Reavis response bounces Bremen
Rams only need 3 minutes break tie, collect 2-1 win
By Steve Millar
BURBANK – The biggest bugaboo that Reavis has dealt with all season bit again Wednesday: the Rams gave up a goal in the opening 10 minutes of the second half.
This time, though, they wasted no time responding. Pedro Guzman’s score off a nice setup from Diego Porras was the game-winner as host Reavis edged Bremen 2-1 in a South Suburban Conference matchup.
“Those first 10 minutes of the second half got us again,” Reavis coach Mark Gniadek said. “We’ve talked about that a lot. We talked about it at halftime. We gave up one in the first 10 minutes of the second half our last game against Oak Lawn. Then it happened again. It was nice to see us respond, though.”
Reavis (4-2-1, 4-2-1) led 1-0 at halftime on an own goal, but Bremen (4-3-0, 4-3-0) found the equalizer just over seven minutes into the second half.
The Braves' Michael Castenada played a long pass out of the backfield to Guillermo Ruiz, who slipped a quick pass to Genaro Chavez down the middle of the field. Chavez finished to make it 1-1 with 32:48 to play.
The Rams knew what they had to do.
“We knew the first 10 minutes of the second half were going to be hard, because we’ve struggled with that,” Guzman said. “Once they scored, we knew we had to step our game up. We picked it up, and the result was a goal.”
Porras, Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match, provided a major spark off the bench for Reavis, creating dangerous opportunities all day. It was his corner kick that led to an own-goal in the first half.
He made something happen again just moments after the tying goal.
Porras got the ball and broke down the left side of the field. He ran past a couple defenders and played a cross toward the far post.
Guzman made a run at the post and was there to finish what was ultimately the game-winning goal.
“I don’t consider myself that fast, but I’ve got a little bit of speed,” Porras said. “They’ll always send me the ball down the sideline. Whenever I do that, I know someone’s going to be in the middle. I put my head up, looked and saw Pedro, I passed it, and he scored.”
Guzman credited Porras for making the play happen. He also had the awareness to be in the right spot.
“Diego took a long ball, dribbled past a couple guys, and he put the ball in,” Guzman said. “I was just there to finish.
“I want to be aggressive, get there behind the play and see what happens. I want to be there just in case.”
The Reavis defense took it from there. With sophomore goalkeeper Jacob Nosek playing in just his second varsity game, the Rams backline took the pressure off.
David Meza, Alex Froylan, Jakub Paluch and Paul Teriecki smothered Bremen attackers, allowing just one shot on goal.
Reavis finish its defensive assignment with some huge plays in the closing minutes.
With just over two minutes left, Bremen had a golden opportunity when Diego Frausto made a strong run down the left side that pulled Nosek out of the goal. Frausto slipped a pass to Aldo Lagunas, who seemed to have a clear look at the open net, but Paluch came over to block his shot.
Froylan blocked another shot by Lagunas in the final second to extend Reavis' roll to four wins in a row.
“Our backline has really jelled together,” Gniadek said. “They looked awesome this game. They have grown, and work as a unit so much faster than I thought they could, especially without a normal preseason and with so many new guys back there.
“They’re all tough as nails back there. ‘Kuba’ (Paluch) wins all those 50/50 balls on corners. Alex controls everything. Paul has been a center midfielder his whole career, and he’s stepped up in that defensive role. David is a junior, and he’s going to be our next Alex next year. He kind of does it all.”
In the first half, Reavis put together a wave of pressure that led to eight corner kicks. Four of them came in rapid succession between the 30th and 35th minute, and the Rams cashed in on the fourth.
Porras played a dangerous ball toward the center and a Bremen defender’s clearing attempt ended up in the back of the net to make it 1-0.
“I’ve been playing since I was like 5 years old and I’ve gotten used to taking corner kicks for years,” Porras said. “It just feels natural now.
“It felt good to get that goal. It was all the teamwork that was paying off for us, and we just kept pushing until we got that goal.”
Gniadek was glad to see persistence pay off.
