Addison Trail falls to 2nd half York attack
Dukes 4-goal outburst after scoreless half delivers 4-1 win
By Dave Owen
LOMBARD – York’s explosive offense was hardly the ideal challenge for a weary Addison Trail side.
Forced to play their regional quarterfinal game on Monday due to Saturday’s rains, the Blazers responded with a 5-2 win over Elk Grove. The momentum then carried over into a strong first half stand in Tuesday’s Glenbard East regional semifinal against York.
But the 0-0 tie at halftime Tuesday vaporized under the heat of superb York set piece finishes. Then after the Blazers (6-12-4) rallied to within 2-1 on an Eduardo Huerta goal, the Dukes (13-8-0) scored twice in the last 10:41 of play to seal a 4-1 win.
“It’s been a rough couple of weeks here – a lot of games,” Addison Trail coach Ryan Dini said. “Last week we played three in four days to end the week, and then we had to play yesterday and today. So it looked like a little bit of tired legs today.
“But they (York) are a good team. You have to give them credit. They’re a three-seed for a reason.”
York coach Lukasz Majewski had similar praise for the Blazers’ solid effort, especially their first half ability to silence the Dukes.
“Addison -- that’s a great team,” Majewski said. “There’s no way that’s the seed that they’re supposed to be. This was a tough game for us, but a good game to start (regionals). Now hopefully we extend the playoff run (in Saturday’s regional final against Glenbard East).”
Coming off a breakthrough season in 2016 in which senior-laden Addison Trail topped the 20-win mark and reached sectionals, a younger Blazers squad learned valuable lessons for next season.
“The good thing is we’re young,” Dini said. “I have a lot of guys coming back. Of the 21 I have, six are graduating. So that’s a positive.
“It was a good learning year for us, and we played a lot of good teams with the Pepsi and our conference, and out of conference Neuqua Valley and Hinsdale Central. So the positives are that I know these guys will work and continue to play good soccer. We should be a lot better next year.”
Two top Blazers underclassmen echo their coach’s sentiment.
“I think we’re going to learn a lot from this year and do a lot better next year,” junior Melvin Mora said.
Said junior Eduardo Huerta: “I think this season was a learning experience, to see where we are and what we can improve. It maybe wasn’t the best season we’ve had, but next season we’ll fight to get a good season.”
Facing a strong York offense and fatigue from Monday’s match, the Blazers showed plenty of fight Tuesday.
The Dukes outshot the Blazers 6-3 in the first half, but were denied by several acrobatic saves from Addison Trail goalkeeper Sam Sandoval.
The junior netminder came up big just 1:20 into the match, coming off his line to deflect aside a 10-yard shot left of the net by York’s Jakub Knurek.
The Dukes produced four shots on goal in the first 7:20 of play, including another huge Sandoval stop in the sixth minute. Off a John Gratzianna pass, Joe Reinhofer’s 15-yard shot was smothered by a diving Sandoval stop at the left post.
Sandoval followed with a belt-high catch of Knurek’s 25-yard free kick in the 15th minute, then York’s next free kick (a Joe Meade 35-yarder in the 17th minute) was headed just wide by Michael Achepohl from 6 yards.
As the half progressed, Addison Trail’s defense continued to gain traction.
“Our confidence helped us a lot (in the first half),” Mora said. “We talked early in the game and boosted our confidence. That kept us alive.”
The Blazers’ offense also showed life in the first half. The first quality chance came on Luis Silva’s end line chip off a David Zielinski throw-in, which resulted in a high catch by York goalkeeper Sam Kritikos three minutes in.
Then in the 22nd minute, Kritikos again made the stop on Christian Garcia’s 25-yard shot.
The first half ended with more strong Addison Trail defense. Mora broke up a York cross attempt 10 yards out, then as play continued, teammate Alexis Delapaz made a steal and clear to deny the extended York threat in the 27th minute.
A blocked shot by Brian Hernandez (in the 31st minute) and a well-defended free kick 2:45 before halftime (a 50-yard send punched away by Sandoval, then cleared by Luis Saucedo and Osbaldo Murillo) capped off an exceptional first half defensive effort by the Blazers.
For a York offense that has been explosive all season, halftime disappointment boiled.
“I told them the first half was one of the ugliest, slowest-moving halves I’ve seen in a long time,” Majewski said. “So we needed to pick up the pace a little bit, start winning those balls and put the pressure on.”
A shift in strategy helped spark the Dukes.
