GBN’s 2nd half too much for Taft
3 goals after break earn shutout win, 18th regional crown
By Gary Larsen
SKOKIE -- Sometimes it takes a fortuitous bounce to get things going and fifty minutes into a scoreless tie on Saturday, Glenbrook North got the break it needed.
The Spartans ultimately won 3-0 over Taft in securing a Class 3A regional title, but it wasn’t until Sahil Modi ripped a shot from an impossible angle, deep on the left side, that they finally solved the Taft defense.
Modi’s shot stayed low and deflected off a defender before nestling inside the side netting at the far post.
“Sometimes you need those bounces and sometimes you don’t, and today we needed that first goal,” Glenbrook North coach Paul Vignocchi said. “That goal calmed us down a little, and then we started to play our game.”
Deng Deng Kur scored on a free kick and a penalty kick after Modi’s goal to secure the Spartans’ 18th regional title.
“It was hard to figure out how to break them down at times,” Kur said of Taft. “It was challenging. But once we saw the gaps, and they started getting tired, we were able to start breaking them down.
“We were able to send wave after wave of offense at them because we have such a deep team. We just kept going at them.”
Glenbrook North (18-3-1) earned the top seed of this year’s New Trier sectional, and won 4-0 over Maine East to reach Saturday’s regional title game. Taft (11-7-4) won 2-1 over regional host Niles North, and went into the title game as the eighth seed.
The Eagles knew they’d have their hands full.
“They’re a great team. A great team,” Taft defender Marek Klimek said. “They dominated the entire game against Maine East, and we knew we’d have some trouble. At halftime everyone was excited that we were still tied with such a great team.”
Through the game’s first 15 minutes, neither Glenbrook North keeper Daniel Spencer nor Taft keeper Michael Pierri were called to action. That changed at 16 minutes when Spencer had to leave his line and elevate to snare a Klimek free kick taken from 35 yards out.
Long serves and free kicks were mainly what Taft sent in at Spencer all game, and the senior keeper aggressively left his line to handle them throughout. Spencer leapt to punch away another Klimek free kick in the final minute of the half, and tipped a restart over the crossbar late in the second half to preserve his 15th shutout of the season.
“It starts with (Spencer) and he was really good in the air today,” Vignocchi said. “This year he’s been the guy in big games that we’ve relied on, and now he has really started to hit his stride at the end of the year.”
The Spartans’ attack certainly didn’t go without scoring chances in the first half. Kur headed a good chance over the bar at 18 minutes and Pierri saved a low blast from Modi two minutes later. Deng hit a free kick over the crossbar from 20 yards out at 25 minutes, and he sprayed another shot wide at 32 minutes.
Glenbrook North may have gone empty-handed into halftime, but the Spartans knew that patience would key the second half.
“Taft brings a lot of energy to the game, and we knew once we absorbed that energy that they eventually would get tired, and we could play our game,” Vignocchi said. “And that’s exactly what happened.
“I was nervous going into this game because they’ve got some players that can really hurt you if you make mistakes. But our back four played a great game today and our midfield gave us a lot of energy for 80 minutes.”
Spartans midfielders Brandon Mankoff, Robbie Fraser, Max Marquez, Kur, and Modi largely won the day. And center backs Mason Rose and Evan Goldberg and outside backs Ben Gordon and Nate Aronson shined against a Taft attack featuring an 18-goal scorer this season in senior Patrick Knap.
Getting behind the Spartans’ defense was next to impossible Saturday.
“During practice before this game and even on the bus ride here, the back four was talking, knowing we needed to play well today, on top of our game,” Rose said. “Once we get that going and we’re all communicating, I don’t think there’s a team that can come at us that we can’t handle.”
Modi’s goal early in the second half ignited the Spartans’ attack, and soon thereafter Kur was fouled just outside the top of the box on the left side and the senior mid calmly curled his free kick under the crossbar at the near post.
“I missed one in the first half and at halftime I had a coach tell me to make (Pierri) make a play,” Kur said. “I just wanted to try to get it on target.
“I liked our chemistry in the offensive third in the second half. We were making dynamic runs, and our defense was very good today.”
Kur buried a penalty kick at 62 minutes that finished the day’s scoring and his two goals earned him Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors.
Taft never stopped coming at the Spartans.
Spencer tipped a Knap free kick over the bar at 70 minutes, Taft midfielder Alexis Sanchez blasted a shot wide at 76 minutes, and midfielder Kacper Spiewak headed a ball over the crossbar at 74 minutes.
Afterwards, Spencer applauded the challenge that Taft provided.
“They were really dynamic in the back, and making runs across in the beginning of the game. They had a lot of heart, and they really went at it. They wanted this win,” Spencer said. “It was difficult but once we wore them out, we settled down and got in a groove.”
It wasn’t that long ago that a regional game against a team from Chicago wasn’t too much of a challenge for the best teams in the suburbs. Those days are gone, as teams like Taft, Lane Tech, Young, Washington, St. Patrick and others have all elevated their programs.
