Plainfield S. holds off Bartlett, gets back on track
Cougars end losing streak, keep Hawks winless
By Dave Owen
PLAINFIELD - A grueling schedule and a shortage of scoring had Bartlett heading into Thursday’s non-conference match at Plainfield South as one of the best winless teams around.
Facing a fired-up Cougars squad and a long bus ride from the northwest suburbs to the cornfields just west of Joliet didn’t help the Hawks’ early-season demeanor.
Coming off two consecutive losses after a 7-1-1 start to 2017, Plainfield South (8-3-1) struck for two goals in the first half. The Cougars then withstood a flurry of second-half chances for Bartlett (0-6-3) to emerge with a 2-1 win and a return to their top early-season form.
“We kind of took the last (two) games and realized we had to get things going again,” Plainfield South standout midfielder Dominick Skrip said, “because the beginning of the year we started off strong but kind of started slowing down.
“At practice we talked as a team and wanted to get things back up again, and play as a team. And Coach (Bryant Williams) had us working on formation because we had been a little sloppy, and that helped a lot.”
Said Cougars goalkeeper Francisco Lomeli: “Our heads were more in the game than they wereSaturday or Tuesday (losses to Romeoville and Bolingbrook). We were stepping to every ball and playing a lot harder.”
The Cougars’ inspired play was epitomized by junior Vince Nirchi, who scored his first goal of 2017 with 28:27 left in the first half to get his team cooking.
“Vince Nirchi stepped up big,” Williams said. “Scoring that first goal – that was one of the prettiest strikes I’ve seen this year from our guys.
“That was huge for him to come in and step up that way because he was put into a starting role with a couple of midfielders hurt. So he stepped in and drilled the goal. I couldn’t be happier for him – he’s worked really hard.”
Skrip initiated the play with a send upfield to Gabe Sandoval. Drawing two defenders on his attack, Sandoval found Nirchi just outside the box for a straight-on 22-yard rocket low inside the left post.
“I just saw one of my teammates (Sandoval) going downfield,” Nirchi said. I was hoping he would play it to the top of the box, and I was already there. It just played out perfectly.
“We really wanted to win today. I thought we came out with a fire under us.”
Coming off 1-1 ties to quality foes St. Charles East and Glenbard North, Bartlett followed a long bus ride into heavy southbound traffic (the 4:30 match didn’t kick off until 5:20) with a ragged start.
And Nirchi’s goal was just the start of a rough first 40 minutes.
With 18:05 left in the first half, Sandoval drove a 25-yard free kick left of the box that skimmed off the crossbar and over the net.
Skrip then was denied by Jeremy Taylor’s diving save to his right on a 12-yard rocket in the 24th minute.
Then after dueling defensive plays by Bartlett’s Nico Gomez (steal in the box and long clear) and Bartlett’s Josue Jimenez (clear of a Bartlett corner kick), a brilliant Cougars counterattack produced a 2-0 score.
After a nice midfield steal by Bartlett’s Nate Tobin, Nirchi followed with his own takeaway just inside midfield. Skrip and Anthony Marmolejo then produced a quick counterattack –after taking a pass from Skrip, Marmolejo dribbled in and hit Skrip on a breakaway for a strike from 8 yards out 6:03before halftime.
“That was a nice setup,” said Skrip, whose all-around excellence earned him Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors. “We took the ball through the middle, Anthony Marmolejo played a nice pass to me and we finished. It was a good team play.”
Down 2-0, Bartlett began to rally late in the half. Off a Gomez send 2:05 before the break, Joey Dimas’ header inside 10 yards was blocked and controlled by Plainfield South goalkeeper Frankie Lomeli.
Dimas then produced two more threats: a low liner deflected just wide of the right post with 1:05left, then a 20-yarder just wide off Tobin’s ensuing corner kick.
With increased push late in the half and the wind at its backs in the second half, Bartlett came out of the break pedal to the floor.
“It was our coach (Victor Marquez) – he inspired us (at halftime),” said Bartlett striker Hernan “Pollo” Garcia. “He looked us in the eyes and said, ‘we need to score three goals, score every 15 minutes if we’re going to win.’ And we were like, ‘alright, let’s go.’”
