Morton gets on good foot,
defeats Downers Grove South
Delgado's changeup trips up stubborn foe
By Matt Le Cren
DOWNERS GROVE -- The conservative play would have been for Leo Delgado to shoot with his right foot.
But the Morton senior midfielder decided to be a lefty, if only for an instant.
Delgado scored on a 20-yard left-footed rocket from the right wing in the 13th minute and Baltazar Duran added a penalty kick late in the second half to lift visiting Morton to a 2-0 West Suburban Conference Gold Division victory over Downers Grove South on Tuesday night.
Delgado’s goal was his ninth of the season and came on the first shot of the game for No. 9 Morton (12-2, 2-0), while Duran’s penalty kick was his team’s last shot and his 10th goal.
“We’ve been working on weak foot a lot in practice, and when (Delgado) is on the right side, obviously he’s phenomenal with his right foot. But if he shows them the left once in a while, they’ve got to play him honest on that,” Morton coach Mike Caruso said. “It makes him that much more dangerous.
“When he hit that one with the left, it was just an extra bonus. Then they just can’t stay on his right. They got to play him in the middle, and he can go either way then.”
Delgado is naturally right-footed and is known for his thunderous shots from the right side. So when he cut back to toward the middle and unleashed a bullet into the far corner of the Downers Grove South net, it was a revelation.
“I was going to go right but (assistant) Coach Bageanis always tells me to switch it up once in a while,” Delgado said. “So instead of going right, I went left and just drilled it.”
Delgado, who was named Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match for the second-consecutive game, admits he wasn’t always good with his left foot.
“I can shoot with both (ever) since my freshman year here,” Delgado said. “I was bad coming in freshman year, but we always practice left foot, weak foot. You never know what situation you’re going to need it in, so over the past four years I’ve got in the habit of working on my potential with my left.”
Morton needed that play because Downers South (5-4-2, 1-1) did a relatively good job of containing the Mustangs’ explosive offense. The hosts held Duran, the sophomore sensation, without a shot except for the penalty, while Delgado had only three shots.
“It was well hit, there was no doubt about it,” Downers Grove South coach Jon Stapleton said. “I think that was credit to him for taking the space that he had.
“I think it was a little bit of a product of us being in good position defensively but maybe not closing in and pressuring the ball, so he took advantage of it. He was able to carry that ball and have a shot.”
Even so, the game was in doubt until Delgado drew the penalty kick and Duran converted with 5:16 left in the second half. Morton controlled the possession for long stretches but missed a couple of sitters in the box and failed to regularly break down Downers South’s defense.
“We got to the outside a little bit with some frequency in the first half, and I thought we left a couple of balls to the middle on the field in the beginning, but we stayed with it,” Caruso said. “They’re tough defensively, and they’re pretty good on the counterattack, and I thought our back line held up well for the most part on their counterattack with their speed.”
Indeed, the counterattack was Downers South’s main avenue of attack but it didn’t produce any opportunities. Instead it was set pieces that provided the only sense of anticipation for the home crowd.
Only one of Downers South’s nine shots came from inside of 30 yards, that being a header from Peter Becht that sailed over the crossbar off a corner kick in the 37th minute.
The play of Becht was a highlight for Downers South. The senior midfielder led the defensive effort against Duran, and he put four long free kicks on frame in the second half.
Becht’s drives from 41, 52, 44 and 61 yards were impressive line drives. The first and last went over the crossbar, and the others were punched off the line by Morton goalkeeper Billy Castro, who made five saves to record his sixth shutout.
“(Castro) came out and punched a few balls out, which I thought was great for him to come out and win those balls so we didn’t have to defend them,” Caruso said. “It’s his first year. Sometimes his decision-making isn’t the best, but I thought today his decision-making on when to stay and when to come was good against this team.”
Becht has been dangerous on set pieces this year and has six goals.
“I just wanted to make the keeper hesitate, make him come out so hopefully one of our players could get on the end of it and score,” Becht said. “Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. We need to keep on working at it, and eventually it will come.”
