Early shock jolts Deerfield to late spark
Warriors earn impressive 1-1 tie at undefeated GBS
By Dave Owen
GLENVIEW – When undefeated Glenbrook South took just 25 seconds to take a 1-0 lead Tuesday, shorthanded Deerfield appeared it could be in for a long, gloomy night.
Instead, the visitors survived a continued Titans first half onslaught to remain within a goal. Then powered by a tactical change and a boisterous bench, Deerfield dug into its playbook for an equalizing goal with 19:24 left to earn a 1-1 road tie.
That tying goal was one part deception, one part great finish.
After a Tim Frenkel header try right of the goal went out off a Glenbrook South defender, the ensuing corner kick forged the eventual 1-1 tie.
Logan Wallis’ low corner strike towards the middle of the box was “dummied” by Ko Vandeneijkhoff. That fake of the shot allowed the send to reach Eric Kenney, who lined his open 15-yard shot into the lower left corner of the net.
“We’ve been working on that play in practice for awhile now,” Kenney said. “We’ve run it a few times, and it’s been pretty successful in the games. Sometimes it’s hard to get a shot off, but this time obviously everything worked out, and we got a great shot on net.”
Kenney’s first goal of 2018 highlighted a second half resurgence for Deerfield, whose woes both coming into the match and in the opening seconds could have been overwhelming.
“Our keeper Adam Odzer is out, we have Jeff Lehrman who’s concussed, and Ryan Grady is out,” Deerfield coach Elliott Hurtig said. “But we have guys filling in who are doing a great job.”
“We changed our shape a little bit (after halftime), and I think that helped give us some more control at midfield. And there was a great energy on the bench. It was a fun second half for us.”
The turning of the tide after a Glenbrook South-dominated first half wasn’t easy.
“They (the Titans) were just coming out with insane amounts of intensity,” Kenney said of the first half. “We were just trying to, I guess, hold on.
“At halftime we just kind of rebooted, and we were I’d say outplaying them in the second half. We were showing a lot of intensity and playing with a lot of heart. You could tell just on the bench. The guys were going crazy.”
Deerfield defender Jack Hammontree offered his own huge endorsement of the entire team’s emotional impact.
“The bench really got us into the game,” Hammontree said. “The first half we were playing kind of weak, but in the second half we picked it up a lot, and we started playing as a team more.”
Any Deerfield exuberance seemed impossible after Glenbrook South’s incredible opening seconds.
An immediate Titans attack, a Julian Issar send to the box and a Justin Leszynski finish put Deerfield down 1-0 in a flash, though thankfully not of lightning.
“We played a long ball in (off the opening whistle) to Jimmy (McMahon), and it went out of bounds,” Leszynski said. “Then off the throw-in, Jhovany (Guadarrama) tried to service the ball in, it deflected back out to Julian, who played a beautiful chip pass (to assist on the goal).
“We came out with a lot of energy. Coach (Reggie Lara) gave a pretty rousing talk in the locker room, and we came out and jumped ahead early. But after that we just took our foot off the pedal and really missed an opportunity to pick up three points (a win) here.”
After a miscue on the goal, Deerfield’s defense would not relent against continued Titans threats throughout the first 40 minutes.
“I thought the key is, when our defense is reading the long balls, we’re playing much better,” Hurtig said. “So when Jack or Ko were stepping back and not letting balls bounce or get over our heads like what happened in the first 20 seconds, it was much better. That’s what we’ve struggled with, and we have to be more consistent in that just reading the long balls.”
Glenbrook South remained on the offensive up 1-0. A sustained threat in the box in the 12th minute was repelled first by a Jude Tatham block, then a Hammontree clear. Then in the 18th minute, the nearest of misses for the Titans – a header off the crossbar off a Guadarrama corner kick, then cleared by Kenney.
Another great chance for an insurance goal came in the 34th minute, when a Blake Shechtman pass sprung Matthew Ruth in on right wing for a low shot inches wide of the left post.
“We had a lot of dangerous opportunities the whole first half, and just couldn’t put them away,” Lara said. “And when you don’t put those chances away, tough, gritty teams like this (Deerfield) will come back. And you’ll see the result like we did today. They could have even snuck a win against us.”
The Deerfield comeback from the continued series of Titans threats began with the last quality chance of the first half.
In the 37th minute, Tatham was fouled near the sideline to set up a Vandeneijkhoff free kick from the 8-yard-line right of the box. After the Titan defense’s initial block, Tatham recovered the loose ball and lined a shot just wide of the right post.
That Glenbrook South defensive stand followed nice defense on first half set pieces by Issar (interception of a corner kick send in the 14th minute) and Gavin Morse (who had a clear of a Nicholas Prus corner kick in the 16th minute, and two header blocks of Deerfield free kicks beyond 30 yards).
