Palatine perseveres, throws aside Warren
In a test of endurance, will and patience, top seed Palatine (21-1-1) earned its place in the Stevenson sectional with a 2-1 victory over a gritty Warren side Saturday afternoon at the Mundelein regional championship match played on the turf at Stevenson High School.
The Pirates will face No. 5 Lake Forest (16-3-1) Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.
"We told the guys after our win over Fremd last week that we needed to clean things up if we hope to continue to advance in the tournament, and today you saw how important it is to do because at times we just didn't do the things we needed against a very good Warren club," said Pirates coach Willie Filian.
The No. 8 Blue Devils (12-7-3) were valiant in their effort against the favored Pirates from the opening whistle. Warren played a man down after 33 minutes but stayed in the match right to the very end.
"There's just a lot of give in this team, and its because they play as a team and not as individuals, and that's what I'll miss about these guys," said Warren coach Jason Ahonen.
The NSC Lake co-champs began brighter than their counterparts and gained the run of play in the early stages with quick touches through the middle and by attacking on the outside through Thiago Ganancio, Brandon Brown and Michael Hanackek.
"We started out so flat, and Warren was very good in its counter attack and its ability to win 50-50 balls from us, which is one of our strengths as a team," said Pirates defender Tim Conklin.
The Blue Devils stunned the MSL champs when some sloppy play in Palatine's end allowed Hanackek to go past a diving Kyle Held from the right side at 22 minutes.
A bad piece of luck cost the Blue Devils Tyler Stenzel for the match when the assistant referee spotted an unsporting foul away from the play against the Pirates' Jake Velinski.
"You would have never known (Warren) was playing a man down after that foul," said Filian, "because they played so hard and made us work for everything out there today."
The Pirates got back to even just before intermission with a trademark strike off a long throw from Willie Filian, Jr. that Josh Clark redirected past Blue Devils keeper Brady Walsh.
The Blue Devils stayed organized and committed to defending after the break - especially in the air, where captain Zach Nitch, Patrick Schulz, and Andrew Piotrowski were superb. But after consecutive throws from Filian, the Pirates found the winning goal with a wonderous side volley from Jon Clark that came from the right side and settled in the far inside netting.
"My brother (Josh Clark) would just flick it to me, and I had enough time and space to hit my shot," Jon Clark said.
"We knew coming in they were dangerous on all of their set-pieces, so it was disappointing to see them get two into the back of the net (from) that," said Ahonen.
"Somehow we found a way to get it done on a day when we didn't play out best soccer," said Filian, "but we'll have to be better at the next stop."