Waubonsie, Batavia tie in shortened game
Teams tie 2-2, incident ends WarStang Inv. game in 55th minute
By Matt Le Cren
AURORA – To the delight of their respective fans, Waubonsie Valley and Batavia each scored two great goals apiece in the opening round of the WarStang Invitational.
What might have happened next will be left to conjecture. The game was cut short with 25:50 left after an altercation on the field. Officials ejected four players and one spectator.
The match officially goes into the books as a 2-2 draw.
Batavia junior forward Mark Lillig scored both goals for the Bulldogs.
The referees red carded one Batavia player and two Waubonsie Valley players who were involved in the incident. An additional red was handed out to a Warriors player for language.
An Waubonsie Valley parent was escorted from the stadium after going on the field.
“Waubonsie has had a very good season this year so it was a good spirited match for a while,” Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “Mark (Lillig) had a great game.
“It was unfortunate. ... (Fighting) is not (acceptable), but it’s at least on the field between players that are on the field, not a parent coming in off the side to get in on the skirmish.
“That’s the crazy part of the whole thing for me. We had only two guys over there with six or seven of their guys. It was ridiculous.”
Neither coach nor the officials saw the start of the brawl, because it happened 60 yards behind the play. By the times things were sorted out, the officials declared the game over, which Gianfrancesco agreed was the right call.
Had the game continued, the visiting Bulldogs (1-12-1) would have had a two-man advantage with 10 players to the Warriors’ eight.
Waubonsie will be the team hurt most by the shenanigans. The Warriors will have to play their next tournament game Wednesday without two starters.
“I don’t know how the scuffle started,” Waubonsie Valley coach Jose Garcia said. “I was watching the play.
“It was a rough game, and they were going back-and-forth. Someone retaliated and the other one retaliated back.
“That was unfortunate. The only reason I can think a parent would be going onto the field would be to protect his son.
“I think both teams were playing well. It’s unfortunate that situation happened and disrupted the whole game.”
Up until then, it had been an entertaining match with interesting story lines. Lillig twice put the Bulldogs, who snapped an eight-game losing streak, in the lead with nifty goals in the first half.
But each time, Waubonsie junior midfielder Diego Carillo answered with goals of his own, recording his first varsity brace.
Batavia came away with a point, and the Bulldogs are trending upward.
“The boys have been coming on,” Gianfrancesco said. “Last week, even though the scores don’t reflect it, we saw some grit from the boys, and we saw some today too.
“We came out really playing well and knocked it around. I like the way we were playing. I’m hoping we can continue that Wednesday.”
The game got off a fast start as Mila Erastus-Obilo sprung Waubonsie Valley star Noah Glorioso into the box on a breakaway, but Batavia goalie Logan Saenz dove to his left to make the save. It was the first of three saves for Saenz, who made a similar effort on a left-footed shot from Javy Gonzalez in the eighth minute.
Then it was Batavia’s turn. Lillig stunned the Warriors (9-5-2) at the 30:51 mark when he volleyed home a cross from Will Chandler to give the Bulldogs the lead. It was just the ninth goal of the season for Batavia but came as a result of a crisp build-up.
Sophomore Will Bardol got the ball to Chandler in space on the right wing and Chandler’s cross found Lillig unguarded in front.
The Warriors responded on a similarly well-executed play with 16:58 remaining. Zachary Yench got the ball in the middle of the field about 30 yards out and fed Stanley into the right side of the box.
Stanley took the ball to the left endline before passing in front to Carillo, whose finish tied the game at 1-1.
But the Bulldogs went right back to work and attacked immediately. It nearly paid dividends but Waubonsie goalkeeper Bryan Grimaldo made saves 30 seconds apart on open shots from Lillig and Dylan Knapp.
Knapp, though, figured prominently in Batavia’s retaking the lead with 1:06 to go in the half. He dribbled into the left corner before sending a high cross to the onrushing Lillig, who powered a header off the underside of the crossbar and just across the goal line.
The Warriors, who had snapped a two-game losing streak on Thursday by edging East Aurora 1-0 on a Carcillo goal, didn’t panic despite trailing twice.
“Going down, we just knew we had to lift our heads up and score a goal,” Glorioso said. “It’s our home field, we had our fans behind us, we knew we just had to pick our heads up, keep grinding and going toward goal and we would find it.
“Luckily, Diego came up big. He’s been stepping up big lately and scoring a lot of goals for us.
“At the beginning of the season we were kind of figuring out where to put him, and Garcia finally started putting him in the midfield, either under me or out wide. Now he’s clicking, and he’s getting into everything. He’s rolling.”
Carillo recorded his second equalizer of the game just 1:40 after intermission. This time Glorioso was the author of the cross and Carillo one-timed it into the lower left corner of the net to pull Waubonsie even.
