Lane played in an intense and physical game, against an impressive competitor on Tuesday, Sept. 9. The game began with the first point 9 minutes in with a goal by Adrian Szkolnik, giving Lane the advantage. Following that, also in the first half, senior captain Sebastian Wimmer scored, increasing Lane’s lead before halftime.
There were other goal opportunities that Libertyville’s defense deflected, keeping Lane to a 2 goal advantage.
During halftime, Lane Tech Dance Team performed an upbeat hip-hop routine for fans before the game continued.
Into the second half, Lane was still up 2-0 against Libertyville, who was fighting diligently for a turn around. In the last 4 minutes of the game, Libertyville scored a goal from a redirected sideline throw-in. This created some moments of tension as Lane now only held a single goal lead.
Lane took an approach of tightening up and focusing on their defense in order to stay ahead. “We really held on still to clear out balls, had guys back to defend, to see out the game, even though it wasn’t pretty,” said Head Coach Andrew Ricks. “And that’s what you have to do, because the other team is desperate. They’re throwing everything at you to try and tie. And you have to suffer a little bit and hold, and we did, fortunately.”
The defensive attention made a big impact on their game, and was a large part of their strategy in that second half. “It was two zero, and they were sending wingers down the sideline, and I just had to hold the line,” said senior Maks Schechinger. “We were kinda parking the bus, but then we were relying on counterattacks to keep us in the game.”
The term “parking the bus” as used by this Lane player, means positioning many players deep in their own half of the field in order to reinforce holes in the defense and create less scoring opportunities for opponents. Schechinger also uses the term “wingers,” which are wide attacking players whose purpose is to create scoring chances for the team. Lane used these wingers along with a tight defense in order to combat a possible Libertyville comeback. This strategy proved to be successful for the Lane boys as they ended the game 2-1.
Along with defensive strategies, other factors were said to have significantly contributed to the victory. “I think we came out with energy, we came out with happiness, we came out with things that you need to win a game and I think we produced those and that’s why we won today’s game,” said Wimmer.
This game made it the second win in a row for the Lane boys soccer as they beat Juarez on Sept. 8, just the day before. “I don’t like to schedule many back-to-back games, but yesterday was a league game, which was scheduled for us, and today was the opportunity to have a suburban team come to us, Libertyville, which is not common,” Ricks said.
Libertyville has an impressive history as they won the state championship in the 2015-2016 season. “We were expecting them always to be really good, really tight,” Wimmer said. “We played them last year — we tied them 1-1, and they were a really good team, and much respect to them.”
Both Schechinger and Wimmer described contentment with the win and the improvement from the tie last year against Libertyville.
Looking forward, Wimmer wants the team to work on accentuating enthusiasm in games. “We went in, our last games have been a little bit less energetic.” said Wimmer. “Everyone just said we got second in the state last year, we’re gonna do it again this year, but it’s not the same. We have to show it and we have to produce it by the amount of energy we got. Everyone has to be has to fire up one another.”
This is only the beginning of the season for Lane boys soccer. “We have a very bright future,” Wimmer said. “And there’s still a lot more to work on. And we’re just going to keep building on every single game.”
