Refocused Schaumburg
too much for Fremd
Saxons have upper hand for West berth in MLS Soccer Bowl
By Matt Le Cren
PALATINE – Beating Schaumburg was going to be a tall order for Fremd regardless of the circumstances.
But Conant did the Vikings no favors by upsetting Schaumburg 2-1 on Friday night, meaning the Saxons were more than a little peeved heading into Monday’s Mid-Suburban League game.
“When you go through a season like we’ve been going through, it’s tough to mentally prepare for every team exactly the same way,” Schaumburg coach Hamid Mehreiskouei said. “As a coach you preach it, as players you say it, but after so many results it’s tough to gain that hunger back.
“Taking a loss against Conant obviously makes you recalibrate as a team and makes you address some of the problems you haven’t had to address. All we were focused on was being able to match the intensity that (the Vikings) were going to bring.
“Every team we’re going against right now is going to try to level the playing field by playing high-energy soccer.”
Indeed, Fremd did play with high energy Monday night. But a valiant effort from the defense and outstanding goalkeeping from Josh Kasser was not enough to prevent the Saxons from prevailing 3-1.
Alexis Flores had a goal and an assist to earn Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors. Eddie Gomez and Jason Schoo added goals for the Saxons.
“We needed a bounce-back,” Flores said. “The last game we didn’t come out as hard, and this game we came out in the first 15 minutes hard, ready to win.”
The Saxons (12-2-0, 7-1-0) attacked in waves, with speedy midfielder Jessie Lopez creating havoc for defenders and openings for his teammates.
But Kasser came up with four-of-his-six saves to keep the game scoreless for 35 minutes
That included back-to-back stops in the sixth minute when he made a diving stop of a hard liner from Flores. Noah Kostkiewicz got to the rebound in prime position to score, but defender Ben Cuthbert disrupted him long enough for Kasser to get back in position to make another diving save.
“He had some nice saves,” Fremd coach Steve Keller said. “He reads the game well, better than most. He put himself in the right spots to make those saves, because he anticipated things.”
Kasser made another tremendous save when Lopez sprung Kostkiewicz on a breakaway in the 36th minute. But this time it only delayed a Schaumburg celebration because Flores buried the rebound with 4:54 left in the first half for his team-leading 10th goal.
The Saxons struck again just 1:43 later when Flores got under a long ball and headed it over a defender toward Gomez, who chipped the ball over Kasser and off the inside of the post for his sixth goal and a 2-0 lead.
“(After the first goal) our energy went up, and I felt like the Fremd defense, they kind of opened up more because they felt like they couldn’t stop us,” Gomez said.
“They were (playing) hard, but we just put 100 percent into the attack.
“We kept our mentality right, and we focused on going out 100 percent and not coming out weak. We opened up the space which led to a lot of goals.”
Lopez’s elusiveness helped open up that space. He attacked so quickly that the Vikings sometimes were forced to foul him to prevent him from getting in alone on Kasser.
That’s what happened early in the second half when he split two defenders just 12 yards from the net and was taken down by Fremd’s Michael LaBarge, who received a yellow card on the play.
“Even though Jessie didn’t get on the scoreboard, he was very active tonight, which was nice to see,” Mehreiskouei said.
LaBarge’s foul led to a penalty kick, which Schoo converted past a diving Kasser to bump the lead to 3-0 just 44 seconds after intermission.
“We knew if we matched their intensity that the soccer was going to play out, and that’s what we did,” Mehreiskouei said. “They weathered us and all of a sudden, bam, we got one, and then they started coming.
“I thought we had some real nice combinations that could have resulted in a couple more. I thought the boys played with a chip on their shoulder. I thought they played a little angry from the other night and it was good see. It felt like we had something to prove again."
The loss to Conant, which snapped an eight-game winning streak, taught the Saxons a valuable lesson.
“You can’t take a day off,” Flores said. “You have to work hard, and every game they’re going to come at you hard. We’re on top, and they want to knock us down, so we have to be ready.”
Despite the loss, Keller was happy with how the Vikings (5-9-0, 3-3-0) battled throughout the game.
“I’m not discouraged by any means,” Keller said. “We’ve been in every game with the exception of New Trier.
“We’re right there. We just tend to make a little mistake here or there that puts us in a bind and then we seem to be fighting out of it. We need to flip that and get the other team in a bind and then preserve a win.
“(Schaumburg) is one of the better teams we’ve played, and I was pleased with most of what I saw.”