“He’s a very dynamic player in terms of he’s good on the outside, and he’s good on the inside,” Garcia said of Carillo. “I think he found his confidence in the last couple games, and he’s feeling it.
“We gave him that opportunity, and he capitalized on it. He gives us that one-two touch that we’ve looked for in the middle.
“That’s been kind of a style of play, and the good thing is he’s been finishing.”
The Warriors had several more opportunities to finish before play was halted but just missed connecting on some beautiful goals. Two lead balls barely missed the foot of Carillo, and Gonzalez made a wonderful 50-yard run up the left wing, blowing by the defense before centering a pass that missed the toe of the sliding Erastus-Obilo by inches.
Even so, the Warriors appear to have bounced back from losing back-to-back games for the first time this season.
“To the two losses I think we’ve responded well,” Glorioso said. “We’re pretty positive toward everything.
“Tonight, we came out and we were down twice but we came back and at the end we had three or four good opportunities to score, couldn’t capitalize on them. But it’s about finishing those chances.
“If this game could have gone on I think we could have put a couple more in.”
Waubonsie Valley's Glorioso voiced the players' regret for what shortened the game.
“We’ve got to keep ourselves composed,” he said. “We’ve got to keep our cool; they’ve got to keep their cool and nothing will happen.”
Starting lineups
Batavia
GK Logan Saenz
D Rodrigo Maldonado
D Austin Saenz
D Dylan Edwards
D Quinn Carlson
M Will Bardol
M Ethan Wright
M Will Chandler
F Dylan Knapp
F Mark Lillig
F Isaac Hager
Waubonsie Valley
GK Bryan Grimaldo
D Adrien Mehra
D Teague Stotlar
D Dan Morgan
D Brandon Garduno
M Javy Gonzalez
M Jorge Gallegos
M Freddy Paniagua
F Noah Glorioso
F Milan Erastus-Obilo
F Daniel Fritz
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Diego Carillo, jr., M, Waubonsie Valley
Scoring summary
First half
Batavia – Mark Lillig (Will Bardol, Will Chandler) 30:51
Waubonsie Valley – Diego Carillo (Zach Stanley, Zachary Yench) 16:58
Batavia – Lillig (Dylan Knapp) 1:06
Second half
Waubonsie Valley – Carillo (Noah Glorioso) 38:20
Teams tie 2-2, incident ends WarStang Inv. game in 55th minute
By Matt Le Cren
AURORA – To the delight of their respective fans, Waubonsie Valley and Batavia each scored two great goals apiece in the opening round of the WarStang Invitational.
What might have happened next will be left to conjecture. The game was cut short with 25:50 left after an altercation on the field. Officials ejected four players and one spectator.
The match officially goes into the books as a 2-2 draw.
Batavia junior forward Mark Lillig scored both goals for the Bulldogs.
The referees red carded one Batavia player and two Waubonsie Valley players who were involved in the incident. An additional red was handed out to a Warriors player for language.
An Waubonsie Valley parent was escorted from the stadium after going on the field.
“Waubonsie has had a very good season this year so it was a good spirited match for a while,” Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “Mark (Lillig) had a great game.
“It was unfortunate. ... (Fighting) is not (acceptable), but it’s at least on the field between players that are on the field, not a parent coming in off the side to get in on the skirmish.
“That’s the crazy part of the whole thing for me. We had only two guys over there with six or seven of their guys. It was ridiculous.”
Neither coach nor the officials saw the start of the brawl, because it happened 60 yards behind the play. By the times things were sorted out, the officials declared the game over, which Gianfrancesco agreed was the right call.
Had the game continued, the visiting Bulldogs (1-12-1) would have had a two-man advantage with 10 players to the Warriors’ eight.
Waubonsie will be the team hurt most by the shenanigans. The Warriors will have to play their next tournament game Wednesday without two starters.
“I don’t know how the scuffle started,” Waubonsie Valley coach Jose Garcia said. “I was watching the play.
“It was a rough game, and they were going back-and-forth. Someone retaliated and the other one retaliated back.
“That was unfortunate. The only reason I can think a parent would be going onto the field would be to protect his son.
“I think both teams were playing well. It’s unfortunate that situation happened and disrupted the whole game.”
Up until then, it had been an entertaining match with interesting story lines. Lillig twice put the Bulldogs, who snapped an eight-game losing streak, in the lead with nifty goals in the first half.
But each time, Waubonsie junior midfielder Diego Carillo answered with goals of his own, recording his first varsity brace.
Batavia came away with a point, and the Bulldogs are trending upward.
“The boys have been coming on,” Gianfrancesco said. “Last week, even though the scores don’t reflect it, we saw some grit from the boys, and we saw some today too.
