Genoa-Kingston quick
strikes dispatch Byron
Goals less than a minute apart propel Cogs to conference win
By Len Eisele
GENOA - Genoa-Kingston continued their dominance in the Big Northern Conference with a 4-0 win over Byron.
The Cogs (8-1-0, 3-0-0) put the visitors in a 2-0 hole with less than five minutes gone in the game.
“That’s our mantra or theme, or whatever,” Cogs coach Randy Tate said. “We try to attack as quick as we can whenever we get an opportunity, counterattack as much as we can to take the other team out early.”
The Cogs started fast thanks to their midfield and defense. Senior defender and team captain Ben Younker booted a deep shot from midfield that bounced once and found the head of midfielder Diego Espinoza, who leapt in the air and knocked the ball home with a flying header for the 1-0 lead in the third minute.
The goal was Espinoza’s 10th goal on the season, the third best total on the team.
Less than a minute later, the Cogs struck again. This time it was Espinoza dealt a touch pass to team scoring leader Eagan Reams, who controlled the ball, dribbled around a defender in the center of the field and then smashed the ball into the net from about seven yards.
The senior likes Genoa-Kingston’s game plan.
“It’s definitely important, because I think it swings the momentum of the game,” Reams said. “When you score early you get in a rhythm and the other team loses momentum. It’s good scoring early, so we can keep rolling from there.”
The goal was Reams 21st of the season, which leads the Big Northern Conference.
Byron (3-4-0, 1-3-0) adjusted their defense after the quick goals and made the Cogs work harder, but the damage was done.
“We knew it was going to be tough coming in,” Byron coach Andy Stavnem said. “We just tried to play a little too defensive at the start, but we got back on track after the first five (minutes). It was 2-0 for the last 75 minutes, so their effort was there.”
Unable to get behind the Tigers defense for more quick scores, Genoa-Kingston employed an in-and-out approach to push their lead.
Junior Midfielder Leonardo Rocha passed the ball into the box to Reams, who quickly dished it behind him to Jorge Leon. The junior nailed the shot for a 3-0 Cogs lead with just over 20 minutes left in the half.
“When they work the ball like that, which is what we’ve been working on in practice, it makes you happy … , proud,” Tate said. “I like the way we’re working it.”
Leon finished up the scoring with another in-and-out pass, this time from Espinoza and Reams.
Reams knocked a quick touch pass to Espinoza, who quickly fired it back to Leon, who fired a laser shot into the top left corner of the net with just under three minutes gone in the second half to end the scoring.
Leon missed a hat-trick after launching the ball just over the net on a diving charge to the empty side of the net from four yards midway through the second half.
Byron played hard against one of the favorites for the conference crown.
“The second half went a lot better than the first half,” Tigers’ defender and senior captain said. “The first half was a little rough, but after the second goal we got our heads together and worked better as a team.”
When the Genoa-Kingston wasn’t scoring, it still controlled the ball in the offensive third. Cogs Goalkeeper Aaron Acosta earned the shutout without facing a single shot and barely broke a sweat.
On the flipside, Byron goalkeeper Nick Drake had an active afternoon. He never got much of a break with near-constant pressure and made 12 saves against the shot-happy Cogs.
“That keeper made some pretty good saves today, so we could have had some more goals,” Tate said. He did a good job down there.”
Drake’s best save came just after the Cogs scored their early goals. He made a leaping slap save off a rocket shot by Leon from just outside the box. Drake’s dive to the upper right got just enough of the ball to deflect it with a clang off the sidebar. His defense cleared the loose ball away.
One of the key players for the Cogs’ offensive possession was midfielder Aiden Tomlinson, who distributed the ball around the pitch and flustered Byron as it tried to clear the ball and get the offense moving.
“It’s one thing when they have some players up-top, but they’ve got skill positions throughout the middle,” Stavnem said. “(Tomlinson) really controls the game as their holding midfielder. It was a little different than what we had expected, so it made it a little more difficult.”
Tomlinson knows he has an important role patrolling the center of the pitch and distributing the ball.
“Controlling the midfield makes the game,” Tomlinson said. “If we control the midfield, the game is ours. We got dudes that want to keep moving the ball around. The way we keep doing that, I think it’s going to be a really good season. We have a lot of people that aren’t selfish this year. We all want to just help the team rather then just find goals.”
Starting lineups
Byron
GK Nick Drake
FB Owen Griffith
FB Mike Rock
FB Conner Lee
FB Caden Kretsinger
MF Hayden Swartz
MF Caleb McNeal
FW Jack Sober
FW Luke Mathieu
FW Neil Ebens
FW Preston Mrozek
Genoa-Kingston
GK Aaron Acosta
FB Nate Skarzynski
FB Eduardo Mercado
FB Ben Younker
FB Breck Pearson
MF Aiden Tomlinson
MF Leonardo Rocha
MF Diego Espinoza
FW Eagan Reams
FW Junior Leon
FW Jacob Barton
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Diego Espinoza, jr., MF, Genoa-Kingston
Scoring Summary
First half
Genoa-Kingston - Espinoza (Younker) 3rd minute
Genoa-Kingston - Reams (Espinoza) 4th minute
Genoa-Kingston - Leon (Reams) 19th minute
Second half
Genoa-Kingston - Leon (Espinoza) 42nd minute
strikes dispatch Byron
Goals less than a minute apart propel Cogs to conference win
By Len Eisele
GENOA - Genoa-Kingston continued their dominance in the Big Northern Conference with a 4-0 win over Byron.
