Reavis scorers shine on Senior Night
Rams roll past Evergreen Park 9-2, continue sharp October run
By Dave Owen
BURBANK – Talk about finishing strong.
Tied with Evergreen Park 2-2 after 32 minutes of soccer, Reavis proceeded to strike for five goals in the last 7:22 of the first half.
That offensive explosion turned a Senior Night celebration into an outright party for the Rams (9-4-5, 5-1-4 in the South Suburban Blue).
The 9-2 final score gave surging Reavis a 7-1-1 record in its last nine games.
And most fittingly for the occasion, all but one of the Rams goals Thursday were scored by seniors.
“We have 11 of them, and they’re fantastic,” Reavis coach Mark Gniadek said of the Rams’ senior class. “They work hard; they’re our leaders.
“I wish I could give all 11 of them captain armbands. They set the tone every single day. They’ve won a lot of soccer games at Reavis.”
The biggest of many Rams stars in Thursday’s win were Jose Rico (hat-trick) and Juan Cedillo (two goals).
“It’s something really special,” Cedillo said of the emphatic Senior Night win. “Especially with all the people that came out today.
“My four years here have been amazing to be honest. I couldn’t ask for more with the facilities, coaches and everything we had.”
Rico’s huge offensive night earned him Man of the Match honors – and a trip down memory lane.
“It’s been a great program all four years,” Rico said. “It’s sad that our season is coming to an end, but I grew up playing with these kids. So this (Senior Night win) is really special.”
Patrick Mrowca has been a senior stalwart at defender.
“I appreciated everything that our staff did for us, with fundraising and things like that,” Mrowca said. “All the little things, you have to appreciate them for it. And we had a great crowd today.”
The fans were treated to quite a show. But between a shuffled Reavis starting lineup and an impressive first half by underdog Evergreen Park (2-10-2, 0-9-1), the fun took awhile to start.
Packing all 11 seniors into the starting lineup, Reavis shifted usual standout midfielder Juan Cedillo to goalkeeper for the first 10 minutes.
Cedillo (who had played goalkeeper often before in his soccer career) didn’t face any Mustangs shots, but did jumpstart the Rams offense while sporting the keeper jersey.
A foul 9:38 into the match produced a Cedillo free kick from just outside midfield. Just inside the box, Marek Judka redirected Cedillo’s send towards Kevin Ibarra right side, who tucked a 6-yard header inside the near post for a 1-0 lead.
Cedillo shifted to midfielder after the goal. But as Reavis began to shift back to its usual lineup, Evergreen Park shifted into high gear.
The Mustangs started their own usual field player in goal (defender Tristan Wagner), and his diving save on a Jose Rico 20-yard shot in the 14th minute was followed by an Evergreen Park counterattack and tying goal.
Marco Tavarez Munoz’s rush up the middle and liner inside the left post tied the game 1-1 with 25:27 left in the half.
Then after a pair of Reavis set pieces were denied on header blocks by Mustangs defenders Andres Salgado (on a Carlos Guzman free kick in the 18th minute) and Edwin Opoku (a Diego Porras corner kick in the 21st minute), Evergreen Park continued its surge by grabbing a 2-1 lead.
A midfield win by the Mustangs sprung Daniel Amaro on a rush that ended with a 25-yard liner high inside the left post 18:55 before halftime.
“The boys played well,” Mustangs coach Erik Moreno said. “We were up for a little bit. It was the energy the kids brought and moving the ball around.
“Both the goals we scored on them were counterattacks. so we wanted to kind of let them (Reavis) come in (on the attack), and when we had an opportunity to go free up-top, that’s what we did.”
But those Evergreen Park opportunities soon dried up, while Reavis never let up.
Just 92 seconds after falling behind 2-1, Reavis drew even. Defender Christian Garcia’s midfield free kick deflected to Rico, who raced into the box and lined a 10-yarder inside the right post.
“We just had to wake up,” Cedillo said. “We started talking more. We got our energy up, and we just got focused. I felt like we weren’t focused at all in the beginning.”
As happens for many teams, the change in routine with Senior Night pregame parent introductions and lineup shuffling had an impact.
“It’s a crazy day – Senior Night, different start,” Gniadek said. “And I just don’t think we were focused.
