Grayslake Central’s Daniel Marynevych watched a teammate’s shot sail over the goal, putting each hand on his head in frustration.
The junior forward had his footprints all over the Rams’ historic run to the Class 2A state semifinals. But this time, Marynevych could do nothing but watch Friday afternoon as the final seconds ticked off on the Rams’ quest to reach the state championship game.
Triad scored a goal in each half to pull out a 2-1 victory in the first semifinal at Hoffman Estates.
When the final whistle sounded, Grayslake Central (14-7-2) felt the finality of the defeat to the Knights (25-0-1), with the players in various states of emotion due to their unexpected run. The junior-led Rams, who will play in the third-place game Saturday, were projected to be a state contender — in 2022.
“Right now, I’m feeling really neutral,” Marynevych said. “I’m just looking forward to next year.”
Junior captain Lucas Veenstra, who scored the Rams’ lone goal late in the second half, laid down on the field turf. Junior forward Cameron Paul, who scored a goal in the sectional final against Crystal Lake South, stared at the main grandstand in disbelief. Junior midfielder Ray Sereno, who also scored a goal in the sectional final, preferred to spend a few minutes on the ground.
“This is the first of everything,” Grayslake Central coach Keith Andersson said. “The school has never been this far. They’re experiencing everything as a first feeling. Now they know what it’s going to take to get to the next step.”
Back in August, the Rams had no thoughts of ending their season in the first weekend of November, but led by the high-scoring Marynevych, that all changed with a glorious and memorable playoff run.
“I’m gutted,” Andersson said. “As a coach, you want the best for your players. Do I think we got it today? No. I think we could’ve done better. I think we should be in the finals. … Nobody thought we would be here this year. I hope the boys take what the seniors are feeling this year. They got to experience something they will remember for the rest of their lives.”
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Triad stayed on a path toward the state title by sticking to its game plan, relying on senior defender Roger Weber to pester Marynevych throughout the 80 minutes.
Marynevych, who scored a team-high 20 goals, including six in the postseason, showed no ill effects from a hamstring injury that caused him to come off the bench in the previous three games, although his first shot on goal didn’t come until the 34th minute.
“I had my opportunities, and I had my chances, but I just didn’t get to finish on my opportunities,” he said.
One of Marynevych’s best attempts came in the 56th minute, when he drilled a shot off the crossbar.
“We played Roger Weber to man-mark (Marynevych) because we knew he was a pretty good player from his stats and film,” Triad coach Jim Jackson said. “Roger is one of the best defenders. We knew if we put Roger on him, that we would have a good chance to win this game.”
Triad entered the game behind a high-scoring collective unit to go with a stingy defense. The Knights, who had outscored their five postseason opponents 21-0, got on the board first on Tobey Suter’s goal in the 21st minute.
That ended a three-game shutout streak by Grayslake Central sophomore goalkeeper Uriel Garcia Perez, who was a standout again with numerous diving saves. He finished with eight stops.
After the Rams picked up a red card to play a man down with 5:12 left in regulation, the Knights immediately tacked on another goal on Jake Ellis’ shot to increase the lead to 2-0.
With 2:41 remaining, Veenstra knocked a shot into the net off a rebound to cut the lead in half.
“The ball was crossed in and sort of deflected out to me, so in the moment, I just was going to hit it since there was only a few minutes left,” Veenstra said. “Right away, I knew we had to get the ball (back) and start going quickly.”
Bob Narang is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.