No gut, no glory? Collins stomachs
Loyola victory over Carmel
Odd goal off tummy sates Ramblers hunger for Senior Night win
By Bill McLean
GLENVIEW — James Collins used his abs to score an abnormal goal Thursday night.
Loyola’s 6-foot-6 senior forward rushed Carmel sophomore goalkeeper Luke Reynolds moments before the Corsair struck a clearing attempt just outside the top of the box in the 39th minute of the nonconference game.
Only a few feet separated the two when Collins’ belly absorbed the force of the kick and redirected the ball past Reynolds and toward the goal. It scooted some 15 yards toward the net with Collins trailing it for safe keeping. The unusual play accounted for his first goal of the season in the Ramblers’ 2-0 home victory on Senior Night.
A beaming Collins turned his tall frame around and then had to digest something completely different: congratulatory gestures from his ecstatic mates.
“It didn’t hurt,” Collins said of the resounding ricochet off his midsection.
An unusual goal?
Abs-olutely.
“Just did what I’ve been taught — pressure the goalkeeper and force a mistake,” said the humble Collins, who scored three goals in the Ramblers’ 12-win season last fall.
“A goal’s a goal,” smiling Ramblers senior forward Guillermo Echevarria-Robinson said. “James was right there, right where he needed to be at that moment. Good things happen when you work hard.
“Good for him.”
Collins, whose Gulliver-like build makes most futbolers look like Lilliputians, had missed his previous two shots versus the visitors from Mundelein in the cold conditions at Loyola’s Munz Campus. His first one sailed high in the 23rd minute on a rebound off the hands of Reynolds (seven saves). Another shot veered wide eight minutes later.
“James created a couple of dangerous chances for us before his goal,” first-year Loyola coach Dan Riskind said after his crew improved to 7-7-4. “He’s such a big presence out there.”
Collins earned Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match recognition for his perseverance, fearlessness and gut instinct in the regular-season finale for both squads.
Riskind deployed all three of his keepers in the shutout. Senior Jason Brunger (two saves) started and reentered in the 77th minute; senior Gael Olguin (save) and junior John Patrick Devron (save) also protected the twine of the victors.
Loyola senior attacking center midfielder Olivier Szorc drew a foul in the box in the 79th minute and then doubled the hosts’ advantage via PK.
Ramblers Luke Ojala, a sophomore midfielder, and Carlos Rodriguez, a senior back, made fine defensive plays in the second half.
“Good team win,” Riskind said.
Senior center back Mathew Gonzalez stood out for Carmel (8-10-2) in both halves. A left-side defender at the start of the season, he made a hard game look 1-plus-1-equals-2 easy, jamming Loyola possessions calmly before distributing the ball coolly to transitioning colleagues.
“Mathew gives us tenacity and energy,” Corsairs coach Robert Etheridge said. “He’s a fantastic performer, and he proved that once again tonight. His understanding of the game is impressive.
“What I also appreciate is Mathew’s ability on the ball; he never gets lost when he’s near the ball. Never. Great player.”
Carmel junior forward Max Mazzocco, who is blessed with a first-rate motor, had two chances to knot the match in a short span after intermission. Junior midfielder and co-captain Roman Lynch’s assertiveness and dribbling skills also got Loyola’s attention.
“Chances,” Etheridge lamented afterward. “We certainly had plenty of them in the second half. The scoreboard said we lost tonight, but I thought we dominated the play throughout.”
“Loyola,” Gonzalez added, “was good competition. This will help us, looking ahead to our playoff opener. It’ll come down to acceleration in the postseason. We have to get the ball rolling, establish momentum. To do that we have to finish our chances better than we did tonight.”
Loyola, seeded 11th in the Class 3A Glenbrook South Sectional, faces eighth-seeded Lane in an Evanston Regional semifinal Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Loyola finished with a 12-3-4 record last fall and landed no. 31 in Chicagoland Soccer’s Final 50 state poll.
“We’ll focus on scoring more,” Riskind said. “Our defense has been really, really good all season. Possession will be key in the postseason; any coach will tell you that. Timing and execution will be important, too.
“What should help us is the tough schedule we played,” he added, alluding to opponents like York, New Trier and Grayslake Central (ranked nos. 2, 7 and 14, respectively, in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25). Loyola lost all three tests by only a one-goal margin.
Reigning Class 3A state champion York edged Loyola 2-1 at the Streamwood Fall Classic on Sept. 17.
