Some things just can’t be explained.

The 9th ranked Valparaiso Vikings played just like they were supposed to and took full advantage of a listless Chesterton team to the tune of a 4-1 Duneland Athletic Conference victory on Wednesday.

“We were outplayed in every facet of the game tonight all over the field,” Chesterton coach Jamie Sensibaugh said. “We have to find an identity. This game tonight exposed so many different things that we need to work on. We have to get better.”

The Vikings took a 1-0 lead with 16:47 left in the first half when Nick Violanti centered a pass to John Virgil. The lead grew to 2-0 with 44 seconds left in the half when Yamen Atassi found Brent Howard in front of the goal.

“To be perfectly honest, there aren’t very many teams we could have beaten the way we played tonight,” Sensibaugh said. “Normally, that’s not the case. Even when you don’t play well technically, the heart is still there usually, but tonight it wasn’t.

“With this team, I would’ve never thought that in a million years.”

The Trojans pulled within 2-1 with 31:52 left in the game when Mike Anderson chased a ball in the box and was tackled by Valpo goalkeeper A.J. Ratajec.

Evan Coudriet found the back of the net on the penalty kick.

But, Valpo didn’t take long to respond. Alex Hathoot carried the ball two-third’s of the field and was tackled in the box just ahead of a penalty kick goal from Joel Krueger.

The final tally of the game for the Vikings came as Nikolas Jeftich tried to center a ball that bounced off the hands of Chesterton keeper Jacob Garmany and into the net to set the final score.

“We aren’t going to forget about it,” Sensibaugh said. “There are a lot of other things we are going to take out of this. When you analyze a game, some of the intangibles are what I’m most upset about.

“Hopefully we remember this when we see them again later in the year.”

Valparaiso 4, Chesterton 1

Valparaiso – John Virgil 1 goal; Yamen Atassi 1 goal; Joel Krueger 1 goal; Nikolas Jeftich 1 goal; Kenny Kollasch 2 assists; Pat Reineke 1 assist; A.J. Ratajec 4 saves.

Chesterton -- Evan Coudriet 1 goal; Jacob Garmany 9 saves.

Records -- Valparaiso 2-0 (1-0 DAC), Chesterton 3-1 (0-1 DAC).

Posted 8/26/2010