HOFFMAN ESTATES — It wasn’t that long ago that DeLaSalle was competitive but losing close games.

Now the mature Meteors are a win away from their first state title.

Alex Panduro scored midway through the second half to break a scoreless Class AA semifinal game against Prairie Ridge and the Meteors made it hold up with a 1-0 victory Friday afternoon.

“I remember recruiting these guys when they were eighth graders. I started them as freshmen, and they played varsity, and we couldn’t believe it,” DeLaSalle coach Francisco Martinez said. “I noticed they were only losing games by one goal and saw something very special there.

"To have the depth that we have, we have 25 kids and out-of-25 kids each every one has a way to contribute. If I replace them, I don’t see a difference. Each and every one of these guys can play different positions. What makes them so special is they’re so versatile. They never say no to the challenge.”

DeLaSalle (27-1-2) will take on Althoff in Saturday’s AA title game. Unfortunately for the Meteors, one of the casualties of the emotional hard fought semifinal victory was a red card just after the game ended to their starting goalkeeper Jahir Anaya (four saves).

Anaya leads the Meteors with 124 saves and has allowed just 12 goals through 26 games. Senior Andrew Martinez, junior Gianni Luque and Mario Ramirez are options to play in the goal for the title game.

Prairie Ridge (20-5-1) rebounded to end its season with a victory with a 1-0 defeat of Lemont in Saturday’s third place game. That helped reduce some of the sting fresh from just falling short of advancing to the title game.

“Heartbreaking, that’s it,” Prairie Ridge coach Josef Schroeder said. “(Winning a state title) has been the goal of this group three years now since I started.

"We knew we could. We were close last year, and we were one goal away. I think if we would’ve equalized I think we could’ve done it. But you know, it’s why it’s a beautiful game. It’s a beautiful game, but it’s an ugly game, and it hurts.”

The Wolves certainly created some solid opportunities to draw even Friday, but the soccer gods were leaning heavily on 1-0 finals throughout the semifinals; five of the six semifinal games over the three classes ended with the same score. That streak ended in the final 3A semifinal when Lane beat Edwardsville, 3-2.

“I thought we had them in the second half, and they got that one opportunity,” Schroeder said. “But still, hats off to them.

"They were more disciplined than I thought they were going to be. I thought the game was going to open up a little bit more, and it didn’t. And they were really able to control Henry (Knoll). We couldn’t get Henry isolated enough or (Gabe) Porter.”

Knoll had a few shots on goal but his total for finishes remained at 24.

“I got to say I was locked up the entire game,” Knoll said. “They put constant pressure on me. The DeLaSalle defenders are really physical. That’s something that I think they’re best at, physicality, and just working through us individually.

"At any give moment I probably had two guys on me, maybe one guy fully man-marking me, and we did all we could. It was really tough.”

Knoll’s attention quickly turned to Saturday.

“The way we look at it now, at least we know when our last game is,” he said. “To go out as a senior we just want to get a win now. It’s a best-case scenario for right now, because we can’t obviously change what happened in the past.”

Matthew Fireng, who had a couple shots that were off target for the Wolves, said they couldn’t come through with a goal when they needed one most, which is something that hasn’t happened very often this year.

The Wolves were held scoreless for just the third time this fall and the first time since a 1-0 loss to Dundee-Crown in Fox Valley Conference play Oct. 3.

“We created chances,” Fireng said. “We had opportunities, but we didn’t equalize when we needed it.”

On the flip side, DeLaSalle got the only goal needed from the dynamo Panduro, who packs a wallop despite his short stature.

“I try to capitalize on every opportunity I get,” he said. “Nathan Gutierrez played the ball, the defender hit it up in the air. I had to go in (for it). And I’m not the biggest and won’t obviously get it sometimes, but I’m lucky I did. I just drove in and hit it with the left.”

Gutierrez had just returned to the field after a break on the sideline.

“I was just coming off the bench and remember hitting the ball,” he said. “My coach always tells me to go wide, and I saw Alex (Panduro) making that run. I played him up wide, and then we got the rebound off of Mario (Ramirez), and he got his shot off.”

Panduro and Gutierrez continue to work well in tandem.

“There is a bond there,” Panduro said. “I always try to look for him, and he always tries to look for me. And that chemistry we have just kind of connected. It’s really good on the field.”

DeLaSalle has only lost once this season. The Meteors experienced defeat against Lemont 3-3 (5-3 PKs) in a Windy City Ram Classic winners' bracket quarterfinal Aug. 31.

“For us as a team, our mindset ever since the start of playoffs is we’ve been going at it. We’ve been hungry for it,” Ramirez said. “We always say the job is not finished. That’s our quote; that’s our motive for us to keep on going -- to finish what we started as a team. We’re shocked; but at the same time we’re not really, because of all the hard work we’ve put in on and off the pitch.”

While the teams didn’t play each other during the regular-season, they did cross paths at the BodyArmor event's day of championship matches Sept. 29.

“I think one thing we taught our boys is that we have to learn to respect our opponent no matter what would come on the pitch,” Martinez said. “Not playing them (prior) was something new for us, but they accepted the challenge, which I respect.

"We got lucky enough to see them in the BodyArmor. We were both playing in a final that day. They were playing St. Laurence and we were playing Lincoln-Way Central, so we got to see a little bit about what they were made out of.

"And we knew they were competing one of our Chicago Catholic League (Blue Division) opponents, and that was a great game as well. So we kind of figured it was going to be an even match.”

 

Starting lineups

Prairie Ridge
GK Christopher Zinevich
D: Carter Fredrikson
D: Matthew Fireng
D: Josh Marineau
D: Brandon Matei
MF: Seth Matson
MF: Chase Santucci
MF: Bryce Schroeder
MF: Samuel Kirk
F: Henry Knoll
F: Logan Braun

 

DeLaSalle
GK: Jahir Anaya
D: Christopher Dingle
FP: Jon-Philip Tiller
FP: Cesar Solano
FP: Christian Edwards
FP: Brandon Olvera
FP: Christian Flores
FP: Joshua Lawson
MF: Alex Panduro
F: Agustin Ortega
F: Mario Ramirez

 

Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Alex Panduro, jr., MF, DeLaSalle

 

 

Scoring summary

 

First half
No scoring

 

Second half
D: Alex Panduro (Nathan Gutierrez), 57