Lomeli denied Bartlett’s first threat with a diving catch at the post of a Johnny Andrade shot with 38:40 left.
But four minutes later, a two-man attack with Garcia to Brandon Palid ended on Garcia’s low 12-yarder inside the left post. His second goal of the season cut the Plainfield South lead to 2-1 with 34:23 left, and the Bartlett fuse had just started burning.
“It was simple, and when we play simple we’re at our best,” Garcia said. “I saw my teammate Brandon, I set him up and I moved to space. He played me back and I finished.”
The halftime talk and a strategic switch contributed to the Bartlett push.
“We switched our formation up to be more attack-oriented,” Bartlett assistant coach Vince Revak said, “and we tried to incorporate more wing play just to get more chances on net because that’s something we lacked in the first half.
“I think that revitalized our team a little bit and made them believe that there’s more urgency in the second half. We were down two goals, and we had to get one back fast.”
Lomeli had to be on his toes on multiple occasions. He sped off his line to just beat Garcia to a long send to the box by Rudy Reyes with 31:00 left. Then on a powerful 52-yard free kick by Gomez with 25:15 to go, Garcia was on the spot again with a 6-yard header just wide right.
The Cougars produced their own threats, with Skrip in the middle of it. His 22-yard free kick with 27:05 left was nicely blocked and cleared by Austin Cichon. Then with 11:20 to play, Skrip made an offensive zone interception and drove a left-side shot off the football crossbar.
Bartlett’s challenges at the other end persisted, but Lomeli and the Cougars defense never let up the 2-1 lead.
“I can’t say enough about Frankie’s attitude,” Williams said. “He was our starting keeper last year, then Quinton (Rose) came back after playing club.
“Frankie kind of knew what his role would be, and I give him credit for coming back and showing up big tonight. I really feel like I’ve got a 1A and 1B, not No. 1 and 2 goalkeepers.”
Lomeli grabbed a hard one-hop Reyes free kick with 15:40 left, then again won a race to a send with 10:20 to play.
With 5:40 to go, Lomeli made one last big save – a two-handed block of Garcia’s 10-yard shot near the left post.
“I just knew that I had to step up,” Lomeli said of protecting the 2-1 lead. “We couldn’t give up any late goals – that happened a lot last year, and we don’t want that to happen this year.”
Lomeli has also enjoyed Rose’s return – even if it cuts into his playing time.
“He (Rose) helps me a lot,” the junior said. “I look up to him – he’s older, he has more experience than I do. I get a lot of tips from him.”
Lomeli had help in fending off the Hawks.
“Defensively Xavier Ordaz played a really good game for us back there at right back,” Williams said. “And I thought David Chavez especially in the second half came in off the bench at left back when we were really getting beat down that left side pretty good.
“David’s a left footed kid, we put him back there and he answered the call for us. He kind of slowed them down on the left side for a little bit.”
After enduring a series of Bartlett threats, there was no slowing down the Cougars late in the match.
When Skrip’s 50-yard free kick was deflected wide by a Hawks defender with 4:10 left, it began a string of four straight Cougars corner kicks over the next 90 seconds.
That streak included a Tony Cervelli header off a Marmolejo that Bartlett’s Palid nicely blocked at the left post to keep the score 2-1 with 3:50 to go. Skrip followed with two straight shots deflected wide off corners.
After Plainfield South’s great start, the Hawks had their own impressive defensive effort.
“I think our best quality is our defenders,” Garcia said. “My teammate Sebastian (Gonzalez) has the best technique, and then (Andrew) Wolf is so strong – in practice he challenges you a lot. And Hector (Rebollar) all over the field is just crazy. I like that.”
The Hawks’ midfield also earned high praise.
“Raj Parikh played exceptionally well as our center attacking mid,” Revak said, “and Nico Gomez always plays really well in the defensive center mid. And Matt Tobin who’s been out for weeks with an injury really stepped up today and gave us more energy, which we needed.”
The Cougars’ defense answered Bartlett’s energy again in the final minute. Justin McGuigan’s strong clear from his own 40 set up a Marmolejo 30-yard counterattack shot just wide with 55 seconds left. Then Griffin Lapp’s back-to-the-play clear at 20 yards out set up a long send by Cervelli to essentially run out the clock.
