Pirates keep pace

Palatine finally emerged with a 1-0 victory Thursday night when Jon Clark struck for his first career varsity goal in the 79th minute to help defeat visiting Hoffman Estates in a Mid-Suburban West boys soccer match.

With the win, the Pirates (10-4-0, 6-2-0) keeps pace with Barrington and Schaumburg in the race to see who will represent the division in the MSL Cup later this month. All three clubs have 4 regular-season matches left with MSL co-leaders Barrington and Schaumburg meeting at 11:30 a.m. Saturday on the Broncos home pitch.

The Pirates dominated most all of the 80 minutes played but never demonstrated enough of a cutting edge in their attack to break down a resilient Hawks (3-10-1, 2-6-0) side, which counted on their hard-working backline and a superb night turned in by keeper Sebastian Kieruzal, who easily earned man-of-the match honors for his work.

Kieruzal, who fended off countless deadly long throws from Willie Filian and just as many corners and set-piece attempts by the homeside, kept his club in the match and might have recorded the win if his mates could have manufactured anything of value in its own attack.

"We were so lethargic when going forward," admitted Hawks coach Matt Sriver. "It's too bad because Sebastian was awesome tonight, worthy of more than just all-conference recognition, but we just didn't seem to have the energy like we've had the past couple of matches."

The shot-stopping Kieruzal's list of saves was of highlight-film material all evening long, and in a second-half sequence the senior would turn-away Kyle O'Meara and a header re-directed by Josh Feldman near the hour mark, all after teammate Brian Dussard cleared one off the line after this frenzy of activity began off a Josh Clark corner.

"If we had been able to maybe finish one of our chances in the first-half, then we probably could have been a few more away and not have been in such a tight match," offered Jon Clark.

"There wasn't much to our attack for most of the night except for throw-ins and corner kicks, so at the break we talked about pushing hard and going forward more and to stop playing at a level that would allow (Hoffman) to hang around in the match for so long," added Pirates midfielder Todd Leitgeb.

With extra time looming, Clark emerged the hero when the senior found the back of the net to earn a goal that his second-half performance deserved. Another well-tossed throw by Filian landed near the spot, where Josh Clark would keep it alive and give his brother Jon the opportunity to hit with enough pace to slot through a crowd and past a sprawled Kieruzal.