OPRF defender Gill gets
offensive against Argo
Senior scores both goals in 2-0 victory
By Matt Le Cren
DOWNERS GROVE – Oak Park and River Forest’s most dangerous offensive weapon is not a forward but senior defender Mavin Gill, who leads the Huskies with nine goals.
“Our leading scorer is our sweeper, which is unbelievable,” Oak Park and River Forest coach Paul Wright said with a shake of his head.
If Wright is incredulous, how do you think Argo feels?
The 12th-seeded Argonauts did a great job of keeping Oak Park’s forwards at bay Wednesday night, only to see their season ended by Gill, who scored both goals in the Huskies’ 2-0 win at the Class 3A Downers Grove South Regional semifinals.
Fifth-seeded Oak Park (12-5-1) will face No. 4 Downers Grove South (14-2-4) in Friday’s regional final, with the winner advancing to the Lyons Sectional semifinals.
Gill has developed a reputation for using his noggin to redirect corner kicks and other set pieces into the net this fall, but this was the first two-goal game of his career.
It couldn’t have come at a better time because the Huskies were knocked off their game after losing senior starters Noah Fluharty and Graham Nagle-Deamer in the early going.
Fluharty, a key cog in the Oak Park midfield, picked up a yellow card, and Wright elected to sit him for most of the match rather than risk another yellow card and an automatic one-game suspension. Defender Nagle-Deamer left with an ankle injury in the third minute and did not return.
“Losing those two guys threw us off on a lot of different levels,” Wright said. “Our rhythm and chemistry seemed to be way off.
“By far I felt like it wasn’t close to the level that we’ve played at, and the boys agreed we just need to get some confidence back underneath our feet for Friday’s game. The hard part is you’ve really only got a day of rest, so that makes it kind of rough.”
But the play of Gill and senior defender Quentin Drane on restarts helped the Huskies smooth their path out of the first round.
Oak Park took the lead at the 28:12 mark of the first half when Drane teed up a free kick from 50 yards out on the right wing and sent a high ball into the Argo penalty area. The ball deflected off a defender to Gill, who had snuck in behind the left side of the line.
Gill calmly settled the ball and sent a seven-yard shot past Argonauts goalie Marco Soto.
“It skipped off someone’s head, and then I controlled it with my thigh,” said Gill, Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match. “I was right in front of goal, so I decided to have a shot.”
That’s the thing about the Huskies and set pieces – they always seem to have a shot to score.
Drane, who takes most of the team’s restarts, typically looks for Gill on corner kicks. They connected again for a 2-0 lead with 16:46 to go in the second half. Drane’s offering from the left side was so tight to the goal that Gill merely had to nudge it over the goal line on the back post.
“That was a fantastic goal,” Gill said. “”I think it might have even gone in even if I didn’t touch it. It was a fantastic cross, and I just got lucky. I was sitting at the back post waiting for it.
“[Drane] told me before [that] he was going to put it at the back post, so I went there, got lucky and got it in.”
But repetition, not luck, likely played the major role.
“We’ve just been working on set pieces a lot in practice,” Drane said. “I’ve been taking a lot of corners and dead ball plays.
“On the first [goal] I was just looking to get it in the mix. It popped out to Mavin in the back, and he was at the right place at the right time and he buried it. It was a great shot.
“[On the second goal] I told him to go back post and went to him just as I planned, and he finished again.”
Gill said he thinks the Huskies deserve to score almost every time on their set plays. Restarts loom large in every match, but their importance seems magnified in the playoffs.
“I’d definitely say they’re more important just because you’ve got fewer chances,” Drane said. “It’s a lot of high pressure, so you’ve got to capitalize on the chances that you do get.”
The Argonauts (12-7) failed to do so on the few chances they got. Their best opportunities came 40 seconds after Gill’s first goal, when Oak Park goalie William Dunne had to make a diving stop on Matt Sulamc’s redirect of a 60-yard free kick from Ryszard Gil.
Shortly after that, Sulamc was unlucky to see his hard header hit the crossbar. Dunne had to make only one save after that to secure the Huskies’ ninth shutout.
Starting lineups
Argo
GK Marco Soto
D Manuel Prouty
D Ryszard Gil
D Pawel Bryja
D Jose Soria
M Leonardo Ochoa
M Micahl Szlachta
M Geraldo Flores
M Eliazar Martinez
F Antonio Martinez
F Matt Sulamc
Oak Park and River Forest
GK William Dunne
D Quentin Drane
D Graham Nagle-Dreamer
D Mavin Gill
D Kirk Svensson
M Harrison Engorren
M Evan Kindler
M Noah Fluharty
M Joe Gullo
F Zach El Metennani
F Andrew Barkidija
Man of the Match: Mavin Gill, Oak Park and River Forest
offensive against Argo
Senior scores both goals in 2-0 victory
By Matt Le Cren
DOWNERS GROVE – Oak Park and River Forest’s most dangerous offensive weapon is not a forward but senior defender Mavin Gill, who leads the Huskies with nine goals.