“I know we’re a solid team,” Riskind continued. “Lane is a good team, too.”
Carmel, seeded eighth in the Class AA Grayslake Central Sectional, hosts ninth-seeded Prairie Ridge in a regional semifinal Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
Footnotes
Loyola captured the Chicago Catholic League Blue Division title with a 4-1-1 record (13 points), three ahead of runnerup St. Laurence (2-0-4). The Ramblers last won the division in 2018. … Loyola bounced and chanted, “We want more!” several times following their post-match huddle Thursday night. … Loyola’s speedy, talent-laden Echevarria-Robinson on his role in 2022: “I’m a utility guy. Left back, center back, forward, put me anywhere. I’m also a workaholic, a workhorse.” Echevarria-Robinson’s sprint along a sideline, with the ball at his feet, thrilled the blanketed, knit-hat-wearing home fans in the third minute. Four minutes later he popped up to head away a Carmel corner-kick. … Riskind started all seniors on their special night Thursday and subbed Class of '23 keeper Olguin in for Brunger in the 17th minute. He then subbed nine Ramblers en masse four minutes later, producing a scene that looked like a bloated line change in hockey. “Reps. All of our goalkeepers got reps tonight,” Echevarria-Robinson said. “That’s a good thing with the playoffs just around the corner.” … Senior Night in all prep sports often have an exhibition feel to them since most host coaches will start players who normally don’t. But Loyola’s Senior Night match vs. Carmel had a this-game-matters feel from minute one to minute 80.
Starting lineups
Carmel
GK Luke Reynolds
D Mathew Gonzalez
D Aidan Fendel
D Sandro Pineda
D B.J. Mensah
MF Roman Lynch
MF Sammy Arroyo
MF Nikita Glokke
MF Andres Tellez
F Cooper Riley
F Max Mazzocco
Loyola
GK Jason Brunger
D Andrew Newton
D Joseph Vehovsky
D Carlos Rodriguez
MF Olivier Szorc
MF William Drehkoff
MF Clinton Birchard
MF Kwame Boateng
MF Cooper Ahlfors
F James Collins
F Guillermo Echevarria-Robinson
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
James Collins, sr., F, Loyola
Scoring summary
First half
Loyola — Collins (UA), 39’
Second half
Loyola — Szorc (PK), 79’
Loyola victory over Carmel
Odd goal off tummy sates Ramblers hunger for Senior Night win
By Bill McLean
GLENVIEW — James Collins used his abs to score an abnormal goal Thursday night.
Loyola’s 6-foot-6 senior forward rushed Carmel sophomore goalkeeper Luke Reynolds moments before the Corsair struck a clearing attempt just outside the top of the box in the 39th minute of the nonconference game.
Only a few feet separated the two when Collins’ belly absorbed the force of the kick and redirected the ball past Reynolds and toward the goal. It scooted some 15 yards toward the net with Collins trailing it for safe keeping. The unusual play accounted for his first goal of the season in the Ramblers’ 2-0 home victory on Senior Night.
A beaming Collins turned his tall frame around and then had to digest something completely different: congratulatory gestures from his ecstatic mates.
“It didn’t hurt,” Collins said of the resounding ricochet off his midsection.
An unusual goal?
Abs-olutely.
“Just did what I’ve been taught — pressure the goalkeeper and force a mistake,” said the humble Collins, who scored three goals in the Ramblers’ 12-win season last fall.
“A goal’s a goal,” smiling Ramblers senior forward Guillermo Echevarria-Robinson said. “James was right there, right where he needed to be at that moment. Good things happen when you work hard.
“Good for him.”
Collins, whose Gulliver-like build makes most futbolers look like Lilliputians, had missed his previous two shots versus the visitors from Mundelein in the cold conditions at Loyola’s Munz Campus. His first one sailed high in the 23rd minute on a rebound off the hands of Reynolds (seven saves). Another shot veered wide eight minutes later.
“James created a couple of dangerous chances for us before his goal,” first-year Loyola coach Dan Riskind said after his crew improved to 7-7-4. “He’s such a big presence out there.”
Collins earned Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match recognition for his perseverance, fearlessness and gut instinct in the regular-season finale for both squads.
Riskind deployed all three of his keepers in the shutout. Senior Jason Brunger (two saves) started and reentered in the 77th minute; senior Gael Olguin (save) and junior John Patrick Devron (save) also protected the twine of the victors.
Loyola senior attacking center midfielder Olivier Szorc drew a foul in the box in the 79th minute and then doubled the hosts’ advantage via PK.
