Dave EminianPeoria Journal Star
PEORIA — A goalkeeper who stopped two penalty kicks in extra time to save a victory.
A forward whose goal total is third-most in the league.
Five members of the Bradley Braves soccer team on the roster.
The Peoria City have had no shortage of dramatic moments, talented players and stories to tell in their second season in the USL2. And now the Carp are flying down the stretch in a heated race where three teams are separated by two points battling for two playoff spots.
"The conference is crazy competition," said Peoria City sniper Luke Persenico. "We're in a great spot. We're excited to get down this final stretch, really want that playoff spot. We fight for each other, get out there and battle.
"We have to win every game."
Peoria City is in third place in the Heartland Division of the USL2, one point behind St. Charles and two behind Des Moines. The top two teams get playoff spots. Peoria plays both of them in its final four games, a road trip to St. Charles on Saturday, and a home game with Des Moines on Tuesday.
More: New coach and more: Everything you need to know about the Peoria City soccer team in 2024
By any measure, Year Two in the USL2 has been a terrific step forward for Peoria.
It started with bringing in Clarke College head coach Mike Paye to take over the helm in Peoria. He brought Persenico among five Clarke players with him. They joined players from Bradley's men's team: defender Elias Benitez Saiz, defender and Norwich, England product Charlie Dickerson, forward DJ Koulai, midfielder and Montreal native Claudel Ngongang, midfielder, midfielder and Spain native Pepe Mellado Alandi and Portugal native Joao Saraiva.
And add in a dynamic goalkeeper in Samy Slimi, and Peoria has a winner on the pitch this summer.
"I was really looking for a place to play, a chance," said Persenico, who notched his eighth goal in a 2-0 win at Chicago on Wednesday night. "I know (Coach Paye) his system and I know it works and that I'd be comfortable in it. So I felt I had no choice but to come here with him.
"I don't know if anyone ever expected this to be so good so soon. It's shocking to believe it's just Year 2 for Peoria, because the environment is just tremendous and the organization and the community really takes care of us."
Milestone moments for Peoria City in 2024
• Goalkeeper Samy Slimi has four shutouts in eight USL2 starts now.
Slimi, from Paris suburb Boulogne-Billancourt, France, became a Peoria fan favorite when he protected a 2-1 win over River Light at Shea Stadium in dramatic fashion on June 15. He made a diving stop on a penalty kick at the end of extra time. When officials waved off the play — ruling a Peoria player had entered the box too soon on the kick — River Light got a second try. Slimi made another diving stop and was mobbed by his teammates on what has become a viral video within the soccer community.
• Persenico, 21, will be a senior next season at Clarke. The St. Charles native has eight goals, the third-highest total in the USL2 this season.
•There are no shortage of Peoria-area players on the roster, including Nick Cenek (Dunlap HS/Creighton), Luke Fontana (Notre Dame HS/Chicago State), Wes Gibson (Morton HS/SIU Edwardsville), Kayden Hudson (Notre Dame HS), Noah Madrigal (Notre Dame HS/Marquette), Joel McIntyre (Notre Dame HS/Western Illinois) and Myles Sophanavong (Notre Dame HS/Green Bay).
•Peoria scored 27 consecutive goals between the season-opener against Des Moines' on May 11 and a game-opening goal against River Light on June 6 (both games ended in a draw).
Peoria soccer: Here is the 2023 Journal Star boys soccer player of the year and the all-area team
•The Carp climbed to as high as No. 2 (of 126 teams) in the weekly USL2 Power Rankings on May 30. They are at No. 13 as of June 20 with a 5-1-2 record in the Heartland Division.
•Peoria set its single-game club home attendance record with 2,033 at the home-opening, 4-0 win versus Chicago Dutch on May 18. Since then, the Carp have drawn 2,750 and 2,611 for a two-game series versus Chivas de Guadalajara U23 June 9, 12.
•Peoria City goalkeeper Samy Slimi has allowed seven goals in league play and stopped three penalty kicks.
•The team has two regular-season home games left, on July 2 (post-game fireworks show) and July 6 (a pre-game wrestling exhibition by Iron Spirit Pro Wrestling), both 7:30 p.m. starts at Shea Stadium.
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.
