Late first-half outburst sinks Christian Liberty
Christian Liberty ran into its toughest opponent of the boys soccer season Tuesday afternoon when Chicago Latin came calling at the Chargers home pitch in Arlington Heights.
Three late goals just before intermission would cancel out an early strike from David Colbert and eventually do in the Chargers (1-3-0) in a 3-1 loss.
"We've only played a few teams (thus) far, but Latin is the best we've seen in the early going," said Christian Liberty coach Jed Bennett.
"Giving up 3 goals in less than five minutes was very tough to watch, but I really thought we played much better in the second half and that's what we will build from and go forward with."
The visiting Romans (3-3-0) had far too much of the run of play from the opening whistle, with Dago Alexander, Samuel Austin, Damian Loma and Calvin Casalino the main culprits in the Latin attack.
Freshmen Jack Salsgiver showed plenty of heart as the Chargers keeper as he controlled his box from post-to-post while stopping several shots on frame to help his club stay in the match until the late explosion by the Romans.
As it is so often in this sport, the visitors dominance would prove only a conversational statistic when the homeside struck first on a goal from Colbert. The freshman stayed composed in close with a Latin defender clinging to him just before he finished just inside the near post.
Sophomore Kiefer Bennett would assist on the Chargers lone goal at 23 minutes.
Latin pulled back the first goal from the hosts when Alexander collected a free ball inside the box at 32 minutes before Ian Spear hit the eventual game-winner just two minutes later.
With the Chargers' backline gasping for air, the Romans added one more just before intermission when the junior Austin took a well-played helper from Casalino and easily went past a helpless Salsgiver.
"Their play in the midfield gave (them) a big advantage today, and its something we need to work on if we want (our) midfield to connect with our guys up top," said Bennett, who in Colbert and sophomore Gabe Clayborne has a potential 1-2 scoring punch for the future.
Aaron Johnson, one of just a few seniors on the club, was helped off just after the break, however returned later in the match to unload a cracker at Latin keeper Theo Atkinson. That was just moments before the Chargers best buildup of the match occured with Bennett, Clayborne and Merek Quaglia going forward with confidence.
"Today we started seven freshmen and three sophomores, so we are still a work in progress each time we go out and play," said Jed Bennett.
Elk Grove 2, Schaumburg 0: Ernesto Rodriguez and Kevin Moyo scored and Mike Monegato had 11 saves for Elk Grove in the MSL crossover.
Conant 3, Barrington 0: Kevin Reddington scored twice, Barrett Gray had a goal and an assist, Shivam Patel had 2 assists and Bobby Poteratz stopped 5 shots for Conant in the MSL West win.
Boys golf
Dan Stringfellow fired a 3-under-par 69 at Medinah as St. Viator (303) edged Hinsdale Central (304).