Kits, Calonges Boot Elk Grove In Opener

Pascal Calonges is better known for a goal that he DIDN’T score last year than the one he actually did score by fans of the Evanston soccer program.

Calonges’ rebound attempt in the first half of the regional championship game against Lane Tech was wiped out by an offsides call, robbing the Wildkits of some early momentum and leading to a 2-0 defeat that ended their season prematurely and snapped a string of 10 straight regional titles.

The ETHS senior scored his first goal of the 2023 season in a 1-0 triumph over Elk Grove Tuesday night and took the first step toward wiping out that painful memory.

Of course, to do so he had to put junior teammate Cristiano Hamer in his place. Seniors still rule at Evanston even with the presence of one of the most talented junior classes in program history.

The hustle by 3 players --- Calonges, who finished the play; Hamer, who was in the middle of it; and junior Joseph Sargent, who triggered the action with his pursuit of a head ball --- allowed the Wildkits to prevail in a matchup of conference champs from a year ago.

Mid-Suburban League defending champion Elk Grove kept 6 defenders back and the Kits couldn’t break through until the 61st minute when Calonges matched his goal scoring total of a year ago. The losers hit the post twice on offense and Evanston goalie Cade Likhite added 4 saves.

“All of our forwards have different strengths, but the one thing they all have is speed,” pointed out Evanston head coach Franz Calixte. “I’d like to see them all get between 8 and 12 goals each this year. I think that’s a possibility, and we’ll be running on all cylinders if that happens.

“I think the biggest difference for Pascal this year is really just experience. He got used to the speed of the game (at the varsity level) last year and a year of experience can be a great thing for you. I’m anticipating he’ll score a handful more, too.”

On a 90-degree night at Elk Grove, the hosts refused to wilt in the heat of constant pressure by Evanston. But following a water break midway through the second half, Sargent kept chasing a ball bouncing high on the artificial turf and got a head on it to nudge it toward the goal and toward teammate Hamer.

Hamer, who played an impressive game in his varsity debut, did get a brief touch in the penalty area --- before Calonges told him to get out of the way and booted home the game-winner.

“I saw him going to the goal so I had to go help,” said Calonges. “He dribbled by me and, at first I thought he was going to shoot it. Finally I just told him to stop running. He stopped and I took it.

“My role on this team this year is to be a scorer and lead this team to the state finals. That’s why I came back, to score goals.”

Evanston turned in a stout defensive effort with a new back line, except for returning starter Ben Roman. The Grenadiers hit the post twice --- once by Chris Aparicio, a line drive attempt from 40 yards in the 39th minute, and once by Alan Maya-Gonzalez in the 44th minute off a quick restart.

Senior Oliver Hassard was credited with 3 blocked shots and the Kits also blocked at least 3 other salvos before they could get through to keeper Likhite.

“This was a good opening game for us,” Calixte said. “We were still able to connect our passes on a tighter field. One of our main goals this year is to be very stingy on defense and tonight we bent a little, but we didn’t break. And we were still able to get (scoring) opportunities, too. We’ll get our shooters more focused and hopefully a few more of those shots will go in.”