Streamwood settles for 1-1 draw at Batavia
Bulldogs earn tie with late goal from Laurich
By Chris Walker
BATAVIA – Aldo Lazaro, Edwin Rueda, Brian Benitez, Donna Sosa, Rafael Gil and Erie Ortiz all had scoring chances in the first half for Streamwood in its Upstate Eight River Conference game at Batavia on Tuesday.
Their senior teammate Luis Segura didn’t get his opportunity until the second half, but when it came his way, he made sure to seize it.
Segura broke a scoreless game, but the Sabres proved unable to maintain the lead. Batavia’s Luke Laurich scored for the hosts, and Streamwood headed for home with a disappointing 1-1 tie.
It left the Sabres to wonder 'What if?' starting with six corner kicks in the first half alone.
“That’s kind of been our thing the last couple of weeks,” Streamwood coach Matt Polovin said. “We’re getting a lot of chances and then getting a lead and losing it. Tonight it was a tie, but we feel like it could’ve been 4-1 or 5-1 with the chances and the amount of pressure we had, and peppering the goal. So I think the guys came off the field feeling it was more like a loss.”
Streamwood (6-6-3, 0-1-3) certainly kept Batavia keeper Jimmy Perreault on his toes, especially in the first half.
Gil’s corner kick midway through the opening period was bobbled to the ground by Perreault. Lazaro pounced on the loose ball, and by quickly securing possession of the rebound fired a shot, but was off target.
It was one of the better scoring chances in the first half for either team.
Gil was involved in another good try with a little more than five minutes remaining before the break. A loose ball bounced around in the penalty area before he finally secured possession, leaned back and fired a liner just a bit too far right.
“Those chances were there, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be tonight,” Polovin said. “Even some of the plays at the very end there, we were close.”
For Batavia (6-4-4, 1-1-2), Laurich, Daniel Zagoren, Erik Faeesler and Davis DiBiase had scoring opportunities in the first half for the Bulldogs, but none of the four were able to convert.
“I thought we did a nice job of connecting out of our back end and then stringing three, four and even five passes together,” Bulldogs coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “We’d get up a bit but didn’t create as many opportunities as we would’ve liked. I thought we were also in a good defensive position and made it difficult for them to break us down.”
DiBiase’s best shot attempt came in the waning seconds of the half and nearly electrified the crowd. He displayed stellar speed down the sideline, but because he had to rush his shot with only a few seconds remaining, he sent it just a little too far left.
“We were able to link some nice balls up to our forwards there in the first half,” Gianfrancesco said. “We gave them a lot of free kicks and corner kicks, but we seemed to do a nice job of being very organized on those set plays defensively.”
The Sabres got their goal with 26:11 remaining in the game.
Segura wasn’t even sure if he’d have chance to put anything on his shot, but was thankful that he did. He was named Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match for his effort.
“I had two men on me and started running towards the goalie,” he said. “I’m guessing that nobody else paid any attention to me. I headed the ball back and the goalie couldn’t get to it. I thought he was going to tackle me. He didn’t, so I was pretty glad.”
Finally putting one in the net, and with the game nearing its end, Segura felt the Sabres were going to earn the victory.
“I thought we’d look for that second goal but we kind of backed off,” he said. “We got disorganized on defense, and they took advantage and scored a goal on us.”
Batavia fought back to earn the tie, getting its goal with 12:59 remaining from Laurich, who ironically plays for Polovin’s Fox Valley Strikers club team.
“He knows what Luke can do,” Gianfrancesco said. “Having seen him play he knew what he wanted to do defensively against him, which guys he wanted to see stop him. That was a good thing for our guys to see, for us to battle back and overcome a bit.”
Polovin had warned his Sabres that Laurich was dangerous at all times, and the senior made the visitors pay.
“I told them that he’s their go-to guy,” Polovin said. “I said he’ll probably score if you give him too much room. He got a shot and rebounded it and gave it another rip and suddenly we’re tied.”
