Super season comes to conclusion for Taft

Taft's Aleksander Radjenovic fights off a Lane Tech defender for control of the ball during the Eagles' 1-0 loss in the City semifinals at Jorndt Field Oct. 14. One week later, the Eagles returned the favor with a 3-0 victory over Lane in the semifinals of the New Trier Regional.
(Rob Valentin/for Pioneer Press)

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When Taft lost to Lane Tech in the City semifinals Oct. 14, the first thing the Eagles did was circle their calendar for the following Tuesday.

While the Indians went on to win the City championship, Taft kept on practicing hard because they knew they had one more crack at Lane. And when the two teams met up in the New Trier Regional semifinals Oct. 21, the Eagles had the last laugh as they cruised to a 3-0 victory.

"The only thing I told the kids was, 'Forget the City playoffs, this is now State,' " said Taft head coach William Angel. "Even though we didn't win that game, I felt we were the better team, and if we played the same way we would win this one."

While the Eagles followed the win with a 6-0 defeat at the hands of New Trier in the regional finals Saturday night, all of the focus was on their victory over Lane. The loss to Lane in the City playoffs was the first defeat that the Eagles suffered this season, and in many ways it helped fire the kids up for regionals.

"I believe that they're hungry no matter what, but I think that revenge factor did play into it," Angel added. "This is by far the biggest win, and to win at the state level against a team like that, we're the only city team to beat Lane this year."

Sidali Aitelhadj put Taft (18-2-1) on the board in the first half, scoring on a shot from the left side. He bent it perfectly into the right side of the net past the diving goalie.

"Everyone was screaming to shoot and I thought, 'Why not?' " Aitelhadj said. "It was a great feeling. I wanted to win that game so bad because they kicked us out of the City playoffs.

Piotr Lagowski gave the Eagles a little bit of breathing room by scoring midway through the second half. Peter Gwozdz made a perfect pass to Lagowski right in front of the net, and he one-timed it between the goalie's legs.

"I wasn't surprised with the win," Lagowski said. "They only really had one chance to score and we knew we were the better team."

Nikolijan Sinani scored late in the game to cement the victory and end Lane's season.

"We played the same way we did the week before but we finished our goals," said Taft sweeper Arlind Kociu. "We should have done that a week before but we got unlucky and that's how soccer is."

Taft was facing some pretty long odds heading into Saturday's game against New Trier in Northfield. The Trevians (19-1) are considered one of the top teams in state. The Eagles nearly had a one-goal advantage in the opening minute after Arturo Vera headed a corner kick off the crossbar.

New Trier took a 1-0 lead with 32:32 left in the first half on a goal by Benjamin Beaver. The junior forward scored three times in the first half as the Trevians took a 4-0 lead into halftime.

The Eagles never quit, though, and allowed just two goals in the second half.

"Every game we play it's always 0-0," Kociu said. "If they score a goal, we still play like it's 0-0."

While the Eagles will see 10 seniors graduate, there may be no bigger loss than Kociu, who was the leader on and off the field.

"I called all the guys in July and we practiced all summer by ourselves," Kociu said. "We were very successful this year. We didn't win City but we made it to the regional finals."

Other players set to graduate in the spring are Aitelhadj, starting goalie Robbie Garcia, Gwozdz, Peter Inas, Daniel Kolakowski, Krzysztof Lagowski, Matuesz Marchewka, Aleksander Radjenovic and Arturo Vera.