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Fast start propels Libertyville to win
| Rob Dicker~Sun-Times Media
Updated: September 20, 2011 8:50PM
Any worries that Libertyville’s boys soccer team might have a letdown after winning the prestigious Pepsi Showdown last weekend vanished in the first 12 minutes of Tuesday afternoon’s game.
That’s how long it took the Wildcats to put a pair of shots on frame and hit the twine with both of them en route to a 2-0 win over host Stevenson in a North Suburban Conference Lake Division matchup.
The Wildcats (11-1-0, with the loss to Waukegan) got goals from sophomore Lloyd Chatfield in the third minute and from Sam Kaplan in the 12th minute to take early command.
That was it for the scoring as the Wildcats — who played rugged games against powerhouses Morton on Saturday and Lyons on Sunday in the Showdown — clearly were worn down by playing three challenging contests in four days.
Most of the second half was played with Stevenson on offense, but Libertyville keeper Zach Labrum made two great saves in heavy traffic and defender Adam Witucki cleared the ball off the line that was targeted for the twine.
“Three games in four days is tough,” said Libertyville coach Andy Bitta. “They were all against very good teams. We played a great first half, but you could see as the second half went on, how tired we were.
“It was like we were walking while they were sprinting to the ball.”
Bitta said his team is tired and banged up, but must return to the pitch at home on Thursday against a quality Round Lake squad.
“We’re trying to overcome (a letdown), but it could happen. You can only do so much,” Bitta said. “Right now, we need to recuperate, but we have a game on Thursday against a very good Round Lake team. I have no idea how that’s going to go.”
Against Stevenson, Libertyville came out on fire. The first goal was set up when Joey Ruppert had a shot in the box blocked, but the ball caromed to Chatfield, who went top shelf in the far corner.
The second featured Marshall Hollingsworth passing to Kaplan, whose 35-yard bomb went over the keeper’s hands, hit the bottom of the crossbar and went in.
For the game, Labrum made four saves and now has six shutouts.
Stevenson (5-3-2 overall, 2-2 in the NSC Lake) goalies Quentin Low (first half) and Jacob Azriel (second half) combined for six saves.. The Pats play Grant on Thursday.
“We’re feeling really good about how kids have stepped up,” said Bitta, whose team finished second in last year’s state tournament but had some major graduation losses. “We’re getting scoring from a lot of places and our goalie has showed a lot of maturity in just his first season.”
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