Perreault came up with several nice saves and did a nice job of leading Batavia’s backline to not only preserve the tie, but to keep the game a one-goal contest throughout most of the game.
“I thought the back six right there, and with Jimmy, that’s seven, did a nice job,” Gianfrancesco said. “They stayed organized back there. Nathan Carey did a great job on the outside. They usually play to the left side, and even when we pushed Nathan up, Will Smith was locked in down there.”
Neither team produced many strong scoring chances for the remainder of the game, although each squad had at least one decent opportunity.
Carey just fired a bit too high with a 7:03 remaining for the Bulldogs, while Rueda was awarded a free kick just outside the top of the penalty area with 3:01 left, but he also misfired.
The teams had to deal with a seemingly never-ending strong crosswind, as well as with playing in colder weather for one of the first times of the fall. Rain from earlier in the day made for a slick surface, especially with Batavia’s field balding in spots due to football and soccer games played earlier in the fall.
“We told them to make sure you stay on your toes and never be flat footed,” Polovin said. “We didn’t want anyone to slip and slide, and the middle of this field is completely shredded. For the most part we did a good job of staying on our feet. We were able to move the ball well but we need to find a way to put our chances away.”
Starting lineups
Streamwood
GK: Nicholas Gaviria
D: Rafael Gil
D: Ivan Gonzalez
D: Erie Ortiz
D: Aaron Villegas
MF: Alejandro Chavez
MF: Aldo Lazaro
MF: Bryan Mora
MF: Edwin Rueda
F: Brian Benitez
F: Donnie Sosa
Batavia
GK: Jimmy Perreault
D: Trevor Hockings
D: Bryant Kintz
MF: Matt Allen
MF: Nathan Carey
MF: Erik Faessler
MF: Sal Garcia
MF: Luke Laurich
MF: Daniel Zagoren
F: Davis DiBiase
F: Brandon Knapp
Man of the Match: Luis Segura, F, Streamwood
Bulldogs earn tie with late goal from Laurich
By Chris Walker
BATAVIA – Aldo Lazaro, Edwin Rueda, Brian Benitez, Donna Sosa, Rafael Gil and Erie Ortiz all had scoring chances in the first half for Streamwood in its Upstate Eight River Conference game at Batavia on Tuesday.
Their senior teammate Luis Segura didn’t get his opportunity until the second half, but when it came his way, he made sure to seize it.
Segura broke a scoreless game, but the Sabres proved unable to maintain the lead. Batavia’s Luke Laurich scored for the hosts, and Streamwood headed for home with a disappointing 1-1 tie.
It left the Sabres to wonder 'What if?' starting with six corner kicks in the first half alone.
“That’s kind of been our thing the last couple of weeks,” Streamwood coach Matt Polovin said. “We’re getting a lot of chances and then getting a lead and losing it. Tonight it was a tie, but we feel like it could’ve been 4-1 or 5-1 with the chances and the amount of pressure we had, and peppering the goal. So I think the guys came off the field feeling it was more like a loss.”
Streamwood (6-6-3, 0-1-3) certainly kept Batavia keeper Jimmy Perreault on his toes, especially in the first half.
Gil’s corner kick midway through the opening period was bobbled to the ground by Perreault. Lazaro pounced on the loose ball, and by quickly securing possession of the rebound fired a shot, but was off target.
It was one of the better scoring chances in the first half for either team.
Gil was involved in another good try with a little more than five minutes remaining before the break. A loose ball bounced around in the penalty area before he finally secured possession, leaned back and fired a liner just a bit too far right.
“Those chances were there, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be tonight,” Polovin said. “Even some of the plays at the very end there, we were close.”
For Batavia (6-4-4, 1-1-2), Laurich, Daniel Zagoren, Erik Faeesler and Davis DiBiase had scoring opportunities in the first half for the Bulldogs, but none of the four were able to convert.
