Oak Park tightens down
the defense to beat Leyden
Penalty kick provides winning margin for Huskies
By Dave Owen
OAK PARK -- Oak Park and River Forest’s new-look defense is starting to look very good.
With three varsity newcomers on the four-man defender unit against Leyden, the host Huskies (1-1) quickly rebounded from a 3-1 loss in its season opener to Riverside-Brookfield by beating the Eagles 1-0 in the second round of the Leyden Challenge Cup on Thursday (Aug. 28).
Goalkeeper Will Dunne made an impressive season debut, registering a nine-save shutout that included the biggest play of a scoreless first half.
Leyden’s Miguel Mireles fielded a cross deep into the box by Mario Vazquez and lined a seemingly open 10-yard shot, but Dunne charged out to smother the attempt and cover a potential rebound.
“It was a bouncing ball, it’s in the area, so I thought I might as well go after it,” Dunne said of the big save.
Two minutes later, Dunne caught a threatening 12-yard header by Elvis Castaneda off a Sergio Ruiz cross.
Many of Leyden’s subsequent chances came from 25 yards and beyond, as new Huskies’ sweeper Graham Nagle-Deamer, Justin Bruce and Quentin Drane teamed with lone holdover Mavin Gill to limit the dangerous speed of forward Erik Rodriguez and the Eagles.
“We stayed together as a unit, and communication was really key,” said Nagle-Deamer, a senior whose playe earned him Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors.
“Three of our four players in the back tonight have never played varsity defense before, Mavin being the only one (returning from 2013) who’s a great defender obviously," Nagle-Deamer said. " I played mostly JV last year, Quentin Drane played midfield last year and Justin Bruce was a sophomore. We’re still trying to learn how to work with each other, so communicating was really the most important thing in preventing them from scoring.”
The quick progress of the new unit impressed OPRF coach Paul Wright.
“Mavin’s the only guy back,” Wright said. “(Kirk) Svensson is another starter who’s slowly getting back (and played briefly off the bench Thursday). He had knee surgery earlier in the year.
“Justin Bruce played his second varsity game today and did a really nice job. And Graham Nagle-Deamer was phenomenal. He really anchored it down and is really giving direction out there. That’s really positive to see.”
But OPRF’s last line of defense was quick to expand the credit for the win.
“I though the marking in the midfield was much better,” Dunne said. “We had players tracking. And they (Leyden) had a lot of very crafty forwards crisscrossing this way and that. I thought the communication in the back was much better than it was last game.”
The Huskies’ midfield and defense figured prominently in the deciding goal with 27:57 left in the match.
OPRF midfielder Noah Fluharty made a great individual 25-yard rush upfield, dribbling between defenders before colliding with charging Leyden defender Cesar Franco inside the box.
In a double piece of bad news for the Eagles, top defender Franco left the game and did not return as a precautionary measure. And OPRF was awarded a penalty kick, which defender Gill pounded inside the upper right corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.
“I thought we played pretty good,” Leyden senior defender Hector Herrera said. “Just the one bad call, and we had the injury too.”
Leyden coach Mark Valintis was cautiously optimistic about Franco’s status.
“They didn’t think anything concussion-wise,” Valintis said. He has a little bit of a headache, but he should be OK. For him to not find a way back onto the field it must have been something, so we’ll see. We’ll have him evaluated.
“For as much as the physical play went on throughout the field, to call that one kind of confused me,” Valintis added about the PK. “But there was plenty of time left in the game for us to equalize. We had our chances but just didn’t make the most of them, and we knew coming in that it was going to be whoever took advantage of their chances.”
Leyden (1-1) had an overall 9-6 edge in shots on goal, including the first good chance of the second half 45 seconds in when Dunne made a diving catch on Castaneda’s low 25-yard shot. But OPRF answered with two threats, then Fluharty’s eventual goal-producing attack.
“I think at the start of the second half for the first 10 or 12 minutes we came out a little flat, and they came out energized,” Valintis said. “We struggled with it, and then seemingly right when we seemed to even up came the PK and the injury (to Franco). We had to adjust, but we kept playing and kept fighting and created some chances. Just nothing bounced our way, but there are going to be days like that.”