“We came out really playing well and knocked it around. I like the way we were playing. I’m hoping we can continue that Wednesday.”
The game got off a fast start as Mila Erastus-Obilo sprung Waubonsie Valley star Noah Glorioso into the box on a breakaway, but Batavia goalie Logan Saenz dove to his left to make the save. It was the first of three saves for Saenz, who made a similar effort on a left-footed shot from Javy Gonzalez in the eighth minute.
Then it was Batavia’s turn. Lillig stunned the Warriors (9-5-2) at the 30:51 mark when he volleyed home a cross from Will Chandler to give the Bulldogs the lead. It was just the ninth goal of the season for Batavia but came as a result of a crisp build-up.
Sophomore Will Bardol got the ball to Chandler in space on the right wing and Chandler’s cross found Lillig unguarded in front.
The Warriors responded on a similarly well-executed play with 16:58 remaining. Zachary Yench got the ball in the middle of the field about 30 yards out and fed Stanley into the right side of the box.
Stanley took the ball to the left endline before passing in front to Carillo, whose finish tied the game at 1-1.
But the Bulldogs went right back to work and attacked immediately. It nearly paid dividends but Waubonsie goalkeeper Bryan Grimaldo made saves 30 seconds apart on open shots from Lillig and Dylan Knapp.
Knapp, though, figured prominently in Batavia’s retaking the lead with 1:06 to go in the half. He dribbled into the left corner before sending a high cross to the onrushing Lillig, who powered a header off the underside of the crossbar and just across the goal line.
The Warriors, who had snapped a two-game losing streak on Thursday by edging East Aurora 1-0 on a Carcillo goal, didn’t panic despite trailing twice.
“Going down, we just knew we had to lift our heads up and score a goal,” Glorioso said. “It’s our home field, we had our fans behind us, we knew we just had to pick our heads up, keep grinding and going toward goal and we would find it.
“Luckily, Diego came up big. He’s been stepping up big lately and scoring a lot of goals for us.
“At the beginning of the season we were kind of figuring out where to put him, and Garcia finally started putting him in the midfield, either under me or out wide. Now he’s clicking, and he’s getting into everything. He’s rolling.”
Carillo recorded his second equalizer of the game just 1:40 after intermission. This time Glorioso was the author of the cross and Carillo one-timed it into the lower left corner of the net to pull Waubonsie even.
“He’s a very dynamic player in terms of he’s good on the outside, and he’s good on the inside,” Garcia said of Carillo. “I think he found his confidence in the last couple games, and he’s feeling it.
“We gave him that opportunity, and he capitalized on it. He gives us that one-two touch that we’ve looked for in the middle.
“That’s been kind of a style of play, and the good thing is he’s been finishing.”
The Warriors had several more opportunities to finish before play was halted but just missed connecting on some beautiful goals. Two lead balls barely missed the foot of Carillo, and Gonzalez made a wonderful 50-yard run up the left wing, blowing by the defense before centering a pass that missed the toe of the sliding Erastus-Obilo by inches.
Even so, the Warriors appear to have bounced back from losing back-to-back games for the first time this season.
“To the two losses I think we’ve responded well,” Glorioso said. “We’re pretty positive toward everything.
“Tonight, we came out and we were down twice but we came back and at the end we had three or four good opportunities to score, couldn’t capitalize on them. But it’s about finishing those chances.
“If this game could have gone on I think we could have put a couple more in.”
Waubonsie Valley's Glorioso voiced the players' regret for what shortened the game.
“We’ve got to keep ourselves composed,” he said. “We’ve got to keep our cool; they’ve got to keep their cool and nothing will happen.”
Starting lineups
Batavia
GK Logan Saenz
D Rodrigo Maldonado
D Austin Saenz
D Dylan Edwards
D Quinn Carlson
M Will Bardol
M Ethan Wright
M Will Chandler
F Dylan Knapp
F Mark Lillig
F Isaac Hager
Waubonsie Valley
GK Bryan Grimaldo
D Adrien Mehra
D Teague Stotlar
D Dan Morgan
D Brandon Garduno
M Javy Gonzalez
M Jorge Gallegos
M Freddy Paniagua
F Noah Glorioso
F Milan Erastus-Obilo
F Daniel Fritz
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Diego Carillo, jr., M, Waubonsie Valley
Scoring summary
First half
Batavia – Mark Lillig (Will Bardol, Will Chandler) 30:51
Waubonsie Valley – Diego Carillo (Zach Stanley, Zachary Yench) 16:58
Batavia – Lillig (Dylan Knapp) 1:06
Second half
Waubonsie Valley – Carillo (Noah Glorioso) 38:20