Boys soccer: Grayslake Central suffers 2nd straight state heartbreaker
Grayslake Central's dream of playing for state title were dashed Friday afternoon after its heartbreaking 1-0 loss to downstate Chatham Glenwood in its 2A state semifinal contest at Garver Stadium at host Hoffman Estates High School.
Keith Andersson's club fell just short of the final for the second consecutive season when a Miles Calderon opener in the 55th minute proved all the Titans (20-3-2) would need to advance into the 11 a.m. final against Peoria Notre Dame (22-3-1). Notre Dame, in a driving rainstorm, beat Solorio, 4-2 in overtime.
"It's déjà vu all over again," said a disappointed Andersson, who after his club earned its first state appearance in program history a year ago, lost to Triad, 2-1 in its state opener, before bringing home its fourth place state trophy.
"We had all of the play today, probably 85%-90% of the possession, but couldn't finish our chances - and they did on a mistake," continued Andersson.
"There's nothing that we could have done differently aside from putting a couple into the back of the net, but that's soccer."
Central (18-2-3) would put 10 on frame on the day, half of which were of quality. And if not for the Titans' 6-foot-6 keeper, Josh Jones, perhaps one or more would have been enough to move on.
"Josh has been amazing for us all season long. He's obviously very strong in the air, and can reach balls others will likely miss," said Titans coach Kyle Franke.
Senior Alan Alonso, whom Franke would heap plenty of praise on afterward, went wide off a counter in the 34th minute, and again just before the intermission. Then he missed a glorious chance to equalize just after the hour.
"You're always taught to keep your body over the ball when shooting. Maybe if I was a little better on that effort we're at 1-1 with some momentum," said Alonso, who ran onto an inch perfect helper from Mitchell Fein, after Anderson Chevrier connected with him.
"It's hard to lose a game that you basically dominated, but we still have one more game tomorrow, and we're going to come out and play the best that we can," said senior Lucas Veenstra.