Deerfield gets it done at Maine East
Wainer-Tatham connection keys Warriors' 2-1 CSL North win
By Gary Larsen
PARK RIDGE -- Maine East keeper Ramy Atia guessed correctly, but Deerfield senior Jude Tatham’s penalty kick still found the back netting, rolling past the post to effectively give his side the game-winning goal Monday.
Atia is tall, lean, and athletic but a dive to his left at the post wasn’t quite enough to get a hand on Tatham’s decisive shot.
“At this level it’s about placement, so I wasn’t trying to go for power,” Tatham said. “I just tried to put it in the corner. I made eye contact with him and didn’t give any signs where I was going.”
Of course, Deerfield’s 2-1 win over Maine East in a Central Suburban League North Division tilt didn’t boil down to Tatham’s PK alone. The true hero on that play was Deerfield midfielder Ari Wainer, for setting up the PK in the first place.
With Deerfield holding a 1-0 lead at 49 minutes, Wainer spun on a ball near the top of the box and back-heeled a perfect through-ball that sprang Tatham. Tatham was headed in alone on Atia but got tripped from behind to set up the penalty kick.
“I really like teaming up with (Wainer),” Tatham said. “Even though he’s a sophomore, I feel like the chemistry between me and him is just a little higher than I have with the other guys up-top.”
Monday’s game between Deerfield (3-6-1, 1-1-0) and Maine East (2-8-0, 0-3-0) featured two teams aiming to right their ships in the win-loss column.
The first half saw visiting Deerfield earn the lion’s share of the possession thanks to strong midfield play capped by a feed from midfielder Nikita Bankevich to Nicolas Compisi that gave Deerfield a 1-0 lead at 23 minutes.
The engine of any team’s attack is its midfield, and Deerfield’s mids shined through 40 minutes.
“It was mostly our ability to string some passes together and find some holes in their defense,” Deerfield coach Elliot Hurtig said. “It starts with our midfield, when we’ve got guys like Eric (Kenney) and Adam (Odzer) and (Bankevich) finding feet.”
In the middle of the field and 40 yards from goal, Bankevich angled a pass to the right side with Compisi making a run. Compisi went in alone on net and scored from 10 yards past a charging Atia.
Where Wainer’s pass illuminated the play that set up Deerfield’s second goal, Bankevich dismissed his pass that set up the first.
“That was all (Compisi), honestly,” Bankevich said. “He gave me an easy pass to play.”
Deerfield’s Tim Frenkel nearly raced down a dangerous chance behind the Maine East backline just three minutes in, but Atia charged out and beat him to a through-ball.
Deerfield sophomore keeper Josh Berman returned the favor two minutes later, racing out to beat Maine East’s Sebastian Onis to a ball 10 yards from goal.
Kenney, Nicholas Prus, and Ryan Grady each sent shots just wide of frame in the first half for Deerfield, and Wainer twice took balls deep on the left side and sent quality serves into the box. Frenkel nearly got a foot on a Wainer serve to the goalmouth at nine minutes but Atia came off his line and beat him to the ball.
Maine East earned a handful of corner kicks off its pressure in the first half, but none resulted in a dangerous shot on Deerfield keeper Josh Berman. Maine East’s Josue Parra fought to take a ball to the endline at 18 minutes, but Deerfield defender Jeff Lehrman intercepted and cleared Parra’s attempted centering pass.
Lehrman, a senior, only recently returned to action for Deerfield and is one of a handful of key players slowly coming back into the fold.
“We also got (Lehrman) back, and it looks like Logan Wallis will be back for us at midfield,” Hurtig said. “And we think our keeper will be back.”
Hurtig applauded the game sophomore Berman played in net Monday, but the imminent return of Grady to full-time goalkeeping chores would give Deerfield one of the best in the business between the pipes moving forward.
Grady is recovering from an injury suffered during the summer and has seen spot action as a forward this season.
Maine East brought its attack forward in the second half. Berman handled a head shot at 43 minutes and made a kick save on a point-blank chance at 45 minutes. Maine East’s Parra and Jean Noriega spearheaded runs that came up short of goals, before Tatham’s PK gave Deerfield its 2-0 lead.
Deerfield center back Ko Vandeneijkhoff destroyed a play to thwart Parra at 50 minutes, and the sophomore’s steady play in the face of Maine East’s second half pressure stood out.
“I thought that was (Vandeneijkhoff’s) best game at center back for us,” Hurtig said. “All year, Ari Wainer has been playing really solid both offensively and defensively, and Tim (Frenkel) played great up front for us. He’s got great energy.”
For his stalwart effort on Monday, Vandeneijkhoff was named Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match.
Maine East got its lone goal when Nikolaus Ryczek cleaned up a ball at the goal line after Berman made a fine initial save at 57 minutes.
