ELMHURST – St. Francis dominated most of the play in the second half Thursday afternoon.

The Spartans were aggressive, especially in the final third against host IC Prep.

Several players attempted shots – the wealth was spread among the forwards and midfielders.

IC Prep goalie Ben Erickson had his hands full, recording five of his seven saves after the break.

Shots kept coming in the keeper’s direction, via free kicks, laser-like bombs from distance or within a crowded box.

Erickson played tough and prevented from St. Francis from finding the tying goal. 

St. Francis did everything right in the final third but finish.

IC Prep managed to ride goals in the first 13 minutes to a 2-1 victory over St. Francis in a Chicago Catholic League White Division game Thursday afternoon at Lewis Stadium.

The Knights (5-5-1, 3-2-1) collected goals from senior Tristan Salgado and Jacob Dominick to deliver the win.

St. Francis (4-8-0, 3-3-0) has a few days to work out the kinks before hosting undefeated league favorite  DeLaSalle at 7 p.m. Oct. 8.

St. Francis’s John Coco was the only player to smack a ball that landed in the back of the net for the visitors. The junior forward blasted a ground shot, right to left, into the far post to cut the deficit to 2-1 in the 27th minute.

“I got the ball toward the top of the box, had a couple of defenders on my back,” the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match said. “I almost fell, and turned … and aimed for the bottom left corner.”

Coco said his club is showing signs of a possible breakthrough.

“We all need to work on our finishing and creating more opportunities and making more runs,” Coco said. “The positives are we didn’t give up and took it up a notch after my goal and almost won the game.”

St. Francis senior midfielder Peter Williams was in the thick of the action most of the game. He had a good look off a pass from Brady Hamman but went wide right in the 35th minute.

“We definitely played better in the second half,” Williams said. “We definitely found ways to switch the field more. They let us play around with the ball in the back. 

“Once we get to the midfield, we have to find ways to get better shots. In the second half, we definitely found more shots and found a way to defend better, especially with their five in the back.

“We had a lot of chances. We have to get better at finishing for sure. So far, we’ve had some tough losses against some tough teams. But we’re playing around with the ball better and having longer possessions, especially today. 

“Last year we had a lot of seniors, and this year we have a lot of new players on varsity. We’re starting to play like a team more.”

Hamman had the most opportunities on his team. He missed a bullet shot wide left in the 27th minute, then booted a shot through the football uprights in the 33rd minute. He had a shot saved in the 42nd minute and another one stopped 14 minutes later.

“After the first goal, we kind of deescalated a lot. After the second goal, we really stopped,” Hamman said. “When (John) Coco scored the goal, we kind of amped it up a lot. 

“We just couldn’t finish. I couldn’t finish. We definitely gave a good effort, but we have to work on the beginning of games. That’s where we mostly have lost some games.”

The Spartans were limited due to missing starting midfielder Brody Jochum and junior defender Will Esser. Junior goalie Nathan Magnuszewski played strong in the net despite dealing with an injury. He helped keep the Spartans in the game with six saves.

“The first goal just killed us,” coach Jim Winslow said. “It was a throw-in that kind of bounced around and we just stood there and looked at it. 

“The second half we did some pretty good stuff. We had a lot of chances. We missed some sitters. We had a couple we whiffed on that were sitters. 

“That’s part of the growing experience. It’s been one of those seasons. We haven’t had a ton of breaks. I think I’ve had two games where I had my full (team). You can’t write this stuff. It’s been crazy.”

In the final 18 minutes, the Spartans nearly knotted the game. Coco misfired wide right. Nicolas Tisljar had two close attempts, and Coco closed out the game with a shot that was saved with 2:15 remaining.

“I like the way they play and their intensity, but it’s about executing little things here and there,” Winslow said. “We will keep going forward and get after it our last two games. We will have our hands full with DeLaSalle.”

Whereas the Spartans slowly walked off the turf field, IC Prep was happy to linger for several minutes. The team gathered together for a picture to celebrate a benchmark win.

“This is the first time we’ve ever beaten St. Francis,” IC Prep coach Miguel Garcia said. “We’ve been struggling lately, but we’re peaking at the right time. I think this will help catapult us for the playoffs.”

Dominick opened up the scoring to give his team an 1-0 lead in the third minute.

“It came off a throw-in,” he said. “It bounced back out, and I headed back in. It bounced off one of my teammates, and I was just in the right spot to put it in the bottom right.

“Since my freshman year, we’ve played them three times. Even with the best team we’ve had in my freshman year, we couldn’t beat them. 

“I was really close to the seniors last year, so that loss to St. Francis was really tough. We had good teamwork today.”

Leading 1-0, the Knights padded their lead after Tristan Salgado took a pass from his brother Alan and scored via a shot inside the far post in the 13th minute for a 2-0 lead.

“I saw my brother dribbling down the sideline, and I made the run toward the middle,” Tristan Salgado said of the process that led to his third goal of the season. “He looked up, passed it back to me. I stopped the ball and had a clear shot.

“We finally got our win over St. Francis in our senior year. It’s the best. We played hard and played our game. We kept our heads. I think we have great potential for the playoffs and hope to carry this into the playoffs.”

Starting lineups

St. Francis
GK: Nathan Magnuszewski
D: Ryan Callender
D: Jonathan Yarusso
D: Luke Pounders
D: Henry Florczak
MF: Brady Hamman
MF: Luka Argamasilla
MF: Nicolas Tisljar
MF: Michael Hutchens
F: John Coco
F: Junior Diaz
 
IC Prep
GK: Ben Erickson
D: Tristan Salgado
D: Gael Mendoza
D: Matthew Denekas
D: Alex Simkowski
MF: Aaron Orozco
MF: Filip Ciepiela
MF: Sawyer LaSage
MF: Seal Pels
F: Jacob Dominick
F: Alan Salgado
 
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: John Coco, jr., F, St. Francis
 

Scoring summary

First half
IC Prep: Dominick (unassisted), 2’
IC Prep: Tristan Salgado (Alan Salgado), 13’
St. Francis: Coco (unassisted), 27’
 
Second half
No scoring