
But the Lancers showed Saturday what Crosby always knew they were capable of.
“It was incredible and that’s what they can do when they put every ounce they have into a game,” Crosby said. “I can’t be more proud of the team doing that today.”
For the Saints, who received goals from Lucatorto, Nick Cayton, Rajin Bains and Truitt Battin in the win over West Chicago, the loss was a wake-up call.
“No excuses from us,” Jennison said. “We’ve got to be better.
“We could see them in two weeks time and that could have been our season over right there. So if these lads didn’t have any harsh realities to look at than this is definitely one.
“Soccer is the one game in the world where the team that generates the most doesn’t always win. We’ve got to do a better job.”
Starting lineups
Lake Park
GK Christian Lekki
D Yuriy Chernitskyy
D Max Ellenbecker
D Sebastian Glodz
D Jack Fischer
M Jesus Juarez
M Lorenzo Costa
M Matteo Costa
M Alesxandro Montes
M Franco Presta
F Ivaylo Paounov
St. Charles East
GK Kevin Cook
D Keiran Willig-Friedrich
D Zachary Neslon
D John Kempff
D Riley Arnold
M Aldo Bautista
M Truitt Battin
M Davis Frey
M Rajin Bains
F Nicholas Cayton
F Tyler Villanueva
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ivalyo Paounov, F, Lake Park
