Trevians Kick Kits From Unbeaten Ranks Again

Nobody’s perfect.

And nobody’s better at reminding Evanston’s soccer team about that fact than their neighbors to the north.

For the second year in a row, New Trier knocked the Wildkits from the unbeaten ranks, scoring a 3-2 triumph at Lazier Field Thursday night in front of a disappointed ETHS crowd. The Trevians not only retained possession of the fire hydrant trophy that’s part of the head-to-head rivalry, they evened the all-time series between the two schools at 44 wins apiece. There have been 22 ties.

The Trevians struck for a pair of goals in a 21-second span in the first half, then fought off a spirited comeback attempt by the Wildkits in the second half. Evanston fell to 11-1 on the season but can still clinch a second straight Central Suburban League South division championship with a victory next Tuesday at Maine South.

New Trier, which likely claimed a No. 1 sectional tournament seed with Thursday’s win, improved to 9-1-2 on the year.

“New Trier is a very, very good team,” said Evanston head coach Franz Calixte. “It’s hard to go undefeated for a whole season, so I guess this takes the pressure off us. But we’re still in the hunt for the conference championship. We’ve just got to regroup now. We hope to see them again.

“We made a couple of mistakes to give them momentum in that first half, and then it was tough for us to penetrate against the defensive mindset they have. They always commit to (opposing) counterattacks with numbers and that was a great team effort by them.

“Everyone gets up for Evanston and we always have a bulls-eye on our backs. We’ll lick our wounds and we’ll come back from this.”

Prior to Thursday’s loss, the Wildkits could have displayed their team picture in any legitimate dictionary next to the word “explosive.” And Joseph Sargent’s goal --- a header off a corner kick from Bryan Maldonado --- gave the hosts a 1-0 advantage just a little less than 3 minutes into the first half of play.

New Trier responded with a burst that merited a page of its own with that dictionary description. In the 26th minute, Aidan O’Neill scored on a penalty kick after ETHS goalie Cade Likhite was called for a rare foul in the box.

A few ticks of the clock later, O’Neill was foiled by Likhite’s brilliant save, but Nicky Mehitarian blasted home the rebound and the Trevians led 2-1 at halftime.

Another restart --- a corner kick by Cole Driscoll that teammate Yannick Vaughan knocked past Likhite --- pushed the lead to 3-1 midway through the second half.

Evanston didn’t go down without a fight in the second half, which featured at least a half dozen yellow cards. The Wildkits pulled to within 3-2 with 8 minutes, 21 seconds left in regulation as Maldonado converted a long pass from Orlando Tobin. The two tried to hook up again minutes later, but Maldonado couldn’t make any body contact with the pass this time.

Evanston’s last gasp came on a restart from the 40 yard line, but New Trier keeper Thomas Terry (6 saves) punched away the long distance attempt from Joseph Munyaneza.

Calixte, always the teacher, felt the Kits learned a lesson on how to match up with their rivals if there’s a rematch in the postseason.

“In the first half we were turning (their backs) against their speed when we tried to win balls in the midfield,” Calixte said. “In the second half we did a better job because we just said slow down and be more patient.

“We also got more dangerous with some of our crosses (passes) and that’s something we haven’t had to do much this year. (Junior forward) Johnny Hunwick had a couple of nice headers off of crosses (a save by Terry and a shot that hit the crossbar), and we’re learning to attack in different ways now.”

Evanston resumes action Saturday with a non-conference game at Whitney Young.