After setting up the lone goal, Fluharty made another great play with 8:50 left when he intercepted a Leyden corner kick and raced upfield to create an unlikely counterattack.
“We like Noah in the middle because he’s high energy,” Huskies’ coach Paul Wright said. “He might cost us a foul here or there because of that, but he’s creating chances for us. He’s a kid that plays soccer year round – his conditioning level is really high. You’re not going to see him tire much. He has an engine that keeps going.”
Nagle-Deamer was on the spot on many Leyden attacks, and met the challenge. His header repelled a dangerous Enrique Vargas cross into the box with 10:55 left, and he capped his big night by blocking Castaneda’s 30-yard direct kick with five seconds to play.
“I’m not the fastest player, so I have to work on defensive positioning a lot,” Nagle-Deamer said. “That’s mainly how I combat (opponents’ speed) and get right up on them so they can’t turn because a player coming at me is a lot harder to defend.”
Drane was another defensive star, breaking up a dangerous Mireles to Hernandez play in the box with 7:40 left.
“Q Drane has kind of gone unnoticed,” Wright said, “but has done a nice job of winning the 50-50 balls in the middle. He’s closed down a lot of gaps, is winning balls and possessing, and he’s really stopping the ball from getting into the attacking third which is good to see.”
Dunne sealed his shutout in style, leaping into the crowd to bat away a 41-yard direct kick by Rubio with 9:25 left.
“He had a lot of good saves up in the air,” Nagle-Deamer said.
Another Leyden chance came with 6:45 to go. After Hernandez was fouled, Salvador Salgado’s 22-yard direct kick was directed just wide of the net by a Castaneda header.
“I thought Hector (Herrera) played well, and Elvis Castaneda and Angel Lopez,” Valintis said.
“We’re still a very young team. Even though we have a lot of guys back on varsity from last year, we’re trying to bring some other guys up to speed. It’s the second game of the year, and a completely difference surface and style than playing Larkin (a 1-0 win Monday on Leyden’s grass field). It’s a growing experience.”
Key senior defender Herrera expects that growth to continue.
“We just have to keep our head up and keep playing the whole game,” Herrera said.
OPRF certainly put a strong game together after its opening setback.
“Looking at our loss to Riverside-Brookfield to now, I feel our possession was a little bit better,” Wright said. “Our finishing touch still isn’t there (Thursday) – we only had one or two shots the first half. Our set pieces looked better, but we’re trying to develop a little bit more chemistry.”
The weird bounces and bad luck of the R-B match also were missing Thursday.
“One of R-B’s goals was this free kick off the post and in, another one the ball pops out in a scrum,” Nagle-Deamer said. “It wasn’t like we were being beat in the R-B game, just unlucky efforts. It wasn’t like we struggled – we still played well defensively.”
The Huskies hope to continue the turnaround with a busy week to come.
“We’re kind of getting some momentum going forward,” Nagle-Deamer said.
“This is a nice step in the right direction,” Wright said. “Now Saturday we have Larkin, then Tuesday against St. Ignatius is really big for sectional seeding and then Lane Tech Thursday. But we’re climbing up the hill pretty quickly, which is good to see. I’m very happy.”
Starting lineups
LEYDEN
GK-Alfredo Recendez
D- Salvador Salgado
D- Cesar Franco
D- Christian Rubio
D- Hector Herrera
MF- David Senk
MF-Jesus Hernandez
MF- Damian Kosakowski
MF- Christian Sosnowski
F- Angel Lopez
F- Eric Rodriguez
OPRF
GK- Will Dunne
D- Mavin Gill
D- Graham Nagle-Deamer
D- Quentin Drane
D- Justin Bruce
MF- Noah Fluharty
MF- Max Klevgard
MF- Harry Engeron
MF-Evan Kindler
F- Purvis Funches
F- Quinn Neuman
Man of the Match: Graham Nagle-Deamer, Oak Park/River Forest
the defense to beat Leyden
Penalty kick provides winning margin for Huskies
By Dave Owen
OAK PARK -- Oak Park and River Forest’s new-look defense is starting to look very good.