Senior Rohan Menon made things interesting in the second half, scoring on a 25-yard free kick with 24:04 remaining. The goal was Menon’s second this fall and was unusual in that he sent it on the ground through the defensive wall.
“That hit off one or two people and went in,” Menon said. “That’s what counts.
“It’s happened a couple times this season where I’ve hit, whether I meant to or not, it low and the wall jumps sometimes. You could get lucky, it goes under and the keeper is not able to get over if it’s on the ground in the corner.”
Menon had a chance to trim the deficit further with another free kick at the top of the circle eight minutes later, but this one was five yards closer and Menon’s attempt to go around the wall missed the right post.
Though the Vikings became more dangerous as the game went on, that free kick was their last scoring chance against the favored Saxons.
“I don’t know about them being a better team,” Menon said. “They came to play.
“This is a big game for them, and I think we started out a little bit slow, but in the middle and towards the end we fought hard. We got that goal back and the last 10-or-15 minutes, I think it was pretty balanced and we were giving it our all. But goals are what matters, and we didn’t get enough today.”
That’s been a common them for the Vikings. All but one of their nine losses have been by two goals or less, leading them to believe they are close to putting a streak together.
There is precedent for that. Schaumburg beat the Vikings 1-0 last year, after which Fremd did not lose again until the state semifinals.
“I think we’re right there,” Menon said. “We’re right on the brink.
“Coach Keller is always telling us we’ve got the talent, we’ve got the potential, we’re just not making it work right now. This kind of happened last year too.
“At the beginning of the season it was more a group of individuals, but we got it all together at the end of the season so that’s what I’m hoping for this year.”
Starting lineups
Schaumburg
G Edgar Avila
D Andrew Bird
D Nikolaos Davis
D Michael Marino
D Christopher Melecio
D Andrew Ralston
M Austin Lara
M Jessie Lopez
M Jason Schoo
F Alexis Flores
F Edward Gomez
Fremd
G Josh Kasser
D Jake Arbour
D Michael LaBarge
D Ben Cuthbert
D Dalton Rogers
D Ryan Rowden
M Max Clark
M Seiya Iguchi
M Rohan Menon
M James Lefevre
F Luke Schoffstall
Man of the Match – Alexis Flores, F, Schaumburg.
too much for Fremd
Saxons have upper hand for West berth in MLS Soccer Bowl
By Matt Le Cren
PALATINE – Beating Schaumburg was going to be a tall order for Fremd regardless of the circumstances.
But Conant did the Vikings no favors by upsetting Schaumburg 2-1 on Friday night, meaning the Saxons were more than a little peeved heading into Monday’s Mid-Suburban League game.
“When you go through a season like we’ve been going through, it’s tough to mentally prepare for every team exactly the same way,” Schaumburg coach Hamid Mehreiskouei said. “As a coach you preach it, as players you say it, but after so many results it’s tough to gain that hunger back.
“Taking a loss against Conant obviously makes you recalibrate as a team and makes you address some of the problems you haven’t had to address. All we were focused on was being able to match the intensity that (the Vikings) were going to bring.
“Every team we’re going against right now is going to try to level the playing field by playing high-energy soccer.”
Indeed, Fremd did play with high energy Monday night. But a valiant effort from the defense and outstanding goalkeeping from Josh Kasser was not enough to prevent the Saxons from prevailing 3-1.
Alexis Flores had a goal and an assist to earn Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors. Eddie Gomez and Jason Schoo added goals for the Saxons.
“We needed a bounce-back,” Flores said. “The last game we didn’t come out as hard, and this game we came out in the first 15 minutes hard, ready to win.”
The Saxons (12-2-0, 7-1-0) attacked in waves, with speedy midfielder Jessie Lopez creating havoc for defenders and openings for his teammates.
But Kasser came up with four-of-his-six saves to keep the game scoreless for 35 minutes
That included back-to-back stops in the sixth minute when he made a diving stop of a hard liner from Flores. Noah Kostkiewicz got to the rebound in prime position to score, but defender Ben Cuthbert disrupted him long enough for Kasser to get back in position to make another diving save.
“He had some nice saves,” Fremd coach Steve Keller said. “He reads the game well, better than most. He put himself in the right spots to make those saves, because he anticipated things.”
Kasser made another tremendous save when Lopez sprung Kostkiewicz on a breakaway in the 36th minute. But this time it only delayed a Schaumburg celebration because Flores buried the rebound with 4:54 left in the first half for his team-leading 10th goal.