But Becht’s defensive play against the small but cat-quick Duran was probably more impressive.
“Obviously the type of player (Duran) is, he draws attention to himself pretty quick, and I thought our midfield, especially Peter, did a good job of kind of making him work for everything he got,” Stapleton said. “He’s a skillful player. I think he makes their team, and I thought we did a nice job containing him throughout this match.”
Ultimately, that didn’t matter because Downers South could not find a way to build an attack. Top striker Nick Rohl rarely touched the ball and had only one shot, a one-hopper from 30 yards that was easily stopped by Castro.
“I think right now we’re struggling offensively to find a rhythm,” Stapleton said. “I think their movement up top is a little bit better than ours.
“I think we’ve shown flashes of it. I think we just lack consistency. Tonight at times we were just playing that hopeful ball up top and trying to get on the end of it vs. building through the midfield to the attack.”
Downers South will look to bounce back against Fenton on Saturday, the third game of a six-game homestand. Morton now has won two straight after a 1-0 upset loss to Deerfield in the PepsiCo Showdown.
“We played good bouncing back from that loss to Deerfield,” Delgado said. “It’s always a tough battle between us and DGS, wherever it is, home or away. We battled it out to the last minute.
“Right now we’re 2-0 in conference. That’s all we’re looking forward to right now is (winning) conference and then playoffs.”
Starting lineups
Morton
G Billy Castro
D Juan Salas
D Rigo Lozano
D Rodrigo Gutierrez
D Diego Lopez
M Adan Carriedo
M Baltazar Duran
M Danny Sanchez
F Steven Tovar
F Malik Jones
F Pavel Garcia
Downers Grove South
G Sam Dumford
D Griffin Overbeck
D Peter Carr
D Ryan Strelau
D Anthony Masello
M Garrett Stears
M Peter Becht
F Andrew Pierropoulos
F Garrett Burns
F Dylan Mobley
F Nick Rohl
Man of the Match: Leo Delgado, Morton
defeats Downers Grove South
Delgado's changeup trips up stubborn foe
By Matt Le Cren
DOWNERS GROVE -- The conservative play would have been for Leo Delgado to shoot with his right foot.
But the Morton senior midfielder decided to be a lefty, if only for an instant.
Delgado scored on a 20-yard left-footed rocket from the right wing in the 13th minute and Baltazar Duran added a penalty kick late in the second half to lift visiting Morton to a 2-0 West Suburban Conference Gold Division victory over Downers Grove South on Tuesday night.
Delgado’s goal was his ninth of the season and came on the first shot of the game for No. 9 Morton (12-2, 2-0), while Duran’s penalty kick was his team’s last shot and his 10th goal.
“We’ve been working on weak foot a lot in practice, and when (Delgado) is on the right side, obviously he’s phenomenal with his right foot. But if he shows them the left once in a while, they’ve got to play him honest on that,” Morton coach Mike Caruso said. “It makes him that much more dangerous.
“When he hit that one with the left, it was just an extra bonus. Then they just can’t stay on his right. They got to play him in the middle, and he can go either way then.”
Delgado is naturally right-footed and is known for his thunderous shots from the right side. So when he cut back to toward the middle and unleashed a bullet into the far corner of the Downers Grove South net, it was a revelation.
“I was going to go right but (assistant) Coach Bageanis always tells me to switch it up once in a while,” Delgado said. “So instead of going right, I went left and just drilled it.”
Delgado, who was named Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match for the second-consecutive game, admits he wasn’t always good with his left foot.
“I can shoot with both (ever) since my freshman year here,” Delgado said. “I was bad coming in freshman year, but we always practice left foot, weak foot. You never know what situation you’re going to need it in, so over the past four years I’ve got in the habit of working on my potential with my left.”
Morton needed that play because Downers South (5-4-2, 1-1) did a relatively good job of containing the Mustangs’ explosive offense. The hosts held Duran, the sophomore sensation, without a shot except for the penalty, while Delgado had only three shots.