The Cogs (8-1-0, 3-0-0) put the visitors in a 2-0 hole with less than five minutes gone in the game.
“That’s our mantra or theme, or whatever,” Cogs coach Randy Tate said. “We try to attack as quick as we can whenever we get an opportunity, counterattack as much as we can to take the other team out early.”
The Cogs started fast thanks to their midfield and defense. Senior defender and team captain Ben Younker booted a deep shot from midfield that bounced once and found the head of midfielder Diego Espinoza, who leapt in the air and knocked the ball home with a flying header for the 1-0 lead in the third minute.
The goal was Espinoza’s 10th goal on the season, the third best total on the team.
Less than a minute later, the Cogs struck again. This time it was Espinoza dealt a touch pass to team scoring leader Eagan Reams, who controlled the ball, dribbled around a defender in the center of the field and then smashed the ball into the net from about seven yards.
The senior likes Genoa-Kingston’s game plan.
“It’s definitely important, because I think it swings the momentum of the game,” Reams said. “When you score early you get in a rhythm and the other team loses momentum. It’s good scoring early, so we can keep rolling from there.”
The goal was Reams 21st of the season, which leads the Big Northern Conference.
Byron (3-4-0, 1-3-0) adjusted their defense after the quick goals and made the Cogs work harder, but the damage was done.
“We knew it was going to be tough coming in,” Byron coach Andy Stavnem said. “We just tried to play a little too defensive at the start, but we got back on track after the first five (minutes). It was 2-0 for the last 75 minutes, so their effort was there.”
Unable to get behind the Tigers defense for more quick scores, Genoa-Kingston employed an in-and-out approach to push their lead.
Junior Midfielder Leonardo Rocha passed the ball into the box to Reams, who quickly dished it behind him to Jorge Leon. The junior nailed the shot for a 3-0 Cogs lead with just over 20 minutes left in the half.
“When they work the ball like that, which is what we’ve been working on in practice, it makes you happy … , proud,” Tate said. “I like the way we’re working it.”
Leon finished up the scoring with another in-and-out pass, this time from Espinoza and Reams.
Reams knocked a quick touch pass to Espinoza, who quickly fired it back to Leon, who fired a laser shot into the top left corner of the net with just under three minutes gone in the second half to end the scoring.
Leon missed a hat-trick after launching the ball just over the net on a diving charge to the empty side of the net from four yards midway through the second half.
Byron played hard against one of the favorites for the conference crown.
“The second half went a lot better than the first half,” Tigers’ defender and senior captain said. “The first half was a little rough, but after the second goal we got our heads together and worked better as a team.”
When the Genoa-Kingston wasn’t scoring, it still controlled the ball in the offensive third. Cogs Goalkeeper Aaron Acosta earned the shutout without facing a single shot and barely broke a sweat.
On the flipside, Byron goalkeeper Nick Drake had an active afternoon. He never got much of a break with near-constant pressure and made 12 saves against the shot-happy Cogs.
“That keeper made some pretty good saves today, so we could have had some more goals,” Tate said. He did a good job down there.”
Drake’s best save came just after the Cogs scored their early goals. He made a leaping slap save off a rocket shot by Leon from just outside the box. Drake’s dive to the upper right got just enough of the ball to deflect it with a clang off the sidebar. His defense cleared the loose ball away.
One of the key players for the Cogs’ offensive possession was midfielder Aiden Tomlinson, who distributed the ball around the pitch and flustered Byron as it tried to clear the ball and get the offense moving.
“It’s one thing when they have some players up-top, but they’ve got skill positions throughout the middle,” Stavnem said. “(Tomlinson) really controls the game as their holding midfielder. It was a little different than what we had expected, so it made it a little more difficult.”
Tomlinson knows he has an important role patrolling the center of the pitch and distributing the ball.
“Controlling the midfield makes the game,” Tomlinson said. “If we control the midfield, the game is ours. We got dudes that want to keep moving the ball around. The way we keep doing that, I think it’s going to be a really good season. We have a lot of people that aren’t selfish this year. We all want to just help the team rather then just find goals.”
Starting lineups
Byron
GK Nick Drake
FB Owen Griffith
FB Mike Rock
FB Conner Lee
FB Caden Kretsinger
MF Hayden Swartz
MF Caleb McNeal
FW Jack Sober
FW Luke Mathieu
FW Neil Ebens
FW Preston Mrozek
Genoa-Kingston
GK Aaron Acosta
FB Nate Skarzynski
FB Eduardo Mercado
FB Ben Younker
FB Breck Pearson
MF Aiden Tomlinson
MF Leonardo Rocha
MF Diego Espinoza
FW Eagan Reams
FW Junior Leon
FW Jacob Barton
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Diego Espinoza, jr., MF, Genoa-Kingston
Scoring Summary
First half
Genoa-Kingston - Espinoza (Younker) 3rd minute
Genoa-Kingston - Reams (Espinoza) 4th minute
Genoa-Kingston - Leon (Reams) 19th minute
Second half
Genoa-Kingston - Leon (Espinoza) 42nd minute