St. Viator matches Amundsen's passion
Lions live up to reputation in hard-fought win
By Patrick Z. McGavin
CHICAGO — Amundsen is a Public League school on the North Side with a proud soccer history. Alex Perez graduated from the school, spent four years in the Army and then returned in 1995. Under the former state tournament system, where the Public League city champion automatically qualified for the quarterfinals, the Vikings qualified three times.
"In 2001, we played Conant and gave them a run for the money," Perez recalled. "It was tied at 2 and then went to overtime and finally to penalty kicks. It went to the ninth shooter, and Conant finally won."
When Perez discovered, as the coach of a regional host, that his Vikings had drawn state power St. Viator, he was thrilled by the chance. "Their coach [Mike Taylor], how long has he been there?" Perez asked. Twenty-seven years, he was told. "Wow. That's amazing.
"We know all about their program, and it was a thrill to play them."
In a classy pre-game ceremony, Perez and his team gave Taylor a ceremonial signed soccer ball, a momento and a certificate for the coach's 500th career victory. Taylor was a bit embarassed by the attention. "I'm a quiet guy," he said.
The gesture was authentic, and Amundsen did what teams are supposed to do in the first round of the state tournament. They played with their hearts and heads and gave St. Viator a match rather than just an easy route to the next round of the tournament.
Senior forward Zach Gyuricza scored a dramatic goal late in the first half and played a crucial sequence in a dazzling set piece as the Lions subdued the tough home crowd with the 2-0 victory at Winnemac Stadium here Wednesday afternoon in a semifinal of the Class 2A Amundsen Regional.
St. Viator (17-5-1) was dragging a bit at the start, not sharp in its execution, floundering and not really putting anything together. Taylor was hard on his players. That is his signature. His personality is inseparable from his intensity and passion for the game. "I'm a very passionate guy," he said.
"I'm involved in the game, and I've always been that way. I'm so immersed in the game. To do this job, you've got to love kids and tell them straight up. They will tell you I'm the biggest ass they've ever met, but I will die for them and they will die for me.
"We love each other and know that we have each other's back."
St. Viator finished third in Class 2A two years ago. Last year the team was bumped up to Class 3A and taken from its comfort zone. Carmel stunned the Lions in a first round game. The state tournament is different. Every play is contested, and the first game is often one of pure survival.
"There's always a lot of anxiety the first game of the state playoffs," Taylor said.
"We had to win this game, especially for our alumni," Gyuricza said, "and especially after what happened last year."
The early play was ragged and undisciplined. St. Viator almost had too much energy at the start, and the Lions struggled to harness the early activity. Everything was a bit of a scrum, and little connected.
Perez designed a defensive-oriented game plan meant to confound the Lions' attack.
"Having a chance to scout them, I knew we had to stop or slow down [Gyuricza] and [midfielder Anthony Pineda] and [defender Brandon Braun]. Those were their main guys," Perez said. "We had to frustrate them and not let them play their usual style.
"We knew we couldn't run with them."
St. Viator played too many balls in the air and failed to control tempo. In the 20th minute they appeared to break through as Chris Beiersdorf, a powerful 6-foot-2 defender with howitzers for arms, lofted a throw-in from the right side that Gyuricza finished with a backwards header. The goal was waved off by an offsides call.
"We just kept playing through it and knew that we'd get one eventually," Gyuricza said.
Sure enough, on cue, working out of a counter late in the first half, senior forward Aidan Williams drove a long through ball that Gyuricza ran under and then punched up in the air as Vikings keeper Enrique Espinoza bolted from his line to try and knock away.
Espinosa was not quick enough to deny Gyuricza, who controlled the punching move and flicked the ball with his left foot into the open net in the 40th minute for the back-breaking goal against the Vikings.
"We had possession, but we couldn't put one away," Williams said. "Once we did, we finally relaxed, and that goal at the end of the half was really important."
Gyuricza, Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match, recorded his team-best 18th goal of the year. It came with just 39 seconds remaining in the first half.
"It just changed everything, that goal, because we needed the score to be 0-0 if we were going to win," Perez said. "Our idea was to play our [midfielders] back in the first half and then push them up to try and get a goal in the second half."
