Lisle wins state championship

For all the firsts achieved by Lisle's boys soccer team, it's important not to forget a very important “last.”

So in a season that included the Lions' first regional and sectional titles and culminated on Saturday with the program's first state title, the first team title by any Lisle boys team there's a reason why coach Paul Kohorn was a little emotional after the awards were handed out at North Central College's Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium following his team's 1-0 victory over Peoria Christian.

Kohorn, who has coached the Lisle program since Day 1 in 2003, announced earlier this postseason that this would be his last year coaching boys soccer. Saturday's victory his 100th as a boys coach was also his last match in charge of the program.

“I don't know that I have words for it,” Kohorn said. “I'm going to get emotional in a minute here.”

After composing himself Kohorn was quick to put the credit for the victory onto his players.

“It means so much,” Kohorn said. “It's been a struggle this year, one of the toughest years we've ever had, but here we are at state. It means so much to me for them. I'm going to miss them. But what a way to go out.”

Saturday's match was decided by Eric Osika's long-range goal seven minutes into the second half. Osika's shot took a deflection on its way into the goal.

“I can't even describe how good if feels,” Osika said. “It was headed out, I controlled it and volleyed it first time into the upper 90. I'm so glad it hit that kid's head and went into the upper 90.”

Neither team generated much offense in a scoreless first half. Kazim Khan was called into action to make a pair of strong saves in the first half, but most Peoria Christian efforts into the penalty area were crosses that Khan handled efficiently.

Lisle's own offense took the better part of the half to generate chances on goal. Osika hit a sharp shot over the crossbar with three minutes left. But when Osika struck early in the second half, the speed of the match increased to a break-neck level. Peoria Christian (20-4-3) pushed its outside midfielders forward and played a sort of 3-2-5 formation when in possession of the ball. Lisle (17-9-1) responded by dropping its central midfielders deeper and the defense came under an increasing barrage of mostly aerial attacks.

“I was just helping my defense, telling them where the guys were making runs,” Khan said. “I was just trying to keep it on lockdown. I wasn't going to let anything get past me.”