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Sports

Glenbrook North Soccer Goes Down To Prospect In Season Opener

Few scoring chances for home side Spartans.

Glenbrook North got off to a shaky start in its 2011 boys soccer season as the team lost 2-0 to Prospect Monday night.

The visiting Knights, who boast 14 seniors on their 20-man roster, wasted no time in getting their season off to a flying start underneath the lights at the football stadium.

With only two minutes off the clock, senior Ihor Lehkiv slotted a beautiful pass to classmate Alex Schnepf, who held off Glenbrook North defender Marco Luke before rifling past Spartan goalkeeper Mitch Shapiro to give the visitors their early advantage.

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"It's definitely not the way we wanted to start the game or the season," said Spartan head coach Paul Vignocchi.

Even with Schnepf's early goal, the game, for the most part, was bereft of any real goal-scoring opportunities, especially for the home team.

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The Knights did find a second with some tough luck for the home crowd.

It started with Prospect playing the ball forward from their own defense. Lehkiv, who may look a little bigger than most soccer players, unloaded a rocket from 25 yards away that knuckled and swerved and come crashing off of the Spartan post. But, Mitch Shapiro--the Glenbrook North goalkeeper--made an effort to keep Lehkiv's shot out and without touching the ball, was left helpless as the ricochet landed right at the feet of senior Patryk Ruta who slammed home from three yards away.

The Spartans really lacked any great scoring chances but that is subject to change when a certain Spartan senior is involved.

Michael Simon, who was a key cog in the Spartan attack last year as a junior, had a hard time finding space as the visiting Knights dominated possession throughout and really limited his touches. But, you can't keep a star player down for long and it looked like Simon was ready to create a piece of magic with eight minutes to go.

With the Spartans needing a lift and trailing by two goals late on, the flying winger split a triple team with a pirouetted spin-move and sent a shot towards goal. The effort was fairly tame, however, and Knight goalie Brad Reibel had no trouble collecting the shot.

Vignocchi may not have been thrilled with the way the first game went, but he understands it's a long season.

"We gave up a goal two minutes into the game and five minutes into the second half," he said. "You know, it's a learning experience and Prospect is a good team. They move the ball well and they move off the ball well and they have a great, athletic goalkeeper. Our guys will learn and we'll get better."

The Spartans will be in action again on Thursday when they play against Foreman in another home game.

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