Lane edges Kelly in shootout for city title

There was another party on Addison St. Friday night in Chicago. Only this party wasn’t at the corner of Clark and Addison -- but Western and Addison.

Behind the stellar play of goalie Grzegorz Gaczol, Lane captured its first Public League title since 2005 with a 1-0 shootout victory over Kelly at North Park University.

“It’s an amazing feeling to finally win the city title,” Gaczol said. “It’s something I’ve wanted for the past four years.”

For 100 minutes, Kelly had a realistic chance to beat Gaczol. But once the game went into a shootout, Gaczol had Kelly right where he wanted them.

The senior netminder stopped three of Kelly’s five attempts in the shootout. Renzo Ayala recorded the game-winning goal in the shootout, while Henry Gomez and Juan Miguel Arenas also tallied for the Indians.

“I watched Kelly take penalty kicks before and saw which way they liked to go,” Gaczol said. “We practice penalty kicks everyday in practice, so I was ready.”

Francis Parker 2, Latin 1: Parker had to drive 25 miles to take on local rival Latin, but the trip was worth it in the end.

Nate Wilson’s tally with 1:29 to play in the third overtime propelled Parker (7-8-2) to a Class A regional semifinal win at North Shore Country Day in Winnetka.

“I saw an opening and Tommy (Rosenbluth) got the ball to me,” Wilson said. “Once I broke through, it seemed like slow motion. I made sure I stayed onside and scored.”

With hardly any daylight left, it appeared as though the game may be postponed after the third overtime and replayed at another date as darkness set in.

“It was dark, but we weren’t even worrying or thinking about that,” Parker’s TC Eley said. “We just wanted to win -- that’s all.”