Timothy Christian headed back to state semifinals

Timothy Christian senior Ben Lodewyk is the kind of player who can fit in any position on a soccer field and play it well.

On Tuesday night in Lisle, he played the role of the goal-scoring defender.

Lodewyk and the Trojans earned a return trip to the Corn Crib in Normal for the Class 1A semifinals this weekend with Tuesday's 2-1 supersectional victory against Latin School. The Trojans (17-4) lost to Columbia 2-0 in last year's state championship, when Lodewyk was the goalkeeper.

"In the off-season we tried to train Noah (Marrera, the current goalkeeper) because (first-year coach Stephen Fernandes) wanted to put me in the field," Lodewyk said. "Then at the start of this year I was playing defense. I pulled my hip flexor right at the start, so I've been out for a while (about a month), and then they put me up at attacking mid. Just in state I've been playing center back."

"He could play anywhere on the field," Fernandes added. "He was playing forward earlier this year, attacking center mid, center back. He can play anywhere."

The Trojans had lost to Latin earlier in the season, when Lodewyk was an attacking midfielder, so "it was like a revenge game for us," Lodewyk said.

Latin (22-3) put Timothy under pressure right from the start, but the Trojans scored in the 17th minute against the run of play. Latin failed to clear a Lodewyk throw-in into the penalty area, and Jimmy Allen scored for the 33rd time this season.

Timothy scored off a restart again in the 27th. This time it was Lodewyk with his 12th of the season after a Joshua Anderson free kick wasn't cleared.

"We talked to the boys before the game, we said the box is where this game is going to be won," said Fernandes, a recent Wheaton College graduate. "We scouted them last week, and they hunt balls really well. They win a lot of balls in the air. Both their goals against North Shore (Country Day) were off of set pieces in the box, so when we got two goals off of that, that set the tone early for us."

Timothy lacked possession much of the game, particularly in the second half, but the back line of Jackson Frankfurt, Lodewyk, Alex Markewycz and Isaiah Whitaker kept repelling the Latin attack. Marrera, in just his second season playing soccer and first in goal, made 7 saves and nearly got a shutout.

"We still need to work on that," Lodewyk said of the lack of possession.

Latin tallied a penalty kick with 45 seconds remaining to cut the score in half.

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