Reavis offense finally finds top gear
Barragan’s hat-trick leads Rams to 6-0 league win
By Steve Millar
BURBANK – Creating chances hasn’t been a problem for Reavis this season but capitalizing on those opportunities is another story.
Reavis coach Mark Gniadek knew his team would have a lot of time to work on finishing in Monday’s game against Evergreen Park, and the results were mixed.
The Rams struggled to find the back of the net early in the contest, but started to click as the game went on and pulled away for a 6-0 victory in a South Suburban Conference Red Division game.
“The first 20 minutes were frustrating,” Gniadek said. “We talked to our guys about running through the ball when it’s in the box, being super aggressive.
“It doesn’t have to be pretty. The majority of goals aren’t pretty. They’re a toe poke in the box or they go off your body and in. We’ll take a goal any way we can get it. It was good to see us start to find the back of the net.”
Reavis (5-5-0, 2-1-0) snapped a two-game losing streak.
One player Gniadek can usually count on for scoring is All-State midfielder Fernando Barragan.
Barragan led the way Monday, recording a hat trick and earning Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors.
He has nine goals on the season.
In the 10th minute, Barragan poked in a rebound after Jose Rico Ramirez’s shot was saved by Evergreen Park goalkeeper Nate Houde.
That was the only goal Reavis scored in the first 29 minutes, though, despite the Rams putting constant pressure on the Mustangs (2-5-0, 0-4-0).
“At the start of the game, it was a bit bad,” Barragan said. “We weren’t communicating, and we weren’t scoring. We work every day on finishing, so we have to keep getting better at scoring.
“We fixed it, though, and we started putting the ball in the back of the net.”
Houde, who finished with 12 saves, did his best to keep Evergreen Park in the game. He made two nice stops on Marek Judka shots. Barragan, meanwhile, fired a shot off the crossbar.
Reavis finally created some cushion with a pair of goals late in the first half.
With the Mustangs doing little to test the Rams’ defense, Gniadek encouraged defender Patrick Mrowca to be more aggressive joining the attack.
That paid off when Mrowca pushed forward and played a nice pass to Judka at the top of the box. Judka received the ball with his back toward the goal, quickly turned and ripped a shot under the crossbar to make it 2-0.
“I don’t think Marek even saw what he was doing,” Gniadek said. “He just turned and fired. He pulled the trigger. That’s what we want our guys to do. Get those shots on goal. It was a great shot.”
Barragan headed in Ramirez’s corner kick in the 33rd minute to stretch the lead to 3-0. He completed his hat trick in the 47th minute, ripping home a shot off Kryzystof Kisielewski’s pass.
Over the final 13 minutes, Gniadek got a glimpse of what he’s long been looking for: scoring from others besides Barragan and Judka.
Junior midfielder Kevin Ibarra had a quality finish with 13:13 to go, sliding to head in Daniel Rosado’s cross.
“Kevin works so hard,” Gniadek said. “He’s a quality basketball player, too, so he doesn’t play soccer year-round.
“He’s got a great work ethic, and he does everything we ask of him. He was taking people end line, turning the corner, sending crosses in. He always finishes his runs to that far post, and it was cool to see him get that touch in. It was like a weight off his shoulders.”
After most of Reavis’ starters were out of the game, they spent their time on the bench loudly cheering for one starter that stayed in, sophomore Gustavo Alvarez, to get a goal.
Following some near misses, Alvarez broke through for the first goal of his varsity career in the 78th minute. He took a pass from Alex Kulach and looped a high shot over the head of Houle and in from 30 yards.
“I’ve been waiting to get that goal,” Alvarez said. “I’ve been wanting it in all these games, but I knew my chance was going to come.
“I kept asking for the ball, because I really wanted to take the shot. I got the ball at my feet. There was a pass open, but I had to be a little bit selfish. I took the shot. At first, I didn’t think it was going to go in, but it started to go downward, and it finally went into the back of the net.”
Alvarez said he’s starting to feel more comfortable on the field.
“There’s a lot to learn, starting young,” he said. “Everyone else is bigger and strong, but I can learn from playing against them. There’s a lot of time for me to progress as a player.”