“I thought we did a nice job of connecting out of our back end and then stringing three, four and even five passes together,” Bulldogs coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “We’d get up a bit but didn’t create as many opportunities as we would’ve liked. I thought we were also in a good defensive position and made it difficult for them to break us down.”
DiBiase’s best shot attempt came in the waning seconds of the half and nearly electrified the crowd. He displayed stellar speed down the sideline, but because he had to rush his shot with only a few seconds remaining, he sent it just a little too far left.
“We were able to link some nice balls up to our forwards there in the first half,” Gianfrancesco said. “We gave them a lot of free kicks and corner kicks, but we seemed to do a nice job of being very organized on those set plays defensively.”
The Sabres got their goal with 26:11 remaining in the game.
Segura wasn’t even sure if he’d have chance to put anything on his shot, but was thankful that he did. He was named Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match for his effort.
“I had two men on me and started running towards the goalie,” he said. “I’m guessing that nobody else paid any attention to me. I headed the ball back and the goalie couldn’t get to it. I thought he was going to tackle me. He didn’t, so I was pretty glad.”
Finally putting one in the net, and with the game nearing its end, Segura felt the Sabres were going to earn the victory.
“I thought we’d look for that second goal but we kind of backed off,” he said. “We got disorganized on defense, and they took advantage and scored a goal on us.”
Batavia fought back to earn the tie, getting its goal with 12:59 remaining from Laurich, who ironically plays for Polovin’s Fox Valley Strikers club team.
“He knows what Luke can do,” Gianfrancesco said. “Having seen him play he knew what he wanted to do defensively against him, which guys he wanted to see stop him. That was a good thing for our guys to see, for us to battle back and overcome a bit.”
Polovin had warned his Sabres that Laurich was dangerous at all times, and the senior made the visitors pay.
“I told them that he’s their go-to guy,” Polovin said. “I said he’ll probably score if you give him too much room. He got a shot and rebounded it and gave it another rip and suddenly we’re tied.”
Perreault came up with several nice saves and did a nice job of leading Batavia’s backline to not only preserve the tie, but to keep the game a one-goal contest throughout most of the game.
“I thought the back six right there, and with Jimmy, that’s seven, did a nice job,” Gianfrancesco said. “They stayed organized back there. Nathan Carey did a great job on the outside. They usually play to the left side, and even when we pushed Nathan up, Will Smith was locked in down there.”
Neither team produced many strong scoring chances for the remainder of the game, although each squad had at least one decent opportunity.
Carey just fired a bit too high with a 7:03 remaining for the Bulldogs, while Rueda was awarded a free kick just outside the top of the penalty area with 3:01 left, but he also misfired.
The teams had to deal with a seemingly never-ending strong crosswind, as well as with playing in colder weather for one of the first times of the fall. Rain from earlier in the day made for a slick surface, especially with Batavia’s field balding in spots due to football and soccer games played earlier in the fall.
“We told them to make sure you stay on your toes and never be flat footed,” Polovin said. “We didn’t want anyone to slip and slide, and the middle of this field is completely shredded. For the most part we did a good job of staying on our feet. We were able to move the ball well but we need to find a way to put our chances away.”
Starting lineups
Streamwood
GK: Nicholas Gaviria
D: Rafael Gil
D: Ivan Gonzalez
D: Erie Ortiz
D: Aaron Villegas
MF: Alejandro Chavez
MF: Aldo Lazaro
MF: Bryan Mora
MF: Edwin Rueda
F: Brian Benitez
F: Donnie Sosa
Batavia
GK: Jimmy Perreault
D: Trevor Hockings
D: Bryant Kintz
MF: Matt Allen
MF: Nathan Carey
MF: Erik Faessler
MF: Sal Garcia
MF: Luke Laurich
MF: Daniel Zagoren
F: Davis DiBiase
F: Brandon Knapp
Man of the Match: Luis Segura, F, Streamwood