Barnes, Rao inspire Carmel on the road
Corsairs duo too much for host Notre Dame in 3-1 ESCC win
By Mike Garofola
NILES -- Henry Barnes and Rob Rao underscored why Carmel will be one of the teams the rest of the East Suburban Catholic Conference will chase this fall. The pair had a hand in the final two goals in the Corsairs' 3-1 victory Wednesday night at Notre Dame.
In the 32nd minute, Rao set up Barnes, who scored with a sensational one-time volley that capped a two-goal minute after Brett Cloe finished on a PK moments earlier.
"I'm really liking the way we've come along after that opening day loss to Round Lake," said Rao, who along with Austin Ehren up-top proved to be too much to handle for the host Dons (6-2-1, 1-2-0).
Notre Dame knew it was in for a battle against the Corsairs, who broke into the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 at no. 22 this week.
"We've seen plenty of film on Carmel, so we knew no. 23 (Ehren) brought so much speed up-top, while no. 4 (Rao), whose off to DePaul, was a terrific talent. So we knew what to expect, but we just had our troubles in the first half," said the Dons fine manager Mike Smith.
"We didn't agree on the PK awarded to Carmel, and certainly not the red card given to my assistant just afterwards, (but) that's not to take away anything from our opponent, because they are a very good team, which also is well coached."
Things looked to be almost impossible for the Dons during the early exchanges. The Corsairs (5-1-0, 2-0-0) created three deep throws, a pair of free kicks, and a corner all before the 10-minute mark.
Ehren would have the best look on frame but his redirected header went wide at 12 minutes. Although it was the most dangerous chance during the first 20 minutes, nearly all of the play was in the Notre Dame end, and the Dons defended with all their might in order to keep things even.
Notre Dame's Nick Teng skimmed the bar on his attempt from the left side to give the home side some hope in the 24th minute, but the Corsairs responded quickly with Rao having a go from 25 yards, which was followed by the senior doing his best to turn a low blast from Matt Fix around Dons keeper Michael Pierson.
The breakthrough came when it appeared the referee detected Dons junior Andres Barron having a good hold of Barnes jersey on the tail end of his enterprising run into the box.
The referee immediately pointed to the spot causing the Dons bench to howl its disgust, which didn't end when Brett Cloe drove in his spot kick in the 32nd-minute.
With the home crowd still upset with the PK, and subsequent red card dissent booking of the Dons assistant, Barnes added to the scoreline on a superb individual bit of work after Rao put him through with a gorgeous early ball.
"We gave each other great balls in order to score our goals. The one from Henry was much better, because it made it so easy to score," suggested Rao, who might reassess his claim after viewing his second half goal.
Rao split open the Dons in the back for Barnes who, nonetheless, needed to be crafty and strong to beat three opponents before going past Pierson, who had no chance to save the Corsairs second goal.
The 10-minute halftime break rejuvenated the Dons, who benefited from several tactical moves made by Smith. The biggest was the switch of his top player, Nick Feeney, from the backline into an outside midfield position on the left side.
"Nick plays left-back and left midfield for his club team, and we've moved him all around thus far in order to use his strengths. In the second half he became so involved in our attack and was a key player in a very good second half of soccer for us," said Smith.
The talented, natural left-footer nearly placed a perfect crossfield ball to the back post, then showed a high level soccer IQ when he dispossessed a Corsairs player - looked up to see keeper Kyle Knauer was off his line - and sent a quick snap-shot towards the goal hoping to chip Knauer.
The flurry showed that the intent of the home side was to valiantly fight back> Their effort did not go unnoticed by the Corsairs two stars of the night.
"A 2-0 lead is always so dangerous to have and manage, that's why our goal as a team is to always compete for 80 full minutes, nothing less," echoed both Barnes and Rao, who shared Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match honor.
"Every aspect of our game has to be 80-minutes worth, we've got to keep our heads in the game at all times. And I really feel that's something, as a team, that we have been getting better with each time out," said Barnes.
The second period included spectacular saves from both keepers. Knauer stepped up with the first of the night.
That's when the senior went airborne - seemingly staying aloft for what seemed like forever in order to stop a 35-yard missile from Feeney.
After Knauers' counterpart Pierson was booked in the 59th minute when he brought down Ehren just outside the box, John Mueller stepped in between the sticks for the Dons. After the junior watched the Cloe's ensuing free kick go off his wall, Mueller made a wonderful goal-saving stop after Ehren, on the turn, tried to beat him at the near post.
All of this action near the hour mark gave the Notre Dame faithful something to stand up and take notice of. When Barron thumped his close-range header in in the 64th minute, the cheers grew even louder.
"A great goal from us to get back into the game, but an even better one for Carmel to pull ours back," said Smith.
