Penalty kick dooms Fire in 1-0 defeat to Vardar
U-18 wins over Derby County in practice field opener
CLICK TO SEE VARDAR PHOTOS
By Curt Herron
Tom Serratore certainly did all that he could do in the net to help the Fire Academy U-18 team to a win on Sunday.
And players like Harry Shipp, Patrick Doody and Chris Prince all applied plenty of pressure on the net in the final half.
But what decided the nonconference match with Michgan's Vardar was something different, and it didn't go over well with the Fire.
Vardar was awarded a penalty kick in about the 70th minute when the referee ruled that Ezekial Harris was fouled in the box.
Peter Jacobson put the PK into one side of the net while Serratore headed toward the other side and the visitors had the lead.
Although the Fire had plenty of chances to even things up, they weren't able to find the net and wound up dropping a 1-0 decision.
The loss was a disappointing ending for the Fire to their first weekend of competition on the new Toyota Park practice field.
On Saturday, the Fire won 2-1 over another Michigan squad, the Derby County Wolves, on the new turf field north of the stadium.
But the scoring touch was lacking for the hosts against the physical Vardar squad, who also had plenty of chances to connect.
The main reason that didn't happen was the play of Serratore, who usually doesn't see much time at keeper behind Charlie Lyon.
However, he demonstrated his abilities by regularly making great saves or shutting down shot attempts before they developed.
That was especially the case during the opening half when Vardar seemed to have the majority of good scoring opportunities.
The Fire threatened a couple of times early in the match before the visitors turned the heat on against Serratore.
Shipp sent a free kick in that was deflected for a corner and later another which was lined right at the goalkeeper.
About midway through the first half, Serratore deflected away an attempt from close range in a 1 vs. 1 situation.
A short time later he came well out of the net to stop a shot try and Scott Lakin eventually cleared the ball away.
After making a diving stop on a short attempt, Serratore halted two line drives headed his way shortly before the break.
Vardar kept the Fire defense of Billy McGuinness, Mitch Albrecht, Mike Enghofer and Lakin very busy during the opening half.
The Fire made a few changes halfway through the match with Oliver Mayer stepping in for Art Garza in the midfield.
Prince and Doody took over up front for Jesse Ortiz and Wojciech Wojcik as the hosts looked for the right combination.
Things seemed to click right away as Prince headed a shot wide following a corner from Shipp shortly after the break.
A few minutes after that, Tyler Engel fired in a line drive but the attempt was deflected away by Vardar's keeper.
McGuinness slid to disrupt one scoring chance and Serratore stopped a close shot and then shut down another try.
Guzman and Shipp had shot tries deflected and Doody was stopped on three liners, two of which were cleared by defenders.
Following Vardar's score, Prince forced a diving stop by the keeper, who later punched away a free kick from Shipp.
On Saturday, the Fire pulled out a come-from-behind victory over Derby County, which took a 1-0 lead in the 75th minute.
Mayer tied things up in the 80th minute and Doody collected the game-winner during the 90th minute for Chicago.
The Fire hits the road next weekend for conference play against the St. Louis Scott Gallagher Missouri and Metro teams.
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