Gomez connects, Bremen wins WCRC title
Forward overcomes nerves to give Braves 1-0 win over Argo
By Patrick Z. McGavin
BRIDGEVIEW -- Blessed with a great scoring chance, Jorge Gomez almost got caught looking ahead. With every significant scoring threat optimized, Gomez had an unambiguous situation: an open net and the ball at his feet.
The magnitude and importance of the moment was easy to get lost in in time or space.
“I almost missed it,” Gomez said. “I hit the post.”
Gomez redeemed his nervousness and earned a moment in the sun by blasting home a short volley that rattled off the near post before collecting in the back of the net in the 60th minute. The goal was the difference in 13th-ranked Bremen’s 1-0 victory over no. 12 Argo in the championship of the Windy City Ram Classic on Labor Day afternoon at Toyota Park.
The tournament employs an abbreviated playing time of two 35-minute halves which puts pressure on the offenses to take advantage of any opportunity that comes. Argo had some dangerous moments but only one truly significant shot on goal.
Bremen was the more aggressive team and facilitated a higher degree of possession and quality chances.
Junior Braves’ defender Donato Lagunas had been dangerous throughout the match. He had a free kick graze off the top of the bar earlier in the half. He was instrumental in the game-winning sequence, starting the scoring play with a sharp ball over the top that forced Argo keeper Saul Munoz to come off the line.
Midfielder Brandon Martinez Moreno beat Munoz to the ball and played it to the streaking Gomez.
“Honestly I was not thinking about anything else,” Gomez said. “I just wanted to shoot it and make sure it went in. Fortunately I got the goal and took advantage and started celebrating with everyone.”
Lagunas received the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match prize for his outstanding two-way play.
Bremen (7-1-0) was playing in its third-consecutive tournament championship. This year's championship squad is largely a new team. The nucleus of the 2015 tournament championship team and last year’s runnerup have graduated.
Only two players -- defender Elian Reyes and midfielder Fabian Lopez -- are returning starters from a year ago. Despite their inexperience, the Braves have impressively maintained their high-caliber play.
“We wanted to show people that we could still keep the legacy going,” said Donato Lagunas. His cousin Ricardo Avalos, a 2016 Chicagoland Soccer all-state forward, was the Braves’ leading scorer the last three years. “We lost my cousin, Ricardo, and he was a top goal scorer, so we needed a new one this year. We don’t want to stop here. We just want to keep going.”
Argo defender Julio Rodriguez recorded a spectacular header inside the box that deprived the Braves of their best first half scoring chance.
The Argonauts (4-1-0) opened the tournament by stunning favorite and defending Class AA state runnerup Mount Carmel 3-2. Argo rode that developing program pride and momentum all the way to the final. Both teams come out of the South Suburban Conference: the Blue Division for Bremen; the Red Division for the Argonauts.
Argo’s dynamic forward combination of Mateusz Bartyczak and Michael Budz utilized their speed to dent the interior of the Braves’ backline. Both defenses played exceptionally well, deftly closing spaces and not getting swallowed up in the immensity of the larger professional field.
“It was a great opportunity,” Bartyczak said. “It was amazing playing on that field. In the end we did not come out ready to play, and they deserved the win. They were tough defensively. They were smart, and they were very quick, and they made it very hard on us for sure.”
Just moments before the Braves’ goal, Budz generated the Argonauts’ top scoring chance. He wove through the back, saw his first shot deflected, only to show great resilience to get to the loose ball before anyone else and hammering a left-footed ball from a tight angle that Braves’ keeper Giovanny Martinez forcefully took hold of.
“It was a great save,” Budz said. Reflecting on the quick change of fortune, Budz said the resulting Bremen goal was a combination of factors. “It was both a mistake by our keeper and a great opportunity for them to score. We just got unlucky.”
Bremen’s back of Elian Reyes, Donato Lagunas, freshman Aldo Lagunas and Edgar Esparza nullified every thrust by the Argonauts. Argo generated a corner kick in the 66th minute that its defender Julio Rodriguez got a head on but the shot went off frame.
It was that kind of day.