“But it was cool to see some senior leadership when we did get down, to try to pump the guys up a little bit. And once we settled down and started playing our game, the kids did awesome.”
Tied 2-2, the Rams just missed grabbing the lead in the 29th minute. Off a Porras corner kick, Judka’s header rattled off the back post, and Rico’s rebound shot in the box was blocked and cleared.
Reavis wouldn’t miss again for awhile.
With 7:22 until halftime, a counterattacking Judka touched a midfield send forward to Rico, who rocketed a right side liner just under the crossbar for a 3-2 lead.
“It’s just making hard runs, talking to my teammates, communicating and asking for the ball,” said Rico, whose eventual hat-trick night gave him 10 goals this season.
Just over a minute later Rico was fouled just outside the box, and Cedillo lined a 20-yard straight-on free kick into the upper left corner to make it 4-2.
“Once they took control of the game, they are a much better team than us (player) one through 20,” Mustangs coach Moreno said. “They’re just a good team.
“We have a lot of underclassmen, mostly freshmen (six on the Evergreen Park roster). And we’ve had to plug in guys. Our goalie wasn’t available today so we had a replacement (Wagner).
“Once they (Reavis) kind of figured it out,” Moreno added, “that opened up the floodgates.”
The Reavis deluge reached full strength in the last three minutes of the half.
A Rams throw-in sprung Rico on a right sideline run. His cross to the front was initially broken up, but Judka (eight goals in 2019) recovered the loose ball in the box and lined a 12-yarder off a defender and just inside the left post for a 5-2 score with 2:58 left.
Just 44 seconds later, a Cedillo free kick produced a goal for the third time in the half. After his initial 22-yard free kick was blocked, Cedillo lined his rebound shot low inside the right post.
Evergreen Park appeared to have cooled the Rams in the 39th minute, when Opoku’s blocked shot denied another Rico threat in the box.
But just 27 seconds before halftime, Porras made a left-side run and angled a shot inside the right post to put Reavis up 7-2 at halftime.
“Offensively it was just possessing the ball,” Cedillo said of his team’s offensive domination, “and people not being selfish to score goals. We were touching the ball good.”
The scoring avalanche slowed down in the second half – not that it could have possibly sped up from late in the first half.
But with 35:57 left, Rico wrapped up his hat-trick from left of the net with a tough-angle drive high inside the right post to give Reavis an 8-2 lead.
Then even with most Rams regulars on the bench for the night, the fun continued.
David Meza (stopped on a diving save) and seniors Gabriel Gonzalez (header just wide) and Krystian Galica (close-in shot on goal) just missed on quality chances in the next 12 minutes.
Then after an offsides call with 19:20 left reversed a would-be Gonzalez goal, Reavis senior Kryzytof Kisielewski added the final course to the Rams offensive buffet.
Off a deflection of Yair Cahue’s send to the box, Kisielewski lined a low shot inside the left post to up the lead to 9-2.
“Kryzytof scored that last one, and he loves soccer,” Gniadek said. “If he could play it all day every day, he would. So it’s super exciting to see him score. I know the team’s pumped for him; he was pumped – that was really cool.”
The decibel level on the Reavis sideline after the goal and other scoring chances said it all.
“I felt happy for my teammates playing,” Cedillo said. “I was getting excited seeing them play well. That’s what they do (provide support) when they see us (starters) play.
“I felt really good, making sure that they had some playing time.”
The good feelings and chances for Reavis reserves continued to the end.
With 7:10 to play, Paul Terlecki’s header off a corner kick was narrowly denied by a leaping deflection at the crossbar by the Mustangs goalkeeper.
Then in the final two minutes, Terlecki and Alex Calderon produced shots on goal.
The 9-2 win more than doubled Reavis’ previous season high for goals (a 4-1 win over Richards on Oct. 7, in which Judka had a hat-trick).
And in a galaxy of stars Thursday, two earned special praise.
“Jose Rico had three (goals) today,” Gniadek said, “and he’s going to be super important going forward. He played awesome.
“And our backline is good. Alex Froylan has been steady back there. He doesn’t get a ton of glory, but he does a lot of dirty work to keep the ball out of our net.”