Ramblers Luke Ojala, a sophomore midfielder, and Carlos Rodriguez, a senior back, made fine defensive plays in the second half.
“Good team win,” Riskind said.
Senior center back Mathew Gonzalez stood out for Carmel (8-10-2) in both halves. A left-side defender at the start of the season, he made a hard game look 1-plus-1-equals-2 easy, jamming Loyola possessions calmly before distributing the ball coolly to transitioning colleagues.
“Mathew gives us tenacity and energy,” Corsairs coach Robert Etheridge said. “He’s a fantastic performer, and he proved that once again tonight. His understanding of the game is impressive.
“What I also appreciate is Mathew’s ability on the ball; he never gets lost when he’s near the ball. Never. Great player.”
Carmel junior forward Max Mazzocco, who is blessed with a first-rate motor, had two chances to knot the match in a short span after intermission. Junior midfielder and co-captain Roman Lynch’s assertiveness and dribbling skills also got Loyola’s attention.
“Chances,” Etheridge lamented afterward. “We certainly had plenty of them in the second half. The scoreboard said we lost tonight, but I thought we dominated the play throughout.”
“Loyola,” Gonzalez added, “was good competition. This will help us, looking ahead to our playoff opener. It’ll come down to acceleration in the postseason. We have to get the ball rolling, establish momentum. To do that we have to finish our chances better than we did tonight.”
Loyola, seeded 11th in the Class 3A Glenbrook South Sectional, faces eighth-seeded Lane in an Evanston Regional semifinal Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Loyola finished with a 12-3-4 record last fall and landed no. 31 in Chicagoland Soccer’s Final 50 state poll.
“We’ll focus on scoring more,” Riskind said. “Our defense has been really, really good all season. Possession will be key in the postseason; any coach will tell you that. Timing and execution will be important, too.
“What should help us is the tough schedule we played,” he added, alluding to opponents like York, New Trier and Grayslake Central (ranked nos. 2, 7 and 14, respectively, in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25). Loyola lost all three tests by only a one-goal margin.
Reigning Class 3A state champion York edged Loyola 2-1 at the Streamwood Fall Classic on Sept. 17.
“I know we’re a solid team,” Riskind continued. “Lane is a good team, too.”
Carmel, seeded eighth in the Class AA Grayslake Central Sectional, hosts ninth-seeded Prairie Ridge in a regional semifinal Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
Footnotes
Loyola captured the Chicago Catholic League Blue Division title with a 4-1-1 record (13 points), three ahead of runnerup St. Laurence (2-0-4). The Ramblers last won the division in 2018. … Loyola bounced and chanted, “We want more!” several times following their post-match huddle Thursday night. … Loyola’s speedy, talent-laden Echevarria-Robinson on his role in 2022: “I’m a utility guy. Left back, center back, forward, put me anywhere. I’m also a workaholic, a workhorse.” Echevarria-Robinson’s sprint along a sideline, with the ball at his feet, thrilled the blanketed, knit-hat-wearing home fans in the third minute. Four minutes later he popped up to head away a Carmel corner-kick. … Riskind started all seniors on their special night Thursday and subbed Class of '23 keeper Olguin in for Brunger in the 17th minute. He then subbed nine Ramblers en masse four minutes later, producing a scene that looked like a bloated line change in hockey. “Reps. All of our goalkeepers got reps tonight,” Echevarria-Robinson said. “That’s a good thing with the playoffs just around the corner.” … Senior Night in all prep sports often have an exhibition feel to them since most host coaches will start players who normally don’t. But Loyola’s Senior Night match vs. Carmel had a this-game-matters feel from minute one to minute 80.
Starting lineups
Carmel
GK Luke Reynolds
D Mathew Gonzalez
D Aidan Fendel
D Sandro Pineda
D B.J. Mensah
MF Roman Lynch
MF Sammy Arroyo
MF Nikita Glokke
MF Andres Tellez
F Cooper Riley
F Max Mazzocco
Loyola
GK Jason Brunger
D Andrew Newton
D Joseph Vehovsky
D Carlos Rodriguez
MF Olivier Szorc
MF William Drehkoff
MF Clinton Birchard
MF Kwame Boateng
MF Cooper Ahlfors
F James Collins
F Guillermo Echevarria-Robinson
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
James Collins, sr., F, Loyola
Scoring summary
First half
Loyola — Collins (UA), 39’
Second half
Loyola — Szorc (PK), 79’