“We did not come out to play today,” Argo coach John Gaytan said. “This was probably our worst game of the tournament. There was no energy or fire or spark. We were outplayed. They deserved to win. The offense did not do anything today.
“I always teach the kids the best defense is offense, and we did not have it today.”
Bremen had the favorable wind at the start of the second half. Donato Lagunas had a dangerous free kick just outside the box that deflected off the wall in addition to the free kick that skimmed off the side of the post.
“I thought in the second half with the wind we had a lot of great opportunities,” Bremen first-year coach Tom Piotrowski said. “I think we possessed the ball very well. There were a couple of times we made some errors, which I was not very happy with. Overall I think we possessed in the second half and outplayed them. We finally actually put one away.”
Piotrowski was the former sophomore coach who took over the program with the retirement of Steve Granat. Having a first hand view of the team’s youth and talent, Piotrowski knew his team had the pieces to compensate for the graduated talent.
“All of the younger guys from last year decided to step it up,” he said. “We have Aldo Lagunas, a freshman, a player we were not expecting, and he is already starting in the back. The kids work really well together. That is something we really have worked on, the team chemistry. When it comes to tournaments like this, that is often the difference.”
Starting lineups
Bremen
GK: Giovanny Martinez
D: Aldo Lagunas
D: Donato Lagunas
D: Edgar Esparza
D: Elian Reyes
MF: Fabian Lopez
MF: Omar Marquina-Reyes
MF: Diego Reyes
MF: Brandon Martinez Moreno
F: Juan Batrez
F: Jorge Gomez
Argo
GK: Saul Munoz
D: Julio Rodriguez
D: Armando Gallegos
D: Victor Martinez
D: Dominik Pituch
MF: Alan Garcia
MF: Jeovani Trinidad
MF: Sami Madoui
MF: Adrian Pituch
F: Mateusz Bartyczak
F: Michael Budz
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Donato Lagunas, jr., D, Bremen
Scoring summary
Second half
Bremen—Jorge Gomez (Brandon Martinez Moreno and Donato Lagunas), 48th minute
Forward overcomes nerves to give Braves 1-0 win over Argo
By Patrick Z. McGavin
BRIDGEVIEW -- Blessed with a great scoring chance, Jorge Gomez almost got caught looking ahead. With every significant scoring threat optimized, Gomez had an unambiguous situation: an open net and the ball at his feet.
The magnitude and importance of the moment was easy to get lost in in time or space.
“I almost missed it,” Gomez said. “I hit the post.”
Gomez redeemed his nervousness and earned a moment in the sun by blasting home a short volley that rattled off the near post before collecting in the back of the net in the 60th minute. The goal was the difference in 13th-ranked Bremen’s 1-0 victory over no. 12 Argo in the championship of the Windy City Ram Classic on Labor Day afternoon at Toyota Park.
The tournament employs an abbreviated playing time of two 35-minute halves which puts pressure on the offenses to take advantage of any opportunity that comes. Argo had some dangerous moments but only one truly significant shot on goal.
Bremen was the more aggressive team and facilitated a higher degree of possession and quality chances.
Junior Braves’ defender Donato Lagunas had been dangerous throughout the match. He had a free kick graze off the top of the bar earlier in the half. He was instrumental in the game-winning sequence, starting the scoring play with a sharp ball over the top that forced Argo keeper Saul Munoz to come off the line.
Midfielder Brandon Martinez Moreno beat Munoz to the ball and played it to the streaking Gomez.
“Honestly I was not thinking about anything else,” Gomez said. “I just wanted to shoot it and make sure it went in. Fortunately I got the goal and took advantage and started celebrating with everyone.”
Lagunas received the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match prize for his outstanding two-way play.
Bremen (7-1-0) was playing in its third-consecutive tournament championship. This year's championship squad is largely a new team. The nucleus of the 2015 tournament championship team and last year’s runnerup have graduated.
Only two players -- defender Elian Reyes and midfielder Fabian Lopez -- are returning starters from a year ago. Despite their inexperience, the Braves have impressively maintained their high-caliber play.
