ROSELLE -- The state-of-the-art pitch was a star of the game Tuesday night at Lake Park’s East Campus.

So too were Addison Trail juniors Cristian Teran and Daniel Lupa.

On a night where host Lake Park played its first game on the brand-spanking new synthetic turf at Krupke Stadium, Addison Trail stole the spotlight.

The Blazers broke open a scoreless game with four goals after intermission to shock their hosts 4-0 in the opening match of the season for both teams.

Teran anchored a clean defensive effort, while Lupa scored twice.

“This was a great win,” said Addison Trail coach Ryan Dini. “We’ve been working these guys the last couple of weeks, and I think our conditioning really showed. I thought we were pretty fresh, especially in the second half.”

“The difference in the second half was our conditioning,” agreed Lupa, a 6-foot-3 forward. “At halftime we also talked about keeping the ball and playing smart with it. We had to stop playing the long ball, because every time we did that in the first half, they (the Lancers) kept winning it from us.”

Lake Park's original plan was to dedicate the new field, which drew rave reviews from the players, before Tuesday’s match. But the oppressive temperatures with nary a breath of wind led to the decision to delay the dedication ceremony to September 19 when DuKane Conference power St. Charles East comes to visit.

“We felt that the heat tonight was going to be a little bit unacceptable,” said Lancers assistant athletic director Josh Virostko of the rescheduling. “It was not going to be fan friendly so they moved it to September -- a conference game against a traditional rival. We thought it would make it a little better, plus it’ll give us more time to kind of make it a bigger deal.”

“Everyone is extremely excited about it (the new turf),” added Virostko. “It’s a project that has been in the making since the school has been around, since 1956. We’ve always felt that because we had a stadium that was soccer only - the football team plays at the West campus - we kept thinking that we could add on to it.”

“One thing that helped was the lacrosse element. Now that we’ve got two varsity sports playing on the field, soccer and lacrosse, we were able to pass the budget and get the field done.”

After the opening whistle, defense was the early calling card of the night. Both teams started out strong on the backline. Teran, of the Blazers, stood out for his side. Lake Park got sharp performances from starters Jacob Tourtillott and Lucas Boebel, and Dominick Nash off the bench.

The hosts had the first real chance of the game in the 14th minute when senior forward Francesco Cardone sent a nice ball into the box off a free kick. The strong ensuing shot from teammate Patrick Swacha was turned away by Addison Trail keeper Tomas Rozkuszka.

The Lancers got another opportunity late in the first half to take the lead when Ethan Su found Cardone with a perfect pass, but Cardone’s point-blank shot flew over the crossbar.

Then came the first half buzzer, and the halftime huddles. Addison Trail talked about what they had to do in the second 40 minutes to come away with a win.

“We were a little flat in the first half,” said Dini. “We were feeling the game out a little bit, but I feel like our combination passing in the second half was phenomenal. That led to a lot of scoring chances, just crashing the net and getting the tap-ins.”

Dini added that Teran was “all over the field for us.”

“He started last year for us as a sophomore,” said the coach, “and he made a little run in the playoffs, in the regional. And now him being an upperclassman, he’s just so skilled with the ball. He’s able to play over the top, play outside in the alleys, and just his vision and how calm he is with the ball gives us a weapon from the back.”

Addison Trail took the lead in the 47th minute when senior midfielder Joel Cruz Alvarez headed in a corner kick from Federico Alessi.

The Blazers doubled the lead with 24:37 remaining in the game when a corner kick led to a scrum in front of Lancers goalkeeper Jakub Simek.

Lupa, who said he was “kind of lucky on that one”, found the ball at his feet and fired it to the back of the net.

“We had a cross,” said the junior, “and my teammate missed the ball. Then they cleared it off the line; he shot it; it went off the defender and went right to me.”

The visitors made it 3-0 less than two minutes later with another Lupa score.

“Off a corner kick, just like my first goal,” said Lupa. “We crossed it, and my teammate took a shot that hit the post. The ball went back to me, and I knocked it in to the upper corner away from the goalie.”

Addison Trail kept the pressure on thereafter. Most of the action occurred near the Lake Park goal.

Lake Park had a great opportunity to cut in to the deficit in the 67th minute. Forward Michael Chioros dribbled past several defenders and had a clear path to the goal, but his left-footed attempt was just a little bit too tall.

The Blazers scored an insurance tally with just 1:22 remaining in the contest.

Addison Trail backup goalkeeper Adriano Padua sent a goal kick at least 50 yards in the air where it found the feet of Christopher Ortega.

Ortega beat the Lake Park keeper with a left-footed shot to close out the scoring.

“This being our first game, we were trying to settle in,” said Teran of the victory. “We saw how they (Lake Park) were playing in the first half, and (we used that) to attack them in the second half.”

First-year Lancers coach Mike Bruckner said that he found positives in his team’s effort.

“Their togetherness and staying committed to the plan and trying to carry it through,” said Bruckner of his squad. “We can say that there is trust from the coaches to the players, and I think the way they responded to the game tonight, considering what we’ve seen in the past, were steps in the right direction.

“(At halftime) we talked about what was working in the first half. We wanted to see more of that. We wanted to go out and win the ball and force them (Addison Trail) to play wide, which is what we had success with in the first half.

“We thought defensively we would come out in the second half and be solid, For the most part, our shape was good, but then they (the Blazers) were getting into the 18-yard box. Chaos was ensuing, and we weren’t first to the ball. So, we paid for that.”

Lancers defender Tourtillott, a senior, added that after the opening goal, the wind kind of went out of his team’s sails.

“Once we let that first one in,” said Tourtillott, “we dropped as a team. The game was even the whole time until then. But we’ve got a very young team and the more games we play the stronger we’ll get.”

Lake Park team manager Lei Kapitowska agreed, saying that the Lancer players have a “real passion for the game” this season.

Tourtillot backed up that sentiment while also giving props to the new turf.

“I loved it,” said the senior of the pristine synthetic field. “Before, the grass we had was not that good.”

“I just feel that there’s a very good vibe around the team right now. We’re in a good place.”

Starting lineups

Addison Trail
GK: Tomasz Rozkuszka
D: Erik Rodriguez
D: Jose Delgado
D: Saul Marin
D: Cristian Teran
MF: Joel Cruz Alvarez
MF: Daniel Herrera
F: Christopher Ortega
F: Daniel Lupa
F: Federico Alessi
F: Robert Rojas

Lake Park
GK: Jakub Simek
D: Jacob Tourtillott
D: Patrick Swacha
D: Lucas Boebel
MF: Danny Chukurov
MF: Anthony Juarez
MF: Andrew Donato
MF: Jonny Ademi
F: Francesco Cardone
F: Carlos Ramos
F: Nolan Strejc

Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match: Cristian Teran, jr., D, Addison Trail; 
Daniel Lupa, jr., F, Addison Trail

Scoring summary

First half
No scoring

Second half
Addison Trail: Alvarez (Alessi), 47’
Addison Trail: Lupa (Ortega), 54’
Addison Trail: Lupa (Lugardo), 56’
Addison Trail: Ortega (Padua), 78’