South Elgin finds late magic against Bartlett
Teams finish 1-1 after dust settles in Thunder Hawk Classic
By Patrick Z. McGavin
SOUTH ELGIN — A game between Bartlett and South Elgin is never that simple.
The teams have a shared history of being new to the moment — Bartlett came into existence near the end of the 20th century, and South Elgin joined the scene less than a decade later.
Both are the new kids on the block, eager and avid to make their way in the world. Each new generation has a chance to leave their mark.
Five years ago, South Elgin coach Jerzy Skowron came up with the idea of the Thunder Hawk Classic game as a way to deepen their ties and sharpen the rivalry.
“I loved the idea, because these guys all know each other,” Bartlett coach Vince Revak said.
“It’s a very fun rivalry at that point. If we’re going to be playing this game like it’s a championship, we might as well add a trophy.”
Last spring, the programs took part in a wonderful fundraiser campaign to support pediatric cancer research.
At the heart of the matter is the competition. On a blustery and windswept day, the Upstate Eight Conference foes mixed it up once again.
Late developments have a way of rhyming with early starts. Every early moment has an equally opposite late equivalent.
South Elgin midfielder Ryan Nguyen completed the circle.
He bent a corner kick from the right edge inside the near post for the thrilling 75th-minute goal that yielded a 1-1 tie Saturday afternoon.
Despite the bittersweet conclusion of not closing out a lead it held for 67 minutes of game time, Bartlett found a partially satisfying way to leave the pitch.
In a specially designed shootout agreed before the game to break the tie, senior Bartlett keeper Andri Matiychyk posted three saves in the Hawks’ 3-2 victory.
The shootout had no bearing on the official result, which formally ended with the 1-1 tie.
Bartlett (5-13-1, 2-5-1) earned back the Thunder Hawk Classic trophy the Storm (3-10-4, 3-3-2) captured last year.
The game had two very distinct parts: an opening Bartlett blitzkrieg answered by a late and dominant run by the Storm, with one other significant mitigating factor.
Bartlett played the final 29:50 down a player after midfielder Oscar Medina was issued his second yellow card.
“It was a really clear shift in momentum after the second yellow against Oscar,” Revak said. “We were kind of playing on our heels the rest of the game.
“It felt like we were hopeful we’d be able to squeak out one. South Elgin was pressing, and you have to give full credit to their attack. They wanted to put one back there.”
In a fitting moment given the nearly mirror images of the two teams, the beginning of the goals was virtually identical. Nguyen's goal came from the same spot that produced Bartlett defender Adan Rueda's opener.
Each originated off corner kicks. In the eighth minute, Rueda elevated and smashed home a header off the service from Leo Colin.
“Whenever we take a corner kick, we try to make a straight run, and try to get a deflection or somebody to get a head on the ball,” Rueda said of his first goal of the year.
The dramatic Ngyuen goal was a variation of the same, the only difference is he played the same hostile wind beautifully and bent the ball inside the near post.
“I knew we were running out of time in the game, and I had to take a risk,” Nguyen said. “I had the wind with me, and I just decided to go for the goal. I saw how much it curled, and decided to take it off the corner.
“Being down 1-0, I just thought to myself we can’t lose to our rivals. I’ll take a 1-1 tie.”
Matiychyk foreshadowed his superb play in the shootout with a spectacular one-handed deflection off another Nguyen shot in the 77th minute.
Matiychyk replaced Alex Brown, who started and played the first half.
“When they went one player down, we started pushing really hard and creating some high pressure against them and forcing them to make mistakes,” Nguyen said.
“They made a lot of mistakes, and we countered them. We just couldn’t put them in the back of the net.”
The game followed similar patterns the Storm have dealt with the entire season. South Elgin was winless after eight games (0-6-2). The team has found itself of late, going 3-3-1.
Skowron said the most complete performance of the year came against top-ranked Elgin Oct. 5 in a highly competitive 2-0 loss.
The Storm had a similar game in a narrow 1-0 loss against no. 13 St. Charles East on Sept. 24.
“We go through these ups and downs,” Skowron said. “The first time we played a full 80 minutes was against Elgin, and it took them almost 70 minutes to score a goal.
“The things we are doing finally clicked. In the St. Charles East game, everything clicked. It became a matter of can we get more of an attack in certain situations and goal-scoring opportunities.”