“The one thing I think that has changed to get city schools so much better is something (coach Jeff) Lucco preaches, which is that it’s not all about skill level. It’s also about heart,” Klimek said. “We got that into our heads, that if we have more heart than other schools, then we have a better chance of winning.”
Taft will lose 11 seniors to graduation, including captains Klimek and Sanchez, so next year’s team will be a young one.
“I’m a little scared for them, to be honest,” Klimek said. “But I believe in them because there’s a lot of good juniors and sophomores that will be back. Hopefully, this year’s seniors can come back next year to a regional final and cheer them on.”
Lucco took over at Taft three years ago and his program won 14 games last year and 12 this season. He ascribes the rise of Chicago high school soccer to a number of factors.
“Our kids eat and breathe soccer. You can’t take a soccer ball off their feet,” Lucco said. “The fact that they now have more opportunities where there’s more affordable clubs, and they play year-round, and have competition within the city against other good city schools, and the coaching has gotten better across the board -- I think all of that is responsible for the improvement.
“We were happy with zero-zero at the half today. But we knew what we were up against. I’ve seen (Glenbrook North) play a couple times this year, and they’re a machine. Last year we lost to Loyola in the playoffs and I said that was the most disciplined high school team I’d ever seen, but these guys are even more disciplined.
"We knew what they were going to do. But the difference is can you stop it? They play the ball wide, they keep it on the ground, and you can tell they know exactly what their coach wants them to do.”
Saturday’s win sent Glenbrook North -- ranked fifth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 -- to a sectional semifinal at New Trier on Wednesday against fifth-seeded Leyden.
“Leyden’s a good team. We saw them play early in the season and late in the season,” Vignocchi said. “They’re a very technical team, and we’ll have to be on our game to play them. I’m excited to play them and I know our boys will look forward to the challenge.”
Starting lineups
Glenbrook North
GK Daniel Spencer
D Mason Rose
D Evan Goldberg
D Ben Gordon
D Nate Aronson
M Deng Deng Kur
M Robbie Fraser
M Max Marquez
M Sahil Modi
M Brandon Mankoff
F Joey Martens
Taft
GK Michael Pierri
D Mateusz Koziara
D Marek Klimek
D Melvin Zamora
D Byron Abayay
M Sergio Diaz
M Brandon Tovar
M Ilyas Boukrim
M Alexis Sanchez
F Patrick Knap
F Jacob Lipinski
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Deng Deng Kur, sr., M, Glenbrook North
Scoring summary
Second half
Glenbrook North — Modi (UA); Kur (FK), Kur (PK)
3 goals after break earn shutout win, 18th regional crown
By Gary Larsen
SKOKIE -- Sometimes it takes a fortuitous bounce to get things going and fifty minutes into a scoreless tie on Saturday, Glenbrook North got the break it needed.
The Spartans ultimately won 3-0 over Taft in securing a Class 3A regional title, but it wasn’t until Sahil Modi ripped a shot from an impossible angle, deep on the left side, that they finally solved the Taft defense.
Modi’s shot stayed low and deflected off a defender before nestling inside the side netting at the far post.
“Sometimes you need those bounces and sometimes you don’t, and today we needed that first goal,” Glenbrook North coach Paul Vignocchi said. “That goal calmed us down a little, and then we started to play our game.”
Deng Deng Kur scored on a free kick and a penalty kick after Modi’s goal to secure the Spartans’ 18th regional title.
“It was hard to figure out how to break them down at times,” Kur said of Taft. “It was challenging. But once we saw the gaps, and they started getting tired, we were able to start breaking them down.
“We were able to send wave after wave of offense at them because we have such a deep team. We just kept going at them.”
Glenbrook North (18-3-1) earned the top seed of this year’s New Trier sectional, and won 4-0 over Maine East to reach Saturday’s regional title game. Taft (11-7-4) won 2-1 over regional host Niles North, and went into the title game as the eighth seed.
The Eagles knew they’d have their hands full.
“They’re a great team. A great team,” Taft defender Marek Klimek said. “They dominated the entire game against Maine East, and we knew we’d have some trouble. At halftime everyone was excited that we were still tied with such a great team.”
Through the game’s first 15 minutes, neither Glenbrook North keeper Daniel Spencer nor Taft keeper Michael Pierri were called to action. That changed at 16 minutes when Spencer had to leave his line and elevate to snare a Klimek free kick taken from 35 yards out.
Long serves and free kicks were mainly what Taft sent in at Spencer all game, and the senior keeper aggressively left his line to handle them throughout. Spencer leapt to punch away another Klimek free kick in the final minute of the half, and tipped a restart over the crossbar late in the second half to preserve his 15th shutout of the season.
“It starts with (Spencer) and he was really good in the air today,” Vignocchi said. “This year he’s been the guy in big games that we’ve relied on, and now he has really started to hit his stride at the end of the year.”
The Spartans’ attack certainly didn’t go without scoring chances in the first half. Kur headed a good chance over the bar at 18 minutes and Pierri saved a low blast from Modi two minutes later. Deng hit a free kick over the crossbar from 20 yards out at 25 minutes, and he sprayed another shot wide at 32 minutes.
