Lions have plenty of fizz in Pepsi opener
Prolific attack matched by tough defense in 6-0 Showdown win
By Matt Le Cren
LA GRANGE – Lyons Township has put on an impressive display of offense in the last two matches.
The Lions scored six in one and a half-dozen in the other.
The latter was a 6-0 drubbing of Minooka on Saturday in the opening round of the PepsiCo Showdown at the Lyons Soccer Complex. The Lions (8-2) were coming off a 6-2 West Suburban Conference Silver Division win over York on Thursday.
“We’re trying to play a certain way, and the kids are responding to it by continuing to do those things we’re trying to do,” Lyons Township coach Paul Labbato said. “We’re very deep. We have a bunch of forwards and our center mids can all score. I think how we’re going forward, and I thought today we did a nice job in back on defense.”
LT’s back line, led by Grant Thomas, Daniel Thomas, Leo Gabrek, John Mazur and Tim Nolan, didn’t have to do much defending. Minooka (1-7-1) mustered only four shots against three LT goalies. Donald Darrus made one save in the first 49 minutes, backup Gabriel Drobny had another in his 20 minutes and freshman Matt Vear did not face a shot over the final 11 minutes.
Meanwhile, even the defenders got into the attack, with Grant Thomas, Mazur and reserve Greg Piechalak recording assists in the first half, which ended with the Lions ahead 3-0.
Thomas set up the first goal when he drove into the box and crossed to Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match Daniel Gutierrez, who beat Minooka goalie Noah Jawdat with a short shot at the 31:38 mark.
Five minutes later, the Lions scored again on another nice setup. This time Piechalek sent a pass into the right side of the box to Patrick Duncan, who crossed to sophomore Paul Falup for a header.
It was the second goal in as many matches for Falup, one of just two sophomore field players on a veteran team. He was thrilled to dent the net in his Pepsi debut and got plenty of advice from his older teammates.
“This is my first year, so they just say work hard and play your game because they know we’ve got talent -- me and Isaiah Nieves, another sophomore,” Falup said. “We just listen to them because they have the experience.”
One of those senior teammates is Gutierrez, who made it 3-0 with 6:07 to go in the half with a tap-in goal. Mazur did all the work on that one, winning a ball near the right post and sliding a cross into the goal mouth to an unmarked Gutierrez.
It was the second two-goal outing this season for Gutierrez, increasing his total to six. He probably should have had four but missed a pair of wide-open headers in the first half off crosses from Cam Dowling and Cole Gilchrist.
“I missed right in front of goal,” Gutierrez said. “Those were pretty easy, but Minooka came out and they were hardworking and those balls in there were good, but I just [missed them].”
The Lions didn’t miss much else, producing 22 shots from nine different players. Harry Hilling, Diego Lopez and Liam Sharkey scored in the second half for the Lions, who dominated despite playing their entire roster.
“Before the game, we were telling [the younger players] to keep their head,” Gutierrez said. “There was going to be a lot of fans. We knew they were going to come out so we said, 'Focus on the game, play your game and we’ll take care of you.' So as a team I think we have good chemistry and I think it’s going to stay the entire season.”
As the tournament’s host school, LT takes pride in showcasing their program and doing well in the 32-team main draw. The Lions historically have done well in the Pepsi and are seeded third this year.
“It means the world to us because we’re hosting it,” Gutierrez said. “We want to come out with a boom.
“We want to get the teams to notice us and be like, oh, we don’t want to play LT.
Putting all the goals in quick and easy, three in the first half, was nice.”
Labbato agreed that a fast start was necessary even against an unseeded opponent.
“[The mind-set was] just to get in front of the bigger crowd and understand that there are a lot of people right on [top of] the field cheering and it gets a little nerve-racking,” Labbato said. “And it’s a big deal to get that first game under your belt because it is a knockout tournament.
“You don’t want to be overlooking early-round games thinking you’re going to make it to the later rounds and then get yourself knocked out in an early round. So I think it was important to get out here and get a few goals early and just kind of calm the whole game down and kind of walk through it at the end.”
The Lions, both young and old, also understand why they are off to such a good start.
“[There is] just a lot of chemistry and passion in our team,” Falup said. “We come out hard every game and we try to play our best. Our first loss at Naperville [North], we learned from that and just kind of go day-by-day, working hard every practice, every game.”
Gutierrez said that attitude permeates the squad.
“Everyone on this team can go in, work hard and get some goals,” he said. “We’ve got a good team and good subs, too. Everything worked out good for us today, and I hope that the rest of this tournament it does, too.”
LT will host Wheaton South, which edged No. 14 seed Washington 3-2, in the second round on Tuesday. A win there would mean a quarterfinal match Thursday against No. 6 seed St. Charles North or No. 11 West Chicago.
Starting lineups
Lyons
GK Donald Darrus
D Grant Thomas
D Daniel Thomas
D Leo Gabrek
D John Mazur
D Tim Nolan
M Harry Hilling
M Paul Falup
F Cole Gilchrist
F Patrick Duncan
F Daniel Gutierrez
Minooka
GK Noah Jawdat
D Jake Kosinski
D Tony Davilla
D Chris Drey
D Justin Gaydula
M Kyle Sparks
M David Esparza
M Miguel Quiroz
M Mason Messina
F Noah St. Paul
F Saul Magdeleno
Man of the Match: Daniel Gutierrez, Lyons.
