Peici powers front-running BG over RM
Senior's brace leads Bison to MSL East road win in wide-open tilt
By Mike Garofola
ROLLING MEADOWS -- Jon Peici's super show secured three vital points for visting Buffalo Grove Thursday evening at Robert Hoese Field in Rolling Meadows.
The Bison forward gave a masterclass in marksmanship when he bagged the first and last goal for the Bison (5-2-1, 3-0-0) whose successful work in the Mid-Suburban League pushed them to the top of the East Division with nine points, two more than Hersey.
Peici's work, all on his own, finally settled a 3-1 contest against the Mustangs (2-4-1, 1-2-0). The hosts never took their foot off the gas pedal but were left with the knowledge of just how important it ws to take a least a point away from the game to stay in the early divisional race.
"If we play as we did in the second half, we're going to put together several more victories to help ourselves when seeding time comes around for the state tournament series," said Mustangs manager Brett Olson. "Because right now, we're chasing two very good teams (Buffalo Grove and Hersey) who are showing no signs of slowing down.
"That was a tough opening for us today. Kind of an iffy call to give them that free kick, but credit no. 20 (Peici). He took full advantage of his opportunity, and that's what it's all about.
"We struggled a lot with their front seven after that early goal. It nearly took us a full half to get on our front foot, but when we did (we) dominated the second half -- but we just couldn't finish the chances we created."
If you're a fan of wide-open soccer, then, at times, this was the soccer park to be at. Each side has plenty of firepower to call upon and gave the fans some fast-paced, high-energy soccer to view on this unusually cool, windy evening in Rolling Meadows.
"I think our guys showed in the first half that they can play some very good attacking soccer which included movement, nice spacing, quality passes that used space, all centering around our midfielders and Jon up-top. He continues to score some impressive goals for us," said new Buffalo Grove coach Darren Llewellyn, who moved to the school from Hersey.
Right after the start, Olson and his bench were puzzled as to why the Bison were awarded free kick in the second minute. His argument against the decision was not acted upon and soon faded away when Peici unloaded an unstoppable right-footed missile from 25 yards that dropped off the table at the tail end of its trip.
"Jon can really strike a ball," Llewellyn said with a wry smile. "We've seen it other times this season. A few have ended in the back of the net, others that were just dangerous balls that will make an opponent think a little bit.
"Jon is dangerous when he's over those free kicks, so we like having him take those shots," added Christian Kozaczka, who along with his center back teammate Brian Hanus, and junior Shane Adams, were forced to absorb plenty of second half pressure when the home side threw everything forward after the break in order to get themselves back in the game.
"It's always nice to be the first team to score, especially in an important game like this (and) to get another to put more pressure on your opponent," continued Kozaczka. "But we had to work really hard in the second half, because they have some really great players like Sammy (Olague), Sergio (Lucero Herrera) and Adan Ramirez."
Within minutes of the Peici goal, Erik Martens, who supplied Rolling Meadows with quality play in that second half from his spot in the midfield, whipped a pair of well-aimed balls into the box. Kozaczka and Hanus took turns heading them out of the area to keep things safe in front of their keeper Raman Kudrautsau.
The aforementioned Mustangs trio, as well as sophomore, Ethan Kakavetsis, managed to scare up a couple of half chances in the first quarter hour. In the same span, if not for an offsides flag to stop Kevin Eloiza in-close and a lovely ball from Ryan Kim to Alexis Escobar parried away at the top of the box it could have been 3-0.
It became 2-0 when sophomore Brian Perez set Escobar free on the left side. He dragged the ball past his man before finishing to the dismay of a diving Matt Galvan.
"We came into this game with a lot of desire and confidence in knowing we can beat (them)," said Peici, who was named Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match for his effort. " If we could play strong on both sides of the ball (it) would help us keep our record better than the rest of the division."
Kim, the junior who is deployed in the middle of the park by his manager, was a key figure in both halves. Hdid did a lot of the gritty, hard work by winning first and second balls. He earned a high number of interceptions, which he turned into helpers for his mates around him.