The Saxons struck again just 1:43 later when Flores got under a long ball and headed it over a defender toward Gomez, who chipped the ball over Kasser and off the inside of the post for his sixth goal and a 2-0 lead.
“(After the first goal) our energy went up, and I felt like the Fremd defense, they kind of opened up more because they felt like they couldn’t stop us,” Gomez said.
“They were (playing) hard, but we just put 100 percent into the attack.
“We kept our mentality right, and we focused on going out 100 percent and not coming out weak. We opened up the space which led to a lot of goals.”
Lopez’s elusiveness helped open up that space. He attacked so quickly that the Vikings sometimes were forced to foul him to prevent him from getting in alone on Kasser.
That’s what happened early in the second half when he split two defenders just 12 yards from the net and was taken down by Fremd’s Michael LaBarge, who received a yellow card on the play.
“Even though Jessie didn’t get on the scoreboard, he was very active tonight, which was nice to see,” Mehreiskouei said.
LaBarge’s foul led to a penalty kick, which Schoo converted past a diving Kasser to bump the lead to 3-0 just 44 seconds after intermission.
“We knew if we matched their intensity that the soccer was going to play out, and that’s what we did,” Mehreiskouei said. “They weathered us and all of a sudden, bam, we got one, and then they started coming.
“I thought we had some real nice combinations that could have resulted in a couple more. I thought the boys played with a chip on their shoulder. I thought they played a little angry from the other night and it was good see. It felt like we had something to prove again."
The loss to Conant, which snapped an eight-game winning streak, taught the Saxons a valuable lesson.
“You can’t take a day off,” Flores said. “You have to work hard, and every game they’re going to come at you hard. We’re on top, and they want to knock us down, so we have to be ready.”
Despite the loss, Keller was happy with how the Vikings (5-9-0, 3-3-0) battled throughout the game.
“I’m not discouraged by any means,” Keller said. “We’ve been in every game with the exception of New Trier.
“We’re right there. We just tend to make a little mistake here or there that puts us in a bind and then we seem to be fighting out of it. We need to flip that and get the other team in a bind and then preserve a win.
“(Schaumburg) is one of the better teams we’ve played, and I was pleased with most of what I saw.”
Senior Rohan Menon made things interesting in the second half, scoring on a 25-yard free kick with 24:04 remaining. The goal was Menon’s second this fall and was unusual in that he sent it on the ground through the defensive wall.
“That hit off one or two people and went in,” Menon said. “That’s what counts.
“It’s happened a couple times this season where I’ve hit, whether I meant to or not, it low and the wall jumps sometimes. You could get lucky, it goes under and the keeper is not able to get over if it’s on the ground in the corner.”
Menon had a chance to trim the deficit further with another free kick at the top of the circle eight minutes later, but this one was five yards closer and Menon’s attempt to go around the wall missed the right post.
Though the Vikings became more dangerous as the game went on, that free kick was their last scoring chance against the favored Saxons.
“I don’t know about them being a better team,” Menon said. “They came to play.
“This is a big game for them, and I think we started out a little bit slow, but in the middle and towards the end we fought hard. We got that goal back and the last 10-or-15 minutes, I think it was pretty balanced and we were giving it our all. But goals are what matters, and we didn’t get enough today.”
That’s been a common them for the Vikings. All but one of their nine losses have been by two goals or less, leading them to believe they are close to putting a streak together.
There is precedent for that. Schaumburg beat the Vikings 1-0 last year, after which Fremd did not lose again until the state semifinals.
“I think we’re right there,” Menon said. “We’re right on the brink.
“Coach Keller is always telling us we’ve got the talent, we’ve got the potential, we’re just not making it work right now. This kind of happened last year too.
“At the beginning of the season it was more a group of individuals, but we got it all together at the end of the season so that’s what I’m hoping for this year.”
Starting lineups
Schaumburg
G Edgar Avila
D Andrew Bird
D Nikolaos Davis
D Michael Marino
D Christopher Melecio
D Andrew Ralston
M Austin Lara
M Jessie Lopez
M Jason Schoo
F Alexis Flores
F Edward Gomez
Fremd
G Josh Kasser
D Jake Arbour
D Michael LaBarge
D Ben Cuthbert
D Dalton Rogers
D Ryan Rowden
M Max Clark
M Seiya Iguchi
M Rohan Menon
M James Lefevre
F Luke Schoffstall
Man of the Match – Alexis Flores, F, Schaumburg.