“It was well hit, there was no doubt about it,” Downers Grove South coach Jon Stapleton said. “I think that was credit to him for taking the space that he had.
“I think it was a little bit of a product of us being in good position defensively but maybe not closing in and pressuring the ball, so he took advantage of it. He was able to carry that ball and have a shot.”
Even so, the game was in doubt until Delgado drew the penalty kick and Duran converted with 5:16 left in the second half. Morton controlled the possession for long stretches but missed a couple of sitters in the box and failed to regularly break down Downers South’s defense.
“We got to the outside a little bit with some frequency in the first half, and I thought we left a couple of balls to the middle on the field in the beginning, but we stayed with it,” Caruso said. “They’re tough defensively, and they’re pretty good on the counterattack, and I thought our back line held up well for the most part on their counterattack with their speed.”
Indeed, the counterattack was Downers South’s main avenue of attack but it didn’t produce any opportunities. Instead it was set pieces that provided the only sense of anticipation for the home crowd.
Only one of Downers South’s nine shots came from inside of 30 yards, that being a header from Peter Becht that sailed over the crossbar off a corner kick in the 37th minute.
The play of Becht was a highlight for Downers South. The senior midfielder led the defensive effort against Duran, and he put four long free kicks on frame in the second half.
Becht’s drives from 41, 52, 44 and 61 yards were impressive line drives. The first and last went over the crossbar, and the others were punched off the line by Morton goalkeeper Billy Castro, who made five saves to record his sixth shutout.
“(Castro) came out and punched a few balls out, which I thought was great for him to come out and win those balls so we didn’t have to defend them,” Caruso said. “It’s his first year. Sometimes his decision-making isn’t the best, but I thought today his decision-making on when to stay and when to come was good against this team.”
Becht has been dangerous on set pieces this year and has six goals.
“I just wanted to make the keeper hesitate, make him come out so hopefully one of our players could get on the end of it and score,” Becht said. “Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. We need to keep on working at it, and eventually it will come.”
But Becht’s defensive play against the small but cat-quick Duran was probably more impressive.
“Obviously the type of player (Duran) is, he draws attention to himself pretty quick, and I thought our midfield, especially Peter, did a good job of kind of making him work for everything he got,” Stapleton said. “He’s a skillful player. I think he makes their team, and I thought we did a nice job containing him throughout this match.”
Ultimately, that didn’t matter because Downers South could not find a way to build an attack. Top striker Nick Rohl rarely touched the ball and had only one shot, a one-hopper from 30 yards that was easily stopped by Castro.
“I think right now we’re struggling offensively to find a rhythm,” Stapleton said. “I think their movement up top is a little bit better than ours.
“I think we’ve shown flashes of it. I think we just lack consistency. Tonight at times we were just playing that hopeful ball up top and trying to get on the end of it vs. building through the midfield to the attack.”
Downers South will look to bounce back against Fenton on Saturday, the third game of a six-game homestand. Morton now has won two straight after a 1-0 upset loss to Deerfield in the PepsiCo Showdown.
“We played good bouncing back from that loss to Deerfield,” Delgado said. “It’s always a tough battle between us and DGS, wherever it is, home or away. We battled it out to the last minute.
“Right now we’re 2-0 in conference. That’s all we’re looking forward to right now is (winning) conference and then playoffs.”
Starting lineups
Morton
G Billy Castro
D Juan Salas
D Rigo Lozano
D Rodrigo Gutierrez
D Diego Lopez
M Adan Carriedo
M Baltazar Duran
M Danny Sanchez
F Steven Tovar
F Malik Jones
F Pavel Garcia
Downers Grove South
G Sam Dumford
D Griffin Overbeck
D Peter Carr
D Ryan Strelau
D Anthony Masello
M Garrett Stears
M Peter Becht
F Andrew Pierropoulos
F Garrett Burns
F Dylan Mobley
F Nick Rohl
Man of the Match: Leo Delgado, Morton