"Ryan had a very strong game for us tonight," said Llewellyn. "It's the little things which are so important, and that's what he did for us all night long."
During the final 15 minutes of the first half, the Bison were relentless in their pursuit of adding another to increase the always precarious two-goal advantage that no club enjoys keeping hold of.
The best of several chances fell to Alex Berk, who burst up the right side to latch onto a terrific ball from Eloiza. But Isaac San Roman reacted smartly to tackle Berk before the Bison junior could get 1-v.-1 with Galvan.
Just moments before this sequence, Rolling Meadows' Ramirez curled a wonderful ball in from the right side which unfortunately wrong-footed Martens just inside the box.
If the ball and Martens had met up properly, the Mustangs junior would have had a free look on frame.
"We came alive a little bit towards the end of the first half," said Ramirez. "But our best soccer came after the break. We've got to be better at playing 80 minutes of good soccer (not) just 40 or 50."
"We did well to expose (their) backline in the first half," said Llewellyn. "But it turned around after the half. That's why we ended up playing three along the back (and) throwing Shane Adams in front of them. Later we added another alongside Shane when they continued to put the pressure on us."
Exciting individual play from both sides welcomed fans in the second half. Each club had 2-3 quality chances on frame through the first 15 minutes.
Lucero Herrera pried the Bison open and allowed Ramirez to go wide before a bit of trickery from Eloiza nearly undid the Mustangs.
A Rolling Meadows combination forced Hanus to step in, then it was Lucero Herrera setting up Olague, whose technical skill allowed the senior to shield while still keeping the ball on his hip before turning and firing a left-footer at the Bison keeper.
It was this type of soccer that kept the eyes of the fans glued to the stadium floor, and each manager nervous when the other had the possession of the ball.
"We have some weapons to take advantage of, Sergio, Adan, Sammy, Ethan, Martens," Olson said. "Plus we also have a guy like Joao Sanchez, who has a big foot; when he hits the ball like he did today on couple of occasions, he can be a real force in our dead ball chances."
Buffalo Grove's big foot, Peici, also displayed remarkable speed for a young man who is so big and strong. He outraced a pair of defenders to collect an early ball from Perez before connecting with Berk, who was on the run as well up the center channel.
Berk eventually unsuccessfully thrashed his side half-volley at Galvan from close-range, but the three-man counter was a thing of beauty to watch.
Olson would claim therewas an unlucky moment or two that could have swayed the eventual scoreline. Llewellyn would point to a Sanchez 35-yard cracker that forced Kudrautsau into action at 62 minutes.
Three minutes later, Ramirez found the underside of the woodwork with his left-footed blast, which fell straight down in front of the line but not over it.
The Mustangs' luck changed seven minutes later but not without the collective breath of their faithful being held a while longer.
A hand ball in the box sent Olague to the spot. The senior sawould his spotkick initially saved, but it spilled straight back to the ever-present senior who calmly finished under a helpless Kudrautsau.
"We had some life after that," Olson said. "But no. 20 (again) made a ridiculous shot to close us out for good."
Eloiza and Peici forced Galvan out to defend potential trouble. After the Mustangs keeper stopped a close-range shot, it fell to Peici. He collected the ball just inside the endline and somehow curled the ball into the far-inside netting.
"I don't know how Jon put that shot in," said an amazed Kozaczka.
"That was kind of the plan just before I took the shot," said Peici. "I'm not sure either, but I knew I had to bend it to get into the net."
After a brief discussion by the referee and his assistant on that side of the park, the Peici shot was officially ruled the third goal of the day for the Bison and erased the hope of Olson and his club that either Peici was in an offside position, or that the ball had rolled over the endline.
"The ref explained the ball went off of one of our guys and directly to their guy -- that was that," said Olson.
Rolling Meadows did not give up the fight.
