Mizyed returns to play with 5 goals in 5 games
Senior forward Mohammad Mizyed eagerly awaited his return to the soccer field for Oak Lawn.
Mizyed played with the Spartans as a freshman but sat out for two years before deciding to come back to the team. His reemergence was then delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.
“My sophomore year, I decided I wanted to play a little late and it was too late to join the team,” Mizyed said. “My junior year, I had some things going on around my house that I had to take care of, so I had to take the year off.
“This year, I knew I was coming back. I was worried when coronavirus hit.”
Mizyed thought his opportunity to play for the Spartans again may have passed.
“I was like, ‘I only played my freshman season and I really wanted to play more and now I might miss out on my senior season,’ ” he said. “It was in my mind the whole time.
“Once I found out we were going to have a season, that really lifted me up.”
Mizyed’s return has certainly given Oak Lawn a lift. He scored five goals in the first five games for the Spartans (2-2-1), who are halfway to matching their win total from last season, when they finished 4-16-1.
“He’s a scoring threat,” Oak Lawn coach Nate Joiner said. “He’s got a great left foot. He can shoot it from distance. He’s got a great shot.
“We don’t have a lot of that and last year we really struggled to finish and score goals, so he has been a big addition.”
Mizyed is an aggressive shooter who likes to test opposing goalkeepers as often as he can.
“I watch pro games and I watch top-class strikers,” he said. “I notice their movement, their runs and where they shoot the ball. They have that trigger foot.
“Once the ball goes on their foot, they take that shot no matter what the angle is. I try to implement that into my game, and it’s been working.”
Now that he’s finally back playing for Oak Lawn, Mizyed is trying to take advantage of the limited time he has the rest of this season.
“There aren’t many games, so every game, I’m trying to get as many goals as possible to help us win,” he said. “We want to get as many wins as possible.”
St. Laurence showtime: Junior forward Andres Lemus continued to show Saturday why he is one of the area’s most exciting players during St. Laurence’s 4-1 win over Marist.
Lemus scored twice, including a dazzling goal on a midair volley.
“You see players that you want to be like who are pros and you want to come out there and put on a show,” Lemus said. “It was a like a last-second thought.
“I was going to set the ball down at first, but I was like, ‘Why not?’ You have to try something new every time and challenge yourself.”
Lemus has scored seven goals in four games. He missed two games with an Achilles injury. St. Laurence (6-0), which has outscored its opponents 29-3, has won every game by at least three goals.
Locking down: Lincoln-Way Central (3-1) notched a pair of big 1-0 wins last week over Lockport and Sandburg.
The Knights have a veteran back line in front of sophomore goalkeeper Ryan Marszalek, led by seniors Dylan Alfonso, Brandon Mellen, Andrew Anania and Owen Hopper.
“We try to set the tone on defense and lead from the back,” Mellen said.