Noah Osearo missed the first five games this season after undergoing surgery on his left knee to repair a torn meniscus.
Lake Central’s junior goalkeeper continued to show no ill effects Wednesday night.
Osearo saved a penalty kick and the Indians scored on two PKs as they posted a 3-1 Duneland Athletic Conference road win against Chesterton.
With the score tied 1-1 with 16:19 left in the first half, Osearo dived to his right to knock away Derek O’Dell’s penalty kick. He took notes when the Chesterton senior scored last season on a PK.
“The same kid did the PK and we always kept an eye on it,” Osearo said. “That was my guess — that’s the way he went last year.”
This time, Osearo made the save.
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“Game-changing, right?” Lake Central coach Jereme Rainwater said. “… To give away a PK to be down 2-1 would be awful crippling.”
Instead, Lake Central (10-1-1, 5-0), ranked No. 4 in Class 2A, took a 2-1 lead against No. 13 Chesterton (6-2-2, 4-1). Chris Baranowski converted a penalty kick with 37:32 left after Carson Shrader was tripped in the box.
Chesterton stunned Lake Central with a goal less than five minutes in on a beautifully executed play. Phil Flores sent a cross from the right wing and Owen Hallas headed it home.
“We had a lot of composure,” Rainwater said. “Even down 1-0, there wasn’t a lot of panic. We’ve preached to the guys there’s a certain style Lake Central wants to play, and as long we play inside that style, good things are going to happen.”
The Indians tied the score on Naser Taharwah’s penalty kick with 20:33 left in the half. Daniel Picioski was taken down in the box on a through ball from Taharwah, who buried the PK.
“We hit them at practice,” Taharwah said. “It’s muscle memory, something you have to repeat. We can hit them with our eyes closed now.”
Taharwah understood why Baranowski took LC’s second PK, instead of him.
“We share,” he said. “No one’s greedy.”
Taharwah still got a second goal, giving Lake Central a 3-1 cushion with less than nine minutes left when his shot eluded Ethan Conway.
“The score is not going to be a reflection of how close this game was,” Chesterton coach James Sensibaugh said. “We’re ahead 1-0, we give them a PK. We have a chance to go ahead, we miss a PK. Then we give them another PK. The third goal, we’re pushing people forward trying to level the game.
“I’m not as upset about that as I am about the PKs. Those ended up being the difference.”
Lake Central ended Chesterton’s 21-game DAC win streak, dating to Sept. 11, 2013 when the Trojans lost 1-0 to eventual class 2A champion Crown Point. The Trojans won back-to-back conference titles the last two seasons.
“We weren’t the team to beat (Wednesday),” Sensibaugh said. “We hung with them, had our chances, we had them rattled.
“We know it’s the second time you play that matters most. We hope — there’s no guarantee — we might get a chance to play again.”
The Indians, which defeated Chesterton last season in a regional semifinal, stopped a five-game conference losing streak to the Trojans. The last time Lake Central had won was during its 2010 state championship season.
“We talked about the history,” Rainwater said. “… They know when you come play Chesterton at their place, you have to have your best, and for the good majority of the game, we were at our best.”
PNW volleyball falls: Gabrielle Martin had 11 kills and Brooke Ahrens added 10, but Purdue Northwest fell 25-22, 25-15, 25-27, 20-25, 15-8 to host IU Kokomo in women’s volleyball. Ahrens also had 27 assists and 18 digs for the Pride (6-5).
PNW women’s soccer loses: NAIA No. 20 Olivet Nazarene beat host Purdue Northwest 4-0 in Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference women’s soccer. Lucy Ashmore had seven saves for the Pride (2-4, 0-1).
Twitter @MichaelOsipoff