“(Our goal) came so early in the second half that we thought we had a chance to put one back in as quickly as we got the first one,” Revak said. “But it just didn’t go that way today.
“Essentially we’re struggling to finish. Only a couple times have we really been outplayed – most of our losses have been one-goal losses. So it’s really getting the boys to the point that once we get a goal up, we really have to keep the ball out of our net.”
After two straight shutout losses, Plainfield North finished early, defended late – and returned to its winning ways.
“We’ve been kind of preaching to the boys to come out in the first half with intensity,” Williams said. “We knew we were playing a Bartlett team that hadn’t won a game but had played a tough schedule. We knew they would come in with some intensity – especially with what we’ve done the last two games, they’re thinking ‘this is a game they can win.’ We had to match that intensity.
“It was really nice to come back and get the ‘W’ after the last couple games. We’ll come back and next week we get after it in conference. I think seven of our last nine games are in conference.”
The Cougars’ players are also ready to turn recent adversity into late-season success.
“I think we’re going to be prepared for our next conference games,” Nirchi said.
Said Skrip: “We’ll just keep working in practice, make sure to keep putting out the best effort we can and I think we’ll be good.”
Starting lineups:
Bartlett:
GK Jeremy Taylor
D Austin Cichon
D Zander Zamora
D Sebastian Gonzalez
D Hector Rebollar
M Sergio Navarrete
M Raj Parikh
M Kevin Nava
M Nico Gomez
F Hernan Garcia
F Rudy Reyes
Plainfield South:
GK Frankie Lomeli
D Josh McGuigan
D Xavier Ordaz
D Josue Jimenez
D Griffin Lapp
M Christian Gonzalez
M Dominic Skrip
M Vince Nirchi
M Tony Cervelli
F Gabe Sandoval
F Anthony Marmolejo
Man of the Match: Dominick Skrip, sr. M, Plainfield South
SCORING RECAP:
PS – Vince Nirchi (Gabe Sandoval assist), 11:33; PS- Dominick Skrip (Anthony Marmolejo assist), 33:57; Bartlett- Hernan Garcia (Brandon Palid assist) 45:37.
Cougars end losing streak, keep Hawks winless
By Dave Owen
PLAINFIELD - A grueling schedule and a shortage of scoring had Bartlett heading into Thursday’s non-conference match at Plainfield South as one of the best winless teams around.
Facing a fired-up Cougars squad and a long bus ride from the northwest suburbs to the cornfields just west of Joliet didn’t help the Hawks’ early-season demeanor.
Coming off two consecutive losses after a 7-1-1 start to 2017, Plainfield South (8-3-1) struck for two goals in the first half. The Cougars then withstood a flurry of second-half chances for Bartlett (0-6-3) to emerge with a 2-1 win and a return to their top early-season form.
“We kind of took the last (two) games and realized we had to get things going again,” Plainfield South standout midfielder Dominick Skrip said, “because the beginning of the year we started off strong but kind of started slowing down.
“At practice we talked as a team and wanted to get things back up again, and play as a team. And Coach (Bryant Williams) had us working on formation because we had been a little sloppy, and that helped a lot.”
Said Cougars goalkeeper Francisco Lomeli: “Our heads were more in the game than they wereSaturday or Tuesday (losses to Romeoville and Bolingbrook). We were stepping to every ball and playing a lot harder.”
The Cougars’ inspired play was epitomized by junior Vince Nirchi, who scored his first goal of 2017 with 28:27 left in the first half to get his team cooking.
“Vince Nirchi stepped up big,” Williams said. “Scoring that first goal – that was one of the prettiest strikes I’ve seen this year from our guys.
“That was huge for him to come in and step up that way because he was put into a starting role with a couple of midfielders hurt. So he stepped in and drilled the goal. I couldn’t be happier for him – he’s worked really hard.”
Skrip initiated the play with a send upfield to Gabe Sandoval. Drawing two defenders on his attack, Sandoval found Nirchi just outside the box for a straight-on 22-yard rocket low inside the left post.
“I just saw one of my teammates (Sandoval) going downfield,” Nirchi said. I was hoping he would play it to the top of the box, and I was already there. It just played out perfectly.
