Gardasevic sparks Hersey's resurgence
Reports of the demise of Hersey's chances in Mid-Suburban East boys soccer have, it would seem, been somewhat exaggerated.
While those outside of the club might believe the defending MSL champs would struggle after graduation losses ripped apart most of the championship roster, coach Darren Llewellyn never doubted his club despite all the inexperience the 2007 Huskies would have.
And while it may take a little longer to restore full confidence in the Huskies' rebuilding program, there is no question the recovery is getting nearer.
Wednesday afternoon the Huskies (4-7-1, 1-3-1) won for the third time in five matches with a solid effort in a 3-2 victory over visiting Prospect. Newcomer Alex Gardasevic struck for 2 goals and teammate Mike Madsen got the other.
"We just went to a new formation, and we've gotten away from the way that I like to traditionally play, but I've already seen us create plenty of chances during the last week because of it, which means that we're beginning to make some progress," said an excited Llewellyn after the match.
Perhaps the addition of the sophomore Gardasevic, recently called up to the big club and asked to become one of three strikers up top, along with mates Griffin Dwyer and fellow sophomore Kyle Pietro, has been the inspiration the Huskies' would need to fuel a recent 3-1-1 stretch.
"I told the guys that last night (against Buffalo Grove, a 2-2 draw) that we began to really give ourselves some chances to score and should have had a couple of more," Llewellyn said. "Today was the same thing. If we could have put another 1-2 more in during that first half, then maybe we do not have to work so hard to get the win.
"But credit Prospect. They didn't give in, and they threw everything at us in that second half, and really exposed a few holes in our armor."
Gardasevic was at the center of all of the Huskies' best moves, underlining his pivotal role, especially during the first 40 minutes.
The young striker made it 1-0 at 17 minutes off a wonderful ball sent over the top from Dwyer onto his foot.
Five minutes later, Gardasevic and Madsen combined to bump the Huskies' lead to 2-0.
The Knights (5-6-0, 2-4-0) would spend the entire first half defending more than they would have liked while producing little in the way of an attack. They awoke just before intermission to fire four on net and at keeper Chris Hoffman.
The visitors gained some much-needed momentum from this late surge and carried it into the second-half, leading up to a Jose Legueur free-kick blast which bounded off of Hoffman's keeper glove and over the end-line in the 60th minute.
The Huskies' moved swiftly to restore their 2-goal lead when Madsen unloaded a missile from 35-plus yards into the back of the net. The Knights' Tom Kujawa canceled it out two minutes later when he redirected a superb serve from captain Joe Colmone.
"We been a strong second-half team of late, but we've got to come out and start as well as we've been finishing," said Colmone. "We really wanted to make a good impression because tonight was our sectional seeding meeting, but we were unable to do so and that was disappointing for all of us."
St. Viator 3, Notre Dame 0: Victor Mendoza had a hat trick and Jonathan Harris got his fifth shutout for St. Viator (8-0-3, 4-0) in the East Suburban Catholic Conference win. Ryan Cortese had an assist as Mendoza upped his season goal total to seven.