A Kakavetsis-Ramirez counter resulted in Ramirez striking wide. One last free kick attempt by Sanchez sailed over the bar at 78 minutes.
"The second half was one of our better efforts of the year, so we know we can play at a high-level against good opponents," said Ramirez. "We have to go out and play like that, but for 80 minutes in our next game on Saturday against Deerfield."
"Yes, that's right," echoed Olson. "Eighty minutes together, and we'll be in good shape from here on out.
"We did well playing that 'wide-open' style, but we have to defend a little better on the other side of the ball. But as I said, if we do all those things, we'll be in good shape later on."
Llewellyn's Buffalo Grove side will continue to fine tune its winning operation.
"Rolling Meadows gave us a lot of trouble in that second half, which helped show a few things that we'll need to clean up before Saturday (against Lake Forest).
"I'll watch the film on this game, but I already know the negative ball led to trouble for us today, plus the speed and rapid ball movement by them."
"We'll continue to fix and tweak as we go along."
Starting lineups
Buffalo Grove (4-4-2)
GK- Raman Kudrautsau
D- Shane Adams
D- Christian Kozaczka
D- Brian Hanus
D- Michael Lollinoi
M- Alex Berk
M- Brian Perez
M- Ryan Kim
M- Marcin Czaplinski
F- Kevin Eloiza
F- Jon Peici
Rolling Meadows (4-1-4-1)
GK- Matt Galvan
D- Anthony Kozlowski
D- Isaac San Roman
D- Jason Flores
D- Cesar Perez
M- Jesus Padilla
M- Sergio Lucero Herrera
M- Adan Ramirez
M- Ethan Kakavetsis
M- Erik Martens
F- Sammy Olague
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Jon Peici, sr., F, Buffalo Grove
Scoring ummary
Firsth half
Buffalo Grove: Peici (FK) 2'
Buffalo Grove: Escobar (Perez) 13'
Second half
Rolling Meadows: Olague (U/A) 68'
Buffalo Grove: Peici (U/A) 72'
Senior's brace leads Bison to MSL East road win in wide-open tilt
By Mike Garofola
ROLLING MEADOWS -- Jon Peici's super show secured three vital points for visting Buffalo Grove Thursday evening at Robert Hoese Field in Rolling Meadows.
The Bison forward gave a masterclass in marksmanship when he bagged the first and last goal for the Bison (5-2-1, 3-0-0) whose successful work in the Mid-Suburban League pushed them to the top of the East Division with nine points, two more than Hersey.
Peici's work, all on his own, finally settled a 3-1 contest against the Mustangs (2-4-1, 1-2-0). The hosts never took their foot off the gas pedal but were left with the knowledge of just how important it ws to take a least a point away from the game to stay in the early divisional race.
"If we play as we did in the second half, we're going to put together several more victories to help ourselves when seeding time comes around for the state tournament series," said Mustangs manager Brett Olson. "Because right now, we're chasing two very good teams (Buffalo Grove and Hersey) who are showing no signs of slowing down.
"That was a tough opening for us today. Kind of an iffy call to give them that free kick, but credit no. 20 (Peici). He took full advantage of his opportunity, and that's what it's all about.
"We struggled a lot with their front seven after that early goal. It nearly took us a full half to get on our front foot, but when we did (we) dominated the second half -- but we just couldn't finish the chances we created."
If you're a fan of wide-open soccer, then, at times, this was the soccer park to be at. Each side has plenty of firepower to call upon and gave the fans some fast-paced, high-energy soccer to view on this unusually cool, windy evening in Rolling Meadows.
"I think our guys showed in the first half that they can play some very good attacking soccer which included movement, nice spacing, quality passes that used space, all centering around our midfielders and Jon up-top. He continues to score some impressive goals for us," said new Buffalo Grove coach Darren Llewellyn, who moved to the school from Hersey.
