Hersey rebounds from rough start, wins East title

When you start the season with 1 win in your first seven matches chances are the potential for any post-season celebrations have ended.

However, Hersey proved it's not how you start but instead how you finish.

Senior Curtis Pierson recorded his second consecutive game-winning strike and the Huskies (8-8-2, 5-4-2, 12 points) stifling defense kept host Hoffman Estates out of the back of the net in a 2-0 victory Tuesday night.

That gave Hersey coach Darren Llewellyn's club the Mid-Suburban East title and a spot in this Thursday's MSL Cup at Barrington.

"This is quite an achievement for these guys," said Llewellyn, who guided the Huskies to their third straight MSL Cup appearance after Barrington beat Wheeling 3-1.

Hersey and Wheeling finished with 12 points in the division, but the Huskies earned the nod over their division rival after gaining the advantage in the tie-breaker with a 3-2 victory in their meeting this season.

"It didn't matter that we lost so many games early, we just got better with every match leading right up until tonight's match," said Huskies sweeper Mike Mueller.

Mueller and backline mates Kent Busse and Manius Waterman stayed air-tight for most of the evening. Particularly in the final stages as the Hawks (5-9-4, 3-7-1, 7 points) pushed forward in hope of cutting into the 2-goal lead and perhaps catch a bit of magic on its wind-blown home pitch.

"Credit (Hersey) tonight," said Hawks coach Matt Sriver. "I thought we played an aggressive, attacking and possession type of soccer match tonight, but they made it impossible for us to get inside and finish."

Just as he did last Friday at home, Pierson fired home the actual game-winner at the end of a scrum in close, which was initiated by one of Griffin Dwyer's patented piercing long throws which landed near the spot.

Near the half-hour mark, Pierson nearly made it 2-0 if not for a strong challenge off the line by Sebastian Kieruzal, which saw the Hawks' keeper pull the ball off Pierson's right boot after Dwyer and Alex Gardasevic deftly played the ball forward.

After fighting a strong wind in its face for the first 40 minutes of play, the home-side appeared eager and ready to use it to its advantage following intermission.

Brad Powszok, Salin Golotic, Edson Arzate, Kyle Patterson and Reona Oishi did well to recapture the run of play after the break. But despite their ability to build the attack and possess regularly in the Huskies end, the attack was stopped in its tracks near the 18.

"All we saw was a sea of orange when we got close, and we were unable to get many shots off against that defense," bemoaned Sriver.

"That's the way our defense has been all year long," Busse said.

Keeping its shape, winning 50-50 balls and staying organized allowed the Huskies to frustrate the Hawks as they looked to equalize.

Dwyer would add his name to the scoresheet at 52 minutes with the hard-working striker scoring with a nice low shot the other way with Kyle Pietro getting the helper.

Down the stretch Powszok, Brian Neu, Patrick Scully and Arzate (twice) would each have a go at Huskies keeper Shane McGuinness, but all failed to connect.

"The guys continued to trust me (and) our system, even when things were really bleak early on, and I am really proud of all of them (tonight) after this accomplishment," said Llewellyn.

Barrington 3, Wheeling 1: Francesco Furio had a goal and an assist for host Barrigton as the MSL West champs improved to 17-1. Furio's assist was on a Ryan Nolan goal to extend the Bronco lead after Ata Ozbay scroed the first goal.

The only Wheeling goal came on a penalty kick with less then two minutes left. Jack Deroche and Tom Unak combined for 8 saves for Barrington.

Elk Grove 3, Conant 2: Forward Anthony Vasquez had 2 goals and an assist in the MSL crossover and defender Robert Pechacek had the game-winner for Elk Grove in the MSL crossover.

Brian Stack assisted Eric Marofske and Zack Raetzman on Conant's goals. All thee keepers combined to make big saves with Elk Grove's Andy Larson stopping 6 shots.

Palatine 1, Prospect 0: Louis Vargas' first-half goal off a Gabe Marquez assist was all visiting Palatine needed to beat Prospect (11œ8). Palatine keeper Dustain Mehrtens collected 5 saves in the shutout and Prospect keeper Eric VanDivier had 7 saves.

Fremd 5, Meadows 1: Visiting Fremd had little trouble as Matt Leonard had 2 goals and an assist and Bobby Hurwitz, David Park and Alex Tobutt all collected goals for Fremd. Meadows' lone goal came from Chris Olson. Richie Podjasek (1 save) and Eric Civra combined in goal to give Fremd (8-7-1) the win.

Leyden 3, Willowbrook 1: Rafal Zalewski scored 2 second-half goals and Eddie Adame had a goal for Leyden (7-9-6) in the West Suburban Gold. Nico Gonzalez, Jaime Pacheco had assists for the Eagles and Omar Tariz stopped 6 shots.