Schaumburg back in a groove
Saxons topple Grant 7-0 for 4th-straight win
By Matt Le Cren
SCHAUMBURG – Noah Kostkiewicz recorded his first varsity hat trick for Schaumburg on Wednesday night.
And he didn’t even start.
That will give you some idea of how good the Saxons are.
Schaumburg coach Hamid Mehreiskouei pulled most of his offensive starters less than 20 minutes into the game and the Saxons actually scored more goals without them than with them in rolling over Grant 7-0 in nonconference action.
No. 9 Schaumburg (7-1) now has scored 15 goals in its last two games and 29 overall.
The barrage began in the fourth minute when senior Alexis Flores dribbled to the left end line and centered a pass to senior Daniel Artman for an easy finish.
Eight minutes later, Flores ran onto to a long ball over the top of the Grant defense and headed the ball over the head of onrushing goalkeeper Nathan Munsterman for a 2-0 lead.
That was followed by the prettiest goal of the night, which came with 26:16 to go. Star midfielder Jessie Lopez got the ball in the right side of the penalty area and crossed to fellow senior Jason Schoo, whose emphatic volley from inside the six-yard box increased the lead to 3-0 and triggered a mass substitution.
Kostkiewicz followed that by scoring three times in a 16-minute span to put the game out of reach.
The first came on a rebound after Munsterman made a diving stop on a rocket from Freddy Arreola. Kostkiewicz then scored a rebound of his own shot to make it 5-0 and completed the hat trick with 7:54 left in the opening half by knocking home the rebound of a shot from Omar Ali that hit the crossbar.
“It feels great, to be honest,” Kostkiewicz said. “But I wouldn’t be able to do it without my teammates, that’s for sure.”
Kostkiewicz, who comes off the bench but plays about 60 minutes a game, is one of 13 seniors on a tight-knit team that has the potential to be one of the best in school history.
With Kostkiewicz, Flores, Ali and junior Edward Gomez, who also scored against Grant, up top and Lopez, Schoo and Arreola in the midfield, the back line of seniors Nikolaos Davis, Andrew Ralston and Christopher Melecio and junior Andrew Bird often don’t have much to do in front of senior goalkeeper Edgar Avila.
“We’ve been together as a group for a really long time,” said Kostkiewicz, the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match. “More than half the team goes all the way back to elementary school. We used to play soccer every day after school, on the weekends, whenever we had time.”
The benefits are becoming clear.
“We all try to stay together and keep our team chemistry going,” Lopez noted. “We all play on the same club team.”
Of all the Saxons, Lopez is the most transcendent. The elusive 5-foot-2 center midfielder has seven goals but actually creates more goals than he scores with his dribbling wizardry and uncanny sense of where and whom to pass to.
“He’s a maestro,” Kostkiewicz said. “On a scale of 1 to 10, he’s an 11 for sure. He’s going to be one of the top players in MSL and the whole state of Illinois again this year.
“For him, it’s like a natural thing. When you have him on the field, he just does everything so naturally. He gets it going.”
How does Lopez do it?
“I’ve always been playing with bigger kids, that’s why it’s so much easier for me right now,” said Lopez, who started playing soccer when he was 5. “If I was was (taller) it would be a lot easier for me, but that’s fine.
“I feel like I have good vision, and once I get the ball I feel like I can take anybody on.”
The Saxons believe they have the talent to take anybody on. Mehreiskouei upgraded the schedule this year, entering Schaumburg in the Northside College Showcase at New Trier. There the Saxons responded by beating traditional powers Lyons and St. Charles East as well as Niles West, and losing only to eventual champion Glenbrook North.
But there is much work yet to be done.
“We just need to work on our mistakes in the back,” Kostkiewicz said. “We’ve got to work on finishing and possession, of course and keep the mentality we’ve been having.
“That Glenbrook North game, we lost our mentality after that first goal they scored on us, and they put in another two in the next 10 minutes.”
When asked about the team’s goals, Lopez said the Saxons are aiming to win the Mid-Suburban League title but stressed that they don’t want to look ahead. That’s what Mehreiskouei wants to hear.
