A tale of two halves
Leyden owns the 1st, OPRF the second in Challenge Cup tie
By Dave Owen
NORTHLAKE -- Leyden showed the speed and talent that should give opponents fits this fall.
For Oak Park and River Forest, Thursday’s 2-2 tie with the hosts in the Leyden Challenge Cup was a never-quit effort against long, second half odds.
After the Eagles (1-0-1) dominated the first half with two goals and numerous other top chances (including a missed penalty kick), the Huskies (0-1-1) showed late game
grit with two Evan Kindler goals in the final 19:33 of the match to earn a draw.
“We got out there in the second half and started putting balls in the corner,” Kindler said of the rejuvenated second half effort. “That really opened up the field – we got throw-ins, corner kicks, put heads on balls and got the ball downfield instead of messing with the ball in the middle where they have huge guys.”
Two tall challenges for the Huskies were Leyden’s Cesar Franco and Albert Arabik, who were big factors throughout the match.
Arabik’s drive in on goal in the 22nd minute set up a perfectly-executed corner kick that gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead. Esteban Hernandez’s corner connected with Franco racing into the box for a header into the net 18:02 before halftime.
Less than five minutes later, Arabik again burst in on left wing and sent a perfect cross to the net. With a defender on him, Krystian Havran made a nice sliding deflection into the net for his second goal of the year to make the score 2-0.
Arabik missed last season to concentrate on club soccer, but his return has produced instant big results for himself (a hat trick in the opening 5-2 win over Larkin) and the Eagles.
“Albert makes a big difference because last year he wasn’t here, and we didn’t have many goals,” Franco said. “Every time we would win, it would be 1-0 or 2-1. If we had him last year we would have gotten further. Just his presence makes the whole team hyped up.”
The hype reached its peak late in the first half, when Havran fielded an Enrique Vargas pass and was ruled to have been fouled inside the box left of the goal.
The ensuing penalty kick attempt could have given the Eagles a 3-0 lead three minutes before halftime, but went just wide of the right post to keep the Huskies within reach for their eventual comeback.
That PK chance followed a great save by OPRF goalkeeper Will Dunne 9:40 before halftime, when he dove to deflect a 10-yard drive by Arabik.
“They had a lot of pressure,” Dunne said. “No. 9 (Arabik) is a phenomenal player up top, great footwork, great speed and size obviously. He was creating a lot of chances for himself and other people on his team. But you just do your best to keep the ball out of the net.
“I personally disagreed with the (PK) call,” Dunne added, “but coming back from that was a huge boost for us, telling us that we’re still in this game.”
Any Leyden letdown wasn’t immediately evident.
“We went into halftime and our heads weren’t hung, and we weren’t upset,” Eagles coach Mark Valintis said. “We actually thought ‘2-0’ is a bad lead to have, let’s put our foot on the gas.’ And we created chances. We had some great chances, and their goalie came up big. From big saves to just missing two posts, we just got snake bit tonight.
“But credit them – they stuck with it. They didn’t give up; they fought back and got two hard-earned goals from good, hard effort. It’s a shame we gave that up, but hopefully we build on that for the next time.”
Leyden standout goalkeeper Alfredo Recendez came up big to deny OPRF’s first bid to rally, making a sliding kick of Kindler’s 8-yard shot off a nice Justin Bruce pass with 36:20 left.
Bruce later just missed his own goal, heading a Flynn Sheehan corner kick just wide with 27:40 to go. Leyden’s Angel Lopez responded 50 seconds later with his own great chance, weaving between defenders and lining a 15-yarder just wide of the left post.
With 23:15 left, Dunne made one of his biggest of many big saves on the night, diving to deny a Franco shot set up by a Mario Vazquez 25-yard direct kick.
Then it was Kindler’s time to shine.
With 19:31 left, Bruce sent a cross to Kindler. From a seemingly unlikely 15-yard distance, Kindler headed the ball just under the crossbar inside the right post to cut the Leyden lead to 2-1.
