Knights defeat Astros to capture home opener

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By Curt Herron

After playing in five matches over the course of the last 10 days, the picture is starting to become a whole lot clearer for Chicago Christian.

And after watching his squad get off to a 3-2 start to the new season, Knights coach Trevor Schans is pretty happy about what he's seen so far.

The Knights capped the busy early part of their season schedule by meeting Shepard for a nonconference match in their home opener on Thursday.

Sparked by a goal in the final seconds of the opening half, Christian captured a 2-1 win over the Astros to claim Palos Heights bragging rights.

The hosts owned a 2-0 lead through much of the second half before Shepard connected on a late long free kick, one of its few good opportunities.

Christian prepares for a long break where it will be able to work on things before returning to action on April 5 against Immaculate Conception.

"I'm definitely pleased overall," Schans said. "We talked before the game about defending our home field and doing the things that we need to do to win. We came out a little flat and maybe we were overanxious about playing on this pitch.

"We weren't quite focusing on our first touch so we weren't controlling the ball, playing simple and moving off the ball from that. Toward the end of the first half we started to have some buildup and moved the ball side to side and forward.

"It was good to finish at the end of the half since I thought with the flow of the game we deserved to get a goal. It's always good to go up 1-0 at half and then to fix a few things and we started the second half much like we ended the first.

"We've probably played the two best teams on our schedule already, and that's a good thing since you want to figure out what you need to work on against good teams. I hoped to be 3-2 now so we're at a good point going into our spring break."

Neither squad was able to get much going offensively during the opening 40 minutes, but the Knights managed to come alive right before the break.

Their first good chance during that final stretch came in the 39th minute when Eva Walsh sent a shot that was deflected by the Astros' keeper.

Then in the final half minute, Carolyn Richards fired in a try from the side that was also deflected away and Walsh couldn't put in the rebound.

Instead, the loose ball found its way back to Lauren Kuipers, who fired in a line drive with just 12 seconds remaining in the opening half.

That score provided the Knights with a much-needed boost which they then were able to maintain throughout most of the second half of the match.

"We started this game a little rough and it took us a little time to get into it," Kuipers said. "But once we did, we started to connect feet and were able to progress forward and were able to get two goals out of it.

"The goal before half was amazing since there were only a few seconds left to get something in to get us going for the next half. After a rough first game we've picked things up and have played pretty well.

"I like that we're a really close family and we're able to talk to one another on the field and off and we keep each other accountable. We communicate very well with one another."

Christian found its scoring touch again in the 53rd minute when Anica Pausma sent a cross toward Therese Walsh, who connected from close range.

The next 10 minutes saw many good chances for the hosts, including wide liners from Pausma and Katie Voss and a free kick from Kayli Deckinga.

In the 70th minute, Richards had a pair of dangerous corner kicks, with Julie Michaelis getting stopped on a short try on the second attempt.

A short time later, Michaelis sent another shot toward the net that was halted, which wound up being the Knights' last good scoring chance.

During the remainder of the match, Shepard finally started to put some real pressure on the Knight net and was able to close to within a goal.

In one of its few defensive lapses on the afternoon, Christian committed a foul about 30 yards out which led to a long free kick for the Astros.

Annie Evans fired in a line drive from that distance to give the visitors hope in the 75th minute but the Knights kept them at bay after that.

Keeper Becca Hook faced few other threats to post the win, thanks to the efforts of sweeper Deckinga and outside defenders Annalee Hoekstra and Jasmine Kruzel

"In the beginning of the game we were kind of having trouble getting the ball to feet and connecting passes," Richards said. "But we were able to come together and talk things out and we were able to bring it together.

"Lauren got that nice goal at the end of the first half which was really important since it built our momentum going into the second half. It was also nice that we were able to hold them off at the end when it got close.

"I'm really pleased by what I've seen from the team so far. The thing I like the most about our team is our ability to work together and that everyone works and plays hard and we have players who want to win."

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