“We really wanted to win today. I thought we came out with a fire under us.”
Coming off 1-1 ties to quality foes St. Charles East and Glenbard North, Bartlett followed a long bus ride into heavy southbound traffic (the 4:30 match didn’t kick off until 5:20) with a ragged start.
And Nirchi’s goal was just the start of a rough first 40 minutes.
With 18:05 left in the first half, Sandoval drove a 25-yard free kick left of the box that skimmed off the crossbar and over the net.
Skrip then was denied by Jeremy Taylor’s diving save to his right on a 12-yard rocket in the 24th minute.
Then after dueling defensive plays by Bartlett’s Nico Gomez (steal in the box and long clear) and Bartlett’s Josue Jimenez (clear of a Bartlett corner kick), a brilliant Cougars counterattack produced a 2-0 score.
After a nice midfield steal by Bartlett’s Nate Tobin, Nirchi followed with his own takeaway just inside midfield. Skrip and Anthony Marmolejo then produced a quick counterattack –after taking a pass from Skrip, Marmolejo dribbled in and hit Skrip on a breakaway for a strike from 8 yards out 6:03before halftime.
“That was a nice setup,” said Skrip, whose all-around excellence earned him Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors. “We took the ball through the middle, Anthony Marmolejo played a nice pass to me and we finished. It was a good team play.”
Down 2-0, Bartlett began to rally late in the half. Off a Gomez send 2:05 before the break, Joey Dimas’ header inside 10 yards was blocked and controlled by Plainfield South goalkeeper Frankie Lomeli.
Dimas then produced two more threats: a low liner deflected just wide of the right post with 1:05left, then a 20-yarder just wide off Tobin’s ensuing corner kick.
With increased push late in the half and the wind at its backs in the second half, Bartlett came out of the break pedal to the floor.
“It was our coach (Victor Marquez) – he inspired us (at halftime),” said Bartlett striker Hernan “Pollo” Garcia. “He looked us in the eyes and said, ‘we need to score three goals, score every 15 minutes if we’re going to win.’ And we were like, ‘alright, let’s go.’”
Lomeli denied Bartlett’s first threat with a diving catch at the post of a Johnny Andrade shot with 38:40 left.
But four minutes later, a two-man attack with Garcia to Brandon Palid ended on Garcia’s low 12-yarder inside the left post. His second goal of the season cut the Plainfield South lead to 2-1 with 34:23 left, and the Bartlett fuse had just started burning.
“It was simple, and when we play simple we’re at our best,” Garcia said. “I saw my teammate Brandon, I set him up and I moved to space. He played me back and I finished.”
The halftime talk and a strategic switch contributed to the Bartlett push.
“We switched our formation up to be more attack-oriented,” Bartlett assistant coach Vince Revak said, “and we tried to incorporate more wing play just to get more chances on net because that’s something we lacked in the first half.
“I think that revitalized our team a little bit and made them believe that there’s more urgency in the second half. We were down two goals, and we had to get one back fast.”
Lomeli had to be on his toes on multiple occasions. He sped off his line to just beat Garcia to a long send to the box by Rudy Reyes with 31:00 left. Then on a powerful 52-yard free kick by Gomez with 25:15 to go, Garcia was on the spot again with a 6-yard header just wide right.
The Cougars produced their own threats, with Skrip in the middle of it. His 22-yard free kick with 27:05 left was nicely blocked and cleared by Austin Cichon. Then with 11:20 to play, Skrip made an offensive zone interception and drove a left-side shot off the football crossbar.
Bartlett’s challenges at the other end persisted, but Lomeli and the Cougars defense never let up the 2-1 lead.
“I can’t say enough about Frankie’s attitude,” Williams said. “He was our starting keeper last year, then Quinton (Rose) came back after playing club.
“Frankie kind of knew what his role would be, and I give him credit for coming back and showing up big tonight. I really feel like I’ve got a 1A and 1B, not No. 1 and 2 goalkeepers.”
Lomeli grabbed a hard one-hop Reyes free kick with 15:40 left, then again won a race to a send with 10:20 to play.
With 5:40 to go, Lomeli made one last big save – a two-handed block of Garcia’s 10-yard shot near the left post.
