How dominating was Lisle in its regional quarterfinal win over Islamic Foundation of Villa Park?
The 9-0 score doesn't begin to indicate how much the Lions controlled the contest Oct. 13 at Wilde Field in Lisle.
Lisle (12-6-1), the top seed in the Timothy Christian Regional, notched its first goal 4:24 into the action, courtesy of Alec Blechschmidt, and scored seven more times in the first half alone.
For the game, the Lions took 52 shots and didn't allow the eighth-seeded Minarets any shots on goal the entire contest.
Minarets goalkeeper Aaikhef Khan kept busy, making 21 saves, including 12 in the first half.
Khan allowed several early goals to squirt through his hands but settled down to stop a slew of shots the rest of the match.
Lisle's first two goals came on balls that Khan appeared to have stopped. Both times, the ball fluttered past him after hitting off his hands.
"You don't celebrate (scoring goals) with a team like this," senior forward Mike Bucher said. "I feel bad, like I'm rubbing it in their face."
The game certainly presented Lions coach Paul Kohorn with unique challenges. He was happy to get the win but not at the expense of bludgeoning the other team.
He offered a diplomatic approach.
"I wanted to take my starters out as soon as possible," he said. "We don't want them to stay in and get hurt. Then, you put in some of the guys off the bench. Ideally, they try to continue to do what we need to do execution-wise.
"It's a fine line," Kohorn continued. "I don't want my guys to try to dribble through their whole team. It's always nice to give the bench guys a chance to score because some of them don't get a lot of chances. I was working to get players who don't play a lot some minutes. If we pass the ball well and end up scoring, I don't have a problem with that."
The teams only played 20 minutes in the second half due to the lopsided score. Sophomore defender Matt Gill maximized his playing time with his first career goal in the 57th minute. He scored up top from about 25 yards.
Freshman A.K. Kamara emerged as another reserve who capitalized on his playing time. He scored two goals, both coming in the first half. Kamara notched his first goal in the 21st minute, then tallied another for good measure in the 33rd minute. His second goal capped the first-half scoring.
"Usually when I play in the harder games, the seniors get the ball more," Kamara said. "It was cool today to get more opportunities in the offense."
T.J. Hendzel, Eric Osika, Grant Fitzgerald and Adam Gleason also scored.
"We did better in the second half," Minarets coach Adam Musa said, "but Lisle didn't press as much either."
Lions goalkeeper Kazim Khan only had to play two balls all game. He only faced one ball that resembled a shot, and that didn't occur until the second half.
Comment at thelislesun.com
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