Glenbrook North may have gone empty-handed into halftime, but the Spartans knew that patience would key the second half.
“Taft brings a lot of energy to the game, and we knew once we absorbed that energy that they eventually would get tired, and we could play our game,” Vignocchi said. “And that’s exactly what happened.
“I was nervous going into this game because they’ve got some players that can really hurt you if you make mistakes. But our back four played a great game today and our midfield gave us a lot of energy for 80 minutes.”
Spartans midfielders Brandon Mankoff, Robbie Fraser, Max Marquez, Kur, and Modi largely won the day. And center backs Mason Rose and Evan Goldberg and outside backs Ben Gordon and Nate Aronson shined against a Taft attack featuring an 18-goal scorer this season in senior Patrick Knap.
Getting behind the Spartans’ defense was next to impossible Saturday.
“During practice before this game and even on the bus ride here, the back four was talking, knowing we needed to play well today, on top of our game,” Rose said. “Once we get that going and we’re all communicating, I don’t think there’s a team that can come at us that we can’t handle.”
Modi’s goal early in the second half ignited the Spartans’ attack, and soon thereafter Kur was fouled just outside the top of the box on the left side and the senior mid calmly curled his free kick under the crossbar at the near post.
“I missed one in the first half and at halftime I had a coach tell me to make (Pierri) make a play,” Kur said. “I just wanted to try to get it on target.
“I liked our chemistry in the offensive third in the second half. We were making dynamic runs, and our defense was very good today.”
Kur buried a penalty kick at 62 minutes that finished the day’s scoring and his two goals earned him Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors.
Taft never stopped coming at the Spartans.
Spencer tipped a Knap free kick over the bar at 70 minutes, Taft midfielder Alexis Sanchez blasted a shot wide at 76 minutes, and midfielder Kacper Spiewak headed a ball over the crossbar at 74 minutes.
Afterwards, Spencer applauded the challenge that Taft provided.
“They were really dynamic in the back, and making runs across in the beginning of the game. They had a lot of heart, and they really went at it. They wanted this win,” Spencer said. “It was difficult but once we wore them out, we settled down and got in a groove.”
It wasn’t that long ago that a regional game against a team from Chicago wasn’t too much of a challenge for the best teams in the suburbs. Those days are gone, as teams like Taft, Lane Tech, Young, Washington, St. Patrick and others have all elevated their programs.
“The one thing I think that has changed to get city schools so much better is something (coach Jeff) Lucco preaches, which is that it’s not all about skill level. It’s also about heart,” Klimek said. “We got that into our heads, that if we have more heart than other schools, then we have a better chance of winning.”
Taft will lose 11 seniors to graduation, including captains Klimek and Sanchez, so next year’s team will be a young one.
“I’m a little scared for them, to be honest,” Klimek said. “But I believe in them because there’s a lot of good juniors and sophomores that will be back. Hopefully, this year’s seniors can come back next year to a regional final and cheer them on.”
Lucco took over at Taft three years ago and his program won 14 games last year and 12 this season. He ascribes the rise of Chicago high school soccer to a number of factors.
“Our kids eat and breathe soccer. You can’t take a soccer ball off their feet,” Lucco said. “The fact that they now have more opportunities where there’s more affordable clubs, and they play year-round, and have competition within the city against other good city schools, and the coaching has gotten better across the board -- I think all of that is responsible for the improvement.
“We were happy with zero-zero at the half today. But we knew what we were up against. I’ve seen (Glenbrook North) play a couple times this year, and they’re a machine. Last year we lost to Loyola in the playoffs and I said that was the most disciplined high school team I’d ever seen, but these guys are even more disciplined.
"We knew what they were going to do. But the difference is can you stop it? They play the ball wide, they keep it on the ground, and you can tell they know exactly what their coach wants them to do.”
Saturday’s win sent Glenbrook North -- ranked fifth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 -- to a sectional semifinal at New Trier on Wednesday against fifth-seeded Leyden.
“Leyden’s a good team. We saw them play early in the season and late in the season,” Vignocchi said. “They’re a very technical team, and we’ll have to be on our game to play them. I’m excited to play them and I know our boys will look forward to the challenge.”
Starting lineups
Glenbrook North
GK Daniel Spencer
D Mason Rose
D Evan Goldberg
D Ben Gordon
D Nate Aronson
M Deng Deng Kur
M Robbie Fraser
M Max Marquez
M Sahil Modi
M Brandon Mankoff
F Joey Martens
Taft
GK Michael Pierri
D Mateusz Koziara
D Marek Klimek
D Melvin Zamora
D Byron Abayay
M Sergio Diaz
M Brandon Tovar
M Ilyas Boukrim
M Alexis Sanchez
F Patrick Knap
F Jacob Lipinski
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Deng Deng Kur, sr., M, Glenbrook North
Scoring summary
Second half
Glenbrook North — Modi (UA); Kur (FK), Kur (PK)