Prospect breezes past Mundelein on a windy Saturday

Prospect soccer coach Kurt Trenkle trusted his trusty defense and ball-control offense, which turned out to be a "wind-win" situation for his Knights.

Despite kicking into a stiff breeze in the first half, Prospect capitalized nearly every time host Mundelein lost possession in the opening 40 minutes and eventually breezed to a 5-0 win on a windy, sunny Saturday.

"I actually thought we played well with possession," said Mustangs coach Dave Ekstrom, who recorded his 400th career win (boys and girls combined) last week. "But every time we would lose the ball, they would score."

Richard Lenke and Patryk Ruta each scored twice, and Bill Cooney and Brayhan Nunez each had 2 assists, as Prospect (6-0-1) posted its sixth straight shutout. Ruta started the scoring in the seventh minute when, with his back to the goal, he used his heel to flick a shot into an empty net, after a centering pass from Cooney.

"(Mundelein) won the toss, but I would have preferred going into the wind anyway because we control the ball well and keep it on the ground," Trenkle said. "It worked out for us."

Lenke tallied twice, including once on a deftly struck volley from a Nunez cross, as the Knights built a 4-0 lead by intermission.

"They took (the wind in the first half) and we were like, 'All right, we'll go with that,' " Prospect defender Mike Eggert said. "If it was a close game in the second half, we would have wanted the wind with us so we could just shoot and give long balls."

Since opening the season with a 3-2 win over Deerfield, Prospect has not allowed a goal. The Knights have been impenetrable with goalies Jeff Geldmyer and Brad Reibel receiving ample help from defenders Eggert, Mike Hamman and Ethan Graven, and midfielders Nunez, David Spudic, Mario Morales, Stefano Dolomas and Patrick Sitko.

Geldmyer tended net against Mundelein (2-2-2), while Reibel boasts 4 shutouts and has not allowed a goal.

"It's a team commitment to defense," Trenkle said. "We got three strong guys in the back, we got two goalies that have played very well, and we got midfielders that are committed to getting back behind the ball.

"I think you saw that in the second half (against Mundelein). When they were putting pressure on, we never really gave them a number advantage."

Mundelein's Javier Ramirez fired a shot off the post in the first half and penetrated Prospect's defense multiple times, but the Knights' team coverage often foiled scoring opportunities for the home team.

"For the defense, (the key) is definitely communication," Eggert said. "We understand how many forwards each team has, and we kind of build off that. We know what to do. We talk to each other when the ball goes by, and we'll step in for each other if we need to. We have good comfortability with each other."

With conference play beginning for his Mustangs this week, Ekstrom experimented by moving several players around. He liked what he saw from forwards Ramirez and Alex Nambo, a sophomore.

"We just had terrible defensive breakdowns," Ekstrom said. "As bad as a 5-0 score is, I thought we played OK. We just defended really poorly."