The equalizer with 10:41 to go was another impressive effort, started by a Matt Schiffner upfield pass to a heads-up Max Klevgard.
Klevgard somehow headed the ball out of the reach of charging goalkeeper Recendez, then sent a low ball towards the far post where Kindler slid beyond a Leyden defender’s reach to tip it home.
Kindler made it clear where the credit belonged.
“Max Klevgard somehow gets past two guys, somehow gets past the goalie, and then the linesman told me he (Klevgard) had headed it in towards the net,” Kindler said. “I just did the best I could to touch it, and I honestly don’t know if I touched it. I might have touched it or the defenseman, but it went in. I’ll take it.”
Dunne and the Huskies defense then had to take another round of attacks from the talented Leyden offense.
The best threat came with 7:15 left, when Arabik made another powerful burst in on left wing but had his shot glance off the left post.
Arabik was back at the doorstep with 1:45 to go, but this time Dunne made a two-hand block of his 12-yard liner left of the net.
“Will Dunne saved the game,” Kindler said.
Those great efforts but near misses capped a frustrating half for Arabik and the Eagles.
“Our hustle and hard work was there (in the first half),” Arabik said. “In the second half we didn’t do that enough. We have to put away our chances.
“But I’m excited to be back. Obviously this game is really frustrating for us, but I’m hoping we learn from this. We’re going to be better from this experience.”
Both teams should certainly be healthier down the road. OPRF defender Augie Gonzalez was helped off the field with 4:24 left, the final casualty of a night in which both teams had to dig deep.
Leyden was especially hard hit from the start.
“We’re missing three starters: David Senk,Christian Rubio and Sal Salgado, all varsity starters last year,” Valintis said. “It’s neither here nor there – we had guys step up who are just as good. We just couldn’t find a way to get it done. I think our guys did get tired, especially with the very direct style they (OPRF) took in eliminating a lot of the midfield possession.
“They did a good job of making us work, and the few times we had breakdowns they capitalized. They’re things that will help us get better, and the guys playing now are getting valuable experience and stepping up well.”
Three Eagles in particular emerged.
“David Nunez at an outside back has been great,” Valintis said, “and Rolando Barajas and Brian Ramos, two guys who were on varsity last year are really becoming more confident and more solid.”
Also not at full strength Thursday, OPRF rose to the challenge with versatility.
“Matt Schiffner started on the outside for us last year at midfield,” Huskies coach Paul Wright said, “and to put our best 11 on the field and have a solid ‘D’ we had to put him in the back (against Leyden).
“As a junior he stepped up and said ‘I’ll do it’ even though it’s not his normal position, and he pretty well shut down that right side. That was huge. I have to give him a tip of the hat. Not many kids would go out there and give up a chance to score goals. But he’s shutting players down and that’s huge.”
Kyle Pendleton was another offensive contributor, generating two excellent scoring chances in the first half (with one shot deflected just wide by a Leyden defender).
Coming off a 2-1 loss to Riverside-Brookfield in the season opener, the emotional lift of the comeback looms large for OPRF’s 2015 hopes.
“It was great to see them come out and do what we asked in the second half,” Wright said. “We started having success and they started believing. We started getting crosses in, we had them (Leyden) running backwards. We started creating gaps and our midfield wasn’t so stretched.
“It was just great to see them respond. To have this early in the season where you’re willing to fight back down 2-0, it’s going to help us down the road.”
Leyden swarmed Larkin with three-straight goals Tuesday to turn a 2-2 tie into a 5-2 win, but experienced the other side of the second-half surge on Thursday.
“Sometimes this is a little wakeup call, that we can’t always depend on Cesar or Albert or Alfredo to bail us out,” Valintis said.
