Sauer power fuels Hersey past Elk Grove
Hersey's hopes of playing in the Mid-Suburban League Cup in two weeks stayed alive late into the night Thursday when it outlasted the weather and visiting Elk Grove 1-0 in overtime in an important East match in Arlington Heights.
Senior Johnathon Sauer ended the drama in the 83rd minute to give the home side a must-win as the defending league champs continued to stay close to division-leading Prospect, which beat Barrington 4-0 in a rain-shortened match in Mount Prospect.
"Johnathon epitimizes what this team is all about," said Hersey coach Darren Llewellyn just moments after Sauer finished under and past Grens keeper Mike Monegato after mates Greg Janicki, Chris Naranjo and Eric Timm all helped create the game-winner.
"(Sauer) is just a real hard worker, and a player that just recently we moved forward to become more involved in our set-piece and dead-ball opportunities, and tonight he (we) were rewarded for his hard work and persistence."
Despite late-afternoon heavy rains which doused the Huskies (10-2-5, 4-2-2) home pitch, this match would be a fierce encounter which may not have always been of the highest quality, but did see each side have its share of the run of play, and a handful of quality chances leading up to a long delay caused by lightning.
"Darren and I agreed this was a well-played, evenly matched game, even in the terrible weather and conditions," offered Elk Grove (6-6-1, 3-4-1) coach Joe Bush, who along with his coaching counterpart would wait more than an hour to resume play after officials chased the players off at 54 minutes.
"We might have had one of our best chances right after we got back (on) when Ernesto Rodriguez went over the bar, but Hersey was dangerous (at) times as well, especially with Janicki."
The Huskies keeper, who has already found the back of the net this season on one of his trademark searing free-kick serves, sent several long-range missiles in and around the Grens' box all night. It was the senior who would help end a long night of soccer when he initiated a scrum from his serve, which Naranjo kept alive long enough to give Timm a go in close.
"Timm didn't really get a whole lot of anything on his shot, but just enough to either get close to the endline or over, and to allow Johnathon to finish for us," Llewellyn said.
Janicki, who now has 10 shutouts on the season, kept his club in the match with a pair of superb stops in the first half, the first coming just before intermission when he saved a diving header from Leif Lundgren and shined a moment later on the Grens' captain with a glove save.
The victory gives the Huskies 14 points in the MSL table - 5 behind Prospect.
"We have to win out, and get some help to catch Prospect, but we're still alive after tonight," said Llewellyn.