Setting the tone with a shot on goal three minutes into the second half, Deerfield upped its intensity after the halftime break.
“Me and Ko started playing back more, and we moved the midfield back too,” Hammontree said. “That really helped us out, and we played much better.
“We all knew that we had to keep our heads in the game (after the first minute Glenbrook South goal) and just keep fighting for the team.”
Deerfield’s second half resurgence continued with 30:10 left. Off a 53-yard free kick by Vandeneijkhoff, Wallis lined a high 25-yard shot just wide of the right post.
The best chance yet followed 50 seconds later on a Prus rush up the middle and 12-yard shot. Titans goalkeeper Ethan Dill somehow got a hand on the low drive to deflect the ball just wide of the right post.
Issar’s clear of the ensuing corner kick ended the danger then. But the next Deerfield corner kick just under 10 minutes later would pay off for the visitors with Kenney’s tying goal, and a confidence-building second half effort.
“I think we could definitely get some momentum off this,” Kenney said. “These guys (Glenbrook South) are a great team. So although it’s not a win, it’s still a great result. I think we can definitely build on it.”
Beyond the well-executed finish, Hurtig saw plenty of other standout performances from his team.
“I thought Nolan (Horgan) did an outstanding job on McMahon,” Hurtig said. “At the beginning I was a bit worried, but after about the first seven or eight minutes he settled into it, and I thought for the most part he shut him down. He (Horgan) is a very physical defender and tough to get by.
“And in the second half in our midfield, Eric Kinney, Logan Wallis and Ari Wainer were really strong. We changed our shape in the second half, and I think it really helped solidify the midfield. I thought those three guys were fantastic in the second half. We have to have the midfield win tackles, and when we’re not doing that it’s tough for us.”
Glenbrook South nearly answered the Kenney goal with its own nice set piece.
With 17:15 left, McMahon’s left side 35-yard free kick was perfectly struck low towards the right corner of the goal. But Deerfield goalkeeper Josh Berman lunged to his right to make a nice short hop block of the skipping liner, spinning it wide of frame.
A Titans corner kick with 6:50 left and a Vandeneijkhoff 43-yard free kick with 3:05 to go were both repelled – with a Tatham 20-yard one-hop shot on goal the end result of the latter threat.
Deerfield’s ability to endure major early adversity and tie an unbeaten opponent on the road while shorthanded bodes well for the rest of 2018.
“We still need to improve a lot on the first half basically,” Hammontree said. “But we just have to keep rolling with the waves and keep going.”
For Glenbrook South, the 1-1 end result on the scoreboard was a mixed blessing at best.
“It’s funny, because we’re upset, even though we’re undefeated still,” Lara said. “But the reason why the coaches and players are a little disappointed is that we all know that we’re capable of better.”
Success unparalleled in program history can create those standards.
“We won our own Wolter-Titan invite (in August),” Lara said, “and it was the first time in the 33 years of our tournament history that we’ve won back-to-back tournament championships. That was quite a feat that the boys are proud of.
“This (Wednesday) wasn’t our best performance overall. It seems like our last couple games, I don’t know if it’s from being tired and sore from our own tournament, but I think our first touch has taken a little decline lately. And when that’s happening, it’s really hard to execute.
“But we’ve got to learn from these opportunities we’ve had and just make sure we’re putting chances away,” Lara added. “Have a cleaner touch, possess the ball better and no defensive miscommunications like we had today. I think that’s why I’m really thankful that this is happening now as opposed to during playoffs or our CSL division games.”
After the ups and downs of Wednesday’s match, the Titans look to dig deeper.
“We’re coming off the tournament win, a huge emotional high,” Leszynski said. “However we kind of reached a plateau after that, and we need to keep grinding through. We need to keep going up. We can’t have that be the only highlight of our season, like coach has said repeatedly.
“When you’re playing well you have to stay motivated. It’s a grind.”
Starting lineups
Deerfield
GK Josh Berman
D Ben Taxman
D Jack Hammontree
D Nolan Horgan
D Ko Vandeneijkhoff
M Ari Wainer
M Eric Kenney
M Jude Tatham
M Logan Wallis
F Nikita Bankevich
F Tim Frenkel
Glenbrook South:
GK Ethan Dill
D Michael Zenzola
D Gavin Morse
D Drew Maytum
D Matthew Ruth
M Tengis Purevrentsen
M Jhovany Guadarrama
M Jason Leszynski
M Zach Ochab
M Julian Issar
F Justin Leszynski
F Jimmy McMahon
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Eric Kenney, sr. M, Deerfield
Scoring summary
First half
GBS – Justin Leszynski (Julian Issar), 1st minute
Second half
D – Eric Kenney (Logan Wallis), 61st minute
Warriors earn impressive 1-1 tie at undefeated GBS
By Dave Owen
GLENVIEW – When undefeated Glenbrook South took just 25 seconds to take a 1-0 lead Tuesday, shorthanded Deerfield appeared it could be in for a long, gloomy night.