St. Viator controlled the tempo and possession for much of the second half. Amundsen had a couple of shots here and there, a hard ball played by Bryan Saca and a header by Edwin Trejo that required saves by Lions keeper Aaron Tres to preserve the shutout.
The Lions added the necessary insurance goal in the 70th minute on a textbook play. Beiersdorf played a ball down the line that Gyuricza played a one-touch to freshman midfielder Jack Hartman. His perfectly timed run was coordinated with Gyuricza, and he buried the shot inside the near post.
Amundsen (6-8-1) knew the play was in the Lions' arsenal and practiced against it, but it was to no avail because the Lions' execution was perfect. "I was able to put it away," Hartman said.
"We work on that play all the time," Taylor said. "Just meet the ball in your run and if you are there, play it. It was a nice flick of the foot, and it was beautiful."
Taylor is also prescient. Before the season started, he warned his team would struggle at the start and then find itself. That is exactly the narrative that has played out. "We knew our system would work with the talent we had," he said. "I lost nine starters from last year, so we had to find the right players and jell.
"We moved players around until we had a combination of the best 11 players on the field, some of them not in the right position but the best position on our team."
When the Lions beat Marian Catholic 1-0 for Taylor's 500th career victory, the players tried an impromptu celebration. "We tried to dump water on him, but it didn't work very well," Gyuricza said. "It was fun that we were the team that did it for him.
"Some team had to do it."
Starting lineups
Amundsen
GK: Enrique Espinosa
D: Edwin Trejo
D: Juan Camarena
D: Lyes Ghezali
D: Jethro Aderele
M: Bryan Saca
M: Alan Hernandez
M: Luis Torres
M: Giovanni Trejo
F: Victor Bonilla
F: Nasreddine Mechta
St. Viator
GK: Aaron Tres
D: Ryan Carroll
D: Brandon Braun
D: Chris Beiresdorf
M: Miles McDonnell
M: Javier Romero
M: Anthony Pineda
M: Patrick Hickey
F: Aidan Williams
F: Zach Gyuricza
F: Sean Lonigro
Man of the Match: Zach Gyuricza, St. Viator
Officials: Lukasz Zielinski, Ricardo Herrera, Harry Goldman
Lions live up to reputation in hard-fought win
By Patrick Z. McGavin
CHICAGO — Amundsen is a Public League school on the North Side with a proud soccer history. Alex Perez graduated from the school, spent four years in the Army and then returned in 1995. Under the former state tournament system, where the Public League city champion automatically qualified for the quarterfinals, the Vikings qualified three times.
"In 2001, we played Conant and gave them a run for the money," Perez recalled. "It was tied at 2 and then went to overtime and finally to penalty kicks. It went to the ninth shooter, and Conant finally won."
When Perez discovered, as the coach of a regional host, that his Vikings had drawn state power St. Viator, he was thrilled by the chance. "Their coach [Mike Taylor], how long has he been there?" Perez asked. Twenty-seven years, he was told. "Wow. That's amazing.
"We know all about their program, and it was a thrill to play them."
In a classy pre-game ceremony, Perez and his team gave Taylor a ceremonial signed soccer ball, a momento and a certificate for the coach's 500th career victory. Taylor was a bit embarassed by the attention. "I'm a quiet guy," he said.
The gesture was authentic, and Amundsen did what teams are supposed to do in the first round of the state tournament. They played with their hearts and heads and gave St. Viator a match rather than just an easy route to the next round of the tournament.
Senior forward Zach Gyuricza scored a dramatic goal late in the first half and played a crucial sequence in a dazzling set piece as the Lions subdued the tough home crowd with the 2-0 victory at Winnemac Stadium here Wednesday afternoon in a semifinal of the Class 2A Amundsen Regional.
St. Viator (17-5-1) was dragging a bit at the start, not sharp in its execution, floundering and not really putting anything together. Taylor was hard on his players. That is his signature. His personality is inseparable from his intensity and passion for the game. "I'm a very passionate guy," he said.
"I'm involved in the game, and I've always been that way. I'm so immersed in the game. To do this job, you've got to love kids and tell them straight up. They will tell you I'm the biggest ass they've ever met, but I will die for them and they will die for me.
"We love each other and know that we have each other's back."
