ARLINGTON HEIGHTS -- Nate Mabry helped Hersey write itself into the record books with an early goal and a sensational assist on a Kacper Lechowic goal late in the first half to help his club lift the Mid-Suburban League championship trophy.
Hersey earned a hard-fought 2-0 victory over visiting Conant to capture the 49th edition of the Mid-Suburban League Soccer Cup in front of a large crowd Thursday night at Roland Goins Stadium.
Mabry's flip-throw guided-missile flew to the back post where it went in off the keeper. Then he did it once again, this time finding Lechowicz who redirected the toss off the underside of the bar and over the goal line at the same post.
"Nate's ability to place his flip-throws with incredible precision has been a massive asset for us," said Hersey manager Mike Rusniak. “When he does it in our defensive third, it helps us get out when we really need to.”
The East Division representative managed its two-goal advantage after the break by keeping Conant’s two-time all-state forward Krystian Niziolek (21 goals) from getting any clean looks on frame. The Huskies’ sticky, disruptive style of defensive soccer led their manager to his first league title.
"I cannot tell you how proud I am of these guys right now," said Rusniak.
"Conant is a very good team. Jason (Franco) is a great coach. They have the MSL West Division Player of the Year and a likely three-time all-state player in Niziolek, and a fantastic player in the middle (Ibuki Takahashi) who runs their attack. They’re a team that can possess, knock the ball around and just be a very dangerous team to defend."
Grabbing the lead remained a top talking-point.
"All season long we have driven home the importance of scoring early," continued Rusniak.
"That early goal, I think it calmed some nerves, and let us settle in to play to our strengths."
Conant couldn’t defuse Hersey’s biggest offensive weapon.
"It was super frustrating to concede both goals on long throws, especially that first one before we even played ten minutes," said Franco, who is now in his 17th year.
"When you allow those long throws in your own end, you're playing to their strength. Suddenly it becomes a scoring chance of which they took full advantage tonight.
"They are very good defensively and squeeze the field so well to deny any time and space. We struggled with that, as well as the physical play that they brought.”
The Cougars (10-8-2) claimed a Soccer Cup berth for the seventh time and first since 2002. It came due to a perfect 5-0-0 record against division rivals. Conant concluded the conference season with consecutive clean-sheet victories over Schaumburg, Fremd and then Hoffman Estates to lock out 2023 division champion Palatine.
"I thought we came ready to play, but we did not defend those flip throws. After that first goal, we kind of got away from what we do," said a disappointed Gabe Dobrincu, the Cougars terrific centerback.
"We had maybe 70 percent of the possession tonight, but we didn't do much with it in the final third, and just could not get Krystian the ball where he could be dangerous."
Containing Conant’s no. 1 threat was a source of pride for Hersey.
"We defended so well as a team tonight, it's what we do best,” said co-captain Mabry. “The job that Urik (Contla) did on no. 7 (Niziolek) was key in this victory.
"(Urik) just came back from an ankle injury, but he was just great marking throughout the game, keeping him (Niziolek) out wide and not allowing him get a good look on goal or creating for others.”
For their intense play, Lechowicz and Mabry shared the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honor.
Sophomore Teddy Reyes nearly struck the opener for the home side in the fourth minute when he ran freely onto a lovely ball provided by Lechowicz after he went end line.
While both sides committed to defending deep in their own ends by having ront-runners track back to help cover just inside the midline, Hersey (12-3-5) was able to create constant pressure. That led to the first of six first half deep throws from Mabry in the eighth minute.
"(They) just have to get you to kick the ball out somewhere in your defensive half, and it quickly becomes a dangerous situation that you have to be diligent in defending," said Franco.
Mabry's long flip-throw ended up in the net. The Conant coaching staff argued that it was untouched, which by rule would have erased the opener.
However, after a brief discussion between the officials, center referee, Fabio Pompa pointed to the middle of the park to confirm the first goal of the evening.
Conant went after the equalizer.
Eric Plaza, who delivered a handful of on-target free kicks over the course of the contest, sent a 30-yarder into the Huskies box to Takahashi, who headed wide.
Moments later, Jimmy Cirbo fired wide after he met a Dobrincu free kick moments later.
J.D. Becerril made a superb goal-saving stop in the 18th minute.
That's when the pace of Johnny Antoniou and Lechowicz opened up a small window near the spot for Nik VanDeMark, whose close-range effort wax bravely turned away by Becerril.
With Conant senior Damian Porebski winning the first- and second-ball ground and air war, and teammates Cirba, Plaza and Takahashi doing their part to claim plenty of the possession, Hersey was forced to defend and look to counter with deep balls over the top.
"I thought we did a good job of winning the midfield, and finding moments of possession that usually got us close to the box," began Franco.
"It helped us draw some fouls, and allowed us to be dangerous on our set pieces, but … we needed to be more composed as we became more frustrated as the game went on."
Hersey stayed with the plan.
"We knew Conant would target Niziolek, with a lot of the play going through the middle and (Takahashi)," Lechowicz said. “But with Urik doing such a good job on Niziolek, and our backline and defensive play in the midfield holding firm, we were able to take the game away from them.”
