GAL AND HIS PALS
Junior midfielder scores twice as Andrew stops Lincoln-Way West
In the era of specialization, Andrew’s Damian Gal plays soccer and that’s it.
But that’s not a bad thing at all for the junior midfielder. He doesn’t wake up in the morning dreaming about scoring a touchdown, delivering a slam dunk or hitting a home run.
Love is love, and this is his love. “I don’t play any other sports, so this game is my passion,” Gal said after celebrating with his teammates. “I love to get everything out of this game. I think about it all the time.
“I knew I had to live up to this moment.”
The moment Tuesday night belonged to Gal. He scored twice to lead the host Thunderbolts to a 3-0 win over Lincoln-Way West in a Class 3A Andrew Regional semifinal in Tinley Park.
The 13th-seeded Warriors beat Andrew 4-3 in SouthWest Suburban Red play on Oct. 5.
“To be perfectly honest, the goals didn’t really matter (Tuesday night),” Gal said. “It’s all about winning, and the goals were just a bonus in the end.”
Gal was an animated force in scoring his fifth and sixth goals of the season for fifth-seeded Andrew (10-6-3), which plays 13th-seeded Eisenhower at 4:30 p.m. Friday for the title.
The 5-foot-11 Gal blends size, speed, quickness and presence for the Thunderbolts. And his goal in the 16th minute created a deficit that left the Warriors (6-13-3) chasing.
As a sophomore, Gal was a parttime starter last season. He has blossomed into a sharper iteration.
“I am an attacking-minded player,” Gal said. “But I can defend and take on guys one-on-one when I want.”
This game illustrated his growth as a finisher.
“I knew they were going to give me the ball,” Gal said. “And I was going to be able to score.”
That was not always the case, according to junior central defender Erick Mietus.
“From the beginning of the year until now, he has improved so much, especially in his shooting,” Mietus said of Gal. “In the beginning, he couldn’t finish anything.
“Now, he found his groove. He’s scoring more than some of our captains.”
The state playoffs take on an amplified importance psychologically. Early goals can swing momentum permanently. Andrew did that Tuesday, dictating the tempo after the first goal.
The Thunderbolts also recorded their third straight shutout and sixth of the season.
Mietus, a captain, confirmed the symbolic value of Gal’s first goal was impossible to overstate.
“When you score early in a big game like Damian did, that just makes our defense 100% stronger,” Mietus said. “It gives us more passion, and we just want to scream with joy.”
Gal embodied the looser and more relaxed state of the Thunderbolts, allowing the game to flow naturally and play off his natural abilities.
If his sophomore year was trial and error while learning the