Lyons ready to defend title

Updated: March 22, 2011 4:30PM

Kyle Kurfirst's and his teammates' cell phones went crazy as word spread last November that Lyons had ended previously undefeated Neuqua Valley's season with a 1-0 victory in the boys soccer Class 3A Supersectionals.

Neuqua Valley beat Lyons twice that season by a combined score of 6-1, but Lyons won the one that counted on a second-half headed goal by forward Horacio Sanchez.

‘‘There were definitely a lot of surprised people after we won,'' said Kurfirst, a senior who will play midfield this season. ‘‘We all got a bunch of text messages from kids on other teams either congratulating us or telling us how shocked they were. Even the players at Hinsdale Central, our rivals, were texting us.''

The win propelled Lyons to become the surprise Class 3A champion in 2009.

Coming into the 2010 season, the Lions have lost 13 players to graduation from that title team - including seven who will be playing at Division I colleges this fall, most notably all-state defender Billy McGuinness (Princeton) and midfielder Chris Meingast (Wright State).

The exodus of talent has raised some doubts - even for fourth-year Lyons coach Paul Labbato - on the Lions' ability to become the first large-school repeat champion since Sandburg in 2001 and 2002.

‘‘We're not the top dogs right now,'' Labbato said. ‘‘We're not the No. 1 team in this area until we prove it with a totally new group of kids. Just because the name on our jersey is Lyons Township doesn't automatically put us at the top. We have a long way to go between now and the end of the year to get this team ready to make a legitimate playoff run.''

However, with three returning players with Division I talent in Kurfirst, Sanchez and junior midfielder Elliot Borge, Labbato and his players know the team has the ability and championship experience to exceed expectations again.

‘‘Now that we're on top, we want to defend the title, and that's a new drive that's movitating us,'' Kurfirst said. ‘‘We feel that people really aren't expecting us to do what we did last year, but we still have a group of guys here who know the kind of work we had to put in last season to win it all, and we're trying to replicate that this year.''

Labatto also will look to seniors Kevin Beglen (goalie), Peter Kralovec-Kirchherr (defender) and Peter Gabrek (midfielder) and newcomer Matt Thomas (defender) to make key contributions during a season the players know opponents will be taking special aim at them.

‘‘We know we have a target on our backs,'' Sanchez said. ‘‘That's what it means to be state champion.''

But Borge said he and his teammates wear the target well.

‘‘We like coming out as returning state champs,'' Borge said. ‘‘Everyone will be gunning for us, but that's what we want.

‘‘We have a lot of confidence in our program.''

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