Downers Grove North's pressure
takes down Leyden
Ryan’s hat-trick leads 4-1 win in St. Charles Invitational
By Chris R. Walker
ST. CHARLES – In addition to being a talented athlete, Jack Ryan is quite humble.
Despite stealing the show with a hat-trick to lead Downers Grove North to a 4-1 victory over Leyden during Monday afternoon’s game in the St. Charles Invitational, he was quick to deflect the glory.
“We have a ton of guys up there that can score goals,” he said. “We were just better up front today connecting our passes. It was the whole team thing. I was just there to finish it off.”
Ryan wasn’t around Saturday to help the Trojans, he was taking the SAT while the Trojans dropped their tournament opener to tourney co-host St. Charles East 3-1.
“It’s just my second time playing striker,” he said. “I’m more a midfielder, winger attacking player. I want to be someone who is reliable to score goals and being able to get three is great. We had good movement up-top.”
While it was Ryan’s first three-goal performance at Downers Grove North, his coach Mike Schmitt wasn’t the least bit surprised to see the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match shine with his strikes so early in the schedule.
“He came into the season with a mindset that he’s going to be dangerous this year and try to score some goals,” Schmitt said. “He hit the mark (scored the game-winner) right off the bat on Thursday (2-1 come-from-behind victory over Bartlett) and unfortunately was taking the SAT on Saturday. We missed having him here, but he made up for it tonight getting those three goals. The team was pretty vulnerable after giving up a goal, so he wanted to make Leyden pay for it real quick and get an advantage as well.”
Leyden (0-3-1) jumped on the Trojans early, scoring the game’s opener near the end of the fifth minute. Javier Solis assisted Oliver Salgado on the opener.
“I was very happy with the start which lifted our spirits and may have demoralized others,” Leyden coach Mark Valintis said. “But the Downers kids rebounded. After that first 10 minutes, they really took it to us and controlled the pace. No. 9 (Jack Ryan) and no. 10 (Ryan Wilson) found space left and right, and we had a really hard time. They created a lot of good chances.”
Downers Grove North senior defender Bradley Szydlowski said conceding an early goal was a matter of misfortune, but the Trojans learned from it.
“It was really unlucky,” he said. “They stepped really hard in the first few minutes, and we just weren’t ready for it, kind of sleeping on the job. They got that first one, and we had to buckle down. As soon as we got that first goal, everything started coming, and we just kept going.”
A year ago, Schmitt’s team might not have responded so strongly.
“We didn’t have the best record last year, so we were used to having to fight and fight and keep going,” Szydlowski said. “I think one of the best things about the team, since we all played together last year, most of us, is that we know each other. We know how hard we have to work to get back into the game and just keep going basically.”
Ryan’s game-tying 30-yard free kick with 19:01 left in the first half didn’t seem like that great of a chance. He had hit his try the long distance after Leyden had time to set up its wall. Somehow he found a way to convert the attempt, quickly earning the praise of the opposing coach
“He couldn’t have thrown a dart any better than he did, so hat’s off to him,” Valintis said. “There was nothing our wall or a goalie could do on that. But we were happy to go into half at 1-1. I thought we struggled when we stopped their attack to maintain possession of the ball to create a counter.”
Downers Grove North (2-1-0) broke the game open in 37 seconds early in the second half. The tie game turned into a 3-1 Trojans lead.
Ryan drew a foul with 33:50 left and took advantage of his ensuing PK attempt to give the Trojans their first lead of the afternoon. Next, he was the recipient of a tremendous pass from junior Tomislav Petkovski, who infiltrated deep into the penalty area before sending a ball toward Ryan who blasted it home for a two-goal lead and his milestone hat-trick.
“It was being in the right position with great movement,” Ryan said. “That’s the stuff you work on in practice and never expect to pull off in a game. It was really good ball movement, and it just was exactly what we wanted to do.”
Senior Salvador Ontiveros would add to the lead midway through the second half. Junior Aldo Velazquez tapped a pass ahead to Ontiveros, who buried his shot from the right side of the penalty area to complete the scoring.
