Prospect overcomes Jacobs

Prospect forward Alex Whiteman and midfielder Dominick Taldone weren't allowed to repeat what the Jacobs student section said to them during the Knights' 2-1 win over Jacobs Thursday night in Algonquin, but it was enough fuel to set the Knights' competitive spirits ablaze.

Down 1-0 with 9 minutes left in the match, Taldone scored the equalizer off a Chris Cooney cross and then Taldone found Whiteman cutting from the right of the box to score the game-winner with 1:27 left in the match for a come-from-behind, nonconference victory that saw one Jacobs student ejected and tension between the teams mount as the final buzzer sounded.

"That was inspiration to win," Taldone said of the foul language directed at Prospect. "I don't think we're allowed to repeat a lot of that stuff, just trash talking, really. (We) put them in their place a little bit."

The game was briefly stopped in the 74th minute as Jacobs coach AJ Cappello reamed out the student section before the game resumed.

"Whatever our fans were saying brought us down a bit because now we're listening to them and (we're) all caught up in that incident," Cappello said. "It's an embarrassment for the school. It's an embarrassment for these kids. Foul language, singling out kids, I mean completely inappropriate. And again maybe as a player you don't participate, which I'm going to give my players the benefit of the doubt. But in the back of your mind if you hear that kind of action it brings you down as a player, you lose focus. You absolutely do."

It didn't take things away from Prospect (1-1), which saw itself in need of something in the second half after Alex Rigby put Jacobs up 1-0 in the 17th minute.

Jacobs (0-1) had put 5 shots on goal in that span, where at least 2 crosses from the leg of Rigby could've added to the Jacobs' scoring total, and the Golden Eagles had an easy time with possession, advancing the ball up the field with over-the-top passes.

"(The Eagles) were getting satisfied with playing the ball over the top and I think we talked into halftime about what we we're doing and wanted to possess it a little more," Knights' coach Jason Cohen said. "I think the final 20 minutes it all slowly started to even out and we outshot them in the last 10 minutes and had much more possession than they did."

And as Jacobs grew tired in the second half, an eager Prospect connected on its passes and managed to outshoot the Golden Eagles 17-10.

Prospect's defense stepped up in the second half and goalkeeper Peter Flynn made 3 saves, one of in the 76th minute that helped avoid a 2-1 deficit. Then came the shot Whiteman had for the lead.

"We just got the open ball down the center, I just saw him running off wide open and gave him the ball and a beautiful goal, basically," Taldone said.

"He hit such a great ball and I hit it with the outside of the foot to the far post," Whiteman added.