With a major rival coming to town Wednesday, the Rams hope the good vibes from the eight unanswered goals vs. Evergreen Park carries over.
“We came out flat (Thursday),” Mrowca said, “but in every game we usually come out strong. That’s what we need to do for our next game with Argo.
“Just keep focusing on offense, two-touch, keeping a step ahead of the game and keep playing hard.”
And having outscored their last nine opponents by a combined 33-10 margin, the Rams are rolling towards regionals in top form.
“I feel confident for regionals and playoffs,” Cedillo said, “but we have to keep working on a lot of stuff like communicating and staying focused. The hard work is there. We just have to focus.”
Rico has a similar recipe for continued success.
“Keeping our heads straight, coming out strong every game and just going hard,” he said. “Like Juan said, not being selfish and possessing the ball.”
And the last key ingredient was a Senior Night snap.
“Taking care of those opportunities and putting them into the net,” Rico said.
Starting lineups
Evergreen Park
GK: Tristan Wagner
D: Luciano Rodriguez
D: Andres Salgado
D: Edwin Opoku
D: Zach Meyer
M: Agustin Bazzani
M: Carlos Gramajo
M: Thomas Murphy
M: Wyatt Lantz
F: Marco Tavarez Munoz
F: Daniel Amaro
Reavis
GK: Juan Cedillo
D: Patrick Mrowca
D: Daniel Rosado
D: Rigo Guzman
D: Carlos Guzman
M: Kryzytof Kisielewski
M: Kevin Ibarra
M: Gabriel Gonzalez
M: Krystian Galica
F: Marek Judka
F: Jose Rico
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Jose Rico, sr. F, Reavis
Scoring summary
First half
R- Kevin Ibarra (Marek Judka assist), 10’
EP- Marco Tavarez Munoz, 15’
EP- Daniel Amaro, 22’
R- Jose Rico (Christian Garcia), 23’
R- Rico (Judka), 33’
R- Cedillo (free kick), 34’
R- Judka, 38’
R- Cedillo, 38’
R- Diego Porras, 40’
Second half
R- Rico, 45’
R- Kryzytof Kisielewski, 62’
Rams roll past Evergreen Park 9-2, continue sharp October run
By Dave Owen
BURBANK – Talk about finishing strong.
Tied with Evergreen Park 2-2 after 32 minutes of soccer, Reavis proceeded to strike for five goals in the last 7:22 of the first half.
That offensive explosion turned a Senior Night celebration into an outright party for the Rams (9-4-5, 5-1-4 in the South Suburban Blue).
The 9-2 final score gave surging Reavis a 7-1-1 record in its last nine games.
And most fittingly for the occasion, all but one of the Rams goals Thursday were scored by seniors.
“We have 11 of them, and they’re fantastic,” Reavis coach Mark Gniadek said of the Rams’ senior class. “They work hard; they’re our leaders.
“I wish I could give all 11 of them captain armbands. They set the tone every single day. They’ve won a lot of soccer games at Reavis.”
The biggest of many Rams stars in Thursday’s win were Jose Rico (hat-trick) and Juan Cedillo (two goals).
“It’s something really special,” Cedillo said of the emphatic Senior Night win. “Especially with all the people that came out today.
“My four years here have been amazing to be honest. I couldn’t ask for more with the facilities, coaches and everything we had.”
Rico’s huge offensive night earned him Man of the Match honors – and a trip down memory lane.
“It’s been a great program all four years,” Rico said. “It’s sad that our season is coming to an end, but I grew up playing with these kids. So this (Senior Night win) is really special.”
Patrick Mrowca has been a senior stalwart at defender.
“I appreciated everything that our staff did for us, with fundraising and things like that,” Mrowca said. “All the little things, you have to appreciate them for it. And we had a great crowd today.”
The fans were treated to quite a show. But between a shuffled Reavis starting lineup and an impressive first half by underdog Evergreen Park (2-10-2, 0-9-1), the fun took awhile to start.
Packing all 11 seniors into the starting lineup, Reavis shifted usual standout midfielder Juan Cedillo to goalkeeper for the first 10 minutes.
Cedillo (who had played goalkeeper often before in his soccer career) didn’t face any Mustangs shots, but did jumpstart the Rams offense while sporting the keeper jersey.