“I just knew that I had to step up,” Lomeli said of protecting the 2-1 lead. “We couldn’t give up any late goals – that happened a lot last year, and we don’t want that to happen this year.”
Lomeli has also enjoyed Rose’s return – even if it cuts into his playing time.
“He (Rose) helps me a lot,” the junior said. “I look up to him – he’s older, he has more experience than I do. I get a lot of tips from him.”
Lomeli had help in fending off the Hawks.
“Defensively Xavier Ordaz played a really good game for us back there at right back,” Williams said. “And I thought David Chavez especially in the second half came in off the bench at left back when we were really getting beat down that left side pretty good.
“David’s a left footed kid, we put him back there and he answered the call for us. He kind of slowed them down on the left side for a little bit.”
After enduring a series of Bartlett threats, there was no slowing down the Cougars late in the match.
When Skrip’s 50-yard free kick was deflected wide by a Hawks defender with 4:10 left, it began a string of four straight Cougars corner kicks over the next 90 seconds.
That streak included a Tony Cervelli header off a Marmolejo that Bartlett’s Palid nicely blocked at the left post to keep the score 2-1 with 3:50 to go. Skrip followed with two straight shots deflected wide off corners.
After Plainfield South’s great start, the Hawks had their own impressive defensive effort.
“I think our best quality is our defenders,” Garcia said. “My teammate Sebastian (Gonzalez) has the best technique, and then (Andrew) Wolf is so strong – in practice he challenges you a lot. And Hector (Rebollar) all over the field is just crazy. I like that.”
The Hawks’ midfield also earned high praise.
“Raj Parikh played exceptionally well as our center attacking mid,” Revak said, “and Nico Gomez always plays really well in the defensive center mid. And Matt Tobin who’s been out for weeks with an injury really stepped up today and gave us more energy, which we needed.”
The Cougars’ defense answered Bartlett’s energy again in the final minute. Justin McGuigan’s strong clear from his own 40 set up a Marmolejo 30-yard counterattack shot just wide with 55 seconds left. Then Griffin Lapp’s back-to-the-play clear at 20 yards out set up a long send by Cervelli to essentially run out the clock.
“(Our goal) came so early in the second half that we thought we had a chance to put one back in as quickly as we got the first one,” Revak said. “But it just didn’t go that way today.
“Essentially we’re struggling to finish. Only a couple times have we really been outplayed – most of our losses have been one-goal losses. So it’s really getting the boys to the point that once we get a goal up, we really have to keep the ball out of our net.”
After two straight shutout losses, Plainfield North finished early, defended late – and returned to its winning ways.
“We’ve been kind of preaching to the boys to come out in the first half with intensity,” Williams said. “We knew we were playing a Bartlett team that hadn’t won a game but had played a tough schedule. We knew they would come in with some intensity – especially with what we’ve done the last two games, they’re thinking ‘this is a game they can win.’ We had to match that intensity.
“It was really nice to come back and get the ‘W’ after the last couple games. We’ll come back and next week we get after it in conference. I think seven of our last nine games are in conference.”
The Cougars’ players are also ready to turn recent adversity into late-season success.
“I think we’re going to be prepared for our next conference games,” Nirchi said.
Said Skrip: “We’ll just keep working in practice, make sure to keep putting out the best effort we can and I think we’ll be good.”
Starting lineups:
Bartlett:
GK Jeremy Taylor
D Austin Cichon
D Zander Zamora
D Sebastian Gonzalez
D Hector Rebollar
M Sergio Navarrete
M Raj Parikh
M Kevin Nava
M Nico Gomez
F Hernan Garcia
F Rudy Reyes
Plainfield South:
GK Frankie Lomeli
D Josh McGuigan
D Xavier Ordaz
D Josue Jimenez
D Griffin Lapp
M Christian Gonzalez
M Dominic Skrip
M Vince Nirchi
M Tony Cervelli
F Gabe Sandoval
F Anthony Marmolejo
Man of the Match: Dominick Skrip, sr. M, Plainfield South
SCORING RECAP:
PS – Vince Nirchi (Gabe Sandoval assist), 11:33; PS- Dominick Skrip (Anthony Marmolejo assist), 33:57; Bartlett- Hernan Garcia (Brandon Palid assist) 45:37.