By contrast, Bartlett was haunted by its failure to build off its fantastic start.
The Hawks generated four corner kick opportunities in the opening eight minutes. South Elgin was dazed and wounded. After the Rueda goal, Bartlett seemed poised to score again.
There were moments, but the finish was absent.
“That has been our struggle the whole year of trying to figure out how to attack with aplomb in the final third,” Revak said.
“We are working on that, and some of the guys are starting to get a little more creative, which is nice. We have to figure out that final path, that final shot, and put more than one away in a game.”
For their outstanding play, Adan Rueda and Ryan Nguyen shared the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match distinction.
The game also served as a cruel reminder of the Hawks’ inability to take advantage of a similar situation in a 2-1 loss against Larkin on Oct. 5.
The Royals also played down a man in the second half, except the Hawks failed to seize the advantage.
“After we went down a player, we had to drop back and settle down,” Rueda said. “We were getting tired. We had to contain, and we tried to counter.
“We did it a couple of times, but we couldn't quite finish.”
Colin lamented the early failures.
“You have to find the open gaps, and actually be there and want the ball,” he said.
“I took a couple of chances, and we have to learn how to be more confident with each other.”
Starting lineups
Bartlett
GK: Alex Brown
D: Joel Perez
D: Adan Rueda
D: Adrian Martinez
D: Nathan Preissig
MF: Leo Colin
MF: Will Ehlers
MF: Oscar Medina
MF: Kyle Chow
F: Edwin Perez
F: Will Poulopoulos
South Elgin
GK: Luke Bondi
D: Diego Briones
D: Carlos Barajas
D: Vito Di Vietro
MF: Edwin Porter
MF: Ryan Nguyen
MF: Pablo Correa
MF: Jack Schmidtke
MF: Ethan Diem
F: Kendall Andrewin
F: Ashton Kerrigan
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match (shared):
Adan Rueda, so., D, Bartlett;
Ryan Nguyen, jr., MF, South Elgin
Scoring summary
First half
Bartlett—Adan Rueda (Leo Colin), eighth minute
Second half
SE—Ryan Nguyen (corner kick), 75th minute
Teams finish 1-1 after dust settles in Thunder Hawk Classic
By Patrick Z. McGavin
SOUTH ELGIN — A game between Bartlett and South Elgin is never that simple.
The teams have a shared history of being new to the moment — Bartlett came into existence near the end of the 20th century, and South Elgin joined the scene less than a decade later.
Both are the new kids on the block, eager and avid to make their way in the world. Each new generation has a chance to leave their mark.
Five years ago, South Elgin coach Jerzy Skowron came up with the idea of the Thunder Hawk Classic game as a way to deepen their ties and sharpen the rivalry.
“I loved the idea, because these guys all know each other,” Bartlett coach Vince Revak said.
“It’s a very fun rivalry at that point. If we’re going to be playing this game like it’s a championship, we might as well add a trophy.”
Last spring, the programs took part in a wonderful fundraiser campaign to support pediatric cancer research.
At the heart of the matter is the competition. On a blustery and windswept day, the Upstate Eight Conference foes mixed it up once again.
Late developments have a way of rhyming with early starts. Every early moment has an equally opposite late equivalent.
South Elgin midfielder Ryan Nguyen completed the circle.
He bent a corner kick from the right edge inside the near post for the thrilling 75th-minute goal that yielded a 1-1 tie Saturday afternoon.
Despite the bittersweet conclusion of not closing out a lead it held for 67 minutes of game time, Bartlett found a partially satisfying way to leave the pitch.
In a specially designed shootout agreed before the game to break the tie, senior Bartlett keeper Andri Matiychyk posted three saves in the Hawks’ 3-2 victory.
The shootout had no bearing on the official result, which formally ended with the 1-1 tie.
Bartlett (5-13-1, 2-5-1) earned back the Thunder Hawk Classic trophy the Storm (3-10-4, 3-3-2) captured last year.
The game had two very distinct parts: an opening Bartlett blitzkrieg answered by a late and dominant run by the Storm, with one other significant mitigating factor.
Bartlett played the final 29:50 down a player after midfielder Oscar Medina was issued his second yellow card.
“It was a really clear shift in momentum after the second yellow against Oscar,” Revak said. “We were kind of playing on our heels the rest of the game.
