Lemont falls 1-0 to Althoff in Class 2A semifinal

HOFFMAN ESTATES – Lemont will bring home an IHSA state trophy for the first time in boys soccer, but it won’t be a coveted state title.

Althoff Catholic’s Tyler Birdsong soared high up toward the sky to win a throw-in from Tyler Pollock with 17:41 left in the first half and headed it into the net for the lone goal to beat Lemont 1-0 on Friday in a Class 2A state semifinal at Hoffman Estates.

Lemont (23-4-1) now has a quick turnaround, playing for third place at 9 a.m. Saturday against Prairie Ridge, which also dropped a 1-0 game to De La Salle in the other semifinal.

“I told the guys in the game today I’m not unhappy with the way we played at all,” Lemont coach Rick Prangen said. “I don’t like the result. The effort was there. We were a bit unlucky but I don’t think we played a poor game at all by any stretch of the imagination.”

Prangen said he didn’t get a good view of the goal-scoring play.

“They were just packing guys in the box and to be fair, (the shot) was going right to the keeper and the keeper couldn’t do anything with it. I couldn’t see it. Some of our fans, who we know are objective, said it wasn’t in,” Prangen said. “I couldn’t see it. I think our players didn’t think it was in as well. It was called in, so what are you going to do? They aren’t going to change their minds. They got the goal and then they defended with all their might and props to them for that.”

Althoff Catholic (25-4) continued its impressive run, winning its 14th straight game and becoming just the second team to score on Lemont during the state series.

“That’s a really good team we just played,” Crusaders coach Skip Birdsong said. “They had a really good season with three losses coming in. I’m super proud of the boys for their effort today. A 1-0 game always takes a lot out of both teams, obviously, and to hold on like that, I’m very proud of them all the way around. Hat’s off to Lemont for their season and the game today as well. That’s a 50-50 game and we were fortunate to get one in and get the win today.”

Senior Tyler Chrisman was elusive enough to take four of Lemont’s nine shots, but the Crusaders were committed to not letting him beat them.

“Today they were putting three guys on him and draping him with three guys at times,” Prangen said. “I would’ve liked to have seen a caution maybe for one of the eight or nine fouls that he took though when a skilled guy keeps getting whacked around. He’s been such an important player for us and our whole senior class. There’s a big void that’s going to be there when those guys leave.”

Lemont junior goalkeeper Adrian Lisowski took a handful of free kicks, putting a couple balls deep into the box, but none that a teammate could finish.

“I was just trying to get a rebound,” he said. “Maybe hit it off the goalie’s hands, maybe get a flick on, try to get a goal.”

Andrew Guzy’s header with just under 10 minutes was perhaps Lemont’s best scoring chance for the equalizer, but Althoff Catholic goalkeeper Zach Winkler leapt to make a two-handed snag.

“We definitely tried to put the ball back up into the box,” Chrisman said. “The whole goal was to get something kind of scrappy like they did. We just needed a ball up there to stay up there and they did a really good job of clearing it. Adrian (Lisowski) and a few of our outside backs put some good balls in and that helped us a lot, but unfortunately we weren’t able to get anything in the end.”