Munster and LC: We meet again

Munster's Seth Flahaven (left) and East Chicago's Wilmer Moreno go for the header on a Munster corner kick.
(Jeffrey D. Nicholls/Post-Tribune)

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MERRILLVILLE -- It's become almost a foregone conclusion, a virtual inevitability: Lake Central and Munster playing in the boys soccer postseason.

The Indians will meet the Mustangs in Saturday night's Merrillville Regional final, after both teams won in the semifinals on a rainy, nasty Wednesday night.

Munster edged East Chicago Central 3-1, after Lake Central topped Griffith 5-1, setting up a regional matchup between the teams for the sixth straight season.

"We play Lake Central again," said Munster coach Jim Prasopoulos, whose team suffered its only loss of the season to the Indians, 2-0 on Aug. 21. "Lake Central's a great team. I feel we have a deep bench. We're physically ready to go.

"We'll be ready. We'll put forth our best effort."

The Mustangs (16-1-1) needed every ounce of effort they could muster to defeat the Cardinals (10-7), who showed why they were coming off their first sectional title.

Krste Ruiz scored two goals to help Munster recover from a 1-0 deficit in a game it generally dominated but had difficulty putting away, thanks largely to the spectacular play of East Chicago goalkeeper Abel Torres. His second with 15 minutes left in the game sent the Mustangs, who outshot the Cardinals 23-9, into the final.

"It's the most frustrating thing when you can't put the ball in, you know?" Ruiz said. "You have to focus and take your time. You have to be calm in those situations.

"It's always good to play Lake Central, man. I love playing Lake Central. It's always a good game. Win or lose, there are going to be two really good teams on the field Saturday. It's going to come down to who wants it the most."

The Cardinals had taken a 1-0 lead with 23 minutes left in the first half. Cristobal Mireles finished off a pass from Wilmer Moreno, who created the play with some excellent work along the left sideline, fighting off two Mustangs defenders.

Torres was stellar with eight of his 15 saves in the first half, when Munster accumulated a whopping 12 corner kicks.

"He was blocking everything," Ruiz said of Torres.

Munster finally broke through when Ruiz scored on a rebound less than six minutes into the second half.

Two minutes later, Anthony Huard's blast hit the right post, one of a number of quality chances on which the left midfielder narrowly missed. Among them, his shot also smacked the crossbar with 22 minutes left.

But the Mustangs eventually managed to avoid the upset, also adding a goal with seven minutes when Zarko Coric tapped in a shot after collecting Ruiz's shot that had hit the right post.

"You have time on the clock," said Prasopoulos, whose team ended the game without sweeper Craig Dohman and center midfielder Jeff Lucas, but he anticipated they would be fine for Saturday. "When you feel you have momentum on your side, you feel the ball is eventually going to go in."

In Wednesday's first semifinal, Nick Miljevic had three assists for the Indians (17-3), including one on each of the first two goals, and Fabian Urquiza had two goals.

"You feel good any time you get a victory this late in the season," Lake Central coach Jereme Rainwater said.

"We moved the ball OK. They put a lot of pressure on us. That's a good Griffith team."

Stephen Ragan gave Lake Central a 1-0 lead less than six minutes into the game. And Manny Rios made it 2-0 a little more than nine minutes later.

Griffith (13-3) drew to 2-1 on Matt Plawecki's goal with 30-plus minutes left in the game.

But the Indians re-opened a two-goal edge with 19 minutes left when Geoffrey Bowman hammered home a shot off Chad Rigg's free kick. Urquiza added a goal less than eight minutes later, and he scored again -- off a pass from Miljevic -- with less than five minutes.

The Panthers had chances early in the game that might have changed the complexion. Plawecki's shot caromed off the left post after just four minutes, and Kyle Terpstra missed an open net with 40 seconds left in the first half.

"They capitalized on their opportunities. We had some there we weren't quite so lucky," said Griffith coach Ron Knestrict, whose team started three seniors -- compared to eight for Lake Central -- in winning its first sectional title since 1998. "They have a lot of talent. We just couldn't keep up with them.

"It was a hell of a season. I'm proud of these guys. We hung with Lake Central, a big school. We did well."

Contact Michael Osipoff at 648-3137 or mosipoff@post-trib.com. Comment on this story at www.post-trib.com.