St. Viator finished third in Class 2A two years ago. Last year the team was bumped up to Class 3A and taken from its comfort zone. Carmel stunned the Lions in a first round game. The state tournament is different. Every play is contested, and the first game is often one of pure survival.
"There's always a lot of anxiety the first game of the state playoffs," Taylor said.
"We had to win this game, especially for our alumni," Gyuricza said, "and especially after what happened last year."
The early play was ragged and undisciplined. St. Viator almost had too much energy at the start, and the Lions struggled to harness the early activity. Everything was a bit of a scrum, and little connected.
Perez designed a defensive-oriented game plan meant to confound the Lions' attack.
"Having a chance to scout them, I knew we had to stop or slow down [Gyuricza] and [midfielder Anthony Pineda] and [defender Brandon Braun]. Those were their main guys," Perez said. "We had to frustrate them and not let them play their usual style.
"We knew we couldn't run with them."
St. Viator played too many balls in the air and failed to control tempo. In the 20th minute they appeared to break through as Chris Beiersdorf, a powerful 6-foot-2 defender with howitzers for arms, lofted a throw-in from the right side that Gyuricza finished with a backwards header. The goal was waved off by an offsides call.
"We just kept playing through it and knew that we'd get one eventually," Gyuricza said.
Sure enough, on cue, working out of a counter late in the first half, senior forward Aidan Williams drove a long through ball that Gyuricza ran under and then punched up in the air as Vikings keeper Enrique Espinoza bolted from his line to try and knock away.
Espinosa was not quick enough to deny Gyuricza, who controlled the punching move and flicked the ball with his left foot into the open net in the 40th minute for the back-breaking goal against the Vikings.
"We had possession, but we couldn't put one away," Williams said. "Once we did, we finally relaxed, and that goal at the end of the half was really important."
Gyuricza, Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match, recorded his team-best 18th goal of the year. It came with just 39 seconds remaining in the first half.
"It just changed everything, that goal, because we needed the score to be 0-0 if we were going to win," Perez said. "Our idea was to play our [midfielders] back in the first half and then push them up to try and get a goal in the second half."
St. Viator controlled the tempo and possession for much of the second half. Amundsen had a couple of shots here and there, a hard ball played by Bryan Saca and a header by Edwin Trejo that required saves by Lions keeper Aaron Tres to preserve the shutout.
The Lions added the necessary insurance goal in the 70th minute on a textbook play. Beiersdorf played a ball down the line that Gyuricza played a one-touch to freshman midfielder Jack Hartman. His perfectly timed run was coordinated with Gyuricza, and he buried the shot inside the near post.
Amundsen (6-8-1) knew the play was in the Lions' arsenal and practiced against it, but it was to no avail because the Lions' execution was perfect. "I was able to put it away," Hartman said.
"We work on that play all the time," Taylor said. "Just meet the ball in your run and if you are there, play it. It was a nice flick of the foot, and it was beautiful."
Taylor is also prescient. Before the season started, he warned his team would struggle at the start and then find itself. That is exactly the narrative that has played out. "We knew our system would work with the talent we had," he said. "I lost nine starters from last year, so we had to find the right players and jell.
"We moved players around until we had a combination of the best 11 players on the field, some of them not in the right position but the best position on our team."
When the Lions beat Marian Catholic 1-0 for Taylor's 500th career victory, the players tried an impromptu celebration. "We tried to dump water on him, but it didn't work very well," Gyuricza said. "It was fun that we were the team that did it for him.
"Some team had to do it."
Starting lineups
Amundsen
GK: Enrique Espinosa
D: Edwin Trejo
D: Juan Camarena
D: Lyes Ghezali
D: Jethro Aderele
M: Bryan Saca
M: Alan Hernandez
M: Luis Torres
M: Giovanni Trejo
F: Victor Bonilla
F: Nasreddine Mechta
St. Viator
GK: Aaron Tres
D: Ryan Carroll
D: Brandon Braun
D: Chris Beiresdorf
M: Miles McDonnell
M: Javier Romero
M: Anthony Pineda
M: Patrick Hickey
F: Aidan Williams
F: Zach Gyuricza
F: Sean Lonigro
Man of the Match: Zach Gyuricza, St. Viator
Officials: Lukasz Zielinski, Ricardo Herrera, Harry Goldman