The U13 Black team next battled the Berwyn Blazers to a 2-2 tie in a hard fought game. The twins David and Michael Pyle were outstanding in leading the way. Goalkeeper Paprocki made great saves that preserved the tie to put the Roadrunners into the championship game. The Bartlett Hawks struck first in the championship. With 10 minutes to play, Brian Morefield scored an athletic goal to tie the game. Just a minute later, Azmi Sharif finished off a nice pass to put the Roadrunners ahead. Bartlett tied the game. Then, Conor Kelch saved the day and scored with under 2 minutes to play for the 3-2 victory. The U13 Black team is coached by David Di Tomasso, the head men's soccer coach at Elmhurst College.
In the opener, the Roadrunners’ Brian Lemke, Matt Krzywosz and David Klouda controlled the midfield, with Goalkeeper Matt Hroma and defenders Mitch Pittner, Jon Miller, Larry LeBlanc and Christian Klemp stopping everything that America AC had. The Roadrunners scored first, after Brian Lemke found winger Dan Chesla for a tap in. David Masolak scored the Roadrunners second goal, after squeezing through a rough American AC defense.
Orland Park gave the Roadrunners a test in the second match by taking an early 3-1 lead. The Roadrunners battled back in the final minutes, scoring two goals to walk away with the draw 3-3. Keeper Jordan Thompson made several nice late saves to keep the drive alive, while forwards Alex Rivera, Kevin O’Halloran, Nick Wesolowski and Jack Ciolino controlled possession and found a way to finish when it counted.
In the third match, the Roadrunners completed the round robin play by defeating local Darien Arsenal 2-1.
The championship match put the Roadrunners up against the Summit Golden Eagles, a team that had just completed an undefeated indoor season. Tight defensive play by LeBlanc and Pittner along with outstanding goalkeeping by Hroma proved too much for the Eagles, while the Roadrunner attack led by Mike Paczkowski, O’Halloran, Masolak and Chesla was stopped short by a tremendous effort by the Eagles’ keeper. The 0-0 draw at the end of regulation created the penalty kick shoot out – where five players from each team line up, one at a time, to take their best shot at the opponent’s goal. At the end of the first round of five attempts, the shoot out was tied 2-2. In the second OT shoot out, keeper Hroma was just too much for the Eagles, stopping all but one atttempt. The shoot out ended 3-1 when O’Halloran’s drive to the upper corner ripped past the Eagle’s keeper. The U13 team is coached by Bob Lemke, the Roadrunner Club President.
Printed from the ActivMindz website (www.ActivMindz.com).