Fenwick falls to history-making Senn
Friars lose 1-0 halftime lead, Bulldogs win 1st regional
By Michael Wojtychiw
CHICAGO – Third-seeded Fenwick sought its second-consecutive regional title and 13th overall, and looked well on its way after a dominating first half.
The Friars (7-10-2) put persistent pressure on Senn and peppered keeper Alexis Peralta. They eventually broke through in the 24th minute of the Schurz Regional final when Ian Martinello put in a nifty goal off a pass from Frank Felice.
“In practice we work on moving the ball up the side and driving to the middle,” Martinello said. “That’s what Frank did. He used his speed to get to the middle and lose his opponent. He played a perfect ball to me, I had a perfect touch on it, beat the guy marking me and put it in the bottom right corner.”
But for all its pressure before the break, the Friars could only muster a 1-0 lead.
In the second half, Senn became the aggressor.
“We talked about how we had to keep pressing,” Bulldogs forward Hanad Ade said. “We felt like we were the better team and just had to keep forward, knowing it’d happen.”
The Bulldogs had an additional factor in their favor. The field at Schurz is narrower than many of the fields the teams had played on.
“Today we ran into a team that was really made for this field with the long throws and a number of bigger athletes,” Fenwick manager Craig Blazer said. “You’ve got to play to your strengths and in the first half we did, but the second half we didn’t get the ball down.”
It’s been a long time since Senn won some hardware in the state tournament, but it didn't come from a regional.
Forty years ago the Bulldogs won the city title. Before the beginning of this century, that feat automatically qualified that Chicago Public League team for the state’s final weekend.
The last time the program made it to the regional final was 2018 when it lost to Fenton. When the sixth-seeded Bulldogs took the field at Schurz on Friday night, they had history on their minds.
And with two second half goals, they made it. Senn knocked off Fenwick 2-1 to advance to the sectional round of the Class AA tournament.
“We try to prepare ourselves for these moments by putting together a tough schedule so when we get to this stage, it doesn’t scare us,” Senn manager Stephen Brewer said. “The theory behind it is we play a tough schedule, build our team up to be able to play to that schedule and prepare us for games like this.
“Second half adjustments were big for sure. We got away from what our game is early, which is passing through our midfield, controlling the game there. That was our big halftime talk ‘Let’s control the game there and everything else will work out.’
“We had a couple fortunate bounces and wanted to challenge their keeper in the second half. And good things happen when you do that.”
Senn (16-8-0) has been on a bit of a successful stretch in the past couple weeks.
After being knocked out of the city playoffs in the second round, the Bulldogs entered the Chicago Public League’s Windy City Cup bracket. They won three-consecutive games that culminated with a 1-0 win over Von Steuben in the tournament final.
Those extra games allowed the Bulldogs to gain more experience in what would have been a dead period before the state tourney. It gave the team an addtional confidence boost.
“There were two defining moments to our season this year,” Brewer said. “They were a win against Eisenhower in the BodyArmor Series, because that was our first win against a big team, and then the loss to Taft in the city playoffs.
“We talked about it then. We’re vowing to play every game like it’s our last. That motivated us to play in (the Windy City Cup), win that tournament and continue that success here.”
“That was really big for us to get that win,” Ade said. “We knew we were going to have to play harder, because we’d face better teams. So we had to practice hard and show that we could do better.”
Once the second half started, Senn started to push deeper into the Friars’ defensive third. The Bulldogs finally converted with a goal that originally looked like it may have sent into the box as a pass.
The send by junior defender Finnegan Dennis carried and ended up behind Fenwick keeper Dominick Ballarin 10 minutes into the second half to tie the game at 1-1.
The Friars looked like they would take the lead just a couple minutes later when Martinello crossed the ball into the box to Felice, but Felice’s shot went just over and landed in the tall netting behind the goal.
“They played more long balls and have a number of taller guys than us,” Martinello said of Senn. “They used that to their advantage on the ball they played in.”
Ade, who scored twice in the 7-3 regional semifinal win over Schurz on Tuesday, delivered the game-winner. He went into the box and got his head on a ball served up by Dennis, who earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honor
“Honestly, I didn’t even know what happened,” Ade said. “I went up and headed it. I was so confused when I scored.”
While the result wasn’t one that Blazer and his squad wanted, there were bright spots that the coach focused on.
“Scoring the first goal was really good for us,” he said. “We played well in the first half against a very talented Senn squad. They’ve got a lot of high-quality players.
“But in the second half we played too direct. The types of goals we gave up, it was challenging.”
