Boys soccer: Stevenson pulls out 1st win over Warren in 3 years
A 74th minute own goal gave host Stevenson a dramatic 1-0 victory over Warren Tuesday night in an important NSC contest in Lincolnshire.
Owen Zakrzewski and Daniel Sokolovsky created the decisive goal when they got the Patriots (9-0-1, 2-0-0) from the midline. But it was Rohan Gopalam who Filip Janda would credit for the eventual game-winner, much to the delight of a raucous Patriots audience.
"Rohan put a hard shot on frame. It was blocked and fell to me so I knew at that point I had to put the (ball) back at the keeper. (And) fortunately for us, it went off one of their defenders, and into the back of the net," said Janda.
"It wasn't the greatest looking goal, but it was a big one for us," continued Janda, who would bag a late winner in the Patriots' 2-1 league opener last week over Lake Zurich.
"It's been three years since we beat Warren, so it felt good to get one off of them tonight in a game we had most of the play," added the senior Zakzewski, who along with his backline mates Alex Huelsman, Steven Nyc and Sebastian Pop kept the Blue Devils (5-2-1, 0-1-1) from putting anything dangerous at Patriots keeper Aidan Morris.
"To go 240-plus minutes with a goal is totally unacceptable for us," said Blue Devils coach Jason Ahonen, whose club will host league rival Lake Zurich Friday evening in Gurnee.
"I would rather have lost on a 'clean' goal, but you can see how important it is to send balls into the box. Tonight we not only did not do that at all, but we just did not play well, and there's not really more for me to say, except we have to be better - and real soon."
It was a bit of a chess match in the first quarter hour with both sides testing the other. But as the contest went on, the Patriots created plenty of pressure - particularly in the middle of the park to slow the Blue Devils' attack to a crawl.
"We stayed organized in the back, communicated real well, and our midfield won a lot of balls, which allowed us to dominate most of the game," said Zakrzewski.
The best chance of the first half came when Nazar Mormul sent a searing left-footed ball to the back post, just missing to connect with Janda.
The visitors came to life just after the intermission creating a trio of deep throws. The last ended with Tommy DeSanto's half chance in the 47th minute.
Moments later, Bryant Rouse' point-blank blast was turned away with a brave effort from Blue Devils keeper Ethan Cole. That would signal a strong performance in the next quarter hour from the Patriots leading up to the game-winner, six minutes from time.
"We have a long way to go in the season, but this was an important result for us to get tonight," said Janda.