“We always talk about hitting the ball, trying to get it on target and hitting it right away,” Ontiveros said. “That was kind of my first instinct. The ball was played perfectly, and I just shot it in.”
Leyden was unable to match its quick start with a big finish, but the Eagles did threaten at times.
“We’re creating chances, but not finishing them,” Valintis said. “If we were not sniffing the penalty box then we’d have a bigger mountain to climb, but we’re still looking for scoring. Danny Guevara (one of the team’s three captains) is out with a concussion so that hurts.”
The majority of Leyden’s chances came from Solis. The talent around him continues to improve as the roster gains experience. The Eagles started five sophomores and only three seniors.
“Oliver (Salgado) was brought up last year as a sophomore along with freshmen (now sophomores) Fabian Rodriguez, Yadier De La Cruz, Stefano Andrino and Brandon Delgado. They’re all young but are pretty solid and are going to make young, aggressive mistakes which a coach can handle. And all those guys put in work in the offseason. Some played club, some did a lot of stuff with the school with weightlifting, camps and intramurals. We’re glad we can provide stuff for them year-round.”
Monday afforded the Eagles with an opportunity to learn from the mistakes that occur when young teams go head-to-head against a team like Downers Grove North, which started all upperclassmen.
“We are going to have to experience a lot of things and probably learn to fail before we learn how to win,” Valintis said. “We’ve played well at times. Stevenson (a 3-3 tie Aug. 25) was a good, hard-fought game, and we probably deserved better than a 1-0 loss to West Chicago.
“Credit to Downers for being pretty dynamic on top and showing us some things we hadn’t seen this year. Those are the kinds of things we have to grow and learn from.”
At least in personnel terms, Leyden looks a lot like Downers Grove North did a year ago with so many sophomores playing prominent roles. The Trojans went 6-15-0 last year but nine of their losses were by a single goal. Coincidentally, they lost nine more games than they won.
“We were pretty young last year,” Schmitt said “We ran with a lot of sophomores last year to get them experience at the varsity level so it was baptism by fire. At one point we had to rely on a lot of sophomores for most of our starting 11. So, I think that’s paid off going into this season, because they were aware of what to expect.”
Even after falling behind right away, the Trojans fought right back. Less experienced teams that aren’t mentally strong often don’t recover.
“It took us a little bit to get started, but I think getting scored on like that was kind of a wake up and from that point on and for the last 70 minutes we battled,” Schmitt said. “We were very competitive and grabbed hold of the game, got the goals in the second half and played a more aggressive, more physical game.”
Downers Grove North played with passion and a purpose, and everyone can see the positive results. Last year the Trojans didn’t win their second game until Sept. 14. If you check your calendar, it’s still August.
“We are on the same level as anybody we play, but we just have to outwork them,” Ryan said. “If we outwork anybody we’re going to score goals. It’s simple sometimes. When you outwork them, you’re going to keep after the ball, they’re going to get tired and I’m going to be there to get goals.”
Starting lineups
Leyden
GK: Daniel Llanos
D: Stefano Andrino
D: Yadier De La Cruz
D: Avi Flores
D: Ryan Pikor
D: Fabian Rodriguez
MF: Javier Solis
MF: Oliver Salgado
MF: Rafa Nozka
F: Diego Negrete
F: Brandon Delgado
Downers Grove North
GK: Will Barnett
D: Owen Cross
D: James Harkness
D: Holden Peckenpaugh
D: Tomislav Petkovski
D: Bradley Szydlowski
MF: Jackson Irby
MF: Ben Llewellyn
MF: Quinn O’Reilly
F: Jack Ryan
F: Ryan Wilson
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Jack Ryan, sr., MF, Downers Grove North
Scoring summary
First half
Leyden: Oliver Salgado (Javier Solis), 4:55
Downers Grove North: Jack Ryan (free kick), 19:01
Second half
Downers Grove North: Jack Ryan (penalty kick), 46:10
Downers Grove North: Jack Ryan (Tomislav Petkovski), 46:37
Downers Grove North: Salvador Ontiveros (Aldo Valazquez), 60:07
takes down Leyden
Ryan’s hat-trick leads 4-1 win in St. Charles Invitational
By Chris R. Walker
ST. CHARLES – In addition to being a talented athlete, Jack Ryan is quite humble.
