Krystian Rafacz was more of a role player last season for Lockport, but heading into this fall, he felt ready to make a bigger impact.
The senior midfielder quickly discovered the joy that comes with putting the ball in the back of the net.
“Scoring goals, it just makes you smile,” Rafacz said. “You just have to keep going. When you score a couple, it gives you a lot of momentum to get more.”
Rafacz will definitely take some momentum into the playoffs after he scored twice in Tuesday’s regular-season finale, leading the host Porters to a 3-0 SouthWest Suburban Conference win over Bradley-Bourbonnais.
Orlando Dominguez also scored for Lockport (13-2-2, 8-0), which won its ninth straight game and clinched the conference championship outright.
Kacper Sikon and Jacob Hareza each had an assist, while Ben Szudy made seven saves to record the shutout. Dominik Gryglak, Hector Ramirez, Nojus Slivskis and Justas Ulinskas led a strong defensive effort in front of Szudy.
Harrison Adams made eight saves for the Boilermakers (12-10, 2-6).
After the sting of ending up one win short of making it to state last year, when the Porters lost 2-1 to Hinsdale Central in the Class 3A Morton Supersectional, Rafacz went into the offseason determined to improve and become a difference maker.
“Last year, I only had two goals and I knew I had to get better,” he said. “I know I’m a senior this year and I had to step up. After that supersectional, I was motivated to grow my confidence and build up the courage to step up and score more goals.”
Lockport coach Chris Beal observed Rafacz’s ascension before the fall even began.
“We saw it in the summer with his hard work and dedication,” Beal said. “He was scoring key goals in the summer. We challenged him and said, ‘If you can carry that into the season, you’ll have a starting spot and you can be very influential up there in that final third of the field.’
“He’s really doing that. It’s not only his creativity in terms of linking up with other players. He’s scored some great goals, too.”
While dishing out eight assists, Rafacz has now scored nine goals this season. He’s one of the players most responsible for taking the pressure off Szudy, a sophomore goalkeeper who has thrived on a team that’s allowed only 18 goals all year.
“He stepped up as a leader,” Szudy said of Rafacz. “Obviously, he’s very good. He’s been scoring goals and assisting on a lot of goals. It’s going to be tough losing him since he’s a senior.”
Rafacz started playing soccer when he was 7 years old, but he was beaten to it by his younger brother, Sebastian, who is now a freshman playing on the junior varsity for Lockport.
“I went to one of his games and I was really intrigued,” Rafacz said. “I was like, ‘I want to try it.’ I played rec for a couple years and I just destroyed the whole league, so I decided to play travel.
“In the front yard, we had a big goal. My brother would play goalie sometimes. I would force him to so I could get shots on him. That kind of helped me develop.”
Although Rafacz has become a prolific scorer this season for the first time in his high school career, it’s not entirely new. That’s what made him fall in love with the sport all those years ago.
“It just gave me a good feeling inside when I was scoring goals,” Rafacz said. “When I was little, I scored a lot of goals. It just made me happy.
“I felt like whenever I step on the field, all my problems and all my worries would just go away.”
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