With three varsity newcomers on the four-man defender unit against Leyden, the host Huskies (1-1) quickly rebounded from a 3-1 loss in its season opener to Riverside-Brookfield by beating the Eagles 1-0 in the second round of the Leyden Challenge Cup on Thursday (Aug. 28).
Goalkeeper Will Dunne made an impressive season debut, registering a nine-save shutout that included the biggest play of a scoreless first half.
Leyden’s Miguel Mireles fielded a cross deep into the box by Mario Vazquez and lined a seemingly open 10-yard shot, but Dunne charged out to smother the attempt and cover a potential rebound.
“It was a bouncing ball, it’s in the area, so I thought I might as well go after it,” Dunne said of the big save.
Two minutes later, Dunne caught a threatening 12-yard header by Elvis Castaneda off a Sergio Ruiz cross.
Many of Leyden’s subsequent chances came from 25 yards and beyond, as new Huskies’ sweeper Graham Nagle-Deamer, Justin Bruce and Quentin Drane teamed with lone holdover Mavin Gill to limit the dangerous speed of forward Erik Rodriguez and the Eagles.
“We stayed together as a unit, and communication was really key,” said Nagle-Deamer, a senior whose playe earned him Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors.
“Three of our four players in the back tonight have never played varsity defense before, Mavin being the only one (returning from 2013) who’s a great defender obviously," Nagle-Deamer said. " I played mostly JV last year, Quentin Drane played midfield last year and Justin Bruce was a sophomore. We’re still trying to learn how to work with each other, so communicating was really the most important thing in preventing them from scoring.”
The quick progress of the new unit impressed OPRF coach Paul Wright.
“Mavin’s the only guy back,” Wright said. “(Kirk) Svensson is another starter who’s slowly getting back (and played briefly off the bench Thursday). He had knee surgery earlier in the year.
“Justin Bruce played his second varsity game today and did a really nice job. And Graham Nagle-Deamer was phenomenal. He really anchored it down and is really giving direction out there. That’s really positive to see.”
But OPRF’s last line of defense was quick to expand the credit for the win.
“I though the marking in the midfield was much better,” Dunne said. “We had players tracking. And they (Leyden) had a lot of very crafty forwards crisscrossing this way and that. I thought the communication in the back was much better than it was last game.”
The Huskies’ midfield and defense figured prominently in the deciding goal with 27:57 left in the match.
OPRF midfielder Noah Fluharty made a great individual 25-yard rush upfield, dribbling between defenders before colliding with charging Leyden defender Cesar Franco inside the box.
In a double piece of bad news for the Eagles, top defender Franco left the game and did not return as a precautionary measure. And OPRF was awarded a penalty kick, which defender Gill pounded inside the upper right corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.
“I thought we played pretty good,” Leyden senior defender Hector Herrera said. “Just the one bad call, and we had the injury too.”
Leyden coach Mark Valintis was cautiously optimistic about Franco’s status.
“They didn’t think anything concussion-wise,” Valintis said. He has a little bit of a headache, but he should be OK. For him to not find a way back onto the field it must have been something, so we’ll see. We’ll have him evaluated.
“For as much as the physical play went on throughout the field, to call that one kind of confused me,” Valintis added about the PK. “But there was plenty of time left in the game for us to equalize. We had our chances but just didn’t make the most of them, and we knew coming in that it was going to be whoever took advantage of their chances.”
Leyden (1-1) had an overall 9-6 edge in shots on goal, including the first good chance of the second half 45 seconds in when Dunne made a diving catch on Castaneda’s low 25-yard shot. But OPRF answered with two threats, then Fluharty’s eventual goal-producing attack.
“I think at the start of the second half for the first 10 or 12 minutes we came out a little flat, and they came out energized,” Valintis said. “We struggled with it, and then seemingly right when we seemed to even up came the PK and the injury (to Franco). We had to adjust, but we kept playing and kept fighting and created some chances. Just nothing bounced our way, but there are going to be days like that.”