Despite stealing the show with a hat-trick to lead Downers Grove North to a 4-1 victory over Leyden during Monday afternoon’s game in the St. Charles Invitational, he was quick to deflect the glory.
“We have a ton of guys up there that can score goals,” he said. “We were just better up front today connecting our passes. It was the whole team thing. I was just there to finish it off.”
Ryan wasn’t around Saturday to help the Trojans, he was taking the SAT while the Trojans dropped their tournament opener to tourney co-host St. Charles East 3-1.
“It’s just my second time playing striker,” he said. “I’m more a midfielder, winger attacking player. I want to be someone who is reliable to score goals and being able to get three is great. We had good movement up-top.”
While it was Ryan’s first three-goal performance at Downers Grove North, his coach Mike Schmitt wasn’t the least bit surprised to see the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match shine with his strikes so early in the schedule.
“He came into the season with a mindset that he’s going to be dangerous this year and try to score some goals,” Schmitt said. “He hit the mark (scored the game-winner) right off the bat on Thursday (2-1 come-from-behind victory over Bartlett) and unfortunately was taking the SAT on Saturday. We missed having him here, but he made up for it tonight getting those three goals. The team was pretty vulnerable after giving up a goal, so he wanted to make Leyden pay for it real quick and get an advantage as well.”
Leyden (0-3-1) jumped on the Trojans early, scoring the game’s opener near the end of the fifth minute. Javier Solis assisted Oliver Salgado on the opener.
“I was very happy with the start which lifted our spirits and may have demoralized others,” Leyden coach Mark Valintis said. “But the Downers kids rebounded. After that first 10 minutes, they really took it to us and controlled the pace. No. 9 (Jack Ryan) and no. 10 (Ryan Wilson) found space left and right, and we had a really hard time. They created a lot of good chances.”
Downers Grove North senior defender Bradley Szydlowski said conceding an early goal was a matter of misfortune, but the Trojans learned from it.
“It was really unlucky,” he said. “They stepped really hard in the first few minutes, and we just weren’t ready for it, kind of sleeping on the job. They got that first one, and we had to buckle down. As soon as we got that first goal, everything started coming, and we just kept going.”
A year ago, Schmitt’s team might not have responded so strongly.
“We didn’t have the best record last year, so we were used to having to fight and fight and keep going,” Szydlowski said. “I think one of the best things about the team, since we all played together last year, most of us, is that we know each other. We know how hard we have to work to get back into the game and just keep going basically.”
Ryan’s game-tying 30-yard free kick with 19:01 left in the first half didn’t seem like that great of a chance. He had hit his try the long distance after Leyden had time to set up its wall. Somehow he found a way to convert the attempt, quickly earning the praise of the opposing coach
“He couldn’t have thrown a dart any better than he did, so hat’s off to him,” Valintis said. “There was nothing our wall or a goalie could do on that. But we were happy to go into half at 1-1. I thought we struggled when we stopped their attack to maintain possession of the ball to create a counter.”
Downers Grove North (2-1-0) broke the game open in 37 seconds early in the second half. The tie game turned into a 3-1 Trojans lead.
Ryan drew a foul with 33:50 left and took advantage of his ensuing PK attempt to give the Trojans their first lead of the afternoon. Next, he was the recipient of a tremendous pass from junior Tomislav Petkovski, who infiltrated deep into the penalty area before sending a ball toward Ryan who blasted it home for a two-goal lead and his milestone hat-trick.
“It was being in the right position with great movement,” Ryan said. “That’s the stuff you work on in practice and never expect to pull off in a game. It was really good ball movement, and it just was exactly what we wanted to do.”
Senior Salvador Ontiveros would add to the lead midway through the second half. Junior Aldo Velazquez tapped a pass ahead to Ontiveros, who buried his shot from the right side of the penalty area to complete the scoring.
