HOFFMAN ESTATES – Prairie Ridge and Lemont kicked off the final day of the Illinois high school boys soccer season at 9 a.m. in the Class AA third place match. Both met the challenge of an early start after devasting semifinal losses head-on. 

Putting the previous day’s heartbreaking 1-0 setbacks in the rearview mirror, the squads battled in a physical and spirited match where six yellow cards were issued.

The score stayed deadlock at 0-0 until the 69th minute when Prairie Ridge’s Henry Knoll scored his 25th goal of the season. The last strike of the senior’s high school career became the game-winner as the Wolves won 1-0 to bring a higher-numbered trophy back to Crystal Lake. It was the third state reward for the program. Prairie Ridge won a state Class A title in 1999 after finishing second in 1998 in the old two-division system.

Prairie Ridge (20-5-1) needed the first half to acclimate.

“We really just had the wind taken out of sales big-time yesterday,” Prairie Ridge coach Josef Schroeder said. “It was such a physical effort, and it took a toll on everyone. We really were hoping to get to that final.

“To turn it around, it took us about 40 minutes to finally get going today physically and mentally. By the second half, they were ready to go.”

Lemont’s fourth place trophy is the first boys state final plaque for the school and 34-year coaching veteran Rick Prangen.
 
The team used its durability to compete.

“A lot of motion went into the game last night (Friday’s 1-0 semifinal to Althoff), and obviously some of the stuff could distract guys. We just talked about it before we got on the bus, and they responded,” said Prangen. “I thought we played really, really well in the first half. I don’t think we were flat at all. This team has been really resilient all year long. So, super proud of their maturity and their mentality going into the game and how we played it.”

Ending their high school soccer careers on the state finals stage sparked the seniors on both teams.

“I think a big part of it was we have 15 seniors on the roster. We realized it’s our last game, no matter what, win or lose,” said Knoll. “We needed that momentum switch, because we can’t come all the way to state, bring all this momentum and not even score a goal. Once we got that goal, we realized we were on our way.”

Schroeder agreed with Knoll’s assessment.

“They realize holy cow, we got, we got 80 minutes here, and then it’s all over,” said the Wolves coach. “I think it was a wakeup call.”

Lemont’s graduating members had the same sentiment

“We seniors are having our last game together. We’ve been playing with each other since we were kids. It’s one last ride together,” said Lemont senior Vincenzo Mancini. “So, we came out today, did our best and left it all out there.” 

Prairie Ridge’s’ score started with Logan Braun’s throw-in from the far side touchline 20 yards from Lemont’s right corner. Teammate Gabriel Porter corralled the toss and headed it to Knoll.

From 10 yards in front of the left post, the senior knocked the ball into the back of the net.

“Porter was battling for it in the corner area, and he headed it back in,” said Knoll, the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match. “I was just there. I tried to get a volley. The defender tried heading it out, but my foot just got there first, and I was able to hit it in.”

Prairie Ridge finally had the upper hand.

“They just pressed us the whole game,” Luciano Mancini, Vincenzo’s twin brother, said. “They knew that (a goal) was going to come at one point. They had a lot of momentum in the second half, and we didn’t respond.”

Both sides could not capitalize on scoring opportunities in the first 68 minutes of the contest.

Lemont’s Andrew Guzy took the first shot of the match four minutes in after receiving a through-ball just inside the left side of the box from teammate Tyler Chrisman. The sophomore’s attempt went wide right.

Lemont (23-5-1) goalkeeper Adrian Lisowski made his first save on Prairie Ridge’s best scoring-chance during the first 40 minutes. At 29:52, Knoll sent in a left-sided blast from 20 yards. The junior deflected the shot back into the box. Wolves midfielder Chase Santucci corralled the rebound and sent it back to an open net, but the ball was cleared by a Lemont defender.

Twelve minutes later, Lemont’s Aidan Ontiveros blocked another Knoll close-in effort.

Seconds before halftime, Prairie Ridge’s defense thwarted Lemont’s best attack of the half.

From just outside the net, Vincenzo Mancini headed a Chrisman right-side corner. Wolves’ keeper junior Christopher Zinevich’s two-handed overhead save knocked the ball back into play. Lemont’s John Robbins got control of the ball and bounced it back toward the goal. Instead of going into the net, his shot hit the back of a Prairie Ridge defender on the ground.

Nine minutes into the second 40 minutes, Lisowski grabbed a chest-high shot after a 30-yard blast from Santucci.

After Knoll’s goal, John Malina took over in net for Zinevich.

“Zinevich has been our number one goalie for the last two years, but Malina made every practice over the last years and would play the JV1 games. Malina deserved to enter the game. It wasn’t charity time,” explained Schroeder. “It’s such a luxury to have two keepers in our varsity training sessions. Malina deserved those minutes, and I had full confidence in him. He made a crucial save in those final 10 minutes to secure the third place trophy.”

Schroeder lauded Zinevich’s first half effort.

“He made some big saves today to keep it 0-0 in the first half, and that was the goal,” the Prairie Ridge manager said. “He stayed focused.”

Malina’s critical save came on a Lemont 48-yard far touchline free kick by Josef Antolak. When the blast bounced into the Prairie Ridge box, the senior came off the line and dived to cover the ball. His lunge came up a bit short, and he quickly crawled to grab the loose ball. 

Prangen was pleased with the Lemont defense.

“I thought our entire backline played very well. I mean, the goal comes off of a half-chance – a ball bopping around there,” he said. “I was really happy with them. Adrian was very good, too. He had had a sharp game and made a couple big saves.”

Prairie Ridge’s backline was in sync.

“We’ve spent a lot of time together, us four in the back,” said Wolves senior defender Branden Matei. “We’re able to know what one person is doing and just moving together and stepping together. I think today it really just showed.

“Throughout the playoffs, we’ve played the best soccer that we have all year.”

Starting lineups

Prairie Ridge
GK: Christopher Zinevich
D: Seth Matson
D: Brandon Matei
D: Matthew Fireng
D: Carter Fredrikson
MF: Chase Santucci
MF: Samuel Kirk
MF: Carter Schroeder
F: Logan Braun
F: Henry Knoll
F: Gabriel Porter
 
Lemont
GK: Adrian Lisowski
D: Luciano Mancini
D: Marco Pavlica
D: Aidan Ontiveros
D: Ali Nabulsi
MF: Vincenzo Mancini
MF: Tyler Chrisman
MF: Faraz Ayub
F: Mitchell Sowa
F: Billy Eliadis
F: Andrew Guzy

Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Henry Knoll, sr., F, Prairie Ridge

Scoring summary

First Half
No scoring

Second half
PR: Knoll (Porter), 69’