The clock was Lemont's friend

Lemont's Kyle Spoo (right) heads the ball away from Fabian Leon of Thornton Fractional North during the Indians' regional final victory Oct. 24. JON CUNNINGHAM / FOR THE SUN

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Lemont applied constant pressure and felt some of it on its way to winning the Class 2A Lemont Regional title Oct. 24.

Lemont (19-4-1), seeded second in its own sectional, outlasted ninth-seeded Thornton Fractional North (13-11-2), 1-0.

The team faced Joliet Catholic Academy, winner of its regional, Oct. 27 in Lemont Sectional competition.

The Indians spent a majority of the game in the Meteors' zone and attempted numerous shots throughout the contest. The constant barrage of shots didn't translate to a score for the first three quarters of the game, creating some anxiety for Lemont as it sought to break the scoreless stalemate.

Senior midfielder Nick Drez finally did just that, booting in his own rebound past T.F. North's goalkeeper Jose Martinez with 19:56 remaining in the game.

"I went in for a header and I saw that it wasn't going to go in," Drez said. "It landed right at my feet and I had enough time to get kick it and get the goal."

However, the pressure valve was not entirely turned off.

Protecting the 1-0 lead as the game wound down, Lemont got a bit sloppy in wrapping up the important victory.

"We did not do a very good job today of closing this," Lemont coach Rick Prangen said. "Quite honestly, in the playoffs, the longer a game goes on like that, the more problematic you're going to be at the end of the game."

Prangen added, "You saw that at the end. The last 10 minutes of a game with your season on the line, the other team is going to throw numbers forward. If you're leading 1-0, you're under duress the entire time."

Lemont had several chances to score in both halves of the game.

A particularly close call came just 2:51 into the second half when Drez centered the ball from the left corner to David Plecki, only for the shot to be off-target.

About a minute later, forward Kyle Spoo had a breakaway but Martinez managed to deflect the shot away.

"I think we had 20 chances to get a goal today. If the ball isn't put in the back of the net, you're going to go home early and it's going to be one of those horrible losses that you walk away saying 'We were better but we ended up going home,'" Prangen said.

In the waning minutes, Lemont found T.F. North dumping the ball into the Indians' zone more regularly than they had up to that point. Lemont goalkeeper Jonathan Remiasz had more on his plate late than he did early.

"In the last fine five minutes, we got really sloppy. We could have kept the ball away from them better. We gave them some opportunities to get back into it. We made it much more difficult today than we had to," Prangen said.

The playing conditions did not help either team.

Heavy rain Oct. 23 forced postponement of the contest to the following afternoon due to standing water on the field. By the time the game finally got started Oct. 24, there wasn't any standing water but the field was saturated from several days of rain.

"The water got into your shoes the minute you got on the field. You just have to play through it," Drez said. "It's a really hard day to finish when it's so wet."

Prangen acknowledged the water-logged field but offered no excuses for a poor finish.

"It's tough today, the field is really soupy. That being said, some of the open looks we had, quite honestly, need to be put in the back of the net. I'm frustrated with that a little bit," the Lemont coach said.

Prangen also acknowledged his opponent's effort.

"I give Thornton Fractional North credit. We beat them during the regular season, but they came out and frustrated us with their defense. They did what they're supposed to do, hang around, hang around, keep it close, which is dangerous for a team like us," Prangen said.

He liked the Indians' play in their own zone and in midfield. It was the offensive effort in T.F. North's zone that caused concern.

"For two-thirds of the field, we played fine. I was happy with the effort in the back and the midfield. I was just unhappy with our composure when we were finishing in the box. We were rushed instead of being relaxed and finishing it. Hopefully, we can learn from that and do better," Prangen said.

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