A foul 9:38 into the match produced a Cedillo free kick from just outside midfield. Just inside the box, Marek Judka redirected Cedillo’s send towards Kevin Ibarra right side, who tucked a 6-yard header inside the near post for a 1-0 lead.
Cedillo shifted to midfielder after the goal. But as Reavis began to shift back to its usual lineup, Evergreen Park shifted into high gear.
The Mustangs started their own usual field player in goal (defender Tristan Wagner), and his diving save on a Jose Rico 20-yard shot in the 14th minute was followed by an Evergreen Park counterattack and tying goal.
Marco Tavarez Munoz’s rush up the middle and liner inside the left post tied the game 1-1 with 25:27 left in the half.
Then after a pair of Reavis set pieces were denied on header blocks by Mustangs defenders Andres Salgado (on a Carlos Guzman free kick in the 18th minute) and Edwin Opoku (a Diego Porras corner kick in the 21st minute), Evergreen Park continued its surge by grabbing a 2-1 lead.
A midfield win by the Mustangs sprung Daniel Amaro on a rush that ended with a 25-yard liner high inside the left post 18:55 before halftime.
“The boys played well,” Mustangs coach Erik Moreno said. “We were up for a little bit. It was the energy the kids brought and moving the ball around.
“Both the goals we scored on them were counterattacks. so we wanted to kind of let them (Reavis) come in (on the attack), and when we had an opportunity to go free up-top, that’s what we did.”
But those Evergreen Park opportunities soon dried up, while Reavis never let up.
Just 92 seconds after falling behind 2-1, Reavis drew even. Defender Christian Garcia’s midfield free kick deflected to Rico, who raced into the box and lined a 10-yarder inside the right post.
“We just had to wake up,” Cedillo said. “We started talking more. We got our energy up, and we just got focused. I felt like we weren’t focused at all in the beginning.”
As happens for many teams, the change in routine with Senior Night pregame parent introductions and lineup shuffling had an impact.
“It’s a crazy day – Senior Night, different start,” Gniadek said. “And I just don’t think we were focused.
“But it was cool to see some senior leadership when we did get down, to try to pump the guys up a little bit. And once we settled down and started playing our game, the kids did awesome.”
Tied 2-2, the Rams just missed grabbing the lead in the 29th minute. Off a Porras corner kick, Judka’s header rattled off the back post, and Rico’s rebound shot in the box was blocked and cleared.
Reavis wouldn’t miss again for awhile.
With 7:22 until halftime, a counterattacking Judka touched a midfield send forward to Rico, who rocketed a right side liner just under the crossbar for a 3-2 lead.
“It’s just making hard runs, talking to my teammates, communicating and asking for the ball,” said Rico, whose eventual hat-trick night gave him 10 goals this season.
Just over a minute later Rico was fouled just outside the box, and Cedillo lined a 20-yard straight-on free kick into the upper left corner to make it 4-2.
“Once they took control of the game, they are a much better team than us (player) one through 20,” Mustangs coach Moreno said. “They’re just a good team.
“We have a lot of underclassmen, mostly freshmen (six on the Evergreen Park roster). And we’ve had to plug in guys. Our goalie wasn’t available today so we had a replacement (Wagner).
“Once they (Reavis) kind of figured it out,” Moreno added, “that opened up the floodgates.”
The Reavis deluge reached full strength in the last three minutes of the half.
A Rams throw-in sprung Rico on a right sideline run. His cross to the front was initially broken up, but Judka (eight goals in 2019) recovered the loose ball in the box and lined a 12-yarder off a defender and just inside the left post for a 5-2 score with 2:58 left.
Just 44 seconds later, a Cedillo free kick produced a goal for the third time in the half. After his initial 22-yard free kick was blocked, Cedillo lined his rebound shot low inside the right post.
Evergreen Park appeared to have cooled the Rams in the 39th minute, when Opoku’s blocked shot denied another Rico threat in the box.
But just 27 seconds before halftime, Porras made a left-side run and angled a shot inside the right post to put Reavis up 7-2 at halftime.
“Offensively it was just possessing the ball,” Cedillo said of his team’s offensive domination, “and people not being selfish to score goals. We were touching the ball good.”