Blazer felt his third team at Fenwick made progress.
“We got better individually and collectively as the year went along,” Blazer said. “A lot of what we learned and did, we used in games as we went along. Even today we did some good things that we’ve worked on previously.
“The circumstances are tough; we did well to get on top and taking that next step needed a little more collectiveness. But this group, we had a lot of overall understanding of how we want to play and everybody grew. We showed improvement.”
For Martinello, being a part of the Fenwick program the past two years has been something that he considered an honor. He’ll remember it for the rest of his life.
“Especially now that I’m a senior and it’s all over, I know that it’s not something to take for granted,” he said. “Being a part of such a good team with your good friends … I’ve known Frank six I was six years old. Knowing someone for that long, having that connection with someone…it’s a really good feeling.”
Senn advances to the sectional semifinals at Notre Dame, where they’ll face the host Dons. The two met in the second game of the season for each team Aug. 24th in the Don Raider Cup, hosted by Notre Dame and North Shore Country Day.
Notre Dame took a 2-0 win.
Having already played their opponent is something that Brewer thinks the Bulldogs can use to their advantage.
“We played really well against Notre Dame, we just didn’t play a full 80 minutes and that came to bite us,” Brewer said. “The guys are really excited for the rematch. We’ll look at our tape, but our team has changed drastically since that first week and so has theirs.
“I’m excited to see what those changes are and go to battle against them.”
Starting lineups
Senn
GK: Alexis Peralta
D: Marlon Garcia
D: Finnegan Dennis
D: Jesus Romero
D: Amitye Matumaini
MF: Andres Alanis
MF: John Watson
MF: Joseph Gonzalez
F: Hanad Ade
F: Callum Dickson
F: Baribefee Denaute
Fenwick
GK: Dominick Ballarin
D: Evan Hickman
D: John Ballarin
D: Max Ballarin
D: Ian MacKinnon
MF: Frank Felice
MF: James Zimmer
MF: Max Bero
MF: Lucas Garcia
MF: Jake Brecknock
F: Ian Martinello
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Finnegan Dennis, junior, defender, Senn
Scoring summary
First half
Fenwick - Ian Martinello (Frank Felice), 24th minute
Second half
Senn - Finnegan Dennis, 50th minute
Senn - Hanad Ade (Dennis), 59th minute
Friars lose 1-0 halftime lead, Bulldogs win 1st regional
By Michael Wojtychiw
CHICAGO – Third-seeded Fenwick sought its second-consecutive regional title and 13th overall, and looked well on its way after a dominating first half.
The Friars (7-10-2) put persistent pressure on Senn and peppered keeper Alexis Peralta. They eventually broke through in the 24th minute of the Schurz Regional final when Ian Martinello put in a nifty goal off a pass from Frank Felice.
“In practice we work on moving the ball up the side and driving to the middle,” Martinello said. “That’s what Frank did. He used his speed to get to the middle and lose his opponent. He played a perfect ball to me, I had a perfect touch on it, beat the guy marking me and put it in the bottom right corner.”
But for all its pressure before the break, the Friars could only muster a 1-0 lead.
In the second half, Senn became the aggressor.
“We talked about how we had to keep pressing,” Bulldogs forward Hanad Ade said. “We felt like we were the better team and just had to keep forward, knowing it’d happen.”
The Bulldogs had an additional factor in their favor. The field at Schurz is narrower than many of the fields the teams had played on.
“Today we ran into a team that was really made for this field with the long throws and a number of bigger athletes,” Fenwick manager Craig Blazer said. “You’ve got to play to your strengths and in the first half we did, but the second half we didn’t get the ball down.”
It’s been a long time since Senn won some hardware in the state tournament, but it didn't come from a regional.
Forty years ago the Bulldogs won the city title. Before the beginning of this century, that feat automatically qualified that Chicago Public League team for the state’s final weekend.
The last time the program made it to the regional final was 2018 when it lost to Fenton. When the sixth-seeded Bulldogs took the field at Schurz on Friday night, they had history on their minds.
And with two second half goals, they made it. Senn knocked off Fenwick 2-1 to advance to the sectional round of the Class AA tournament.
“We try to prepare ourselves for these moments by putting together a tough schedule so when we get to this stage, it doesn’t scare us,” Senn manager Stephen Brewer said. “The theory behind it is we play a tough schedule, build our team up to be able to play to that schedule and prepare us for games like this.
“Second half adjustments were big for sure. We got away from what our game is early, which is passing through our midfield, controlling the game there. That was our big halftime talk ‘Let’s control the game there and everything else will work out.’