“For our seniors on varsity who have never beaten Oak Park, this was a situation where if you ever want to be considered a good team, you have to find a way to beat teams that have your number. You have to get a statement win. Last year it was Lyons – then we had belief we can play with anybody. This was one of those games that could be that for us, but it wasn’t.
“But we got a lot of kids playing time and I can see the heart and emotion in the guys. It should continue to be a good year, and I guess it’s good to go through these things and learn from them so when it happens again we can handle them better.”
With a veteran team and high skill level, Leyden’s confidence won’t be easily shaken.
“Like Coach (Valintis) has been telling us, we can be a final four team,” Franco said. “We have our all-stater back, Albert, and many returning varsity players who have experience last year.”
The first 40-plus minutes of play showed that potential.
“We were connecting passes and we were communicating in the back,” Franco said. “We kept attacking and attacking. In the second half we didn’t do that.”
OPRF had a lot to do with the change.
“We wanted it more (than against R-B),” Kindler said. “We saw we could take the game and went at them as hard as we could.
“People are getting used to their positions, We have a lot of injuries, so a lot of people who wouldn’t normally start are starting. They’re getting playing time so that’s good.
“We’re going to go out to practice tomorrow, come back Saturday (in the Leyden Cup finale against Larkin) and give everything we’ve got.”
Starting lineups
Oak Park and River Forest
GK- Will Dunne
D- Justin Bruce
D- Augie Gonzalez
D- Matt Schiffner
D- Jacob Meister
MF- Max Klevgard
MF- Nikos Chulos
MF- Flynn Sheehan
MF- Kyle Pendleton
F- Cam Duncan
F- Evan Kindler
Leyden
GK- Alfredo Recendez
D- Cesar Franco
D- David Nunez
D- Rolando Barajas
D- Damian Kosakowski
MF- Jesus Hernandez
MF- Enrique Vargas
MF- Luis Gonzalez
MF- Angel Lopez
F- Mario Vasquez
F- Albert Arabik
Man of the Match
Evan Kindler, F, Oak Park and River Forest
Albert Arabik, F, Leyden
Leyden owns the 1st, OPRF the second in Challenge Cup tie
By Dave Owen
NORTHLAKE -- Leyden showed the speed and talent that should give opponents fits this fall.
For Oak Park and River Forest, Thursday’s 2-2 tie with the hosts in the Leyden Challenge Cup was a never-quit effort against long, second half odds.
After the Eagles (1-0-1) dominated the first half with two goals and numerous other top chances (including a missed penalty kick), the Huskies (0-1-1) showed late game
grit with two Evan Kindler goals in the final 19:33 of the match to earn a draw.
“We got out there in the second half and started putting balls in the corner,” Kindler said of the rejuvenated second half effort. “That really opened up the field – we got throw-ins, corner kicks, put heads on balls and got the ball downfield instead of messing with the ball in the middle where they have huge guys.”
Two tall challenges for the Huskies were Leyden’s Cesar Franco and Albert Arabik, who were big factors throughout the match.
Arabik’s drive in on goal in the 22nd minute set up a perfectly-executed corner kick that gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead. Esteban Hernandez’s corner connected with Franco racing into the box for a header into the net 18:02 before halftime.
Less than five minutes later, Arabik again burst in on left wing and sent a perfect cross to the net. With a defender on him, Krystian Havran made a nice sliding deflection into the net for his second goal of the year to make the score 2-0.
Arabik missed last season to concentrate on club soccer, but his return has produced instant big results for himself (a hat trick in the opening 5-2 win over Larkin) and the Eagles.
“Albert makes a big difference because last year he wasn’t here, and we didn’t have many goals,” Franco said. “Every time we would win, it would be 1-0 or 2-1. If we had him last year we would have gotten further. Just his presence makes the whole team hyped up.”
The hype reached its peak late in the first half, when Havran fielded an Enrique Vargas pass and was ruled to have been fouled inside the box left of the goal.
