Bartlett falls to Elk Grove in 7-goal thriller
Missed opportunities, hot keeper lead to Hawks 4-3 loss
By Mike Garofola
ELK GROVE -- After starting its nonconference match at Elk Grove with the wind in its sails, Bartlett was unable to keep a steady course.
Despite twice going a goal up against its Friday night hosts, the Hawks ended up on the short end of a 4-3 decision.
"It's a tough game sometimes," began a disappointed Hawks manager Vince Revak,
"We put three into the back of the net -- which is great -- but we failed to finish a number of chances we had to get a couple more. That ultimately came back to haunt us."
Following a rough ride in its season-opening 7-1 loss to St. Charles East, the Hawks (0-2-0) came out on their collective front foot from the opening whistle and recorded a trio of corners that followed with Cesar Palomares and Patryk Pabian having a go on frame.
"We missed some very good 1-v-1 chances tonight, including myself," said Pabian. “Obviously we’re going to have to be better at that going forward.”
The sophomore and his mates got off to a good start in the 9th minute when Giovanni Palid fired the visitors in front after his turf-riding blast from the left side nestled into the back of the net, perhaps aided by a Grens defender at the goal-line.
Palomares, who enjoyed a wonderful night of play out of the middle distributing, creating, and attacking, earned the helper of the Palid goal thanks to a mesmerizing run to the right endline before playing a near-perfect ball.
"Cesar did a very good job out there for us tonight," Revak said. “Unfortunately, we missed him a lot when he went out with an injury with just over 20 minutes left to go.”
Sean Cox, Kai Arias, Pabian, Palid, and Palomares dominated with purposeful and active play during the first quarter hour and kept the Grens on the defense far more than they preferred.
"We didn't play all that well against St. Charles East last week, so it was good to see us come out and play better from the start,” said Cox, a junior in his second varsity season. “It's too bad we couldn't keep it up for 80 minutes.
"We lost (eight) players from last year, so to see us come out tonight and play so much better than we did against St. Charles East is very encouraging - we just have to keep working hard to continue improving."
Bartlett conceded the equalizer in the 18th minute when the culmination of a solid five minutes from Elk Grove’s attack resulted in a brilliant goal by Edwin Suarez, who finished a wonderful helper from Patrick Mikina.
The Grens earned their first lead on the night with a PK conversion by Jonathan Rivas after an unlucky bounce created a handful inside the box.
Bartlett came right back to level things following its best bit of combination work. Eight different players had a touch ending with David Estefania finishing inside the six-yard box.
"I liked that we came back right away to make it 2-2 before the half," said Revak.
His demeanor was not the same in the second half, when he looked to the sky in disbelief during the first 10 minutes after the break when his men missed golden opportunities to finish. The cold streak was caused in part by some YouTube-worthy saves from Elk Grove keeper Michal Mroz, who single handedly kept his club in the game the second half.
"(Their) keeper was unbelievable in the second half,” Cox said. “He kept them in the game."
"Their keeper was great," Revak added. “Not to take anything away from Elk Grove, but this game could have gone much differently if we had finished a couple of those quality chances and, of course, limited our mistakes in our own end."
Following the second half whistle, Mroz, in order, turned away: Cox, Palomares, Cox again, Arias, then Cox one more time. He finally faltered when Cox fired home the Hawks third goal in the 52nd minute and finished what Pabian started.
But Bartlett couldn’t stand its prosperity when a poorly hit clearing attempt allowed Rivas to strike for his second equalizer of the game four minutes later.
Then the Elk Grove keeper was at it again, frustrating Pabian this time after a lovely one-two combination with Palid set him in-close.
"It's hard to believe Mroz is just a freshman, he plays like and leads like he's a senior. We're very lucky to have him back there for us this year," said Elk Grove manager Darren LaRocque.
The game settled in at this point forward until the Grenadiers’ Mikina stunned the visitors with the eventual game-winner. Under pressure, he converted with a magnificent right-footed missile that kissed the back post before falling into the back of the net six minutes from time.
This time, Bartlett could not find an answer. Pabian bent his left-footed free kick into the hands of Mroz in the 76th minute, and Edgar Leon sent an attempt from 20 yards on frame that was stopped.
