Leyden claims narrow win over Lane

Updated: October 22, 2011 6:00PM

Leyden’s Fernando Comacho had no interest in just putting the ball in front of the goal, 35 yards away, when he lined up for a free kick in the second half of Saturday’s championship game of the Leyden Class 3A regional against Lane Tech.

The Eagles, the No. 2 seed in the Evaston 3A Sectional, were outplayed by No. 11-seed Lane Tech during a scoreless first half. And Camacho thought it was time to do something about breaking the tie.

“I was aiming for that spot; I wanted to try to put the ball right into the net,” Camacho said of his free-kick goal from 35 yards out with 32 minutes 49 seconds remaining. His shot went over the head of Lane goalkeeper Zorohn Reed for the only score of the game in Leyden’s 1-0 victory.

“I don’t think their goalkeeper was expecting a shot, but I’m a senior, and I don’t want the season to end.”

With a strong defensive effort by the Eagles (16-4-3), Lane (14-10-1) continued to control the ball for much of the remaining time in the second half, but was unable to get anything past Leyden goalkeeper Marco Granda.

“I thought we had a good chance of our defense keep them from scoring, but I knew we still needed a goal,” Camacho said.

Leyden coach Mark Valintis had little good to say about his team’s performance, other than the fact that the win advances the Eagles to a 7 p.m. Tuesday Sectional Semifinal in Evanston.

“Sometimes, it is better to be lucky than good,” Valintis said. “They did outplay us. They were a step quicker; they were proactive, and we were reactive. We get zero style points for this game, but you just have to find

a way to win when you get into the State tournament. For five seconds; for one play, Camacho turned a free kick into a goal.”

Lane Tech coach Andrew Ricks was pleased with his team’s effort, but that was little consolation to him or the Indians after the loss.

“We left it on the field, but it’s the goal they made that was the difference,” Ricks said. “It was a tight game. Leyden is used to winning,

not that we aren’t. They scored a goal, and we didn’t.”

Lane’s best scoring chance probably came with 16:32 to play in the opening half when Granda came out to make a save on Andy Piszczor, who had gotten behind Leyden defenders.

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