“We changed our formation a little bit and went to more of a 4-3-3, and spread it out a little bit to see if we could attack through the gaps their forwards created,” Majewski said.
After enduring an Addison Trail threat with 37:25 left (a Martin Juarez 19-yard shot off the side of the net), York’s first payoff on the strategy change came with 34:38 to play.
Nathan Brown’s throw-in 15 yards out took a crazy, high hop over a Blazers’ player to the right of the box. The weird bounce reached York’s R.J. Meade, who drove an open 10-yard shot home for a 1-0 York lead.
“It was a little bit of luck, but sometimes they go that way,” said Meade, whose two-goal game earned him Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors. “It was a good play, it got laid off a little bit, and if it’s right in front of me I’m going to shoot it.”
With his team down 1-0, Addison Trail’s Huerta set the tone for his brilliant second half with a trio of great defensive plays.
Huerta blocked a Joe Meade 18-yard shot with 34:10 left, then headed away a Gratzianna cross into the box (then cleared by Garcia) with 31:40 to go. Then one minute later, Huerta again rose up to deny a pass attempt to Gratzianna in the box.
Huerta would later punctuate his great match with his third goal of the season, but not before a big Blazers chance – and an even bigger York finish.
Addison Trail made a bid to tie the game with 29:30 left. Juarez’s midfield steal set up Mora on a left wing attack. Nicely stopping on a dime at the right of the box (and in the process making a pursuing York defender fall), Mora lined a 10-yard shot just over the crossbar.
Largely unable to solve the Blazers’ defense in the first 55 minutes of play, York used a perfectly executed set piece with 24:49 left to solve the puzzle.
Joe Meade’s corner kick sailed high to the back post, where a charging John Milani put away a point-blank header for a 2-0 York lead.
“We send the bigs out there (on corner kicks) all the time,” Majewski said, “and once in a while they get a clean one. And that’s what it was.”
Said Dini: “Their first two goals were set pieces, a throw-in and a corner. And we’ve struggled all year defending those.”
More struggles of another kind followed with 21:15 to go. On a cross to the crease, Sandoval collided with a York player racing in. Down for several minutes, Sandoval walked off on his own but was replaced by Jean Avila for the remainder of the match.
But as adversity grew, the Blazers showed huge resolve.
A Mora drive up the middle with 18:10 left ended with a Garcia left side 8-yard shot off the side of the net.
Then with 13:43 to go, Addison Trail clawed back to within striking distance.
Off passes from Juarez and Huerta, Garcia dribbled up the middle. He then sent a touch pass to Huerta racing to the net, who drove a 10-yarder home to punctuate the nice give-and-go play and cut the Blazers’ deficit to 2-1.
“We were motivating each other (down 2-0) to keep going and keep fighting to the end,” Huerta said. “We were talking about quick one-twos, and it ended up in the back of the net.”
Huerta was one of the Blazers’ standouts earning special praise after the match.
“Eduardo Huerta in the back was strong,” Dini said. “Then we moved him up and he scored the goal for us. And Melvin Mora can play every position, and we play him everywhere. Both are juniors and really good players.
“And Sam Sandoval our junior goalie had some good games and got a lot of learning experience this year.”
Sandoval’s replacement Avila did his part to keep the Blazers in the game, making the save on a Christian Waldschmidt header with 14:40 left.
But York was relentless, and was soon back on the board.
After nice defensive plays by Jose Villegas and Matthew Moran denied York attacks in the two minutes following the Blazers’ goal, York retook a two-goal lead with 10:41 left.
R.J. Meade made a midfield steal and passed to Jack Musial on left wing. Musial’s cross to the box spun between two players back to Meade, whose 12-yard drive put York up 3-1.
“We just needed to attack more, put on more pressure, and we’re always going to score,” said Meade, who has six goals despite missing one month due to injuries.
York’s relentless push eventually produced several finishes.
“I thought we played pretty decent in the first half,” Dini said. “We did stack our defense a little bit, and then we got exploited a little bit in the second half. That really hurt us, especially when we went down two.
“They got the second one, and in the back 18 (Edwardo DelCarmen) and 5 (Brown) are good for them, and 3 (Milani) – those are all good players. We pushed up and tried to get some goals, and got one. But then their counterattack got us.”
Avila and the Blazers’ defense denied a great chance with 8:45 left, when Musial’s straight-on drive off a corner kick was blocked at the goal line and cleared by Hernandez.
Mora created another Addison Trail chance with 8:05 to go, sending a cross to the front that Delapaz rolled inches wide of the left post.