The ensuing penalty kick attempt could have given the Eagles a 3-0 lead three minutes before halftime, but went just wide of the right post to keep the Huskies within reach for their eventual comeback.
That PK chance followed a great save by OPRF goalkeeper Will Dunne 9:40 before halftime, when he dove to deflect a 10-yard drive by Arabik.
“They had a lot of pressure,” Dunne said. “No. 9 (Arabik) is a phenomenal player up top, great footwork, great speed and size obviously. He was creating a lot of chances for himself and other people on his team. But you just do your best to keep the ball out of the net.
“I personally disagreed with the (PK) call,” Dunne added, “but coming back from that was a huge boost for us, telling us that we’re still in this game.”
Any Leyden letdown wasn’t immediately evident.
“We went into halftime and our heads weren’t hung, and we weren’t upset,” Eagles coach Mark Valintis said. “We actually thought ‘2-0’ is a bad lead to have, let’s put our foot on the gas.’ And we created chances. We had some great chances, and their goalie came up big. From big saves to just missing two posts, we just got snake bit tonight.
“But credit them – they stuck with it. They didn’t give up; they fought back and got two hard-earned goals from good, hard effort. It’s a shame we gave that up, but hopefully we build on that for the next time.”
Leyden standout goalkeeper Alfredo Recendez came up big to deny OPRF’s first bid to rally, making a sliding kick of Kindler’s 8-yard shot off a nice Justin Bruce pass with 36:20 left.
Bruce later just missed his own goal, heading a Flynn Sheehan corner kick just wide with 27:40 to go. Leyden’s Angel Lopez responded 50 seconds later with his own great chance, weaving between defenders and lining a 15-yarder just wide of the left post.
With 23:15 left, Dunne made one of his biggest of many big saves on the night, diving to deny a Franco shot set up by a Mario Vazquez 25-yard direct kick.
Then it was Kindler’s time to shine.
With 19:31 left, Bruce sent a cross to Kindler. From a seemingly unlikely 15-yard distance, Kindler headed the ball just under the crossbar inside the right post to cut the Leyden lead to 2-1.
The equalizer with 10:41 to go was another impressive effort, started by a Matt Schiffner upfield pass to a heads-up Max Klevgard.
Klevgard somehow headed the ball out of the reach of charging goalkeeper Recendez, then sent a low ball towards the far post where Kindler slid beyond a Leyden defender’s reach to tip it home.
Kindler made it clear where the credit belonged.
“Max Klevgard somehow gets past two guys, somehow gets past the goalie, and then the linesman told me he (Klevgard) had headed it in towards the net,” Kindler said. “I just did the best I could to touch it, and I honestly don’t know if I touched it. I might have touched it or the defenseman, but it went in. I’ll take it.”
Dunne and the Huskies defense then had to take another round of attacks from the talented Leyden offense.
The best threat came with 7:15 left, when Arabik made another powerful burst in on left wing but had his shot glance off the left post.
Arabik was back at the doorstep with 1:45 to go, but this time Dunne made a two-hand block of his 12-yard liner left of the net.
“Will Dunne saved the game,” Kindler said.
Those great efforts but near misses capped a frustrating half for Arabik and the Eagles.
“Our hustle and hard work was there (in the first half),” Arabik said. “In the second half we didn’t do that enough. We have to put away our chances.
“But I’m excited to be back. Obviously this game is really frustrating for us, but I’m hoping we learn from this. We’re going to be better from this experience.”
Both teams should certainly be healthier down the road. OPRF defender Augie Gonzalez was helped off the field with 4:24 left, the final casualty of a night in which both teams had to dig deep.
Leyden was especially hard hit from the start.
“We’re missing three starters: David Senk,Christian Rubio and Sal Salgado, all varsity starters last year,” Valintis said. “It’s neither here nor there – we had guys step up who are just as good. We just couldn’t find a way to get it done. I think our guys did get tired, especially with the very direct style they (OPRF) took in eliminating a lot of the midfield possession.
