Boys soccer: Walker, Kozak fuel a nice Grayslake Central victory
With play in the new Northern Lake County Conference starting up this week, Grayslake Central's boys soccer team hopes it's just starting to heat up.
Nick Walker and Matt Kozak were on fire Saturday.
Each player scored a pair of goals, as Grayslake Central beat visiting Prairie Ridge 4-1 in a nonconference match.
Earlier in the week, the Rams lost to Warren and played Carmel Catholic to a scoreless draw.
"It was a rough week for us," Grayslake Central coach Tom Hamilton said after his team improved to 5-3-1.
Against Prairie Ridge, the Rams exploded for a trio of goals in a six-minute span after halftime.
"I'd say the second half was good," Hamilton said. "The first half, even though we were up (1-0), we didn't play particularly well. We came out a little flat. The second half, it was just the same thing against Carmel. We looked at ourselves and we recognized that we could do more. We applied more pressure and worked harder. That's what it's going to come down to - can we maintain a consistent work rate."
Since it played in the Fox Valley Conference before joining the NLCC, Grayslake Central is familiar with Prairie Ridge (1-4-1).
"We wanted to switch the point of attack with speed," said Hamilton, whose Rams visit Grant on Tuesday in its NLCC opener and host Round Lake on Thursday night. "Prairie Ridge didn't make it easy for us. It was good to play a team like that. They punish you and you can't get complacent. They earned their goal. We needed the win. We'll take it."
Walker started the scoring in the 31st minute. He took a service from Kozak and beat a defender, before knocking in a shot.
Kozak extended the lead in the 44th minute with a corner kick that found a seam inside the near post, but Prairie Ridge cut its deficit in half a minute later. Ryan Barbour was fouled just outside the penalty area, and Matt King converted a free kick with a low shot inside the post.
The Rams regained their two-goal advantage in the 48th minute. Off a corner kick, Jack Spalding headed the ball toward the near post, where Kozak was able to tap the ball in.
A couple of minutes later, Walker gathered a deflected ball and found the back of the net.
"We had a wake-up call (against Warren)," said Walker, whose 2 goals doubled his season total to four. "We're not going to let that happen again this year. We just didn't play as well as we could, it wasn't a great game for us."
Prairie Ridge plays its home games on grass, so playing on Grayslake Central's turf forced the Wolves to adjust.
"I thought we had the run of play in the first half, but we couldn't get our guys going in the second half," Prairie Ridge coach Colin Brice said. "We just couldn't get our motors going. (Grayslake Central) was very direct and, especially on the turf, the ball gets going. I thought it caught us off-guard a few times. They played to speed with the guys they have up top. We couldn't possess the ball in the middle and couldn't keep up."