"Pabian and Cox each looked dangerous all night long," said Revak. “Both had great work-rate up-top for us, and they worked really well together. I was happy each were able to get on the scoresheet.
"I loved the how much better our attack looked. I believe we only had one shot against (St. Charles) East last week; we were outplayed on both sides of the ball.
"In our two games we have not had our entire roster available. Though it's great to see everyone getting minutes, we still have not been able to find much consistency on the pitch yet.
"Defensively, Spencer Medendorp was tireless, and he's beginning to play with more aggression and confidence, which is great to see out of a young center-back.
"We still have work to do. We'll continue working on our finishing, and our defensive shape, as well as defending restarts and individual defending as well. Despite our slow start, there's still plenty of promise with this group."
The Hawks open Upstate Eight Conference play on Wednesday when they take on Streamwood. They continue the conference schedule Saturday at Elgin before reigning 3A state champion West Chicago comes to town March 31.
Starting lineups
Bartlett (4-4-2)
G- Miguel Sarmiento
D- David Ramirez
D- Andrew Nava
D- Spencer Medendorp
D- Trey Plunkett
M- Giovanni Palid
M- Cesar Palomares
M- Edgar Leon
M- Kai Arias
F- Sean Cox
F- Patryk Pabian
Elk Grove (4-4-2)
G- Michal Mroz
D- Joseph Martorano
D- Matthew Sowa
D- Jared Aguirre
D- Tomas Aparicio
M- Patrick Mikina
M- Krzysztof Mroz
M- Christopher Gonzalez
M- Ricky Callejas
F- Kuba Kubala
F- Jonathan Rivas
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Michal Mroz fr., GK, Elk Grove, Fr, GK
Referee: Adrian Warbiecki
Scoring summary
First half
Bartlett: Palid (Palomares) 9'
Elk Grove: Suarez (Mikina) 18'
Elk Grove: Rivas (PK) 25'
Bartlett: Estefania (Palid) 30'
Second half
Bartlett: Cox (Pabian) 52'
Elk Grove: Rivas (U/A) 56'
Elk Grove: Mikina (U/A) 74'
Missed opportunities, hot keeper lead to Hawks 4-3 loss
By Mike Garofola
ELK GROVE -- After starting its nonconference match at Elk Grove with the wind in its sails, Bartlett was unable to keep a steady course.
Despite twice going a goal up against its Friday night hosts, the Hawks ended up on the short end of a 4-3 decision.
"It's a tough game sometimes," began a disappointed Hawks manager Vince Revak,
"We put three into the back of the net -- which is great -- but we failed to finish a number of chances we had to get a couple more. That ultimately came back to haunt us."
Following a rough ride in its season-opening 7-1 loss to St. Charles East, the Hawks (0-2-0) came out on their collective front foot from the opening whistle and recorded a trio of corners that followed with Cesar Palomares and Patryk Pabian having a go on frame.
"We missed some very good 1-v-1 chances tonight, including myself," said Pabian. “Obviously we’re going to have to be better at that going forward.”
The sophomore and his mates got off to a good start in the 9th minute when Giovanni Palid fired the visitors in front after his turf-riding blast from the left side nestled into the back of the net, perhaps aided by a Grens defender at the goal-line.
Palomares, who enjoyed a wonderful night of play out of the middle distributing, creating, and attacking, earned the helper of the Palid goal thanks to a mesmerizing run to the right endline before playing a near-perfect ball.
"Cesar did a very good job out there for us tonight," Revak said. “Unfortunately, we missed him a lot when he went out with an injury with just over 20 minutes left to go.”
Sean Cox, Kai Arias, Pabian, Palid, and Palomares dominated with purposeful and active play during the first quarter hour and kept the Grens on the defense far more than they preferred.
"We didn't play all that well against St. Charles East last week, so it was good to see us come out and play better from the start,” said Cox, a junior in his second varsity season. “It's too bad we couldn't keep it up for 80 minutes.
"We lost (eight) players from last year, so to see us come out tonight and play so much better than we did against St. Charles East is very encouraging - we just have to keep working hard to continue improving."
