Knights give up 2-0 lead, fall to Elk Grove
By Dan Santaromita

CLICK HERE FOR PROSPECT'S TEAM PAGE

Elk Grove had allowed a number of goals on set pieces so coach Joe Bush had his team spend extra time practicing them. The Grenadiers still allowed a set piece goal at Prospect, but that practice paid off on the offensive side.

The Grens scored three set piece goals in the last 25 minutes to come back from two goals down in Thursday’s 3-2 Mid Suburban League East win. EG (3-4-4, 2-4-1 MSL) picked up the winner on a Guillermo Anaya header with 1:19 left in regulation to end a five match winless streak.

Prospect (2-6-2, 2-4-1) led almost the entire match after taking the lead in the fourth minute. Kennedy McNamara flicked a near post header into the net from a Bryan Velazquez corner.

The scored remained 1-0 at halftime. That’s when Bush made the switch to three forwards up top.

“I thought we were finally able to be dangerous by getting into the corners,” Bush said. “We won deep throws and we won corner kicks and that’s what won us the game. It was sort of a different philosophy.”

The change didn’t pay immediate dividends though. Prospect scored again in the 53rd minute when McNamara centered the ball to Ryan Srednicki, who fired home on his first touch.

Prospect displayed a little bit of everything in what appeared to be one of its best showings of the season.

“It was the way we planned it, but we couldn’t do it for 80 minutes today,” Knights’ coach Kurt Trenkle said.

The Grens started the comeback six minutes later when Manny Pillado scored to end a chaotic sequence in the box following a Connor Murphy throw. Pillado typically didn’t push forward on set pieces, but showed well during the recent practice.

“We were doing the defensive practices yesterday and Manny was just awesome so I said Manny why don’t you get in on the headers, too?” Bush said.

The Knights rarely went on the attack the rest of the match. In the 70th minute Gio Garcia hit a corner to the far post that Ben Castellanos headed back across the goal for an unmarked Arzeta to head in the equalizer.

“Schaumburg did that to us the other night,” Bush said. “It went too far and they hit it back across and everyone watches the guy who headed it and they stopped marking.”

Arzeta isn’t primarily known for his aerial ability. The talented junior is able to create plays for himself and his teammates and has done so in a more attacking role recently.

“When he’s got guys circling around and he’s doing step overs and that kind of thing it’s hard to defend,” Bush said. “He’s normally an outside mid, sometimes center mid, we’ve moved him up to the high forward spot and it was great for isolation for winning deep throws and corners.”

Another Garcia corner created the winner. This time Anaya jumped up ferociously at the far post to thump in the winner.

“The way he’s been hitting the set pieces lately, it has been hard into the second post so I kind of waited a little bit and watched the ball come,” Anaya said. “I kind of knew where it was going to come. Thankfully it did happen as planned.”

Both goals were well-executed set plays, but Garcia only takes credit for one.

“The first one I just hit it and it went second post,” Garcia said. “I guess he played it back and we scored. The second one I was feeling it. I thought I was going to hit it towards the six over the goalie and the goalie jumped over and didn’t catch the ball. (Anaya) was right there and headed it in.”

Prospect keeper Jack Cooney (8 saves) was unable to get to the corner, but the entire Knights’ squad won’t soon forget this defeat. The usually solid Prospect defense fell apart down the stretch.

Trenkle said it was the classic collapse from a two-goal lead.

“They get one, they get momentum,” Trenkle said. “They get the second one, they have more momentum. We’re on our heels, we’re panicking, the skill goes away, focus lost. Little things here and there add up to big things.”

Bush credited his team for sticking with the attacking game plan in the second half and putting the pressure on Prospect.

“We stayed the course and got the ball wide and put pressure on them and got them running at their own end line,” he said. “Connor and Gio in the middle just did a great job making things happen."

Four of the five goals came on set pieces, something that has been a trend in high school soccer this year. The absence of academy players has forced more teams to focus on scoring on dead ball situations.

“A lot of teams notice that they’re not as talented on the ball so they try to go long and get those corners because they’re tall, they have the height for it so they use it,” Anaya said. “We’re the opposite way. I think we’re better tactical wise, short passes and everything, but when it comes to height and defending it we’re not as good so we have to work extra hard on those set pieces.”