Evergreen Park did not have a shot on goal. The Mustangs’ best chances came in the closing minutes of the first half when Isaiah Blalock drove into the box and had a shot deflected wide for a corner kick.
Reavis goalkeeper Kamil Staszel intercepted the cross on the corner and wasn’t tested again.
Barragan said the Rams came into the game with confidence, taking positives away from their one-goal losses to Shepard and St. Laurence in their prior two games.
“We felt like we played better in the second half against Shepard, even though we didn’t get the result,” he said. “Against St. Laurence, we played one of our best games of the season as a team. We got up 1-0, and they came back and beat us (2-1) in the second half, but we played phenomenally as a team.
“At first, this was all new for a lot of our players. We have mostly sophomores on our defense and some other young guys all over the field. They’re all getting used to it now and starting to play their games.”
Starting lineups
Evergreen Park
GK: Nate Houle
D: Sam Bik
D: Liam Kantzler
D: Matthew Olsen
D: Aaron Rodriguez
M: Miguel Xique
M: Isaiah Blalock
M: Lucas Kantzler
M: Thomas Murphy
F: Andrew Corona
F: Dabney Tatum
Reavis
GK: Kamil Staszel
D: Alex Froylan
D: Patrick Mrowca
D: Robert Rychtarczyk
D: Julian Ochoa
M: Kevin Ibarra
M: Gustavo Alvarez
M: Fernando Barragan
M: Kryzystof Kisielewski
F: Jose Rico Ramirez
F: Marek Judka
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Fernando Barragan, sr., M, Reavis
Scoring summary
First half
Reavis: Fernando Barragan (Jose Rico Ramirez), 10th minute
Reavis: Marek Judka (Patrick Mrowca), 30th minute
Reavis: Barragan (Ramirez), 33rd minute
Second half
Reavis: Barragan (Kryzystof Kisielewski), 47th minute
Reavis: Kevin Ibarra (Daniel Rosado), 67th minute
Reavis: Gustavo Alvarez (Alex Kulach), 78th minute
Barragan’s hat-trick leads Rams to 6-0 league win
By Steve Millar
BURBANK – Creating chances hasn’t been a problem for Reavis this season but capitalizing on those opportunities is another story.
Reavis coach Mark Gniadek knew his team would have a lot of time to work on finishing in Monday’s game against Evergreen Park, and the results were mixed.
The Rams struggled to find the back of the net early in the contest, but started to click as the game went on and pulled away for a 6-0 victory in a South Suburban Conference Red Division game.
“The first 20 minutes were frustrating,” Gniadek said. “We talked to our guys about running through the ball when it’s in the box, being super aggressive.
“It doesn’t have to be pretty. The majority of goals aren’t pretty. They’re a toe poke in the box or they go off your body and in. We’ll take a goal any way we can get it. It was good to see us start to find the back of the net.”
Reavis (5-5-0, 2-1-0) snapped a two-game losing streak.
One player Gniadek can usually count on for scoring is All-State midfielder Fernando Barragan.
Barragan led the way Monday, recording a hat trick and earning Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors.
He has nine goals on the season.
In the 10th minute, Barragan poked in a rebound after Jose Rico Ramirez’s shot was saved by Evergreen Park goalkeeper Nate Houde.
That was the only goal Reavis scored in the first 29 minutes, though, despite the Rams putting constant pressure on the Mustangs (2-5-0, 0-4-0).
“At the start of the game, it was a bit bad,” Barragan said. “We weren’t communicating, and we weren’t scoring. We work every day on finishing, so we have to keep getting better at scoring.
“We fixed it, though, and we started putting the ball in the back of the net.”
Houde, who finished with 12 saves, did his best to keep Evergreen Park in the game. He made two nice stops on Marek Judka shots. Barragan, meanwhile, fired a shot off the crossbar.
Reavis finally created some cushion with a pair of goals late in the first half.
With the Mustangs doing little to test the Rams’ defense, Gniadek encouraged defender Patrick Mrowca to be more aggressive joining the attack.