Back-to-back deep throws from Mabry earned the Huskies corners. VanDeMark’s inward swingers were both defended well.
Disaster struck the visitors two minutes before the intermission on Mabry’s sixth and final flip-throw of the half.
With plenty of pace and purpose, the throw found an unmarked Lechowicz at the far post.
Conant protested this goal as well, arguing Lechowicz was over the end line when he redirected his header.
After another discussion between the referee and aan assistant, it was deemed the Huskies senior had stayed just inside the line.
"I was able to get the back of my head on Nate's throw," said Lechowicz.
Said Franco: "Going forward in the playoffs we need to defend the goal mouth better than we did tonight."
When the second half began, Hersey opted to drop a little deeper in order to protect its two-goal advantage.
Teddy Reyes and VanDeMark took on the role of playing double sixes with VanDeMark venturing a little more into the Huskies attack as needed.
This tactic, as well as Rusniak’s squad looking to play out wide to provide defensive support while asking his men to clear the area when needed, helped them take a tighter grip on things.
"This was a game in which our senior leaders really shined,” he said. “They kept us organized, focused and ready for just about everything Conant threw at us."
The match suffered from some chippy play as both sides realized that another goal would change the complexion of this contest.
Conant keep their hosts on edge with a series of free kicks after careless fouls. Plaza and Takahashi each tested Hersey keeper Adrian Smakowski with free kick attempts.
Some trickery from Niziolek, a nifty back-heel pass, sent Cirbo in, in a near 1-v-1 on Smakowski. A sharp tackle from Mabry ended the Cougars senior’s chance.
Takahashi drove a free kick into a Huskies wall at 65 minutes, then had his return shot blocked on the way in moments later as the visitors kept pressure on the home side.
"We really tightened things up in our own end for the last 10-15 minutes,” said Mabry. “We have a lot of confidence in Adrian in goal. The guys who came in off the bench gave us so much tonight as well."
The senior whipped a flip-throw into the back of the Cougars net in the 71st minute. Because it didn’t hit a player, it made for an easy no-goal call by the center referee.
Hersey lost super-soph Antoniou to an injury moments later, while the same fate fell upon Cirbo from Conant.
Franco went to a three-back formation during the last 10 minutes to add numbers to his attack, but Conant couldn’t dent the Huskies, who completed their 10th clean-sheet.
"Hopefully we treat this as a moment to grow and rally that into a long playoff run," began Franco, whose club will host no. 10-seed Addison Trail (9-7-1) at 7 p.m. at its own regional Oct. 22.
"Congrats to Mike. Hersey brought a lot of physical play, which we did not handle very well. Their style of play gave us a lot of trouble which we'll address in training."
Franco was hoping his men would claim the school’s fifth league title and first since 2002 when manager Tony Kees led the Cougars Becerril to a 3-2 victory over Hersey.
"We've set a number of goals for ourselves, and this was an important one for us. After kind of an up-and-down start to the season, we came through tonight with a great team-effort," added Mabry.
The Huskies will now begin to prepare for their regional opener at Barrington next Tuesday against East Division rival Buffalo Grove (6-7-4) a dangerous no. 14-seed led by manager and former Hersey head coach Darren Llewellyn.
"Darren is in fact someone who I hold close, not only as a mentor, but also a very good friend," began Rusniak.
"He has taught me so much, along with other coaches in our program of course. It is our defensive philosophy, established by Darren, that we've carried on in all levels of our program.
"(His) teams traditionally get stronger as the season progresses, so we know the team we beat (2-1) earlier won't be the same one we see on Tuesday."
Llewellyn led Hersey to three-consecutive league titles (2006, 2007, 2008) and helmed the Huskies to their first championship in 2001 over Conant.
Starting lineups
Conant (4-4-2)
GK- J.D. Becerril
D- Luis Mendez-Luna
D- Gabe Dobrincu
D- Aidan Hensgen
D- Kacper Niziolek
M- Damian Porebski
M- Danny Flores
M- Ibuki Takahashi
M- Jimmy Cirbo
F- Krystian Niziolek
F- Eric Plaza
Hersey (4-4-2)
GK- Adrian Smakowski
D- Lian Berk
D- Nate Mabry
D- Joe Farrell
D- Urik Contla
M- Teddy Reyes
M- Adam Myslinski
M- Nik VanDeMark
M- Johnny Antoniou
F- Ray Reyes
F- Kacper Lechowicz
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match: Kacper Lechowicz, sr., F, Hersey; Nate Mabry, sr., D, Hersey
Scoring summary
First half
Hersey: Mabry (unassisted), 8
Hersey: Lechowicz (Mabry), 39'
Second half
No scoring
Statistics
Shots on
Conant: 2
Hersey: 4
Shots off
Conant: 7
Hersey: 4
Corner kicks
Conant: 5
Hersey: 7
Fouls
Conant: 5
Hersey: 13
Offsides
Conant: 0
Hersey: 3
Yellow cards
Conant: 0
Hersey: 1