L-Way Central serves notice
Knights score nine goals in victory over Plainfield S.
PLAINFIELD -- On Monday, the Lincoln-Way Central High School boys soccer team was rated as the No.1 team in the Chicago area.
On Tuesday, Central went out and showed why with a 9-1 pounding of Plainfield South in the season opener for both teams.
(LIZ WILKINSON ALLEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
"It was a good first game back," said Central junior midfielder Phil Galounis, who had 2 goals and 2 assists. "With anything, we work hard out there and have a great bunch of guys."
"This was a good game for us to assemble 11 varsity players against 11 other varsity players," Central coach Dan Radz said. "We were tired of practicing against the second- and third-string and needed to get a game under our belt."
That certainly looked to be the case as the Knights (1-0) stormed out of the gate and Galounis had a scoring chance in front just 14 seconds into the contest.
While Galounis' shot missed the mark, moments later senior back Nicky Ernst had one that didn't. His goal from in front gave Central a 1-0 lead 89 seconds into the game.
After seeing a Knights flurry in the opening five minutes, South (0-1) managed to move in for a scoring chance. But sophomore midfielder Jacob Burt had his close range shot blocked away by a Central defender.
Still, South did tie the game at 1-1 when the Knights were whistled for a takedown that resulted in a penalty kick. Cougar senior midfielder Matt Philibin had his first PK attempt turned back by Central senior goalie Eric Davenport.
However, it was ruled the Knights had a player in the box before the kick, so Philibin did it again and this time blasted the shot into the upper right corner to knot the game at 1-1 with 32:15 left in the first half.
"They tied the game, but we knew we'd come back," Galounis said.
Boy, did they ever.
Just over a minute later, senior midfielder Jason Obermeier, who added 2 assists, struck a nice bender for a goal from about 25 yards out off a direct kick and the Knights never looked back.
The Central attack netted 5 more goals in the first half. Galounis made it 3-1 with a goal from the right side off a corner kick with 24:14 left. The prettiest goal was then turned in by senior striker Dean Wern, who faked everyone out before landing on his face as he sliced the ball in the net with 15:32 remaining.
"The ball got played right at my feet," said Wern, who had 2 goals and an assist. "I pretended to turn outside and then turned back inside and fooled the keeper. It was a good way to build up confidence.
"All of us have been playing together for 4-5 years. It's great to play on a team with all your friends and it was nice to come out and show what we could do as a team."
Senior midfielder's Tim Garland and Dave Sayre (2 assists) and Galounis all scored in a span of 4:43 as Central led 7-1 at intermission.
The Cougars did have one other scoring chance. In fact, they did put the ball in the net. But junior forward Anthony Sutliff was ruled offside so his header with 1:14 left in the first half was no good.
Sophomore striker Matt Ducci, who added 2 assists, scored in front just over 3 minutes into the second half for an 8-1 lead. Wern rounded out the scoring on a rebound goal with 13:08 to play.
"They have so many good players that wear you out," South coach Michael Freitag said. "They have a lot of big, physical guys and are No. 1 for a reason.
"We have a lot first-year players and only 6 guys with varsity experience. We didn't quit and played hard. We have to learn from this and go from here."