“Our leading scorer is our sweeper, which is unbelievable,” Oak Park and River Forest coach Paul Wright said with a shake of his head.
If Wright is incredulous, how do you think Argo feels?
The 12th-seeded Argonauts did a great job of keeping Oak Park’s forwards at bay Wednesday night, only to see their season ended by Gill, who scored both goals in the Huskies’ 2-0 win at the Class 3A Downers Grove South Regional semifinals.
Fifth-seeded Oak Park (12-5-1) will face No. 4 Downers Grove South (14-2-4) in Friday’s regional final, with the winner advancing to the Lyons Sectional semifinals.
Gill has developed a reputation for using his noggin to redirect corner kicks and other set pieces into the net this fall, but this was the first two-goal game of his career.
It couldn’t have come at a better time because the Huskies were knocked off their game after losing senior starters Noah Fluharty and Graham Nagle-Deamer in the early going.
Fluharty, a key cog in the Oak Park midfield, picked up a yellow card, and Wright elected to sit him for most of the match rather than risk another yellow card and an automatic one-game suspension. Defender Nagle-Deamer left with an ankle injury in the third minute and did not return.
“Losing those two guys threw us off on a lot of different levels,” Wright said. “Our rhythm and chemistry seemed to be way off.
“By far I felt like it wasn’t close to the level that we’ve played at, and the boys agreed we just need to get some confidence back underneath our feet for Friday’s game. The hard part is you’ve really only got a day of rest, so that makes it kind of rough.”
But the play of Gill and senior defender Quentin Drane on restarts helped the Huskies smooth their path out of the first round.
Oak Park took the lead at the 28:12 mark of the first half when Drane teed up a free kick from 50 yards out on the right wing and sent a high ball into the Argo penalty area. The ball deflected off a defender to Gill, who had snuck in behind the left side of the line.
Gill calmly settled the ball and sent a seven-yard shot past Argonauts goalie Marco Soto.
“It skipped off someone’s head, and then I controlled it with my thigh,” said Gill, Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match. “I was right in front of goal, so I decided to have a shot.”
That’s the thing about the Huskies and set pieces – they always seem to have a shot to score.
Drane, who takes most of the team’s restarts, typically looks for Gill on corner kicks. They connected again for a 2-0 lead with 16:46 to go in the second half. Drane’s offering from the left side was so tight to the goal that Gill merely had to nudge it over the goal line on the back post.
“That was a fantastic goal,” Gill said. “”I think it might have even gone in even if I didn’t touch it. It was a fantastic cross, and I just got lucky. I was sitting at the back post waiting for it.
“[Drane] told me before [that] he was going to put it at the back post, so I went there, got lucky and got it in.”
But repetition, not luck, likely played the major role.
“We’ve just been working on set pieces a lot in practice,” Drane said. “I’ve been taking a lot of corners and dead ball plays.
“On the first [goal] I was just looking to get it in the mix. It popped out to Mavin in the back, and he was at the right place at the right time and he buried it. It was a great shot.
“[On the second goal] I told him to go back post and went to him just as I planned, and he finished again.”
Gill said he thinks the Huskies deserve to score almost every time on their set plays. Restarts loom large in every match, but their importance seems magnified in the playoffs.
“I’d definitely say they’re more important just because you’ve got fewer chances,” Drane said. “It’s a lot of high pressure, so you’ve got to capitalize on the chances that you do get.”
The Argonauts (12-7) failed to do so on the few chances they got. Their best opportunities came 40 seconds after Gill’s first goal, when Oak Park goalie William Dunne had to make a diving stop on Matt Sulamc’s redirect of a 60-yard free kick from Ryszard Gil.
Shortly after that, Sulamc was unlucky to see his hard header hit the crossbar. Dunne had to make only one save after that to secure the Huskies’ ninth shutout.
Starting lineups
Argo
GK Marco Soto
D Manuel Prouty
D Ryszard Gil
D Pawel Bryja
D Jose Soria
M Leonardo Ochoa
M Micahl Szlachta
M Geraldo Flores
M Eliazar Martinez
F Antonio Martinez
F Matt Sulamc
Oak Park and River Forest
GK William Dunne
D Quentin Drane
D Graham Nagle-Dreamer
D Mavin Gill
D Kirk Svensson
M Harrison Engorren
M Evan Kindler
M Noah Fluharty
M Joe Gullo
F Zach El Metennani
F Andrew Barkidija
Man of the Match: Mavin Gill, Oak Park and River Forest