Right after the start, Olson and his bench were puzzled as to why the Bison were awarded free kick in the second minute. His argument against the decision was not acted upon and soon faded away when Peici unloaded an unstoppable right-footed missile from 25 yards that dropped off the table at the tail end of its trip.
"Jon can really strike a ball," Llewellyn said with a wry smile. "We've seen it other times this season. A few have ended in the back of the net, others that were just dangerous balls that will make an opponent think a little bit.
"Jon is dangerous when he's over those free kicks, so we like having him take those shots," added Christian Kozaczka, who along with his center back teammate Brian Hanus, and junior Shane Adams, were forced to absorb plenty of second half pressure when the home side threw everything forward after the break in order to get themselves back in the game.
"It's always nice to be the first team to score, especially in an important game like this (and) to get another to put more pressure on your opponent," continued Kozaczka. "But we had to work really hard in the second half, because they have some really great players like Sammy (Olague), Sergio (Lucero Herrera) and Adan Ramirez."
Within minutes of the Peici goal, Erik Martens, who supplied Rolling Meadows with quality play in that second half from his spot in the midfield, whipped a pair of well-aimed balls into the box. Kozaczka and Hanus took turns heading them out of the area to keep things safe in front of their keeper Raman Kudrautsau.
The aforementioned Mustangs trio, as well as sophomore, Ethan Kakavetsis, managed to scare up a couple of half chances in the first quarter hour. In the same span, if not for an offsides flag to stop Kevin Eloiza in-close and a lovely ball from Ryan Kim to Alexis Escobar parried away at the top of the box it could have been 3-0.
It became 2-0 when sophomore Brian Perez set Escobar free on the left side. He dragged the ball past his man before finishing to the dismay of a diving Matt Galvan.
"We came into this game with a lot of desire and confidence in knowing we can beat (them)," said Peici, who was named Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match for his effort. " If we could play strong on both sides of the ball (it) would help us keep our record better than the rest of the division."
Kim, the junior who is deployed in the middle of the park by his manager, was a key figure in both halves. Hdid did a lot of the gritty, hard work by winning first and second balls. He earned a high number of interceptions, which he turned into helpers for his mates around him.
"Ryan had a very strong game for us tonight," said Llewellyn. "It's the little things which are so important, and that's what he did for us all night long."
During the final 15 minutes of the first half, the Bison were relentless in their pursuit of adding another to increase the always precarious two-goal advantage that no club enjoys keeping hold of.
The best of several chances fell to Alex Berk, who burst up the right side to latch onto a terrific ball from Eloiza. But Isaac San Roman reacted smartly to tackle Berk before the Bison junior could get 1-v.-1 with Galvan.
Just moments before this sequence, Rolling Meadows' Ramirez curled a wonderful ball in from the right side which unfortunately wrong-footed Martens just inside the box.
If the ball and Martens had met up properly, the Mustangs junior would have had a free look on frame.
"We came alive a little bit towards the end of the first half," said Ramirez. "But our best soccer came after the break. We've got to be better at playing 80 minutes of good soccer (not) just 40 or 50."
"We did well to expose (their) backline in the first half," said Llewellyn. "But it turned around after the half. That's why we ended up playing three along the back (and) throwing Shane Adams in front of them. Later we added another alongside Shane when they continued to put the pressure on us."
Exciting individual play from both sides welcomed fans in the second half. Each club had 2-3 quality chances on frame through the first 15 minutes.
Lucero Herrera pried the Bison open and allowed Ramirez to go wide before a bit of trickery from Eloiza nearly undid the Mustangs.
A Rolling Meadows combination forced Hanus to step in, then it was Lucero Herrera setting up Olague, whose technical skill allowed the senior to shield while still keeping the ball on his hip before turning and firing a left-footer at the Bison keeper.
It was this type of soccer that kept the eyes of the fans glued to the stadium floor, and each manager nervous when the other had the possession of the ball.
