Sabres shut down Trojans for a half before falling

By Matt Le Cren

Downers Grove North was without the services of central defender Alex Vogler Thursday night because of a minor toe injury.

But the Trojans knew that junior Zack Parik was capable of filling in and doing a solid job on the back line.

The 6-3 Parik did more than that. In addition to helping limit Streamwood to just five shots, Parik set up one goal with his feet and another with his hands to propel Downers North to a 3-0 victory on the opening night of the Lake Park Lancer Classic.

While Vogler is expected to be back in the lineup for Saturday’s game against Conant, expect to see more of Parik.

"We're going to work as hard as we can to find a place for him," Downers North coach Brian Gervase said. "Vogler will be back in on Saturday, but Zack can play anywhere on our back line. We want to get him involved as much as we can."

Parik assisted on North's first goal at the 28:57 mark of the first half. He launched a throw-in from the right side that traveled nearly 35 yards in the air before bouncing once in the Streamwood crease before A.J. Jeffries headed it in.

A couple minutes earlier, Parik's first toss had been caught by Streamwood goalie Jose Resendiz and his throws continued to prove dangerous later in the contest.

"We started off with his first throw and it was pretty close and the second one was just a flick-on and it was in the back of the net," Trojans star striker Paul Hogan said. "[When the throw has] that much pace, it's not too hard [to score]."

Throws as long as the ones Parik can uncork are usually only seen on flip-throws, but his are done the conventional way.

"I think it's because I'm so flexible," Parik said. "I can bend back far and contract and throw it far. I've [used it for assists] a lot at the sophomore level but it's fun to get my first one on the varsity level."

That goal turned out to be the only scoring of the first half, as Streamwood (0-3) was scrappy enough to hold the talented Hogan in check for the first 40 minutes. The Trojans (1-0-1) mustered only two shots before intermission, neither by Hogan.

Resendiz, who did not make a save in the first half and finished with five stops, was impressed with the effort of Sabres defenders Luis Rodriguez, Victor Aguilar, Logan Thompson and especially Gilberto Alba, one of just two returning starters.

"They stick with their guys," Resendiz said. "They had their man marked good and we weren't giving up as many shots as we did the second half."

The second half proved to be a different story as Hogan struck twice on consecutive shots that came eight minutes apart. The senior made it 2-0 with 34:54 remaining when he took a lead pass from Marcin Modzelewski and beat a charging Resendiz from eight yards out.

Then at the 26:50 mark, Parik sent a free kick from his own end right to 6-3 forward Azmi Sharif, who headed the ball on to a speeding Hogan for a breakaway goal.

"They were man-marking us a little bit but then we let the ball do the work and once we did that, everything opened up and we were fine," Hogan said.

"The first [goal] was just a great ball from Marcin – it was right over the top – and then the other one was off the free kick and Azmi's a great target to just flick it on."

And just like that, the match was decided.

"The first half we frustrated the heck out of [Hogan]," Streamwood coach Matt Polovin said. "We were knocking him to the ground and we took him out of the game.

"But when we gave him pretty much an inch two times, he took five inches and scored both times. We gave him just a little bit of room, but with great players that's all it takes."

Gervase was able to clear his bench for the final 20 minutes, allowing reserves William Stephens, Hugo Pacheco, Jordan Munar, Krzysztof Sitarz, Joshua Treichel, Kevin Christman, Konstantin Bohm and Maxx Lozano significant playing time.

The Trojans had several chances to add to their lead, but Cullen Cummings just missed wide left after a great run into the box and Resendiz came up big on several other occasions.

"You talk about a kid who has massively improved," Polovin said of his junior keeper. "I brought him up at the end of last year and you could tell he was just very nervous. He let in a couple goals through his legs.

"I told him, 'you've got to get on a better club team,' and he got on the Chicago Fire Academy team and he is just lights out. I think he's just going to get better and better."

"I've been working hard at practice," Resendiz said. "That's all I can say. We've just got to keep working hard and I know we'll end up getting some victories."

The Sabres, who were shut out for the second straight match, did have a few scoring chances. Just 20 seconds after Jeffries' goal, Streamwood nearly tied it when a cross from Alejandro Avalos just missed a sliding Mario Rodriguez on the left post.

Downers North goalie Matt Paprocki finished with four saves, punching a 20-yard drive from Avalos over the crossbar late in the first half and making a diving stop on Ramon Gonzalez with 17:09 left in the second half.

"[The Trojans] are big and very powerful," Polovin said. "We've always been a speedy team but you can have all the speed you want but if you get knocked off the ball every time you touch it...it was like playing against football players."

"I thought Streamwood did a nice job of keeping up with us in the first half, but they were beat in the second half," Gervase said. "There was a lot of standing around and once we get teams standing around, we're very good about keeping possession and just knocking the ball around."

Despite the loss, Polovin was not discouraged.

"I have a very young team," said Polovin, who also praised the play of freshman midfielder Christian Vences. "It's hard to get frustrated. I thought we played very well against a strong team."