“It can be (a special season) if we realize our potential, but the one thing I know, this is my 12th year, is every game that we play this year we’re approaching as if it’s the only game that matters,” Mehreiskouei said. “When the boys talk about mentality, that’s what I’m driving home with them.
“It’s have the mentality to show up every game for 80 minutes and build from one game to the next, not look past opponents. And (to) just build that from training to the game, because when you do have a talented team they can start to think about the other things. I want to keep them focused on the now and I feel like if we can just focus on the now, everything that happens later on will come with time.”
Indeed, even in Wednesday’s rout there were things to criticize. The Saxons wasted a half-dozen breakaways, something that might come back to haunt them against tougher opponents.
And Mehreiskouei has noticed that opponents are starting to key on stopping Lopez and other star players.
“Jessie is having to change the way he plays because teams are coming in scheming around him, so he’s got different battles from game to game, just as an individual,” Mehreiskouei said. “But the kids have to start to become comfortable with the idea that we’re going to get the best out of everybody we play this year.
“No one is going to overlook us so it’s one of those things that, can we play with that pressure, can we play with that target on our back?
“I still think we have a long way to go before we’re considered one of the top teams. But we’ve had a good start to the season so far.”
Realizing their potential, the Saxons actually got a head start on the season.
“The road this fall they started at the end of last fall,” Mehreiskouei said. “It was a 10-month program for them. We know what we can possibly do next fall, so let’s make the decision now to get ready for that and not in August.”
Starting lineups
Schaumburg
G Edgar Avila
D Andrew Bird
D Christopher Melecio
D Nikolaos Davis
D Andrew Ralston
M Freddy Arreola
M Jessie Lopez
M Daniel Artman
M Jason Schoo
F Edward Gomez
F Alexis Flores
Grant
G Nathan Munsterman
D Zachary Kowalik
D Moises Melesio
D Ricardo Martin
D Alex Janusz
M Connor Cray
M Sam Lee
M Zachary Cooper
M Giovanni Gonzalez
F Rudolfo Frescas
F Will Gonzalez
Man of the Match: Noah Kostkiewicz, F, Schaumburg
Saxons topple Grant 7-0 for 4th-straight win
By Matt Le Cren
SCHAUMBURG – Noah Kostkiewicz recorded his first varsity hat trick for Schaumburg on Wednesday night.
And he didn’t even start.
That will give you some idea of how good the Saxons are.
Schaumburg coach Hamid Mehreiskouei pulled most of his offensive starters less than 20 minutes into the game and the Saxons actually scored more goals without them than with them in rolling over Grant 7-0 in nonconference action.
No. 9 Schaumburg (7-1) now has scored 15 goals in its last two games and 29 overall.
The barrage began in the fourth minute when senior Alexis Flores dribbled to the left end line and centered a pass to senior Daniel Artman for an easy finish.
Eight minutes later, Flores ran onto to a long ball over the top of the Grant defense and headed the ball over the head of onrushing goalkeeper Nathan Munsterman for a 2-0 lead.
That was followed by the prettiest goal of the night, which came with 26:16 to go. Star midfielder Jessie Lopez got the ball in the right side of the penalty area and crossed to fellow senior Jason Schoo, whose emphatic volley from inside the six-yard box increased the lead to 3-0 and triggered a mass substitution.
Kostkiewicz followed that by scoring three times in a 16-minute span to put the game out of reach.
The first came on a rebound after Munsterman made a diving stop on a rocket from Freddy Arreola. Kostkiewicz then scored a rebound of his own shot to make it 5-0 and completed the hat trick with 7:54 left in the opening half by knocking home the rebound of a shot from Omar Ali that hit the crossbar.
“It feels great, to be honest,” Kostkiewicz said. “But I wouldn’t be able to do it without my teammates, that’s for sure.”
Kostkiewicz, who comes off the bench but plays about 60 minutes a game, is one of 13 seniors on a tight-knit team that has the potential to be one of the best in school history.
With Kostkiewicz, Flores, Ali and junior Edward Gomez, who also scored against Grant, up top and Lopez, Schoo and Arreola in the midfield, the back line of seniors Nikolaos Davis, Andrew Ralston and Christopher Melecio and junior Andrew Bird often don’t have much to do in front of senior goalkeeper Edgar Avila.