That paid off when Mrowca pushed forward and played a nice pass to Judka at the top of the box. Judka received the ball with his back toward the goal, quickly turned and ripped a shot under the crossbar to make it 2-0.
“I don’t think Marek even saw what he was doing,” Gniadek said. “He just turned and fired. He pulled the trigger. That’s what we want our guys to do. Get those shots on goal. It was a great shot.”
Barragan headed in Ramirez’s corner kick in the 33rd minute to stretch the lead to 3-0. He completed his hat trick in the 47th minute, ripping home a shot off Kryzystof Kisielewski’s pass.
Over the final 13 minutes, Gniadek got a glimpse of what he’s long been looking for: scoring from others besides Barragan and Judka.
Junior midfielder Kevin Ibarra had a quality finish with 13:13 to go, sliding to head in Daniel Rosado’s cross.
“Kevin works so hard,” Gniadek said. “He’s a quality basketball player, too, so he doesn’t play soccer year-round.
“He’s got a great work ethic, and he does everything we ask of him. He was taking people end line, turning the corner, sending crosses in. He always finishes his runs to that far post, and it was cool to see him get that touch in. It was like a weight off his shoulders.”
After most of Reavis’ starters were out of the game, they spent their time on the bench loudly cheering for one starter that stayed in, sophomore Gustavo Alvarez, to get a goal.
Following some near misses, Alvarez broke through for the first goal of his varsity career in the 78th minute. He took a pass from Alex Kulach and looped a high shot over the head of Houle and in from 30 yards.
“I’ve been waiting to get that goal,” Alvarez said. “I’ve been wanting it in all these games, but I knew my chance was going to come.
“I kept asking for the ball, because I really wanted to take the shot. I got the ball at my feet. There was a pass open, but I had to be a little bit selfish. I took the shot. At first, I didn’t think it was going to go in, but it started to go downward, and it finally went into the back of the net.”
Alvarez said he’s starting to feel more comfortable on the field.
“There’s a lot to learn, starting young,” he said. “Everyone else is bigger and strong, but I can learn from playing against them. There’s a lot of time for me to progress as a player.”
Evergreen Park did not have a shot on goal. The Mustangs’ best chances came in the closing minutes of the first half when Isaiah Blalock drove into the box and had a shot deflected wide for a corner kick.
Reavis goalkeeper Kamil Staszel intercepted the cross on the corner and wasn’t tested again.
Barragan said the Rams came into the game with confidence, taking positives away from their one-goal losses to Shepard and St. Laurence in their prior two games.
“We felt like we played better in the second half against Shepard, even though we didn’t get the result,” he said. “Against St. Laurence, we played one of our best games of the season as a team. We got up 1-0, and they came back and beat us (2-1) in the second half, but we played phenomenally as a team.
“At first, this was all new for a lot of our players. We have mostly sophomores on our defense and some other young guys all over the field. They’re all getting used to it now and starting to play their games.”
Starting lineups
Evergreen Park
GK: Nate Houle
D: Sam Bik
D: Liam Kantzler
D: Matthew Olsen
D: Aaron Rodriguez
M: Miguel Xique
M: Isaiah Blalock
M: Lucas Kantzler
M: Thomas Murphy
F: Andrew Corona
F: Dabney Tatum
Reavis
GK: Kamil Staszel
D: Alex Froylan
D: Patrick Mrowca
D: Robert Rychtarczyk
D: Julian Ochoa
M: Kevin Ibarra
M: Gustavo Alvarez
M: Fernando Barragan
M: Kryzystof Kisielewski
F: Jose Rico Ramirez
F: Marek Judka
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Fernando Barragan, sr., M, Reavis
Scoring summary
First half
Reavis: Fernando Barragan (Jose Rico Ramirez), 10th minute
Reavis: Marek Judka (Patrick Mrowca), 30th minute
Reavis: Barragan (Ramirez), 33rd minute
Second half
Reavis: Barragan (Kryzystof Kisielewski), 47th minute
Reavis: Kevin Ibarra (Daniel Rosado), 67th minute
Reavis: Gustavo Alvarez (Alex Kulach), 78th minute