Prolific attack matched by tough defense in 6-0 Showdown win
By Matt Le Cren
LA GRANGE – Lyons Township has put on an impressive display of offense in the last two matches.
The Lions scored six in one and a half-dozen in the other.
The latter was a 6-0 drubbing of Minooka on Saturday in the opening round of the PepsiCo Showdown at the Lyons Soccer Complex. The Lions (8-2) were coming off a 6-2 West Suburban Conference Silver Division win over York on Thursday.
“We’re trying to play a certain way, and the kids are responding to it by continuing to do those things we’re trying to do,” Lyons Township coach Paul Labbato said. “We’re very deep. We have a bunch of forwards and our center mids can all score. I think how we’re going forward, and I thought today we did a nice job in back on defense.”
LT’s back line, led by Grant Thomas, Daniel Thomas, Leo Gabrek, John Mazur and Tim Nolan, didn’t have to do much defending. Minooka (1-7-1) mustered only four shots against three LT goalies. Donald Darrus made one save in the first 49 minutes, backup Gabriel Drobny had another in his 20 minutes and freshman Matt Vear did not face a shot over the final 11 minutes.
Meanwhile, even the defenders got into the attack, with Grant Thomas, Mazur and reserve Greg Piechalak recording assists in the first half, which ended with the Lions ahead 3-0.
Thomas set up the first goal when he drove into the box and crossed to Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match Daniel Gutierrez, who beat Minooka goalie Noah Jawdat with a short shot at the 31:38 mark.
Five minutes later, the Lions scored again on another nice setup. This time Piechalek sent a pass into the right side of the box to Patrick Duncan, who crossed to sophomore Paul Falup for a header.
It was the second goal in as many matches for Falup, one of just two sophomore field players on a veteran team. He was thrilled to dent the net in his Pepsi debut and got plenty of advice from his older teammates.
“This is my first year, so they just say work hard and play your game because they know we’ve got talent -- me and Isaiah Nieves, another sophomore,” Falup said. “We just listen to them because they have the experience.”
One of those senior teammates is Gutierrez, who made it 3-0 with 6:07 to go in the half with a tap-in goal. Mazur did all the work on that one, winning a ball near the right post and sliding a cross into the goal mouth to an unmarked Gutierrez.
It was the second two-goal outing this season for Gutierrez, increasing his total to six. He probably should have had four but missed a pair of wide-open headers in the first half off crosses from Cam Dowling and Cole Gilchrist.
“I missed right in front of goal,” Gutierrez said. “Those were pretty easy, but Minooka came out and they were hardworking and those balls in there were good, but I just [missed them].”
The Lions didn’t miss much else, producing 22 shots from nine different players. Harry Hilling, Diego Lopez and Liam Sharkey scored in the second half for the Lions, who dominated despite playing their entire roster.
“Before the game, we were telling [the younger players] to keep their head,” Gutierrez said. “There was going to be a lot of fans. We knew they were going to come out so we said, 'Focus on the game, play your game and we’ll take care of you.' So as a team I think we have good chemistry and I think it’s going to stay the entire season.”
As the tournament’s host school, LT takes pride in showcasing their program and doing well in the 32-team main draw. The Lions historically have done well in the Pepsi and are seeded third this year.
“It means the world to us because we’re hosting it,” Gutierrez said. “We want to come out with a boom.
“We want to get the teams to notice us and be like, oh, we don’t want to play LT.
Putting all the goals in quick and easy, three in the first half, was nice.”
Labbato agreed that a fast start was necessary even against an unseeded opponent.
“[The mind-set was] just to get in front of the bigger crowd and understand that there are a lot of people right on [top of] the field cheering and it gets a little nerve-racking,” Labbato said. “And it’s a big deal to get that first game under your belt because it is a knockout tournament.
“You don’t want to be overlooking early-round games thinking you’re going to make it to the later rounds and then get yourself knocked out in an early round. So I think it was important to get out here and get a few goals early and just kind of calm the whole game down and kind of walk through it at the end.”
The Lions, both young and old, also understand why they are off to such a good start.
“[There is] just a lot of chemistry and passion in our team,” Falup said. “We come out hard every game and we try to play our best. Our first loss at Naperville [North], we learned from that and just kind of go day-by-day, working hard every practice, every game.”
Gutierrez said that attitude permeates the squad.
“Everyone on this team can go in, work hard and get some goals,” he said. “We’ve got a good team and good subs, too. Everything worked out good for us today, and I hope that the rest of this tournament it does, too.”
LT will host Wheaton South, which edged No. 14 seed Washington 3-2, in the second round on Tuesday. A win there would mean a quarterfinal match Thursday against No. 6 seed St. Charles North or No. 11 West Chicago.
Starting lineups
Lyons
GK Donald Darrus
D Grant Thomas
D Daniel Thomas
D Leo Gabrek
D John Mazur
D Tim Nolan
M Harry Hilling
M Paul Falup
F Cole Gilchrist
F Patrick Duncan
F Daniel Gutierrez
Minooka
GK Noah Jawdat
D Jake Kosinski
D Tony Davilla
D Chris Drey
D Justin Gaydula
M Kyle Sparks
M David Esparza
M Miguel Quiroz
M Mason Messina
F Noah St. Paul
F Saul Magdeleno
Man of the Match: Daniel Gutierrez, Lyons.