“We wanted to show people that we could still keep the legacy going,” said Donato Lagunas. His cousin Ricardo Avalos, a 2016 Chicagoland Soccer all-state forward, was the Braves’ leading scorer the last three years. “We lost my cousin, Ricardo, and he was a top goal scorer, so we needed a new one this year. We don’t want to stop here. We just want to keep going.”
Argo defender Julio Rodriguez recorded a spectacular header inside the box that deprived the Braves of their best first half scoring chance.
The Argonauts (4-1-0) opened the tournament by stunning favorite and defending Class AA state runnerup Mount Carmel 3-2. Argo rode that developing program pride and momentum all the way to the final. Both teams come out of the South Suburban Conference: the Blue Division for Bremen; the Red Division for the Argonauts.
Argo’s dynamic forward combination of Mateusz Bartyczak and Michael Budz utilized their speed to dent the interior of the Braves’ backline. Both defenses played exceptionally well, deftly closing spaces and not getting swallowed up in the immensity of the larger professional field.
“It was a great opportunity,” Bartyczak said. “It was amazing playing on that field. In the end we did not come out ready to play, and they deserved the win. They were tough defensively. They were smart, and they were very quick, and they made it very hard on us for sure.”
Just moments before the Braves’ goal, Budz generated the Argonauts’ top scoring chance. He wove through the back, saw his first shot deflected, only to show great resilience to get to the loose ball before anyone else and hammering a left-footed ball from a tight angle that Braves’ keeper Giovanny Martinez forcefully took hold of.
“It was a great save,” Budz said. Reflecting on the quick change of fortune, Budz said the resulting Bremen goal was a combination of factors. “It was both a mistake by our keeper and a great opportunity for them to score. We just got unlucky.”
Bremen’s back of Elian Reyes, Donato Lagunas, freshman Aldo Lagunas and Edgar Esparza nullified every thrust by the Argonauts. Argo generated a corner kick in the 66th minute that its defender Julio Rodriguez got a head on but the shot went off frame.
It was that kind of day.
“We did not come out to play today,” Argo coach John Gaytan said. “This was probably our worst game of the tournament. There was no energy or fire or spark. We were outplayed. They deserved to win. The offense did not do anything today.
“I always teach the kids the best defense is offense, and we did not have it today.”
Bremen had the favorable wind at the start of the second half. Donato Lagunas had a dangerous free kick just outside the box that deflected off the wall in addition to the free kick that skimmed off the side of the post.
“I thought in the second half with the wind we had a lot of great opportunities,” Bremen first-year coach Tom Piotrowski said. “I think we possessed the ball very well. There were a couple of times we made some errors, which I was not very happy with. Overall I think we possessed in the second half and outplayed them. We finally actually put one away.”
Piotrowski was the former sophomore coach who took over the program with the retirement of Steve Granat. Having a first hand view of the team’s youth and talent, Piotrowski knew his team had the pieces to compensate for the graduated talent.
“All of the younger guys from last year decided to step it up,” he said. “We have Aldo Lagunas, a freshman, a player we were not expecting, and he is already starting in the back. The kids work really well together. That is something we really have worked on, the team chemistry. When it comes to tournaments like this, that is often the difference.”
Starting lineups
Bremen
GK: Giovanny Martinez
D: Aldo Lagunas
D: Donato Lagunas
D: Edgar Esparza
D: Elian Reyes
MF: Fabian Lopez
MF: Omar Marquina-Reyes
MF: Diego Reyes
MF: Brandon Martinez Moreno
F: Juan Batrez
F: Jorge Gomez
Argo
GK: Saul Munoz
D: Julio Rodriguez
D: Armando Gallegos
D: Victor Martinez
D: Dominik Pituch
MF: Alan Garcia
MF: Jeovani Trinidad
MF: Sami Madoui
MF: Adrian Pituch
F: Mateusz Bartyczak
F: Michael Budz
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Donato Lagunas, jr., D, Bremen
Scoring summary
Second half
Bremen—Jorge Gomez (Brandon Martinez Moreno and Donato Lagunas), 48th minute