Grayslake Central’s Lucas Veenstra would rather lead an attack than stop one.
The senior defender is playing out of position — in his words — for the Rams.
“I’ve played everywhere in my 13 years,” Veenstra said. “(Defender) is just where coach puts me. At club, I play striker. When I get to club, I need about a month of adjustment to get back with the same guys and that position.”
Regardless of his position, Veenstra brings leadership and toughness that are key factors in the strong play by a back line that helped the Rams return to the Class 2A state tournament.
For the second year in a row, however, Grayslake Central’s dreams of winning a state championship vanished in the semifinal round. Miles Calderon scored the lone goal Friday, knocking in a shot in the 55th minute, to lead Glenwood to a 1-0 victory at Hoffman Estates.
The Rams (18-2-3) will attempt to set a new standard for their program in the third-place game against Solorio at 9 a.m. Saturday, while the Titans (20-3-2) will play for the state championship against Peoria Notre Dame (22-3-1) at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Grayslake Central, which finished in fourth place last season in its first trip to state, had not lost since a 4-1 defeat against Round Lake on Sept. 22, when two key players — high-scoring senior forward Danik Marynevych and senior defender Jose Chavez — suffered season-ending injuries.
Veenstra, a captain, said the loss to Glenwood was more difficult to swallow than the Rams’ 2-1 semifinal loss to Triad last season. They dominated possession for most of the game, attempting six corner kicks and five free kicks, but couldn’t score.
“This year it feels a lot worse,” Veenstra said. “Coming off the loss from last year, we knew we had another year to still prove ourselves.”
Before Friday, the Rams’ back line of Veenstra, Eric Garcia-Perez, Anderson Chevrier and Damian Sereno had joined forces with goalkeeper Uriel Garcia-Perez to hold their first five playoff opponents without a goal. Calderon ended the streak by taking advantage of a defensive breakdown to score his 10th goal of the season.
“We made one mental mistake on defense, and they capitalized on it,” Grayslake Central coach Keith Andersson said. “We probably had 85-90% of the possession but couldn’t finish our chances. … There’s nothing that we could have done differently aside from putting a couple into the back of the net, but that’s soccer.”
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almost scored the equalizer in the second half, but his close shot sailed over the net while Glenwood’s 6-foot-6, 200-pound goalkeeper, Josh Jones, was out of position and unable to stop the attempt.A few minutes later, Ray Sereno also had a chance to score, with Jones racing out of the box, but Sereno couldn’t gain his footing on the wet turf to set up for a wide-open shot.
Jones, who also plays for Glenwood’s boys basketball team and kicks for the football team, was credited with five saves, while Garcia-Perez made two.
Veenstra noted Grayslake Central’s current senior class reached state in back-to-back seasons.
“Making history last year and doing it again this year is really special,” he said. “You don’t see this happen every often.”
Andersson said Veenstra, who isn’t planning to play in college, helped lift the program to new heights.
“Lucas does things you can’t coach,” Andersson said. “You can’t coach instinct.
“Lucas is such an unbelievable teammate. He never gets down on anybody, always helping the younger players and pushing them. It’s going to be hard not having him on the back line next year. He’s such a good leader.”
Bobby Narang is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.