“We always talk about hitting the ball, trying to get it on target and hitting it right away,” Ontiveros said. “That was kind of my first instinct. The ball was played perfectly, and I just shot it in.”
Leyden was unable to match its quick start with a big finish, but the Eagles did threaten at times.
“We’re creating chances, but not finishing them,” Valintis said. “If we were not sniffing the penalty box then we’d have a bigger mountain to climb, but we’re still looking for scoring. Danny Guevara (one of the team’s three captains) is out with a concussion so that hurts.”
The majority of Leyden’s chances came from Solis. The talent around him continues to improve as the roster gains experience. The Eagles started five sophomores and only three seniors.
“Oliver (Salgado) was brought up last year as a sophomore along with freshmen (now sophomores) Fabian Rodriguez, Yadier De La Cruz, Stefano Andrino and Brandon Delgado. They’re all young but are pretty solid and are going to make young, aggressive mistakes which a coach can handle. And all those guys put in work in the offseason. Some played club, some did a lot of stuff with the school with weightlifting, camps and intramurals. We’re glad we can provide stuff for them year-round.”
Monday afforded the Eagles with an opportunity to learn from the mistakes that occur when young teams go head-to-head against a team like Downers Grove North, which started all upperclassmen.
“We are going to have to experience a lot of things and probably learn to fail before we learn how to win,” Valintis said. “We’ve played well at times. Stevenson (a 3-3 tie Aug. 25) was a good, hard-fought game, and we probably deserved better than a 1-0 loss to West Chicago.
“Credit to Downers for being pretty dynamic on top and showing us some things we hadn’t seen this year. Those are the kinds of things we have to grow and learn from.”
At least in personnel terms, Leyden looks a lot like Downers Grove North did a year ago with so many sophomores playing prominent roles. The Trojans went 6-15-0 last year but nine of their losses were by a single goal. Coincidentally, they lost nine more games than they won.
“We were pretty young last year,” Schmitt said “We ran with a lot of sophomores last year to get them experience at the varsity level so it was baptism by fire. At one point we had to rely on a lot of sophomores for most of our starting 11. So, I think that’s paid off going into this season, because they were aware of what to expect.”
Even after falling behind right away, the Trojans fought right back. Less experienced teams that aren’t mentally strong often don’t recover.
“It took us a little bit to get started, but I think getting scored on like that was kind of a wake up and from that point on and for the last 70 minutes we battled,” Schmitt said. “We were very competitive and grabbed hold of the game, got the goals in the second half and played a more aggressive, more physical game.”
Downers Grove North played with passion and a purpose, and everyone can see the positive results. Last year the Trojans didn’t win their second game until Sept. 14. If you check your calendar, it’s still August.
“We are on the same level as anybody we play, but we just have to outwork them,” Ryan said. “If we outwork anybody we’re going to score goals. It’s simple sometimes. When you outwork them, you’re going to keep after the ball, they’re going to get tired and I’m going to be there to get goals.”
Starting lineups
Leyden
GK: Daniel Llanos
D: Stefano Andrino
D: Yadier De La Cruz
D: Avi Flores
D: Ryan Pikor
D: Fabian Rodriguez
MF: Javier Solis
MF: Oliver Salgado
MF: Rafa Nozka
F: Diego Negrete
F: Brandon Delgado
Downers Grove North
GK: Will Barnett
D: Owen Cross
D: James Harkness
D: Holden Peckenpaugh
D: Tomislav Petkovski
D: Bradley Szydlowski
MF: Jackson Irby
MF: Ben Llewellyn
MF: Quinn O’Reilly
F: Jack Ryan
F: Ryan Wilson
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Jack Ryan, sr., MF, Downers Grove North
Scoring summary
First half
Leyden: Oliver Salgado (Javier Solis), 4:55
Downers Grove North: Jack Ryan (free kick), 19:01
Second half
Downers Grove North: Jack Ryan (penalty kick), 46:10
Downers Grove North: Jack Ryan (Tomislav Petkovski), 46:37
Downers Grove North: Salvador Ontiveros (Aldo Valazquez), 60:07