The scoring avalanche slowed down in the second half – not that it could have possibly sped up from late in the first half.
But with 35:57 left, Rico wrapped up his hat-trick from left of the net with a tough-angle drive high inside the right post to give Reavis an 8-2 lead.
Then even with most Rams regulars on the bench for the night, the fun continued.
David Meza (stopped on a diving save) and seniors Gabriel Gonzalez (header just wide) and Krystian Galica (close-in shot on goal) just missed on quality chances in the next 12 minutes.
Then after an offsides call with 19:20 left reversed a would-be Gonzalez goal, Reavis senior Kryzytof Kisielewski added the final course to the Rams offensive buffet.
Off a deflection of Yair Cahue’s send to the box, Kisielewski lined a low shot inside the left post to up the lead to 9-2.
“Kryzytof scored that last one, and he loves soccer,” Gniadek said. “If he could play it all day every day, he would. So it’s super exciting to see him score. I know the team’s pumped for him; he was pumped – that was really cool.”
The decibel level on the Reavis sideline after the goal and other scoring chances said it all.
“I felt happy for my teammates playing,” Cedillo said. “I was getting excited seeing them play well. That’s what they do (provide support) when they see us (starters) play.
“I felt really good, making sure that they had some playing time.”
The good feelings and chances for Reavis reserves continued to the end.
With 7:10 to play, Paul Terlecki’s header off a corner kick was narrowly denied by a leaping deflection at the crossbar by the Mustangs goalkeeper.
Then in the final two minutes, Terlecki and Alex Calderon produced shots on goal.
The 9-2 win more than doubled Reavis’ previous season high for goals (a 4-1 win over Richards on Oct. 7, in which Judka had a hat-trick).
And in a galaxy of stars Thursday, two earned special praise.
“Jose Rico had three (goals) today,” Gniadek said, “and he’s going to be super important going forward. He played awesome.
“And our backline is good. Alex Froylan has been steady back there. He doesn’t get a ton of glory, but he does a lot of dirty work to keep the ball out of our net.”
With a major rival coming to town Wednesday, the Rams hope the good vibes from the eight unanswered goals vs. Evergreen Park carries over.
“We came out flat (Thursday),” Mrowca said, “but in every game we usually come out strong. That’s what we need to do for our next game with Argo.
“Just keep focusing on offense, two-touch, keeping a step ahead of the game and keep playing hard.”
And having outscored their last nine opponents by a combined 33-10 margin, the Rams are rolling towards regionals in top form.
“I feel confident for regionals and playoffs,” Cedillo said, “but we have to keep working on a lot of stuff like communicating and staying focused. The hard work is there. We just have to focus.”
Rico has a similar recipe for continued success.
“Keeping our heads straight, coming out strong every game and just going hard,” he said. “Like Juan said, not being selfish and possessing the ball.”
And the last key ingredient was a Senior Night snap.
“Taking care of those opportunities and putting them into the net,” Rico said.
Starting lineups
Evergreen Park
GK: Tristan Wagner
D: Luciano Rodriguez
D: Andres Salgado
D: Edwin Opoku
D: Zach Meyer
M: Agustin Bazzani
M: Carlos Gramajo
M: Thomas Murphy
M: Wyatt Lantz
F: Marco Tavarez Munoz
F: Daniel Amaro
Reavis
GK: Juan Cedillo
D: Patrick Mrowca
D: Daniel Rosado
D: Rigo Guzman
D: Carlos Guzman
M: Kryzytof Kisielewski
M: Kevin Ibarra
M: Gabriel Gonzalez
M: Krystian Galica
F: Marek Judka
F: Jose Rico
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Jose Rico, sr. F, Reavis
Scoring summary
First half
R- Kevin Ibarra (Marek Judka assist), 10’
EP- Marco Tavarez Munoz, 15’
EP- Daniel Amaro, 22’
R- Jose Rico (Christian Garcia), 23’
R- Rico (Judka), 33’
R- Cedillo (free kick), 34’
R- Judka, 38’
R- Cedillo, 38’
R- Diego Porras, 40’
Second half
R- Rico, 45’
R- Kryzytof Kisielewski, 62’