Valparaiso bounces Chesterton with 2-1 come-from-behind win in sectional quarterfinal at Kankakee Valley

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

The Chesterton boys soccer season ended at Kankakee Valley High School in much the same fashion as it started at Northridge: A senior star scored the game’s first goal, but the Trojans couldn’t hang onto the lead and lost.
Valparaiso ended the Trojans’ season 2-1 in a sectional quarterfinal Tuesday night with two second-half goals by senior Jack Luth.
Chesterton senior Zarek Sierazy gave his team a 1-0 lead with 11:42 left in the first half and the lead stood until a Valpo corner kick resulted in the first of senior Luth’s first goal. His decisive goal came on a penalty kick to the right side of the net with 9:54 remaining.
The Trojans finished 7-9-1 overall and 4-3 in the DAC. Eighth-year coach Lucas Sabedra, who has won two state titles at Chesterton, had won at least a share of the DAC title in every season until this one.
Senior Cal Stuckert, who scored the team’s first goal of the season after spending almost the entire offseason rehabilitating from a serious injury, missed much of the season with injury. He gave it all he had in the finale, but wasn’t able to finish the game, and according to Sabedra “couldn’t even sprint anymore.”
The first-game exit from the postseason left the senior class with an 0-4 postseason record, each loss coming by one goal, including back-to-back 2-1 setbacks to Penn and last season’s 1-0 loss to Crown Point.
Chesterton, which played against a rigorous nonconference schedule, went 0-4 in matches decided by one goal or on penalty kicks.
“It was pretty frustrating this year,” Sabedra said.
The coach used the same word to sum up the final match of the season.
“We needed to match their intensity in the second half,” Sabedra said. “We had a 1-0 lead ,and we talked about all those things at half, and they played a certain style where they’re just very direct, and they know what they’re doing as far as trying to win the second ball and the long throws and set pieces and all that, and that’s how they scored.”
Valpo, which defeated the visiting Trojans 1-0 in the regular season, advanced to a semifinal match today against Hobart.
“We had to be stronger and give more effort than they gave. Thats’ what we talked about (at halftime). For some reason, they came out hungrier in the second half,” Sabedra said. “You’re down 0-1. You’ve got to put it all on the line when you’re down and they did that. Both their goals were effort goals. They wanted it more in that situation than we did. So, it’s frustrating. That’s the story of our season. A lot of those (goals against the Trojans during the season) were just second-chance points.”
Sierazy totaled 18 goals and eight assists, leading the team in both categories to earn All-DAC honors for the second year in a row. Senior Nate Kitchel and junior Cody Baughman also were voted to the all-conference team.
Three freshmen played significant roles: Tyler Hecimovich was second on the team with seven goals. Michael Roberts made big contributions from multiple positions and Danny Vidt became the starting goalkeeper late in the season. David Shumate, Knox Carney, Elijah Osafo and midseason addition Arnulfo Marquez were among the sophomores who showed strong potential and junior Ethan Virgil played well in his first season of high school soccer.
In addition to Sierazy, Stuckert and Kitchel, seniors who were in Chesterton soccer uniforms for the final time Tuesday, listed in the order of their jersey numbers, were Elliott McEvoy, Ray Stringham, Alex Amaya, Ryan Postelnik, Paxton Martinez, Isaac Seifrig and Daniel Lule.
Looking to the future, Sabedra said he sees good things happening, provided he receives 100% buy-in from the players, 100% of the time.
“I hope all the kids who are younger stay. If they do, I think we’ll be in a pretty good spot,” Sabedra said. "A lot of talent with the younger age groups, so it comes down to buy-in. Who’s going to stay and who wants to redeem themselves? That’s what it comes down to. Who wants to make up for this kind of memory of a season?”