“We tried to just keep the pressure on,” he said. “I’d like to score on one out of four or five of those corner kicks. I think we had six there, and it was nice to see one go in. You figure if you keep putting the pressure on, something good is going to happen.”
Bremen coach Tom Piotrowski, meanwhile, sees things starting to come together despite the defeat. Wednesday’s loss snapped a three-game winning streak.
“I think our guys have been reacting well to adjustments,” he said. “With the smaller numbers we have this year, we’ve been putting guys in a lot of different spots on the field and even changing our formation in the middle of the game. I think they have adapted to that well.”
Bremen spent nearly the entire first half on the defensive. Lagunas’ shot that sailed over the net in the 13th minute was the Braves’ only scoring threat in the opening 40 minutes.
There was much more offense generated in the second half, though Reavis was up for the challenge and kept the Braves from getting shots on frame.
“We picked things up in the second half,” Piotrowski said. “We started possessing it a lot more and creating opportunities, and we just need to capitalize on those.
“I just want us to capitalize on our opportunities. That’s what I’m looking for in upcoming games. We’ve been getting some and we just need to make sure we take advantage of them.”
Starting lineups
Bremen
GK – Erik Ruiz
D – Fernando Mejia
D – Aldo Lagunas
D – Luis Caratachea
D – Michael Castenada
MF – Eddie Bravo
MF – Guillermo Ruiz
MF – Brandon Chavez
MF – Alfonso Meza
F – Diego Frausto
F – Genaro Chavez
Reavis
GK – Jacob Nosek
D – David Meza
D – Alex Froylan
D – Jakub Paluch
D – Paul Teriecki
MF – Pedro Guzman
MF – Manny Montero
MF – Diego Rodriguez
MF – Julian Menchaca
F – Julian Ochoa
F – Moises Gutierrez
Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match: Diego Porras, sr., MF, Reavis
Scoring summary
First half
Reavis – Bremen own-goal, 35th minute
Second half
Bremen – G. Chavez (G. Ruiz), 48th minute
Reavis – Guzman (Porras), 51st minute
Rams only need 3 minutes break tie, collect 2-1 win
By Steve Millar
BURBANK – The biggest bugaboo that Reavis has dealt with all season bit again Wednesday: the Rams gave up a goal in the opening 10 minutes of the second half.
This time, though, they wasted no time responding. Pedro Guzman’s score off a nice setup from Diego Porras was the game-winner as host Reavis edged Bremen 2-1 in a South Suburban Conference matchup.
“Those first 10 minutes of the second half got us again,” Reavis coach Mark Gniadek said. “We’ve talked about that a lot. We talked about it at halftime. We gave up one in the first 10 minutes of the second half our last game against Oak Lawn. Then it happened again. It was nice to see us respond, though.”
Reavis (4-2-1, 4-2-1) led 1-0 at halftime on an own goal, but Bremen (4-3-0, 4-3-0) found the equalizer just over seven minutes into the second half.
The Braves' Michael Castenada played a long pass out of the backfield to Guillermo Ruiz, who slipped a quick pass to Genaro Chavez down the middle of the field. Chavez finished to make it 1-1 with 32:48 to play.
The Rams knew what they had to do.
“We knew the first 10 minutes of the second half were going to be hard, because we’ve struggled with that,” Guzman said. “Once they scored, we knew we had to step our game up. We picked it up, and the result was a goal.”
Porras, Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match, provided a major spark off the bench for Reavis, creating dangerous opportunities all day. It was his corner kick that led to an own-goal in the first half.
He made something happen again just moments after the tying goal.
Porras got the ball and broke down the left side of the field. He ran past a couple defenders and played a cross toward the far post.
Guzman made a run at the post and was there to finish what was ultimately the game-winning goal.
“I don’t consider myself that fast, but I’ve got a little bit of speed,” Porras said. “They’ll always send me the ball down the sideline. Whenever I do that, I know someone’s going to be in the middle. I put my head up, looked and saw Pedro, I passed it, and he scored.”
Guzman credited Porras for making the play happen. He also had the awareness to be in the right spot.
