Crown Point upsets Lake Central in boys soccer regional semifinal

MERRILLVILLE | Crown Point goalie Christian Lomeli started in net for the Bulldogs during his freshman season.

By his sophomore year, he'd transferred to Lake Forest Academy in Chicago but returned to Crown Point for his senior year.

After participating in his required 10 practices, Lomeli, who also trains with the Chicago Fire soccer club, was finally available to play in the postseason.

Lomeli started his first game for the Bulldogs since the 2008 season in Thursday's regional semifinal against defending state champion Lake Central. He made eight saves as Crown Point recorded the 2-1 upset, sending home the 10-time regional champions.

The Bulldogs will play Munster, shootout winners over Valparaiso of the second semifinal game. The Mustangs beat the Vikings 5-3 in penalty kicks. The championship match will start at 11 a.m. Saturday.

"Alex (Trifunovic) has been our keeper all year, and we just thought that tonight Christian gave us a better chance," Crown Point coach JR Rosenbaum said. "Both are incredibly good keepers. Christian has played in a lot of high-level games because he trains with the Fire. We thought he gave us a good chance."

Crown Point (12-6-2) took a 1-0 lead into halftime after a goal by Zach Sneiderwine at 9:02. Sneiderwine will miss Saturday's regional final after receiving two yellow cards.

Rain that fell most of the day became heavier and added a strong wind in the second half. There were puddles and standing water in nearly every quarter of the field.

"These kids invest a lot of time, and it's unfortunate to see any team's season end on a field in these conditions," L.C. coach Jereme Rainwater said. "We talked about over-hitting their passes and playing over their passes to get through the water. Neither of (Crown Point's) goals can be blamed on the puddles.

"I've been involved in a lot of games in these conditions, and I've won games in these conditions. I take my hat off to Crown Point, they did what they needed to do to win."

Lake Central (15-2-3) tied the game with 11 minutes remaining in the game on a goal by Joshua Crague off a feed from Bryan Perez.

Nearly two minutes later, Bulldogs senior Joey Davis deflected a kick off of a Lake Central defender for the game-winning goal.

"Obviously, we haven't been able to get over the Lake Central hump for the last couple years," Rosenbaum said. "Ultimately the goal wasn't to beat Lake Central, but the goal was to get to this point. We had to beat Lake Central to do it."

Rosenbaum was a former assistant with Rainwater at L.C., joining Crown Point in 2009.

"He took over a program with this in mind, to win at this level," Rainwater said. "If I have to lose to someone, I'm glad it was him. He puts in a lot of hard work for his program."

After a 0-0 tie through the first three quarters of the second game, Drake Bowers took a pass from Zarko Coric to give Munster (16-3-1) a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute of the second half.

Berkley Ramsey tied the game at 1-1 on a Valparaiso penalty kick with 5:28 remaining in regulation.

After a scoreless overtime, Munster goalie Evan Kattan stopped the third penalty kick he saw — off the foot of Valpo junior Issac Withrow — to give the 'Stangs the win.

"I'm very proud of my boys, they persevered in tough conditions," Munster coach Jim Prasopoulos said. "We were trying to close out the game (in regulation), but Valpo is not an easy team to beat twice in one year."

The Mustangs had shut out Valpo (10-8-1) 2-0 to end the regular season.

"It was a very tight match from beginning to end," Valparaiso coach Danny Jeftich said. "These were very difficult conditions. We were trying to play our game, which is on the ground. When we went to the air, we turned the ball over too many times."