A Garcia free kick left of the box 8 yards out was cleared with 2:25 left, setting up a final York push and insurance score.
After nice clears of York corner kicks by Huerta and Zielinski in the final minutes, the Dukes struck again with 43 seconds left.
York’s Parker Gawne nicely sidestepped two defenders for a breakaway chance, which was denied on a great diving save by Avila. But Musial sent a 10-yard rebound try off the far post and in to cap the 4-1 win.
“A little bit of a different formation, and a little bit of urgency in the boys,” Majewski said of his team’s four-goal half. “I think they maybe wanted to hold off and see what would happen, and sometimes you have to be the aggressor.”
York moves on to Saturday’s regional final against Glenbard East with added confidence.
“Our biggest thing is just getting our players healthy,” Majewski said. “You saw Reinhofer out there but he’s nowhere near 100 percent, and he’s the guy who makes us go. He opens us so much space for our other kids.
“We have enough talent to put up scores like today, but we have to get that first (goal) before the next one. We do have the firepower to do that. Now this (win) buys us time to get everyone healthy for Saturday.”
Young Addison Trail has time on its side, and the recent memories of its rapid rise to prominence in 2016 to fuel optimism.
“When I first started with them (last year’s seniors), it gave me a whole new perspective,” Mora said. “The intensity of the game was way, way higher. Now we need to get back (next season) to what we had last year, that intensity. We’ll learn from this and come back stronger.”
Starting lineups
Addison Trail
GK Sam Sandoval
D Matthew Moran
D Joe Macedo
D Eduardo Huerta
D Brian Hernandez
M Luis Silva
M Melvin Mora
M David Zielinski
M Martin Juarez
F Osbaldo Murillo
F Alexis Delapaz
York
GK Sam Kritikos
D John Milani
D Nathan Brown
D Edwardo DelCarmen
D Josh Borzello
M Joe Meade
M Joe Reinhofer
M Michael Achepohl
M Paolo Favuzzi
F John Gratzianna
F Jakub Knorek
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: R.J. Meade, sr. M, York
Scoring summary
2nd HALF
York – R.J. Meade (Brown) 45:22; York – Milani (Joe Meade) 55:11; AT – Huerta (Garcia) 66:17; York – R.J. Meade (Musial) 69:19; York – Musial (Gawne) 79:17.
Dukes 4-goal outburst after scoreless half delivers 4-1 win
By Dave Owen
LOMBARD – York’s explosive offense was hardly the ideal challenge for a weary Addison Trail side.
Forced to play their regional quarterfinal game on Monday due to Saturday’s rains, the Blazers responded with a 5-2 win over Elk Grove. The momentum then carried over into a strong first half stand in Tuesday’s Glenbard East regional semifinal against York.
But the 0-0 tie at halftime Tuesday vaporized under the heat of superb York set piece finishes. Then after the Blazers (6-12-4) rallied to within 2-1 on an Eduardo Huerta goal, the Dukes (13-8-0) scored twice in the last 10:41 of play to seal a 4-1 win.
“It’s been a rough couple of weeks here – a lot of games,” Addison Trail coach Ryan Dini said. “Last week we played three in four days to end the week, and then we had to play yesterday and today. So it looked like a little bit of tired legs today.
“But they (York) are a good team. You have to give them credit. They’re a three-seed for a reason.”
York coach Lukasz Majewski had similar praise for the Blazers’ solid effort, especially their first half ability to silence the Dukes.
“Addison -- that’s a great team,” Majewski said. “There’s no way that’s the seed that they’re supposed to be. This was a tough game for us, but a good game to start (regionals). Now hopefully we extend the playoff run (in Saturday’s regional final against Glenbard East).”
Coming off a breakthrough season in 2016 in which senior-laden Addison Trail topped the 20-win mark and reached sectionals, a younger Blazers squad learned valuable lessons for next season.
“The good thing is we’re young,” Dini said. “I have a lot of guys coming back. Of the 21 I have, six are graduating. So that’s a positive.
“It was a good learning year for us, and we played a lot of good teams with the Pepsi and our conference, and out of conference Neuqua Valley and Hinsdale Central. So the positives are that I know these guys will work and continue to play good soccer. We should be a lot better next year.”
Two top Blazers underclassmen echo their coach’s sentiment.
“I think we’re going to learn a lot from this year and do a lot better next year,” junior Melvin Mora said.
Said junior Eduardo Huerta: “I think this season was a learning experience, to see where we are and what we can improve. It maybe wasn’t the best season we’ve had, but next season we’ll fight to get a good season.”