Bartlett conceded the equalizer in the 18th minute when the culmination of a solid five minutes from Elk Grove’s attack resulted in a brilliant goal by Edwin Suarez, who finished a wonderful helper from Patrick Mikina.
The Grens earned their first lead on the night with a PK conversion by Jonathan Rivas after an unlucky bounce created a handful inside the box.
Bartlett came right back to level things following its best bit of combination work. Eight different players had a touch ending with David Estefania finishing inside the six-yard box.
"I liked that we came back right away to make it 2-2 before the half," said Revak.
His demeanor was not the same in the second half, when he looked to the sky in disbelief during the first 10 minutes after the break when his men missed golden opportunities to finish. The cold streak was caused in part by some YouTube-worthy saves from Elk Grove keeper Michal Mroz, who single handedly kept his club in the game the second half.
"(Their) keeper was unbelievable in the second half,” Cox said. “He kept them in the game."
"Their keeper was great," Revak added. “Not to take anything away from Elk Grove, but this game could have gone much differently if we had finished a couple of those quality chances and, of course, limited our mistakes in our own end."
Following the second half whistle, Mroz, in order, turned away: Cox, Palomares, Cox again, Arias, then Cox one more time. He finally faltered when Cox fired home the Hawks third goal in the 52nd minute and finished what Pabian started.
But Bartlett couldn’t stand its prosperity when a poorly hit clearing attempt allowed Rivas to strike for his second equalizer of the game four minutes later.
Then the Elk Grove keeper was at it again, frustrating Pabian this time after a lovely one-two combination with Palid set him in-close.
"It's hard to believe Mroz is just a freshman, he plays like and leads like he's a senior. We're very lucky to have him back there for us this year," said Elk Grove manager Darren LaRocque.
The game settled in at this point forward until the Grenadiers’ Mikina stunned the visitors with the eventual game-winner. Under pressure, he converted with a magnificent right-footed missile that kissed the back post before falling into the back of the net six minutes from time.
This time, Bartlett could not find an answer. Pabian bent his left-footed free kick into the hands of Mroz in the 76th minute, and Edgar Leon sent an attempt from 20 yards on frame that was stopped.
"Pabian and Cox each looked dangerous all night long," said Revak. “Both had great work-rate up-top for us, and they worked really well together. I was happy each were able to get on the scoresheet.
"I loved the how much better our attack looked. I believe we only had one shot against (St. Charles) East last week; we were outplayed on both sides of the ball.
"In our two games we have not had our entire roster available. Though it's great to see everyone getting minutes, we still have not been able to find much consistency on the pitch yet.
"Defensively, Spencer Medendorp was tireless, and he's beginning to play with more aggression and confidence, which is great to see out of a young center-back.
"We still have work to do. We'll continue working on our finishing, and our defensive shape, as well as defending restarts and individual defending as well. Despite our slow start, there's still plenty of promise with this group."
The Hawks open Upstate Eight Conference play on Wednesday when they take on Streamwood. They continue the conference schedule Saturday at Elgin before reigning 3A state champion West Chicago comes to town March 31.
Starting lineups
Bartlett (4-4-2)
G- Miguel Sarmiento
D- David Ramirez
D- Andrew Nava
D- Spencer Medendorp
D- Trey Plunkett
M- Giovanni Palid
M- Cesar Palomares
M- Edgar Leon
M- Kai Arias
F- Sean Cox
F- Patryk Pabian
Elk Grove (4-4-2)
G- Michal Mroz
D- Joseph Martorano
D- Matthew Sowa
D- Jared Aguirre
D- Tomas Aparicio
M- Patrick Mikina
M- Krzysztof Mroz
M- Christopher Gonzalez
M- Ricky Callejas
F- Kuba Kubala
F- Jonathan Rivas
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Michal Mroz fr., GK, Elk Grove, Fr, GK
Referee: Adrian Warbiecki
Scoring summary
First half
Bartlett: Palid (Palomares) 9'
Elk Grove: Suarez (Mikina) 18'
Elk Grove: Rivas (PK) 25'
Bartlett: Estefania (Palid) 30'
Second half
Bartlett: Cox (Pabian) 52'
Elk Grove: Rivas (U/A) 56'
Elk Grove: Mikina (U/A) 74'