Ogunro, Carmel stop Prospect
Two late first-half goals from Aaron Ogunro put No. 10 seed Carmel firmly in the driver's seat and into the second leg of the Glenbrook North regional after an impressive 4-1 victory over No. 7 seed Prospect (13-5-2) on Wednesday night at Techny Park in Northbrook to end the season for the MSL East champions.
Ogunro stunned the Knights with his 2 strikes in the last three minutes before intermission. The second second, in the 40th minute, sent his club into the break with a 4-0 lead.
"It was a team effort tonight," said Ogunro. "There was a lot of terrific effort from everyone, including our defense and keeper Matt McHugh, who all did a great job in the second half when Prospect had the wind and was all over us trying to get back into the game."
In the early stages, the ESCC champs (14-5-2) found themselves confounded by a strong wind at their back, which allowed McHugh to boom several long punts nearly 80 yards. But they only ended in the hands of Knights keeper Jim Brault, and not on the boot of the Corsairs' strike force.
"We didn't do well with the wind at the start, and with each side just testing each other, the first 15-20 minutes of soccer were pretty average," said Carmel coach John Halloran, whose club meets Deerfield at 3 p.m. Saturday in a regional final. Last year, Deerfield ended the Corsairs' season with a 4-1 decision in the sectional semifinal round. "But once we broke through with that first goal, it just seemed to be exactly what we needed and we just kept going forward, looking for more."
Jack Stefanski turned the course of this match decidedly in favor of the Corsairs when the junior hit a bending free kick around the Knights' wall and into the upper corner from just outside the box.
The Knights' response to the Stefanski goal wasn't what coach Kurt Trenkle had hoped. His club went through a frustrating spell where it was unable to locate one another in the center of the park, and, in turn, frontrunners Patryk Ruta and Richard Lenke.
"We didn't do well when we got down - we began to finger-point and get away from we do well," Trenkle said. "But we came out in the second half and played hard, and with a lot of heart, but with (Carmel) dropping so many players back, it was hard to cut into their big lead."
Junior Jake Changelon was the inspiration in a terrific 10-minute sequence by the Corsairs when he finished at the back post after a serve from the near touchline by Ogunro.
Ogunro truly earned his next 2 goals when he used a deft touch to go past Brault in close off a Tommy Miller helper. Later, he stayed composed long enough to send a shot from the right side the other way and into the far side netting.
It took more effort than the Corsairs may have expected to hold off a Knights side that played fiercely in the second half, and a Brayhan Nunez goal at 46 minutes certainly got Carmel's attention.
"You've got to give so much credit to Prospect for not giving up, when plenty of other teams would likely have folded," Halloran said. ""We did a good job of defending, especially with the wind in our faces and (Prospect) sending so many balls over the top, hoping to make something happen."