Lions' Soccer Battles Back to Triumph Over Knights

The Lions wrapped up the regular season with a 5-3 victory over the Chicago Christian Knights, but the Knights managed to throw more than a little scare into the Lions.

Things looked a little shaky early as Chicago Christian came out fast and took a quick 1-0 lead.  The Lions got a real wake-up call when the Knights scored again to take a 2-0 barely 10 minutes into the game.  Lisle managed to right the ship, fighting back and scoring the next three goals en route to a 5-3 victory.

“They came out strong and we didn’t come out ready,” said Lions coach Kevin Perez.  “It took us 10 minutes to step it up.  They scored two goals in 10 minutes and that’s not acceptable.”

The Lion comeback started at the 28:41 mark of the first half when Eric Osika fed a perfect centering pass to Alhaji Kamara, who punched it in for the score. 

“At half, I told the guys we cannot start this way,” said Coach Perez.  “We have to start the way we ended the first half.”

The team took the coaches words to heart, and struck early in the second half.

With six minutes gone in the second half, Brad Blechschmidt out-jumped the Knight goalkeeper and drilled a header into the net off a Lion corner kick.  Blechschmidt's goal tied the game 2-2 and moved the momentum to the Lions.

The Lions quickly followed Blechschmidt's goal with another.  Alhaji Kamara took a long lead pass and dribbled past an out of position Knight goalkeeper to score his second goal of the game, giving the Lions a 3-2 lead. 

After a Knight’s goal on a penalty kick, Lisle resumed their offensive attack as Eric Osika beat two defenders to put the Lions ahead for good with his first goal of the game.  Seven minutes later, Pat Webb scored an insurance goal, giving the Lions the 5-3 victory.

With the regular season ending, the Lions will start their playoff run on Tuesday, Oct. 11, at the Timothy Christian Regional with a 4:30 game against Montini.