“We had a couple fortunate bounces and wanted to challenge their keeper in the second half. And good things happen when you do that.”
Senn (16-8-0) has been on a bit of a successful stretch in the past couple weeks.
After being knocked out of the city playoffs in the second round, the Bulldogs entered the Chicago Public League’s Windy City Cup bracket. They won three-consecutive games that culminated with a 1-0 win over Von Steuben in the tournament final.
Those extra games allowed the Bulldogs to gain more experience in what would have been a dead period before the state tourney. It gave the team an addtional confidence boost.
“There were two defining moments to our season this year,” Brewer said. “They were a win against Eisenhower in the BodyArmor Series, because that was our first win against a big team, and then the loss to Taft in the city playoffs.
“We talked about it then. We’re vowing to play every game like it’s our last. That motivated us to play in (the Windy City Cup), win that tournament and continue that success here.”
“That was really big for us to get that win,” Ade said. “We knew we were going to have to play harder, because we’d face better teams. So we had to practice hard and show that we could do better.”
Once the second half started, Senn started to push deeper into the Friars’ defensive third. The Bulldogs finally converted with a goal that originally looked like it may have sent into the box as a pass.
The send by junior defender Finnegan Dennis carried and ended up behind Fenwick keeper Dominick Ballarin 10 minutes into the second half to tie the game at 1-1.
The Friars looked like they would take the lead just a couple minutes later when Martinello crossed the ball into the box to Felice, but Felice’s shot went just over and landed in the tall netting behind the goal.
“They played more long balls and have a number of taller guys than us,” Martinello said of Senn. “They used that to their advantage on the ball they played in.”
Ade, who scored twice in the 7-3 regional semifinal win over Schurz on Tuesday, delivered the game-winner. He went into the box and got his head on a ball served up by Dennis, who earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honor
“Honestly, I didn’t even know what happened,” Ade said. “I went up and headed it. I was so confused when I scored.”
While the result wasn’t one that Blazer and his squad wanted, there were bright spots that the coach focused on.
“Scoring the first goal was really good for us,” he said. “We played well in the first half against a very talented Senn squad. They’ve got a lot of high-quality players.
“But in the second half we played too direct. The types of goals we gave up, it was challenging.”
Blazer felt his third team at Fenwick made progress.
“We got better individually and collectively as the year went along,” Blazer said. “A lot of what we learned and did, we used in games as we went along. Even today we did some good things that we’ve worked on previously.
“The circumstances are tough; we did well to get on top and taking that next step needed a little more collectiveness. But this group, we had a lot of overall understanding of how we want to play and everybody grew. We showed improvement.”
For Martinello, being a part of the Fenwick program the past two years has been something that he considered an honor. He’ll remember it for the rest of his life.
“Especially now that I’m a senior and it’s all over, I know that it’s not something to take for granted,” he said. “Being a part of such a good team with your good friends … I’ve known Frank six I was six years old. Knowing someone for that long, having that connection with someone…it’s a really good feeling.”
Senn advances to the sectional semifinals at Notre Dame, where they’ll face the host Dons. The two met in the second game of the season for each team Aug. 24th in the Don Raider Cup, hosted by Notre Dame and North Shore Country Day.
Notre Dame took a 2-0 win.
Having already played their opponent is something that Brewer thinks the Bulldogs can use to their advantage.
“We played really well against Notre Dame, we just didn’t play a full 80 minutes and that came to bite us,” Brewer said. “The guys are really excited for the rematch. We’ll look at our tape, but our team has changed drastically since that first week and so has theirs.
“I’m excited to see what those changes are and go to battle against them.”
Starting lineups
Senn
GK: Alexis Peralta
D: Marlon Garcia
D: Finnegan Dennis
D: Jesus Romero
D: Amitye Matumaini
MF: Andres Alanis
MF: John Watson
MF: Joseph Gonzalez
F: Hanad Ade
F: Callum Dickson
F: Baribefee Denaute
Fenwick
GK: Dominick Ballarin
D: Evan Hickman
D: John Ballarin
D: Max Ballarin
D: Ian MacKinnon
MF: Frank Felice
MF: James Zimmer
MF: Max Bero
MF: Lucas Garcia
MF: Jake Brecknock
F: Ian Martinello
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Finnegan Dennis, junior, defender, Senn
Scoring summary
First half
Fenwick - Ian Martinello (Frank Felice), 24th minute
Second half
Senn - Finnegan Dennis, 50th minute
Senn - Hanad Ade (Dennis), 59th minute