York Watches Golz Win It For Huskies

York coach Markus Roy repeatedly told his players at halftime of Tuesday's scoreless boys soccer match to keep an eye on Stephen Golz.

"I must have said, 'Watch No. 20,' like 12 times," Roy said.

You can guess what happened next.

Golz scored less than three minutes into the second half and the goal held up as the game-winner as Oak Park-River Forest High School defeated the visiting Dukes 1-0 in a West Suburban Silver Conference opener.

"I said it so many times it was like a joke," Roy said afterward. "He was the guy there in the middle, and he ended up scoring the goal."

Golz headed a pass from freshman Marcus Machado into the net from about seven yards in front of the goal.

"I saw [the ball] coming over," Golz said.  "And the other forward, Thomas Lamm, jumped up for it and I just thought I had a little bit of a better angle so I just called him off. I tried to head it toward the goal and it ended up going in."

It was the second goal of the season for Golz. The junior was moved from midfielder to forward by Huskies coach Paul Wright.

"He gave us a little bit larger presence," Wright said.

Golz' goal capped a surge by OPRF (6-1-2 overall, 1-0 conference) that began late in the first half. York (2-4-2, 0-1) controlled much of the action for the opening 15 minutes before the home team tilted the momentum in its favor with a trio of good scoring chances in the final 10 minutes of the opening half.

Cory O'Donnell's header bounced off the right post, Nick Gadbsy's shot off a corner kick traveled just wide left and York goalie Carmine Sementa made a leaping one-handed save of another Gadbsy shot, which Sementa deflected just over the crossbar.

It was the Huskies' Sam Euler time to shine in goal in the second half. The senior made a one-handed save of his own when he stopped a blistering shot by York's David Selvaggi a few minutes after the Huskies took their 1-0 lead.

Euler made a diving save to deny York's Nico Lappo on a right-to-left shot with 45 seconds remaining.

"We had a couple good chances," Roy said. "Their goalie made a nice save off a free kick off of Selvaggi's shot. It was a good game. We usually play Oak Park at the end of the season. This is a really important game for both teams so it hurt that much more that it's a 1-0 game."   

Golz isn't surprised by his team's fast start.

"Our team was looking very good in preseason," he said. "As the year has been going on we've just gotten better and more comfortable with each other in our positions. We're starting to settle down and just starting to play great soccer."

The Huskies hope to contend for the title in a challenging conference that includes highly-regarded Lyons Township, Downers Grove North and Hinsdale Central.

"This was our first conference game so it was very important for us to get this," Golz said. "It's a very tough conference. Of course we want to go all the way and win it. It's going to be very tight, but I think if we just play our game we can be right up there with all those top teams."