Barnes played into Rao, whose initial cracker from the six stung the gloves of Mueller on his half-stop momentary reaction save. But the pace and power of the left-footed smash from Rao eventually found the back of the net.
Pierson returned to turn around three-consecutive, in-close attempts from Ehren, Rao and Barnes before the clock had nothing but zeroes remaining at Legions Field.
"The first half of play might have been our best half of soccer this season," began Carmel manager Ray Krawzak.
"We did a lot of the little things really well, and put together some terrific attacking soccer. Later on when we needed to respond to Notre Dame coming at us.
"This wasn't an easy game for us, but I really was proud of how we reacted when push came to shove.
"There was five minutes before we finished the PK and after that everyone stepped up and played harder. And the same thing after they scored; we came back right away with a goal of our own to basically close them out."
Not to be overlooked in the Corsairs victory was the play of its backline, namely Cloe, Nate Passarelli, Eli Larson and Michael Handel, who limited the quality chances at their keeper Knauer. They were collectively strong in the tackle when it was required.
Carmel had its scheduled five-game homestand shortened when the game with Lake Forest Academy on Friday was canceled. The slightly abbreviated stands includes league foe Joliet Catholic (Saturday), Grayslake North (Sept. 20), and big ESCC games against St. Patrick (Sept. 21) and Benet (Sept. 22)
Notre Dame hosts Amundsen in a nonconference match Saturday. The Dons meet ESCC rivals Marist and Saint Viator next Monday and Wednesday respectively.
Starting lineups
Carmel
GK- Kyle Knauer
D- Nate Passarelli
D- Eli Larson
D- Brett Cloe
D- MIchael Handel
M- Henry Barnes
M- Carsten Murgas
M- Matt Fix
M- Sean Seidl
F- Austin Ehren
F- Rob Rao
Notre Dame
GK- Michael Pierson
D- Michael Pawlowski
D- Nick Feeney
D- Andres Barron
D- Roman Rajski
M- Joey Pollizzee
M- Nick Teng
M- David Mikolajczyk
M- John Walsh
F- Jaime Gutierrez
F- Phil Szutkiewisz
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match: Henry Barnes, sr., MF, Carmel
Rob Rao, sr., F, Carmel
Referee: Rafal Zielinski
Scoring summary
Carmel: Cloe (PK) 32', Barnes (Rao) 32', Rao (Barnes) 65'
Notre Dame: Barron (Pawlowski, Feeney) 64'
Corsairs duo too much for host Notre Dame in 3-1 ESCC win
By Mike Garofola
NILES -- Henry Barnes and Rob Rao underscored why Carmel will be one of the teams the rest of the East Suburban Catholic Conference will chase this fall. The pair had a hand in the final two goals in the Corsairs' 3-1 victory Wednesday night at Notre Dame.
In the 32nd minute, Rao set up Barnes, who scored with a sensational one-time volley that capped a two-goal minute after Brett Cloe finished on a PK moments earlier.
"I'm really liking the way we've come along after that opening day loss to Round Lake," said Rao, who along with Austin Ehren up-top proved to be too much to handle for the host Dons (6-2-1, 1-2-0).
Notre Dame knew it was in for a battle against the Corsairs, who broke into the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 at no. 22 this week.
"We've seen plenty of film on Carmel, so we knew no. 23 (Ehren) brought so much speed up-top, while no. 4 (Rao), whose off to DePaul, was a terrific talent. So we knew what to expect, but we just had our troubles in the first half," said the Dons fine manager Mike Smith.
"We didn't agree on the PK awarded to Carmel, and certainly not the red card given to my assistant just afterwards, (but) that's not to take away anything from our opponent, because they are a very good team, which also is well coached."
Things looked to be almost impossible for the Dons during the early exchanges. The Corsairs (5-1-0, 2-0-0) created three deep throws, a pair of free kicks, and a corner all before the 10-minute mark.
Ehren would have the best look on frame but his redirected header went wide at 12 minutes. Although it was the most dangerous chance during the first 20 minutes, nearly all of the play was in the Notre Dame end, and the Dons defended with all their might in order to keep things even.
Notre Dame's Nick Teng skimmed the bar on his attempt from the left side to give the home side some hope in the 24th minute, but the Corsairs responded quickly with Rao having a go from 25 yards, which was followed by the senior doing his best to turn a low blast from Matt Fix around Dons keeper Michael Pierson.
The breakthrough came when it appeared the referee detected Dons junior Andres Barron having a good hold of Barnes jersey on the tail end of his enterprising run into the box.
The referee immediately pointed to the spot causing the Dons bench to howl its disgust, which didn't end when Brett Cloe drove in his spot kick in the 32nd-minute.
With the home crowd still upset with the PK, and subsequent red card dissent booking of the Dons assistant, Barnes added to the scoreline on a superb individual bit of work after Rao put him through with a gorgeous early ball.