“We’ve been together as a group for a really long time,” said Kostkiewicz, the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match. “More than half the team goes all the way back to elementary school. We used to play soccer every day after school, on the weekends, whenever we had time.”
The benefits are becoming clear.
“We all try to stay together and keep our team chemistry going,” Lopez noted. “We all play on the same club team.”
Of all the Saxons, Lopez is the most transcendent. The elusive 5-foot-2 center midfielder has seven goals but actually creates more goals than he scores with his dribbling wizardry and uncanny sense of where and whom to pass to.
“He’s a maestro,” Kostkiewicz said. “On a scale of 1 to 10, he’s an 11 for sure. He’s going to be one of the top players in MSL and the whole state of Illinois again this year.
“For him, it’s like a natural thing. When you have him on the field, he just does everything so naturally. He gets it going.”
How does Lopez do it?
“I’ve always been playing with bigger kids, that’s why it’s so much easier for me right now,” said Lopez, who started playing soccer when he was 5. “If I was was (taller) it would be a lot easier for me, but that’s fine.
“I feel like I have good vision, and once I get the ball I feel like I can take anybody on.”
The Saxons believe they have the talent to take anybody on. Mehreiskouei upgraded the schedule this year, entering Schaumburg in the Northside College Showcase at New Trier. There the Saxons responded by beating traditional powers Lyons and St. Charles East as well as Niles West, and losing only to eventual champion Glenbrook North.
But there is much work yet to be done.
“We just need to work on our mistakes in the back,” Kostkiewicz said. “We’ve got to work on finishing and possession, of course and keep the mentality we’ve been having.
“That Glenbrook North game, we lost our mentality after that first goal they scored on us, and they put in another two in the next 10 minutes.”
When asked about the team’s goals, Lopez said the Saxons are aiming to win the Mid-Suburban League title but stressed that they don’t want to look ahead. That’s what Mehreiskouei wants to hear.
“It can be (a special season) if we realize our potential, but the one thing I know, this is my 12th year, is every game that we play this year we’re approaching as if it’s the only game that matters,” Mehreiskouei said. “When the boys talk about mentality, that’s what I’m driving home with them.
“It’s have the mentality to show up every game for 80 minutes and build from one game to the next, not look past opponents. And (to) just build that from training to the game, because when you do have a talented team they can start to think about the other things. I want to keep them focused on the now and I feel like if we can just focus on the now, everything that happens later on will come with time.”
Indeed, even in Wednesday’s rout there were things to criticize. The Saxons wasted a half-dozen breakaways, something that might come back to haunt them against tougher opponents.
And Mehreiskouei has noticed that opponents are starting to key on stopping Lopez and other star players.
“Jessie is having to change the way he plays because teams are coming in scheming around him, so he’s got different battles from game to game, just as an individual,” Mehreiskouei said. “But the kids have to start to become comfortable with the idea that we’re going to get the best out of everybody we play this year.
“No one is going to overlook us so it’s one of those things that, can we play with that pressure, can we play with that target on our back?
“I still think we have a long way to go before we’re considered one of the top teams. But we’ve had a good start to the season so far.”
Realizing their potential, the Saxons actually got a head start on the season.
“The road this fall they started at the end of last fall,” Mehreiskouei said. “It was a 10-month program for them. We know what we can possibly do next fall, so let’s make the decision now to get ready for that and not in August.”
Starting lineups
Schaumburg
G Edgar Avila
D Andrew Bird
D Christopher Melecio
D Nikolaos Davis
D Andrew Ralston
M Freddy Arreola
M Jessie Lopez
M Daniel Artman
M Jason Schoo
F Edward Gomez
F Alexis Flores
Grant
G Nathan Munsterman
D Zachary Kowalik
D Moises Melesio
D Ricardo Martin
D Alex Janusz
M Connor Cray
M Sam Lee
M Zachary Cooper
M Giovanni Gonzalez
F Rudolfo Frescas
F Will Gonzalez
Man of the Match: Noah Kostkiewicz, F, Schaumburg