Instead, the visitors survived a continued Titans first half onslaught to remain within a goal. Then powered by a tactical change and a boisterous bench, Deerfield dug into its playbook for an equalizing goal with 19:24 left to earn a 1-1 road tie.
That tying goal was one part deception, one part great finish.
After a Tim Frenkel header try right of the goal went out off a Glenbrook South defender, the ensuing corner kick forged the eventual 1-1 tie.
Logan Wallis’ low corner strike towards the middle of the box was “dummied” by Ko Vandeneijkhoff. That fake of the shot allowed the send to reach Eric Kenney, who lined his open 15-yard shot into the lower left corner of the net.
“We’ve been working on that play in practice for awhile now,” Kenney said. “We’ve run it a few times, and it’s been pretty successful in the games. Sometimes it’s hard to get a shot off, but this time obviously everything worked out, and we got a great shot on net.”
Kenney’s first goal of 2018 highlighted a second half resurgence for Deerfield, whose woes both coming into the match and in the opening seconds could have been overwhelming.
“Our keeper Adam Odzer is out, we have Jeff Lehrman who’s concussed, and Ryan Grady is out,” Deerfield coach Elliott Hurtig said. “But we have guys filling in who are doing a great job.”
“We changed our shape a little bit (after halftime), and I think that helped give us some more control at midfield. And there was a great energy on the bench. It was a fun second half for us.”
The turning of the tide after a Glenbrook South-dominated first half wasn’t easy.
“They (the Titans) were just coming out with insane amounts of intensity,” Kenney said of the first half. “We were just trying to, I guess, hold on.
“At halftime we just kind of rebooted, and we were I’d say outplaying them in the second half. We were showing a lot of intensity and playing with a lot of heart. You could tell just on the bench. The guys were going crazy.”
Deerfield defender Jack Hammontree offered his own huge endorsement of the entire team’s emotional impact.
“The bench really got us into the game,” Hammontree said. “The first half we were playing kind of weak, but in the second half we picked it up a lot, and we started playing as a team more.”
Any Deerfield exuberance seemed impossible after Glenbrook South’s incredible opening seconds.
An immediate Titans attack, a Julian Issar send to the box and a Justin Leszynski finish put Deerfield down 1-0 in a flash, though thankfully not of lightning.
“We played a long ball in (off the opening whistle) to Jimmy (McMahon), and it went out of bounds,” Leszynski said. “Then off the throw-in, Jhovany (Guadarrama) tried to service the ball in, it deflected back out to Julian, who played a beautiful chip pass (to assist on the goal).
“We came out with a lot of energy. Coach (Reggie Lara) gave a pretty rousing talk in the locker room, and we came out and jumped ahead early. But after that we just took our foot off the pedal and really missed an opportunity to pick up three points (a win) here.”
After a miscue on the goal, Deerfield’s defense would not relent against continued Titans threats throughout the first 40 minutes.
“I thought the key is, when our defense is reading the long balls, we’re playing much better,” Hurtig said. “So when Jack or Ko were stepping back and not letting balls bounce or get over our heads like what happened in the first 20 seconds, it was much better. That’s what we’ve struggled with, and we have to be more consistent in that just reading the long balls.”
Glenbrook South remained on the offensive up 1-0. A sustained threat in the box in the 12th minute was repelled first by a Jude Tatham block, then a Hammontree clear. Then in the 18th minute, the nearest of misses for the Titans – a header off the crossbar off a Guadarrama corner kick, then cleared by Kenney.
Another great chance for an insurance goal came in the 34th minute, when a Blake Shechtman pass sprung Matthew Ruth in on right wing for a low shot inches wide of the left post.
“We had a lot of dangerous opportunities the whole first half, and just couldn’t put them away,” Lara said. “And when you don’t put those chances away, tough, gritty teams like this (Deerfield) will come back. And you’ll see the result like we did today. They could have even snuck a win against us.”
The Deerfield comeback from the continued series of Titans threats began with the last quality chance of the first half.
In the 37th minute, Tatham was fouled near the sideline to set up a Vandeneijkhoff free kick from the 8-yard-line right of the box. After the Titan defense’s initial block, Tatham recovered the loose ball and lined a shot just wide of the right post.
That Glenbrook South defensive stand followed nice defense on first half set pieces by Issar (interception of a corner kick send in the 14th minute) and Gavin Morse (who had a clear of a Nicholas Prus corner kick in the 16th minute, and two header blocks of Deerfield free kicks beyond 30 yards).