"We gave each other great balls in order to score our goals. The one from Henry was much better, because it made it so easy to score," suggested Rao, who might reassess his claim after viewing his second half goal.
Rao split open the Dons in the back for Barnes who, nonetheless, needed to be crafty and strong to beat three opponents before going past Pierson, who had no chance to save the Corsairs second goal.
The 10-minute halftime break rejuvenated the Dons, who benefited from several tactical moves made by Smith. The biggest was the switch of his top player, Nick Feeney, from the backline into an outside midfield position on the left side.
"Nick plays left-back and left midfield for his club team, and we've moved him all around thus far in order to use his strengths. In the second half he became so involved in our attack and was a key player in a very good second half of soccer for us," said Smith.
The talented, natural left-footer nearly placed a perfect crossfield ball to the back post, then showed a high level soccer IQ when he dispossessed a Corsairs player - looked up to see keeper Kyle Knauer was off his line - and sent a quick snap-shot towards the goal hoping to chip Knauer.
The flurry showed that the intent of the home side was to valiantly fight back> Their effort did not go unnoticed by the Corsairs two stars of the night.
"A 2-0 lead is always so dangerous to have and manage, that's why our goal as a team is to always compete for 80 full minutes, nothing less," echoed both Barnes and Rao, who shared Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match honor.
"Every aspect of our game has to be 80-minutes worth, we've got to keep our heads in the game at all times. And I really feel that's something, as a team, that we have been getting better with each time out," said Barnes.
The second period included spectacular saves from both keepers. Knauer stepped up with the first of the night.
That's when the senior went airborne - seemingly staying aloft for what seemed like forever in order to stop a 35-yard missile from Feeney.
After Knauers' counterpart Pierson was booked in the 59th minute when he brought down Ehren just outside the box, John Mueller stepped in between the sticks for the Dons. After the junior watched the Cloe's ensuing free kick go off his wall, Mueller made a wonderful goal-saving stop after Ehren, on the turn, tried to beat him at the near post.
All of this action near the hour mark gave the Notre Dame faithful something to stand up and take notice of. When Barron thumped his close-range header in in the 64th minute, the cheers grew even louder.
"A great goal from us to get back into the game, but an even better one for Carmel to pull ours back," said Smith.
Barnes played into Rao, whose initial cracker from the six stung the gloves of Mueller on his half-stop momentary reaction save. But the pace and power of the left-footed smash from Rao eventually found the back of the net.
Pierson returned to turn around three-consecutive, in-close attempts from Ehren, Rao and Barnes before the clock had nothing but zeroes remaining at Legions Field.
"The first half of play might have been our best half of soccer this season," began Carmel manager Ray Krawzak.
"We did a lot of the little things really well, and put together some terrific attacking soccer. Later on when we needed to respond to Notre Dame coming at us.
"This wasn't an easy game for us, but I really was proud of how we reacted when push came to shove.
"There was five minutes before we finished the PK and after that everyone stepped up and played harder. And the same thing after they scored; we came back right away with a goal of our own to basically close them out."
Not to be overlooked in the Corsairs victory was the play of its backline, namely Cloe, Nate Passarelli, Eli Larson and Michael Handel, who limited the quality chances at their keeper Knauer. They were collectively strong in the tackle when it was required.
Carmel had its scheduled five-game homestand shortened when the game with Lake Forest Academy on Friday was canceled. The slightly abbreviated stands includes league foe Joliet Catholic (Saturday), Grayslake North (Sept. 20), and big ESCC games against St. Patrick (Sept. 21) and Benet (Sept. 22)
Notre Dame hosts Amundsen in a nonconference match Saturday. The Dons meet ESCC rivals Marist and Saint Viator next Monday and Wednesday respectively.
Starting lineups
Carmel
GK- Kyle Knauer
D- Nate Passarelli
D- Eli Larson
D- Brett Cloe
D- MIchael Handel
M- Henry Barnes
M- Carsten Murgas
M- Matt Fix
M- Sean Seidl
F- Austin Ehren
F- Rob Rao
Notre Dame
GK- Michael Pierson
D- Michael Pawlowski
D- Nick Feeney
D- Andres Barron
D- Roman Rajski
M- Joey Pollizzee
M- Nick Teng
M- David Mikolajczyk
M- John Walsh
F- Jaime Gutierrez
F- Phil Szutkiewisz
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match: Henry Barnes, sr., MF, Carmel
Rob Rao, sr., F, Carmel
Referee: Rafal Zielinski
Scoring summary
Carmel: Cloe (PK) 32', Barnes (Rao) 32', Rao (Barnes) 65'
Notre Dame: Barron (Pawlowski, Feeney) 64'