Glenbrook N. holds lead, holds off Leyden
By Mike Garofola
NORTHFIELD -- Top-seeded Glenbrook North held off a determined club from Leyden for a 2-0 win to lock down one of the spots in the New Trier Sectional final this Saturday afternoon.
Their opponent will be Central Suburban League cross-over rival Evanston (15-5-4) which stunned tourney host and second-seeded New Trier 3-2 in the second semifinal of the night.
Glenbrook North started the game as if it planned to continue playing into the final weekend of the 2017 season. The Spartans produced an impressive opening 20 minutes of soccer with attacks that multiplied in frequency and increased in meaningfulness. The push forced the Eagles to defend far more than they wanted to in the early stages.
In the 13th minute, the odds tilted in favor of the Spartans (19-3-1) when Robbie Fraser found his way into the Eagles box to redirect a Sahil Modi helper past helpless Leyden keeper David Duwal near the post.
"That was the first of two mental mistakes which cost us tonight," said Leyden manager Mark Valintis.
"You hope in big games like this, you don't concede goals on mental errors. But it happened. As hard as we played and tried to get one back, we just weren't able to do so against a very talented Glenbrook North team."
The Fraser goal got the Spartans off to the kind of flying start they had envisioned, and it appeared that the CSL North Division champs had another goal or two in them with Modi, Fraser, Deng Deng Kur and sophomore, Joey Martens at the controls.
However, fourth-seeded Leyden (18-4-3) regained its defensive posture. That allowed the Eagles to absorb all of the pressure heaped upon them by the host's attack, and the contest went into the intermission with just one goal on the scoreboard.
"We're a very good attacking team, and maybe we could have put another one or two in during that first half to make things a little easier for us," said senior defender Evan Goldberg. "We are playing very well defensively all over the field, and that's something we did in the first half and later on when Leyden came at us by throwing numbers forward when they were looking to cut our 2-0 lead in half."
Goldberg, who missed nearly three full weeks while recuperating from an early season groin injury, is part of a defensive unity which has allowed a measly 10 goals in 23 games -- five of those came in defeats to Maine South, and then New Trier in the CSL championship game on October 4.
"We make a commitment to defend from front-to-back," Goldberg said. "And tonight, with us knowing that Leyden had a good attacking team, we knew what we had to do. When it counted in the last part of the second half, that's exactly what we did as a team."
Valintis went with a 3-4-3 formation after the break in the hopes that the Eagles attack would get back level and then go after the lead. The move to deploy his top three goal scorers (Francisco Toral, Eduardo Hernandez and Matt Makowiec) together didn't move into high gear until after New Trier's Kur finished put a neat finish on a deadly early ball from Modi.
"We had our troubles with distribution in the midfield, some of that is credited to Glenbrook North, some to our own struggles," said Valintis. "So we weren't very dangerous until we started to chase two goals after they scored with a little over 20 minutes remaining."
Leyden peppered Glenbrook North keeper Daniel Spencer during the final quarter hour, and did its best to stretch and pry open Goldberg and his mates, Nate Aronson, Ben Gordon and Mason Rose. But the quartet held firm, aided by several key saves from Spencer, who stopped Toral twice, Andy Moreno and Adrian W. Flores.
"Joey, Sahil and Deng Deng were all big for us tonight, while our midfield did a good job of pressuring the ball, and our backline stayed composed and organized, especially in the last 10-15 minutes," offered Goldberg.
The loss meant Leyden had to a put the cap on a great 2017 campaign.
"It's always tough losing that final game of the year that ends your season," said Valintis, who will say good-bye to 17 seniors on his roster. "But if we had to lose, I'm happy it was to a classy guy like Paul (Vignocchi, Glenbrook North manager) who runs a quality program with quality young men."
By Mike Garofola
NORTHFIELD -- Top-seeded Glenbrook North held off a determined club from Leyden for a 2-0 win to lock down one of the spots in the New Trier Sectional final this Saturday afternoon.
Their opponent will be Central Suburban League cross-over rival Evanston (15-5-4) which stunned tourney host and second-seeded New Trier 3-2 in the second semifinal of the night.
Glenbrook North started the game as if it planned to continue playing into the final weekend of the 2017 season. The Spartans produced an impressive opening 20 minutes of soccer with attacks that multiplied in frequency and increased in meaningfulness. The push forced the Eagles to defend far more than they wanted to in the early stages.
In the 13th minute, the odds tilted in favor of the Spartans (19-3-1) when Robbie Fraser found his way into the Eagles box to redirect a Sahil Modi helper past helpless Leyden keeper David Duwal near the post.
"That was the first of two mental mistakes which cost us tonight," said Leyden manager Mark Valintis.
"You hope in big games like this, you don't concede goals on mental errors. But it happened. As hard as we played and tried to get one back, we just weren't able to do so against a very talented Glenbrook North team."
The Fraser goal got the Spartans off to the kind of flying start they had envisioned, and it appeared that the CSL North Division champs had another goal or two in them with Modi, Fraser, Deng Deng Kur and sophomore, Joey Martens at the controls.
However, fourth-seeded Leyden (18-4-3) regained its defensive posture. That allowed the Eagles to absorb all of the pressure heaped upon them by the host's attack, and the contest went into the intermission with just one goal on the scoreboard.
"We're a very good attacking team, and maybe we could have put another one or two in during that first half to make things a little easier for us," said senior defender Evan Goldberg. "We are playing very well defensively all over the field, and that's something we did in the first half and later on when Leyden came at us by throwing numbers forward when they were looking to cut our 2-0 lead in half."
Goldberg, who missed nearly three full weeks while recuperating from an early season groin injury, is part of a defensive unity which has allowed a measly 10 goals in 23 games -- five of those came in defeats to Maine South, and then New Trier in the CSL championship game on October 4.
"We make a commitment to defend from front-to-back," Goldberg said. "And tonight, with us knowing that Leyden had a good attacking team, we knew what we had to do. When it counted in the last part of the second half, that's exactly what we did as a team."
Valintis went with a 3-4-3 formation after the break in the hopes that the Eagles attack would get back level and then go after the lead. The move to deploy his top three goal scorers (Francisco Toral, Eduardo Hernandez and Matt Makowiec) together didn't move into high gear until after New Trier's Kur finished put a neat finish on a deadly early ball from Modi.
"We had our troubles with distribution in the midfield, some of that is credited to Glenbrook North, some to our own struggles," said Valintis. "So we weren't very dangerous until we started to chase two goals after they scored with a little over 20 minutes remaining."
Leyden peppered Glenbrook North keeper Daniel Spencer during the final quarter hour, and did its best to stretch and pry open Goldberg and his mates, Nate Aronson, Ben Gordon and Mason Rose. But the quartet held firm, aided by several key saves from Spencer, who stopped Toral twice, Andy Moreno and Adrian W. Flores.
"Joey, Sahil and Deng Deng were all big for us tonight, while our midfield did a good job of pressuring the ball, and our backline stayed composed and organized, especially in the last 10-15 minutes," offered Goldberg.
The loss meant Leyden had to a put the cap on a great 2017 campaign.
"It's always tough losing that final game of the year that ends your season," said Valintis, who will say good-bye to 17 seniors on his roster. "But if we had to lose, I'm happy it was to a classy guy like Paul (Vignocchi, Glenbrook North manager) who runs a quality program with quality young men."