Hornets poised for even bigger future

Junior Kyle Gorgol only needed a few days to recover from the Hinsdale South soccer team's disheartening 4-1 loss to Downers Grove North Oct. 17 in the Hinsdale South Regional semifinals.

On Sunday, Gorgol learned that he had earned all-sectional honors for the first time after a great season with 17 goals and six assists. And with eight starters returning from this year's 12-8-2 team that shared the program's first West Suburban Conference Gold Division since 1995, the Hornets have the plenty of reasons to be optimistic.

"I'm just really excited about (all-sectional) and we already can't wait until next year and build on what we did this year," Gorgol said. "I think we were most proud of tying for first place in conference because we haven't done that in like 10 years. Overall we feel like our team accomplished a lot. We're a little sad about the loss to Downers North in the first round of the playoffs, but we feel as a team we made it pretty far."

The Hornets were the No. 6 seed in the Lyons Township Sectional. Gorgol's impressive 30-yard shot around a defensive wall that gave the Hornets a 1-0 lead with 11 minutes, 38 seconds left in the first half looked like it might stand up.

But the No. 10 Trojans (4-14-2) tied the game with 24:33 left on Colin Cuzman's shot that goalie Don Sullivan nearly kept from crossing the end line, and the floodgates soon opened.

Christopher Lutz gave the Trojans the lead with 16:14 after stealing the ball and shooting. Two more goals came in the final 5:05 as the Hornets pressed trying to get the equalizer.

The Hornets had beaten the Trojans 2-0 Sept. 20.

"It's frustrating, but they deserved to win. They killed us in the air. They won almost every single 50-50 ball," Hinsdale South coach Mark McNellis said. "It was a wet night. We had trouble putting passes together because of the wet night. We play more of a possession game and the rain kind of took us away from our game. They put a lot more pressure than we did and they finished on their opportunities.

"It would have been nice to get into a regional final and not losing like this, 4-1. I'd rather lose 2-1, 1-0 than lose when you know a team's not 4-1 better than you. We were pushing. We had to. And they scored on counterattacks."

Gorgol and the Hornets took advantage of many of their chances this season. They earned a share of the Gold with a 2-1 victory over rival Downers Grove South, the sectional's No. 1 seed, Oct. 4 that also regained possession of the Southern Bell traveling trophy. They put themselves in that position by rallying to beat Leyden 2-1 Sept. 25.

"We had a good team concept and much better team chemistry than last year," Gorgol said. "We showed a lot of character on the field. I think I improved a lot because last year they had me at center midfield and this year they moved me up top. I got a lot of opportunities, and I was able to finish them."

Sullivan, midfielder Neils Badia and stopper Paul Pocica graduate from the regional starting lineup, but the Hornets also return defenders Brian Weigel, Nick Just and Josh Michaelis, forward Giovanni Cianelli and midfielders Eric Veazie, Dan Lipine and Jon Beavis, a freshman.

"We've got a lot of guys returning, and it's a good group of kids and they're wonderful to work with," McNellis said. "They're hard workers and positive, and I know they'll do everything they can in the offseason to get better. They'll take this as a learning opportunity to improve on this year's success."