“Diego took a long ball, dribbled past a couple guys, and he put the ball in,” Guzman said. “I was just there to finish.
“I want to be aggressive, get there behind the play and see what happens. I want to be there just in case.”
The Reavis defense took it from there. With sophomore goalkeeper Jacob Nosek playing in just his second varsity game, the Rams backline took the pressure off.
David Meza, Alex Froylan, Jakub Paluch and Paul Teriecki smothered Bremen attackers, allowing just one shot on goal.
Reavis finish its defensive assignment with some huge plays in the closing minutes.
With just over two minutes left, Bremen had a golden opportunity when Diego Frausto made a strong run down the left side that pulled Nosek out of the goal. Frausto slipped a pass to Aldo Lagunas, who seemed to have a clear look at the open net, but Paluch came over to block his shot.
Froylan blocked another shot by Lagunas in the final second to extend Reavis' roll to four wins in a row.
“Our backline has really jelled together,” Gniadek said. “They looked awesome this game. They have grown, and work as a unit so much faster than I thought they could, especially without a normal preseason and with so many new guys back there.
“They’re all tough as nails back there. ‘Kuba’ (Paluch) wins all those 50/50 balls on corners. Alex controls everything. Paul has been a center midfielder his whole career, and he’s stepped up in that defensive role. David is a junior, and he’s going to be our next Alex next year. He kind of does it all.”
In the first half, Reavis put together a wave of pressure that led to eight corner kicks. Four of them came in rapid succession between the 30th and 35th minute, and the Rams cashed in on the fourth.
Porras played a dangerous ball toward the center and a Bremen defender’s clearing attempt ended up in the back of the net to make it 1-0.
“I’ve been playing since I was like 5 years old and I’ve gotten used to taking corner kicks for years,” Porras said. “It just feels natural now.
“It felt good to get that goal. It was all the teamwork that was paying off for us, and we just kept pushing until we got that goal.”
Gniadek was glad to see persistence pay off.
“We tried to just keep the pressure on,” he said. “I’d like to score on one out of four or five of those corner kicks. I think we had six there, and it was nice to see one go in. You figure if you keep putting the pressure on, something good is going to happen.”
Bremen coach Tom Piotrowski, meanwhile, sees things starting to come together despite the defeat. Wednesday’s loss snapped a three-game winning streak.
“I think our guys have been reacting well to adjustments,” he said. “With the smaller numbers we have this year, we’ve been putting guys in a lot of different spots on the field and even changing our formation in the middle of the game. I think they have adapted to that well.”
Bremen spent nearly the entire first half on the defensive. Lagunas’ shot that sailed over the net in the 13th minute was the Braves’ only scoring threat in the opening 40 minutes.
There was much more offense generated in the second half, though Reavis was up for the challenge and kept the Braves from getting shots on frame.
“We picked things up in the second half,” Piotrowski said. “We started possessing it a lot more and creating opportunities, and we just need to capitalize on those.
“I just want us to capitalize on our opportunities. That’s what I’m looking for in upcoming games. We’ve been getting some and we just need to make sure we take advantage of them.”
Starting lineups
Bremen
GK – Erik Ruiz
D – Fernando Mejia
D – Aldo Lagunas
D – Luis Caratachea
D – Michael Castenada
MF – Eddie Bravo
MF – Guillermo Ruiz
MF – Brandon Chavez
MF – Alfonso Meza
F – Diego Frausto
F – Genaro Chavez
Reavis
GK – Jacob Nosek
D – David Meza
D – Alex Froylan
D – Jakub Paluch
D – Paul Teriecki
MF – Pedro Guzman
MF – Manny Montero
MF – Diego Rodriguez
MF – Julian Menchaca
F – Julian Ochoa
F – Moises Gutierrez
Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match: Diego Porras, sr., MF, Reavis
Scoring summary
First half
Reavis – Bremen own-goal, 35th minute
Second half
Bremen – G. Chavez (G. Ruiz), 48th minute
Reavis – Guzman (Porras), 51st minute