After setting up the lone goal, Fluharty made another great play with 8:50 left when he intercepted a Leyden corner kick and raced upfield to create an unlikely counterattack.
“We like Noah in the middle because he’s high energy,” Huskies’ coach Paul Wright said. “He might cost us a foul here or there because of that, but he’s creating chances for us. He’s a kid that plays soccer year round – his conditioning level is really high. You’re not going to see him tire much. He has an engine that keeps going.”
Nagle-Deamer was on the spot on many Leyden attacks, and met the challenge. His header repelled a dangerous Enrique Vargas cross into the box with 10:55 left, and he capped his big night by blocking Castaneda’s 30-yard direct kick with five seconds to play.
“I’m not the fastest player, so I have to work on defensive positioning a lot,” Nagle-Deamer said. “That’s mainly how I combat (opponents’ speed) and get right up on them so they can’t turn because a player coming at me is a lot harder to defend.”
Drane was another defensive star, breaking up a dangerous Mireles to Hernandez play in the box with 7:40 left.
“Q Drane has kind of gone unnoticed,” Wright said, “but has done a nice job of winning the 50-50 balls in the middle. He’s closed down a lot of gaps, is winning balls and possessing, and he’s really stopping the ball from getting into the attacking third which is good to see.”
Dunne sealed his shutout in style, leaping into the crowd to bat away a 41-yard direct kick by Rubio with 9:25 left.
“He had a lot of good saves up in the air,” Nagle-Deamer said.
Another Leyden chance came with 6:45 to go. After Hernandez was fouled, Salvador Salgado’s 22-yard direct kick was directed just wide of the net by a Castaneda header.
“I thought Hector (Herrera) played well, and Elvis Castaneda and Angel Lopez,” Valintis said.
“We’re still a very young team. Even though we have a lot of guys back on varsity from last year, we’re trying to bring some other guys up to speed. It’s the second game of the year, and a completely difference surface and style than playing Larkin (a 1-0 win Monday on Leyden’s grass field). It’s a growing experience.”
Key senior defender Herrera expects that growth to continue.
“We just have to keep our head up and keep playing the whole game,” Herrera said.
OPRF certainly put a strong game together after its opening setback.
“Looking at our loss to Riverside-Brookfield to now, I feel our possession was a little bit better,” Wright said. “Our finishing touch still isn’t there (Thursday) – we only had one or two shots the first half. Our set pieces looked better, but we’re trying to develop a little bit more chemistry.”
The weird bounces and bad luck of the R-B match also were missing Thursday.
“One of R-B’s goals was this free kick off the post and in, another one the ball pops out in a scrum,” Nagle-Deamer said. “It wasn’t like we were being beat in the R-B game, just unlucky efforts. It wasn’t like we struggled – we still played well defensively.”
The Huskies hope to continue the turnaround with a busy week to come.
“We’re kind of getting some momentum going forward,” Nagle-Deamer said.
“This is a nice step in the right direction,” Wright said. “Now Saturday we have Larkin, then Tuesday against St. Ignatius is really big for sectional seeding and then Lane Tech Thursday. But we’re climbing up the hill pretty quickly, which is good to see. I’m very happy.”
Starting lineups
LEYDEN
GK-Alfredo Recendez
D- Salvador Salgado
D- Cesar Franco
D- Christian Rubio
D- Hector Herrera
MF- David Senk
MF-Jesus Hernandez
MF- Damian Kosakowski
MF- Christian Sosnowski
F- Angel Lopez
F- Eric Rodriguez
OPRF
GK- Will Dunne
D- Mavin Gill
D- Graham Nagle-Deamer
D- Quentin Drane
D- Justin Bruce
MF- Noah Fluharty
MF- Max Klevgard
MF- Harry Engeron
MF-Evan Kindler
F- Purvis Funches
F- Quinn Neuman
Man of the Match: Graham Nagle-Deamer, Oak Park/River Forest