Facing a strong York offense and fatigue from Monday’s match, the Blazers showed plenty of fight Tuesday.
The Dukes outshot the Blazers 6-3 in the first half, but were denied by several acrobatic saves from Addison Trail goalkeeper Sam Sandoval.
The junior netminder came up big just 1:20 into the match, coming off his line to deflect aside a 10-yard shot left of the net by York’s Jakub Knurek.
The Dukes produced four shots on goal in the first 7:20 of play, including another huge Sandoval stop in the sixth minute. Off a John Gratzianna pass, Joe Reinhofer’s 15-yard shot was smothered by a diving Sandoval stop at the left post.
Sandoval followed with a belt-high catch of Knurek’s 25-yard free kick in the 15th minute, then York’s next free kick (a Joe Meade 35-yarder in the 17th minute) was headed just wide by Michael Achepohl from 6 yards.
As the half progressed, Addison Trail’s defense continued to gain traction.
“Our confidence helped us a lot (in the first half),” Mora said. “We talked early in the game and boosted our confidence. That kept us alive.”
The Blazers’ offense also showed life in the first half. The first quality chance came on Luis Silva’s end line chip off a David Zielinski throw-in, which resulted in a high catch by York goalkeeper Sam Kritikos three minutes in.
Then in the 22nd minute, Kritikos again made the stop on Christian Garcia’s 25-yard shot.
The first half ended with more strong Addison Trail defense. Mora broke up a York cross attempt 10 yards out, then as play continued, teammate Alexis Delapaz made a steal and clear to deny the extended York threat in the 27th minute.
A blocked shot by Brian Hernandez (in the 31st minute) and a well-defended free kick 2:45 before halftime (a 50-yard send punched away by Sandoval, then cleared by Luis Saucedo and Osbaldo Murillo) capped off an exceptional first half defensive effort by the Blazers.
For a York offense that has been explosive all season, halftime disappointment boiled.
“I told them the first half was one of the ugliest, slowest-moving halves I’ve seen in a long time,” Majewski said. “So we needed to pick up the pace a little bit, start winning those balls and put the pressure on.”
A shift in strategy helped spark the Dukes.
“We changed our formation a little bit and went to more of a 4-3-3, and spread it out a little bit to see if we could attack through the gaps their forwards created,” Majewski said.
After enduring an Addison Trail threat with 37:25 left (a Martin Juarez 19-yard shot off the side of the net), York’s first payoff on the strategy change came with 34:38 to play.
Nathan Brown’s throw-in 15 yards out took a crazy, high hop over a Blazers’ player to the right of the box. The weird bounce reached York’s R.J. Meade, who drove an open 10-yard shot home for a 1-0 York lead.
“It was a little bit of luck, but sometimes they go that way,” said Meade, whose two-goal game earned him Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors. “It was a good play, it got laid off a little bit, and if it’s right in front of me I’m going to shoot it.”
With his team down 1-0, Addison Trail’s Huerta set the tone for his brilliant second half with a trio of great defensive plays.
Huerta blocked a Joe Meade 18-yard shot with 34:10 left, then headed away a Gratzianna cross into the box (then cleared by Garcia) with 31:40 to go. Then one minute later, Huerta again rose up to deny a pass attempt to Gratzianna in the box.
Huerta would later punctuate his great match with his third goal of the season, but not before a big Blazers chance – and an even bigger York finish.
Addison Trail made a bid to tie the game with 29:30 left. Juarez’s midfield steal set up Mora on a left wing attack. Nicely stopping on a dime at the right of the box (and in the process making a pursuing York defender fall), Mora lined a 10-yard shot just over the crossbar.
Largely unable to solve the Blazers’ defense in the first 55 minutes of play, York used a perfectly executed set piece with 24:49 left to solve the puzzle.
Joe Meade’s corner kick sailed high to the back post, where a charging John Milani put away a point-blank header for a 2-0 York lead.
“We send the bigs out there (on corner kicks) all the time,” Majewski said, “and once in a while they get a clean one. And that’s what it was.”
Said Dini: “Their first two goals were set pieces, a throw-in and a corner. And we’ve struggled all year defending those.”
More struggles of another kind followed with 21:15 to go. On a cross to the crease, Sandoval collided with a York player racing in. Down for several minutes, Sandoval walked off on his own but was replaced by Jean Avila for the remainder of the match.
But as adversity grew, the Blazers showed huge resolve.
A Mora drive up the middle with 18:10 left ended with a Garcia left side 8-yard shot off the side of the net.
