Highland Park shut down in regional final
BY Derek Reinglass Contributor October 25, 2011 7:10PM
Highland Park's stanout goalkeeper Justin Ozodor cannot believe he is getting red carded in Saturday's regional final. | Joe Cyganowski~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: November 28, 2011 8:14AM
No stranger to slow starts, the Highland Park High School soccer team has grown accustomed to withstanding an opponents’ best blow and battling back.
But the hole proved too deep for the Giants during the Class 3A Hoffman Estates Regional final on Saturday, and Highland Park fell 4-0.
In the ninth minute, HP goalie Justin Ozodor was given a straight red card for allegedly throwing an elbow during a Bison corner kick. Ironically, when a Buffalo Grove player collided in midair with Ozodor on the preceding play, the referee appeared content with permitting the physical play.
The booking was like a punch to the gut for Highland Park.
“The bottom line is, we weren’t just without (Ozodor), we were also playing a man down,” Novotny said. “It made it much harder on us to play strong defense. It was a game-changer.”
Buffalo Grove jumped out to the early 1-0 lead by capitalizing on the penalty kick.
In order to compensate for having only nine players on the pitch, and without their anchor in net, Novotny was forced to make drastic adjustments.
“We shifted Andrew Chang to center back, hoping to sure things up a bit defensively, and just trying to take it into the half down only 1-0,” Novotny said. “I also felt like, from a psychological standpoint, if we hung in there and got a goal it could’ve gotten us back into the game.”
After Buffalo Grove added another goal off a direct kick from nearly 30 yards out, Highland Park trailed 2-0 at halftime.
Despite putting 20 shots on net, the Giants’ best scoring chances were negated by offside calls, and Highland Park failed to get on the board in the loss.
Although it would be easy to hang heads after the disappointing exit, Novotny encouraged his teary-eyed team to feel proud of all the success they achieved.
“At 17-4-1, we had the best record in school history,” Novotny said. “Winning conference, and the crossover title (over Evanston), those are some definite positives.”
Largely responsible for this year’s success was been the addition of brothers Andrew and Michael Chang. The Changs spent previous seasons playing for Sockers FC, an elite Palatine-based club team, and training with the Junior National team.
Looking back on his first season of high school soccer, Andrew Chang is glad he made the decision to join the Highland Park team.
“High School soccer is entirely different, but in a good way,” Andrew said. “Just having the opportunity to represent your school is very special. The best part was having a lot of my classmates come out to support me and support the team. It means a lot to see them every day in school, and know they’re at the game cheering.”
Andrew, a senior, will attend Harvard University next fall as a member of the soccer team.
“I think I’ve shown a lot of growth in the past year, but I need to continue working hard to get better, Andrew said. “Hopefully, someday I can play professional soccer.”
Younger brother Michael, only a sophomore, will be among the pieces in place when the Giants take the field next season.
Other key returnees will be sophomore midfielder Francesco Moore, junior midfielder/forward Frankie Rios, junior defender Noah Bloch — who missed the second half of the season due to injury — and junior defender Tristian Penick.
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