Maine East fought hard for a tying goal in the final 20 minutes, but Deerfield was up to the task.
“They made some great plays and made some great runs,” Atia said. “But we played good defense. And then we would do the same thing and play some great balls through the center mid. Both teams were great competition.
“We played tough, but we have to finish our opportunities. (Berman) made pretty good saves to keep them in the game, and I tried to keep us in the game. We’re happy with the hard work we put in, but in the end it’s still a loss.”
After his boys had the better of play in the first half, Hurtig was impressed by Maine East after intermission.
“They played a really strong second half, and when they got the goal to make it 2-1, we lost our composure a little bit,” Hurtig said. “They were able to move through our midfield pretty easily, so give credit to their midfield. We tried to put an extra defender in the back, and it really didn’t help too much.”
Deerfield worked the ball to the flags in the game’s waning minutes and ate up clock to the final buzzer.
“It was a scrappy win. We practice for better soccer, but it’s nice to get the win,” Bankevich said. “We try to work hard as a team and show the desire to go and fight for the ball and fight for the game ourselves, rather than get on each other.
“It’s a little disappointing that we haven’t won as many games as we would have liked to, but it’s looking up. We’re practicing better, and we’re playing better.”
Tatham agreed, and he believes that patience toward fielding a healthy and more seasoned group by season’s end will pay off.
“We’re a young group. Half of us are seniors, and we have a lot of sophomores,” Tatham said. “We have guys that are still learning. For a lot of our defenders, it’s their first (varsity) year. So it’s tough to be losing this many games, but it’s a learning lesson, and we’re building.”
Starting lineups
Maine East
GK Ramy Atia
D Francisco Montesinos
D Antonio Morales
D Aleks Gligorevic
D Jonathan Luengas
M Sebastian Onis
M Schneider Chery
M Jose Salcedo
M Josue Parra
F Joshua Vazquez
F Jean Noriega
Deerfield
GK Josh Berman
D Nolan Horgan
D Ko Vandeneijkhoff
D Jack Hammontree
D Caden Howell
M Ari Wainer
M Nicholas Prus
M Nikita Bankevich
M Adam Odzer
M Erick Kenney
F Tim Frenkel
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ko Vandeneijkhoff, so., D, Deerfield
Scoring summary
First half
Deerfield — Compisi (Bankevich), 23 minutes
Second half
Deerfield — Tatham (PK), 49 minutes
Maine East — Ryczek (UA), 57 minutes
Wainer-Tatham connection keys Warriors' 2-1 CSL North win
By Gary Larsen
PARK RIDGE -- Maine East keeper Ramy Atia guessed correctly, but Deerfield senior Jude Tatham’s penalty kick still found the back netting, rolling past the post to effectively give his side the game-winning goal Monday.
Atia is tall, lean, and athletic but a dive to his left at the post wasn’t quite enough to get a hand on Tatham’s decisive shot.
“At this level it’s about placement, so I wasn’t trying to go for power,” Tatham said. “I just tried to put it in the corner. I made eye contact with him and didn’t give any signs where I was going.”
Of course, Deerfield’s 2-1 win over Maine East in a Central Suburban League North Division tilt didn’t boil down to Tatham’s PK alone. The true hero on that play was Deerfield midfielder Ari Wainer, for setting up the PK in the first place.
With Deerfield holding a 1-0 lead at 49 minutes, Wainer spun on a ball near the top of the box and back-heeled a perfect through-ball that sprang Tatham. Tatham was headed in alone on Atia but got tripped from behind to set up the penalty kick.
“I really like teaming up with (Wainer),” Tatham said. “Even though he’s a sophomore, I feel like the chemistry between me and him is just a little higher than I have with the other guys up-top.”
Monday’s game between Deerfield (3-6-1, 1-1-0) and Maine East (2-8-0, 0-3-0) featured two teams aiming to right their ships in the win-loss column.
The first half saw visiting Deerfield earn the lion’s share of the possession thanks to strong midfield play capped by a feed from midfielder Nikita Bankevich to Nicolas Compisi that gave Deerfield a 1-0 lead at 23 minutes.
The engine of any team’s attack is its midfield, and Deerfield’s mids shined through 40 minutes.
“It was mostly our ability to string some passes together and find some holes in their defense,” Deerfield coach Elliot Hurtig said. “It starts with our midfield, when we’ve got guys like Eric (Kenney) and Adam (Odzer) and (Bankevich) finding feet.”
In the middle of the field and 40 yards from goal, Bankevich angled a pass to the right side with Compisi making a run. Compisi went in alone on net and scored from 10 yards past a charging Atia.
Where Wainer’s pass illuminated the play that set up Deerfield’s second goal, Bankevich dismissed his pass that set up the first.
“That was all (Compisi), honestly,” Bankevich said. “He gave me an easy pass to play.”