“It felt like we were hopeful we’d be able to squeak out one. South Elgin was pressing, and you have to give full credit to their attack. They wanted to put one back there.”
In a fitting moment given the nearly mirror images of the two teams, the beginning of the goals was virtually identical. Nguyen's goal came from the same spot that produced Bartlett defender Adan Rueda's opener.
Each originated off corner kicks. In the eighth minute, Rueda elevated and smashed home a header off the service from Leo Colin.
“Whenever we take a corner kick, we try to make a straight run, and try to get a deflection or somebody to get a head on the ball,” Rueda said of his first goal of the year.
The dramatic Ngyuen goal was a variation of the same, the only difference is he played the same hostile wind beautifully and bent the ball inside the near post.
“I knew we were running out of time in the game, and I had to take a risk,” Nguyen said. “I had the wind with me, and I just decided to go for the goal. I saw how much it curled, and decided to take it off the corner.
“Being down 1-0, I just thought to myself we can’t lose to our rivals. I’ll take a 1-1 tie.”
Matiychyk foreshadowed his superb play in the shootout with a spectacular one-handed deflection off another Nguyen shot in the 77th minute.
Matiychyk replaced Alex Brown, who started and played the first half.
“When they went one player down, we started pushing really hard and creating some high pressure against them and forcing them to make mistakes,” Nguyen said.
“They made a lot of mistakes, and we countered them. We just couldn’t put them in the back of the net.”
The game followed similar patterns the Storm have dealt with the entire season. South Elgin was winless after eight games (0-6-2). The team has found itself of late, going 3-3-1.
Skowron said the most complete performance of the year came against top-ranked Elgin Oct. 5 in a highly competitive 2-0 loss.
The Storm had a similar game in a narrow 1-0 loss against no. 13 St. Charles East on Sept. 24.
“We go through these ups and downs,” Skowron said. “The first time we played a full 80 minutes was against Elgin, and it took them almost 70 minutes to score a goal.
“The things we are doing finally clicked. In the St. Charles East game, everything clicked. It became a matter of can we get more of an attack in certain situations and goal-scoring opportunities.”
By contrast, Bartlett was haunted by its failure to build off its fantastic start.
The Hawks generated four corner kick opportunities in the opening eight minutes. South Elgin was dazed and wounded. After the Rueda goal, Bartlett seemed poised to score again.
There were moments, but the finish was absent.
“That has been our struggle the whole year of trying to figure out how to attack with aplomb in the final third,” Revak said.
“We are working on that, and some of the guys are starting to get a little more creative, which is nice. We have to figure out that final path, that final shot, and put more than one away in a game.”
For their outstanding play, Adan Rueda and Ryan Nguyen shared the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match distinction.
The game also served as a cruel reminder of the Hawks’ inability to take advantage of a similar situation in a 2-1 loss against Larkin on Oct. 5.
The Royals also played down a man in the second half, except the Hawks failed to seize the advantage.
“After we went down a player, we had to drop back and settle down,” Rueda said. “We were getting tired. We had to contain, and we tried to counter.
“We did it a couple of times, but we couldn't quite finish.”
Colin lamented the early failures.
“You have to find the open gaps, and actually be there and want the ball,” he said.
“I took a couple of chances, and we have to learn how to be more confident with each other.”
Starting lineups
Bartlett
GK: Alex Brown
D: Joel Perez
D: Adan Rueda
D: Adrian Martinez
D: Nathan Preissig
MF: Leo Colin
MF: Will Ehlers
MF: Oscar Medina
MF: Kyle Chow
F: Edwin Perez
F: Will Poulopoulos
South Elgin
GK: Luke Bondi
D: Diego Briones
D: Carlos Barajas
D: Vito Di Vietro
MF: Edwin Porter
MF: Ryan Nguyen
MF: Pablo Correa
MF: Jack Schmidtke
MF: Ethan Diem
F: Kendall Andrewin
F: Ashton Kerrigan
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match (shared):
Adan Rueda, so., D, Bartlett;
Ryan Nguyen, jr., MF, South Elgin
Scoring summary
First half
Bartlett—Adan Rueda (Leo Colin), eighth minute
Second half
SE—Ryan Nguyen (corner kick), 75th minute