“They did a good job of making us work, and the few times we had breakdowns they capitalized. They’re things that will help us get better, and the guys playing now are getting valuable experience and stepping up well.”
Three Eagles in particular emerged.
“David Nunez at an outside back has been great,” Valintis said, “and Rolando Barajas and Brian Ramos, two guys who were on varsity last year are really becoming more confident and more solid.”
Also not at full strength Thursday, OPRF rose to the challenge with versatility.
“Matt Schiffner started on the outside for us last year at midfield,” Huskies coach Paul Wright said, “and to put our best 11 on the field and have a solid ‘D’ we had to put him in the back (against Leyden).
“As a junior he stepped up and said ‘I’ll do it’ even though it’s not his normal position, and he pretty well shut down that right side. That was huge. I have to give him a tip of the hat. Not many kids would go out there and give up a chance to score goals. But he’s shutting players down and that’s huge.”
Kyle Pendleton was another offensive contributor, generating two excellent scoring chances in the first half (with one shot deflected just wide by a Leyden defender).
Coming off a 2-1 loss to Riverside-Brookfield in the season opener, the emotional lift of the comeback looms large for OPRF’s 2015 hopes.
“It was great to see them come out and do what we asked in the second half,” Wright said. “We started having success and they started believing. We started getting crosses in, we had them (Leyden) running backwards. We started creating gaps and our midfield wasn’t so stretched.
“It was just great to see them respond. To have this early in the season where you’re willing to fight back down 2-0, it’s going to help us down the road.”
Leyden swarmed Larkin with three-straight goals Tuesday to turn a 2-2 tie into a 5-2 win, but experienced the other side of the second-half surge on Thursday.
“Sometimes this is a little wakeup call, that we can’t always depend on Cesar or Albert or Alfredo to bail us out,” Valintis said.
“For our seniors on varsity who have never beaten Oak Park, this was a situation where if you ever want to be considered a good team, you have to find a way to beat teams that have your number. You have to get a statement win. Last year it was Lyons – then we had belief we can play with anybody. This was one of those games that could be that for us, but it wasn’t.
“But we got a lot of kids playing time and I can see the heart and emotion in the guys. It should continue to be a good year, and I guess it’s good to go through these things and learn from them so when it happens again we can handle them better.”
With a veteran team and high skill level, Leyden’s confidence won’t be easily shaken.
“Like Coach (Valintis) has been telling us, we can be a final four team,” Franco said. “We have our all-stater back, Albert, and many returning varsity players who have experience last year.”
The first 40-plus minutes of play showed that potential.
“We were connecting passes and we were communicating in the back,” Franco said. “We kept attacking and attacking. In the second half we didn’t do that.”
OPRF had a lot to do with the change.
“We wanted it more (than against R-B),” Kindler said. “We saw we could take the game and went at them as hard as we could.
“People are getting used to their positions, We have a lot of injuries, so a lot of people who wouldn’t normally start are starting. They’re getting playing time so that’s good.
“We’re going to go out to practice tomorrow, come back Saturday (in the Leyden Cup finale against Larkin) and give everything we’ve got.”
Starting lineups
Oak Park and River Forest
GK- Will Dunne
D- Justin Bruce
D- Augie Gonzalez
D- Matt Schiffner
D- Jacob Meister
MF- Max Klevgard
MF- Nikos Chulos
MF- Flynn Sheehan
MF- Kyle Pendleton
F- Cam Duncan
F- Evan Kindler
Leyden
GK- Alfredo Recendez
D- Cesar Franco
D- David Nunez
D- Rolando Barajas
D- Damian Kosakowski
MF- Jesus Hernandez
MF- Enrique Vargas
MF- Luis Gonzalez
MF- Angel Lopez
F- Mario Vasquez
F- Albert Arabik
Man of the Match
Evan Kindler, F, Oak Park and River Forest
Albert Arabik, F, Leyden