Lancers miss out on good chances

Listening to Lake Park boys soccer coach Norm Hillner rattle off the postgame stats Tuesday night, one might think his team piled up some goals and knocked off Glenbard East.

But that was not the case. Despite a big advantage in scoring opportunities and shots on goal, the Lancers (1-0-1) had to settle for a 1-1 tie with the Rams in first-round action of the 16th annual Lancer Classic in Roselle.

"We had a lot of chances. An awful lot of chances," said Hillner, whose squad scored first and then had a penalty kick-opportunity late in the first half come up empty. "We have a very senior-orientated team. We shouldn't make some of the mistakes we made tonight."

While the Lancers controlled the play for the opening 25 minutes -- seldom letting Glenbard East get past midfield -- the hosts shot wide or missed open teammates in deep on too many occasions. The Lancers outshot the Rams 24-6, but only put 12 of their shots on goal.

Twenty minutes into the contest, however, Lake Park did grab a 1-0 lead after Mike Andrews took a nifty pass from Chris Gajda and pushed it just inside the right post outside the reach of Rams goalkeeper Nick Marks.

The Rams (0-1-1) then tied the game when Mike Kostic converted an indirect opportunity by deflecting the ball off a Lancers defender and past goalkeeper David Mack to tie the score 1-1 with 3:58 left in the half. It was just the Rams' third shot of the half and the second one that was on the mark.

But when Gajda's PK attempt with just 1.2 seconds left in the first half hit off the left post, the Rams went to the break with a tie and then picked up their play in the second half to come away with a draw. Gajda was awarded the penalty kick when the officials decided Marks had not made a play on a loose ball while charging out of the net to stop a Lancers' threat in the final moments of the first half.

"I thought the first 20, 25 minutes we spent a lot of time defending the back third," Rams coach Josh Adler said. "But in the last 15 minutes (of the half) we got a goal and we picked up our intensity. You hope sometimes you get the breaks, and sometimes you want to kiss the post."

Kostic was happy to notch the equalizer but was more content with helping his team avoid a loss.

"It's always good to score," the senior midfielder said. "But it's mostly a team thing. It's not just about me. I couldn't play by myself."