Deerfield’s Tim Frenkel nearly raced down a dangerous chance behind the Maine East backline just three minutes in, but Atia charged out and beat him to a through-ball.
Deerfield sophomore keeper Josh Berman returned the favor two minutes later, racing out to beat Maine East’s Sebastian Onis to a ball 10 yards from goal.
Kenney, Nicholas Prus, and Ryan Grady each sent shots just wide of frame in the first half for Deerfield, and Wainer twice took balls deep on the left side and sent quality serves into the box. Frenkel nearly got a foot on a Wainer serve to the goalmouth at nine minutes but Atia came off his line and beat him to the ball.
Maine East earned a handful of corner kicks off its pressure in the first half, but none resulted in a dangerous shot on Deerfield keeper Josh Berman. Maine East’s Josue Parra fought to take a ball to the endline at 18 minutes, but Deerfield defender Jeff Lehrman intercepted and cleared Parra’s attempted centering pass.
Lehrman, a senior, only recently returned to action for Deerfield and is one of a handful of key players slowly coming back into the fold.
“We also got (Lehrman) back, and it looks like Logan Wallis will be back for us at midfield,” Hurtig said. “And we think our keeper will be back.”
Hurtig applauded the game sophomore Berman played in net Monday, but the imminent return of Grady to full-time goalkeeping chores would give Deerfield one of the best in the business between the pipes moving forward.
Grady is recovering from an injury suffered during the summer and has seen spot action as a forward this season.
Maine East brought its attack forward in the second half. Berman handled a head shot at 43 minutes and made a kick save on a point-blank chance at 45 minutes. Maine East’s Parra and Jean Noriega spearheaded runs that came up short of goals, before Tatham’s PK gave Deerfield its 2-0 lead.
Deerfield center back Ko Vandeneijkhoff destroyed a play to thwart Parra at 50 minutes, and the sophomore’s steady play in the face of Maine East’s second half pressure stood out.
“I thought that was (Vandeneijkhoff’s) best game at center back for us,” Hurtig said. “All year, Ari Wainer has been playing really solid both offensively and defensively, and Tim (Frenkel) played great up front for us. He’s got great energy.”
For his stalwart effort on Monday, Vandeneijkhoff was named Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match.
Maine East got its lone goal when Nikolaus Ryczek cleaned up a ball at the goal line after Berman made a fine initial save at 57 minutes.
Maine East fought hard for a tying goal in the final 20 minutes, but Deerfield was up to the task.
“They made some great plays and made some great runs,” Atia said. “But we played good defense. And then we would do the same thing and play some great balls through the center mid. Both teams were great competition.
“We played tough, but we have to finish our opportunities. (Berman) made pretty good saves to keep them in the game, and I tried to keep us in the game. We’re happy with the hard work we put in, but in the end it’s still a loss.”
After his boys had the better of play in the first half, Hurtig was impressed by Maine East after intermission.
“They played a really strong second half, and when they got the goal to make it 2-1, we lost our composure a little bit,” Hurtig said. “They were able to move through our midfield pretty easily, so give credit to their midfield. We tried to put an extra defender in the back, and it really didn’t help too much.”
Deerfield worked the ball to the flags in the game’s waning minutes and ate up clock to the final buzzer.
“It was a scrappy win. We practice for better soccer, but it’s nice to get the win,” Bankevich said. “We try to work hard as a team and show the desire to go and fight for the ball and fight for the game ourselves, rather than get on each other.
“It’s a little disappointing that we haven’t won as many games as we would have liked to, but it’s looking up. We’re practicing better, and we’re playing better.”
Tatham agreed, and he believes that patience toward fielding a healthy and more seasoned group by season’s end will pay off.
“We’re a young group. Half of us are seniors, and we have a lot of sophomores,” Tatham said. “We have guys that are still learning. For a lot of our defenders, it’s their first (varsity) year. So it’s tough to be losing this many games, but it’s a learning lesson, and we’re building.”
Starting lineups
Maine East
GK Ramy Atia
D Francisco Montesinos
D Antonio Morales
D Aleks Gligorevic
D Jonathan Luengas
M Sebastian Onis
M Schneider Chery
M Jose Salcedo
M Josue Parra
F Joshua Vazquez
F Jean Noriega
Deerfield
GK Josh Berman
D Nolan Horgan
D Ko Vandeneijkhoff
D Jack Hammontree
D Caden Howell
M Ari Wainer
M Nicholas Prus
M Nikita Bankevich
M Adam Odzer
M Erick Kenney
F Tim Frenkel
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ko Vandeneijkhoff, so., D, Deerfield
Scoring summary
First half
Deerfield — Compisi (Bankevich), 23 minutes
Second half
Deerfield — Tatham (PK), 49 minutes
Maine East — Ryczek (UA), 57 minutes