AURORA – Lemont’s Andrew Guzy might only be a sophomore, but he’s not afraid to raise his voice when the opportunity presents itself.
The forward called out for the ball as he raced down the far side of the field in the 29th minute, signaling for Mitchell Sowa that he’d catch up to a cross-field pass if the ball was put into the open space ahead of him.
He was right. Guzy got up to Sowa’s pass, kept sprinting toward the goal and unleashed a rocket that provided the only scoring in Lemont’s 1-0 victory Wednesday over co-host Metea Valley in the WarStang Invitational.
“It’s something we’ve been trying to work on at practice, just switching the ball from one side to the other quickly, then just running onto the ball and trying to get a finish,” said Guzy, the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match. “I knew I had space on the wing, so I ran toward it and was screaming for the ball.
“The ball was played to me in a good spot by Mitch, and I took advantage of the opportunity and put it away.”
Lemont (17-2-0), which is ranked fourth in the Chicagoland Soccer Class AA Super 7, won its ninth-straight and 13th of its last 14 matches, while picking up its fifth-straight shutout. Keeper Adrian Lisowski made three saves.
Lemont stayed back most of the match, daring the Mustangs (9-8-4) to find a weakness in the defensive wall it presented.
“That was a hard-fought win,” Lemont coach Rick Prangen said. “We defended a lot, but the level of concentration and the discipline to do that is really hard to do. We haven’t had to do that all year, for the most part. So, it was a great experience for us to protect a one-goal lead on the road. The entire backline of Aiden (Ontiveros), Vincenzo (Mancini), Luciano (Mancini) and Ali (Nabulsi) was absolutely stellar.”
Prangen admitted his game plan meant there would be few scoring opportunities, and he was right. Lemont managed only two shots on goal, though it did have some good scoring chances throughout the match that went wide or were blocked in front of the Metea Valley net by keepers Patrick Maroney and Chase Grosrenaud, who split halves.
“We asked our midfielders to defend a little bit. And for Tyler (Chrisman), he’s a really offensive-minded guy, and it’s not in his DNA to sit back and defend,” Prangen said. “But today we needed that to be done, and he did it. That was selfless on this part.
“It was an entire team effort, that’s the really cool thing about seeing it. That’s 11 guys pulling in the same direction.”
For its part, Metea Valley worked to penetrate the defense only to be thwarted time and time again.
“I liked our effort today,” Mustangs coach Josh Robinson said. “We tried to do the right things. (Lemont) got that goal in the first half, and it allowed them to settle in a little bit defensively and organize themselves, which made it difficult to break down.
“In the first half we had a couple opportunities that we couldn’t finish, and then they go up 1-0. That allowed them to change what they had to do a little bit.”
The Mustangs started fast with several scoring chances in the opening eight minutes.
The first came during the fifth minute when Jake Anargyros booted a shot from about 30 yards that was grabbed by Lisowski against the near post. Anargyros also missed on a shot that sailed high in the next minute.
In the eighth minute, Anargyros sprung Michael Birkner in the penalty area, but the return centering pass was snatched by Lisowski. Later that minute, Anthony Hildreth missed wide on a decent scoring chance.
That was the last offensive surge the Mustangs had, despite controlling the ball for most of the first half and almost all of the second.
Defenders Cameron Leys and Langdon Kot pushed the ball upfield repeatedly, but the Mustangs got locked up in the attacking third and had to start over after Lemont cleared the ball out of danger multiple times.
“Credit to Cam and Langdon. They got put with a tough task when (Lemont) packed it in tight, trying to be the guys at the top to get the ball into dangerous areas,” Robinson said. “Everybody’s kind of like, ‘Move the ball!,’ and they got tasked with trying to keep our composure. People were getting panicky so credit to them.”
The situation left Leys feeling there was little room for error.
“As a centerback, I was seeing all the time I had,” Leys said. “I could get the ball and dribble about 40 yards without being touched, which I love doing. But that means that they’re sitting back so much.
“It felt like we had to be perfect in the back with the ball or else they’ll counter and score on us.”
While the loss in its own tournament wasn’t an ideal outcome, the Mustangs came away with positive feelings about their performance.
“I think we can learn from this, and we’ll be all right (for the playoffs),” Leys said. “I mean, (Lemont) is a great team. They’re the no. 1 seed in their sectional. We have to build from this and have a good week and a half of preparing before the playoffs.”
In the final round of the tournament Saturday, host Metea Valley topped Batavia 5-0, and Lemont fell to co-host Waubonsie Valley 2-1.
Starting lineups
Lemont
GK: Adrian Lisowski
D: Luciano Mancini
D: Aidan Ontiveros
D: Ali Nabulsi
MF: Vincenzo Mancini
MF: Tyler Chrisman
MF: Gabriel Zarycki
MF: Faraz Ayub
F: Billy Eliadis
F: John Robbins
F: Andrew Guzy
Metea Valley
GK: Patrick Maroney
D: Cameron Leys
D: Ethan Arbetman
D: Langdon Kot
MF: Anthony Hildreth
MF: Edson Rodriguez
MF: Sahil Khare
MF: Cole Hatfield
F: Michael Birkner
F: Jacob Ferreira
F: Jake Anargyros
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Andrew Guzy, so., F, Lemont
Scoring summary
First half
Lemont: Andrew Guzy (Mitchell Sowa), 29’
Second half
No scoring