"We have some weapons to take advantage of, Sergio, Adan, Sammy, Ethan, Martens," Olson said. "Plus we also have a guy like Joao Sanchez, who has a big foot; when he hits the ball like he did today on couple of occasions, he can be a real force in our dead ball chances."
Buffalo Grove's big foot, Peici, also displayed remarkable speed for a young man who is so big and strong. He outraced a pair of defenders to collect an early ball from Perez before connecting with Berk, who was on the run as well up the center channel.
Berk eventually unsuccessfully thrashed his side half-volley at Galvan from close-range, but the three-man counter was a thing of beauty to watch.
Olson would claim therewas an unlucky moment or two that could have swayed the eventual scoreline. Llewellyn would point to a Sanchez 35-yard cracker that forced Kudrautsau into action at 62 minutes.
Three minutes later, Ramirez found the underside of the woodwork with his left-footed blast, which fell straight down in front of the line but not over it.
The Mustangs' luck changed seven minutes later but not without the collective breath of their faithful being held a while longer.
A hand ball in the box sent Olague to the spot. The senior sawould his spotkick initially saved, but it spilled straight back to the ever-present senior who calmly finished under a helpless Kudrautsau.
"We had some life after that," Olson said. "But no. 20 (again) made a ridiculous shot to close us out for good."
Eloiza and Peici forced Galvan out to defend potential trouble. After the Mustangs keeper stopped a close-range shot, it fell to Peici. He collected the ball just inside the endline and somehow curled the ball into the far-inside netting.
"I don't know how Jon put that shot in," said an amazed Kozaczka.
"That was kind of the plan just before I took the shot," said Peici. "I'm not sure either, but I knew I had to bend it to get into the net."
After a brief discussion by the referee and his assistant on that side of the park, the Peici shot was officially ruled the third goal of the day for the Bison and erased the hope of Olson and his club that either Peici was in an offside position, or that the ball had rolled over the endline.
"The ref explained the ball went off of one of our guys and directly to their guy -- that was that," said Olson.
Rolling Meadows did not give up the fight.
A Kakavetsis-Ramirez counter resulted in Ramirez striking wide. One last free kick attempt by Sanchez sailed over the bar at 78 minutes.
"The second half was one of our better efforts of the year, so we know we can play at a high-level against good opponents," said Ramirez. "We have to go out and play like that, but for 80 minutes in our next game on Saturday against Deerfield."
"Yes, that's right," echoed Olson. "Eighty minutes together, and we'll be in good shape from here on out.
"We did well playing that 'wide-open' style, but we have to defend a little better on the other side of the ball. But as I said, if we do all those things, we'll be in good shape later on."
Llewellyn's Buffalo Grove side will continue to fine tune its winning operation.
"Rolling Meadows gave us a lot of trouble in that second half, which helped show a few things that we'll need to clean up before Saturday (against Lake Forest).
"I'll watch the film on this game, but I already know the negative ball led to trouble for us today, plus the speed and rapid ball movement by them."
"We'll continue to fix and tweak as we go along."
Starting lineups
Buffalo Grove (4-4-2)
GK- Raman Kudrautsau
D- Shane Adams
D- Christian Kozaczka
D- Brian Hanus
D- Michael Lollinoi
M- Alex Berk
M- Brian Perez
M- Ryan Kim
M- Marcin Czaplinski
F- Kevin Eloiza
F- Jon Peici
Rolling Meadows (4-1-4-1)
GK- Matt Galvan
D- Anthony Kozlowski
D- Isaac San Roman
D- Jason Flores
D- Cesar Perez
M- Jesus Padilla
M- Sergio Lucero Herrera
M- Adan Ramirez
M- Ethan Kakavetsis
M- Erik Martens
F- Sammy Olague
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Jon Peici, sr., F, Buffalo Grove
Scoring ummary
Firsth half
Buffalo Grove: Peici (FK) 2'
Buffalo Grove: Escobar (Perez) 13'
Second half
Rolling Meadows: Olague (U/A) 68'
Buffalo Grove: Peici (U/A) 72'