Then with 13:43 to go, Addison Trail clawed back to within striking distance.
Off passes from Juarez and Huerta, Garcia dribbled up the middle. He then sent a touch pass to Huerta racing to the net, who drove a 10-yarder home to punctuate the nice give-and-go play and cut the Blazers’ deficit to 2-1.
“We were motivating each other (down 2-0) to keep going and keep fighting to the end,” Huerta said. “We were talking about quick one-twos, and it ended up in the back of the net.”
Huerta was one of the Blazers’ standouts earning special praise after the match.
“Eduardo Huerta in the back was strong,” Dini said. “Then we moved him up and he scored the goal for us. And Melvin Mora can play every position, and we play him everywhere. Both are juniors and really good players.
“And Sam Sandoval our junior goalie had some good games and got a lot of learning experience this year.”
Sandoval’s replacement Avila did his part to keep the Blazers in the game, making the save on a Christian Waldschmidt header with 14:40 left.
But York was relentless, and was soon back on the board.
After nice defensive plays by Jose Villegas and Matthew Moran denied York attacks in the two minutes following the Blazers’ goal, York retook a two-goal lead with 10:41 left.
R.J. Meade made a midfield steal and passed to Jack Musial on left wing. Musial’s cross to the box spun between two players back to Meade, whose 12-yard drive put York up 3-1.
“We just needed to attack more, put on more pressure, and we’re always going to score,” said Meade, who has six goals despite missing one month due to injuries.
York’s relentless push eventually produced several finishes.
“I thought we played pretty decent in the first half,” Dini said. “We did stack our defense a little bit, and then we got exploited a little bit in the second half. That really hurt us, especially when we went down two.
“They got the second one, and in the back 18 (Edwardo DelCarmen) and 5 (Brown) are good for them, and 3 (Milani) – those are all good players. We pushed up and tried to get some goals, and got one. But then their counterattack got us.”
Avila and the Blazers’ defense denied a great chance with 8:45 left, when Musial’s straight-on drive off a corner kick was blocked at the goal line and cleared by Hernandez.
Mora created another Addison Trail chance with 8:05 to go, sending a cross to the front that Delapaz rolled inches wide of the left post.
A Garcia free kick left of the box 8 yards out was cleared with 2:25 left, setting up a final York push and insurance score.
After nice clears of York corner kicks by Huerta and Zielinski in the final minutes, the Dukes struck again with 43 seconds left.
York’s Parker Gawne nicely sidestepped two defenders for a breakaway chance, which was denied on a great diving save by Avila. But Musial sent a 10-yard rebound try off the far post and in to cap the 4-1 win.
“A little bit of a different formation, and a little bit of urgency in the boys,” Majewski said of his team’s four-goal half. “I think they maybe wanted to hold off and see what would happen, and sometimes you have to be the aggressor.”
York moves on to Saturday’s regional final against Glenbard East with added confidence.
“Our biggest thing is just getting our players healthy,” Majewski said. “You saw Reinhofer out there but he’s nowhere near 100 percent, and he’s the guy who makes us go. He opens us so much space for our other kids.
“We have enough talent to put up scores like today, but we have to get that first (goal) before the next one. We do have the firepower to do that. Now this (win) buys us time to get everyone healthy for Saturday.”
Young Addison Trail has time on its side, and the recent memories of its rapid rise to prominence in 2016 to fuel optimism.
“When I first started with them (last year’s seniors), it gave me a whole new perspective,” Mora said. “The intensity of the game was way, way higher. Now we need to get back (next season) to what we had last year, that intensity. We’ll learn from this and come back stronger.”
Starting lineups
Addison Trail
GK Sam Sandoval
D Matthew Moran
D Joe Macedo
D Eduardo Huerta
D Brian Hernandez
M Luis Silva
M Melvin Mora
M David Zielinski
M Martin Juarez
F Osbaldo Murillo
F Alexis Delapaz
York
GK Sam Kritikos
D John Milani
D Nathan Brown
D Edwardo DelCarmen
D Josh Borzello
M Joe Meade
M Joe Reinhofer
M Michael Achepohl
M Paolo Favuzzi
F John Gratzianna
F Jakub Knorek
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: R.J. Meade, sr. M, York
Scoring summary
2nd HALF
York – R.J. Meade (Brown) 45:22; York – Milani (Joe Meade) 55:11; AT – Huerta (Garcia) 66:17; York – R.J. Meade (Musial) 69:19; York – Musial (Gawne) 79:17.