Setting the tone with a shot on goal three minutes into the second half, Deerfield upped its intensity after the halftime break.
“Me and Ko started playing back more, and we moved the midfield back too,” Hammontree said. “That really helped us out, and we played much better.
“We all knew that we had to keep our heads in the game (after the first minute Glenbrook South goal) and just keep fighting for the team.”
Deerfield’s second half resurgence continued with 30:10 left. Off a 53-yard free kick by Vandeneijkhoff, Wallis lined a high 25-yard shot just wide of the right post.
The best chance yet followed 50 seconds later on a Prus rush up the middle and 12-yard shot. Titans goalkeeper Ethan Dill somehow got a hand on the low drive to deflect the ball just wide of the right post.
Issar’s clear of the ensuing corner kick ended the danger then. But the next Deerfield corner kick just under 10 minutes later would pay off for the visitors with Kenney’s tying goal, and a confidence-building second half effort.
“I think we could definitely get some momentum off this,” Kenney said. “These guys (Glenbrook South) are a great team. So although it’s not a win, it’s still a great result. I think we can definitely build on it.”
Beyond the well-executed finish, Hurtig saw plenty of other standout performances from his team.
“I thought Nolan (Horgan) did an outstanding job on McMahon,” Hurtig said. “At the beginning I was a bit worried, but after about the first seven or eight minutes he settled into it, and I thought for the most part he shut him down. He (Horgan) is a very physical defender and tough to get by.
“And in the second half in our midfield, Eric Kinney, Logan Wallis and Ari Wainer were really strong. We changed our shape in the second half, and I think it really helped solidify the midfield. I thought those three guys were fantastic in the second half. We have to have the midfield win tackles, and when we’re not doing that it’s tough for us.”
Glenbrook South nearly answered the Kenney goal with its own nice set piece.
With 17:15 left, McMahon’s left side 35-yard free kick was perfectly struck low towards the right corner of the goal. But Deerfield goalkeeper Josh Berman lunged to his right to make a nice short hop block of the skipping liner, spinning it wide of frame.
A Titans corner kick with 6:50 left and a Vandeneijkhoff 43-yard free kick with 3:05 to go were both repelled – with a Tatham 20-yard one-hop shot on goal the end result of the latter threat.
Deerfield’s ability to endure major early adversity and tie an unbeaten opponent on the road while shorthanded bodes well for the rest of 2018.
“We still need to improve a lot on the first half basically,” Hammontree said. “But we just have to keep rolling with the waves and keep going.”
For Glenbrook South, the 1-1 end result on the scoreboard was a mixed blessing at best.
“It’s funny, because we’re upset, even though we’re undefeated still,” Lara said. “But the reason why the coaches and players are a little disappointed is that we all know that we’re capable of better.”
Success unparalleled in program history can create those standards.
“We won our own Wolter-Titan invite (in August),” Lara said, “and it was the first time in the 33 years of our tournament history that we’ve won back-to-back tournament championships. That was quite a feat that the boys are proud of.
“This (Wednesday) wasn’t our best performance overall. It seems like our last couple games, I don’t know if it’s from being tired and sore from our own tournament, but I think our first touch has taken a little decline lately. And when that’s happening, it’s really hard to execute.
“But we’ve got to learn from these opportunities we’ve had and just make sure we’re putting chances away,” Lara added. “Have a cleaner touch, possess the ball better and no defensive miscommunications like we had today. I think that’s why I’m really thankful that this is happening now as opposed to during playoffs or our CSL division games.”
After the ups and downs of Wednesday’s match, the Titans look to dig deeper.
“We’re coming off the tournament win, a huge emotional high,” Leszynski said. “However we kind of reached a plateau after that, and we need to keep grinding through. We need to keep going up. We can’t have that be the only highlight of our season, like coach has said repeatedly.
“When you’re playing well you have to stay motivated. It’s a grind.”
Starting lineups
Deerfield
GK Josh Berman
D Ben Taxman
D Jack Hammontree
D Nolan Horgan
D Ko Vandeneijkhoff
M Ari Wainer
M Eric Kenney
M Jude Tatham
M Logan Wallis
F Nikita Bankevich
F Tim Frenkel
Glenbrook South:
GK Ethan Dill
D Michael Zenzola
D Gavin Morse
D Drew Maytum
D Matthew Ruth
M Tengis Purevrentsen
M Jhovany Guadarrama
M Jason Leszynski
M Zach Ochab
M Julian Issar
F Justin Leszynski
F Jimmy McMahon
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Eric Kenney, sr. M, Deerfield
Scoring summary
First half
GBS – Justin Leszynski (Julian Issar), 1st minute
Second half
D – Eric Kenney (Logan Wallis), 61st minute