Grayslake Central bests
Libertyville in coaching friendly
Rams gain 1st win vs. Libertyville in Northside showcase
By Bill McLean
LIBERTYVILLE — Grayslake Central coach Keith Andersson and Libertyville coach Kevin Thunholm go back.
Way back.
Andersson graduated from Libertyville in 1989, four years before Thunholm collected his LHS diploma. But the longtime friends and former Wildcats soccer players knew each other as Lake County grade-schoolers.
No wonder they hugged warmly for extended seconds and slapped backs before the start of Thursday night’s Northside College Showcase final pool match in steamy Libertyville.
“Hey, Keith, this guy (see byline) wanted to know who’s older, you or me?” the fun-loving, quick-witted Thunholm cracked afterward.
“Can you believe that?”
Believe this: Andersson’s Rams edged Thunholm’s Wildcats 1-0 on a breathless, second half goal by Grayslake Central senior forward and Chicagoland Soccer All-Stater Daniel Marynevych, who might be the most intense booter in Illinois, if not in the Midwest.
“Daniel wants to … win,” Andersson said in what will likely go down as the understatement of the millennium. “That will of his, that desire, it brings everyone around him up.”
Grayslake Central (3-0-1), ranked no. 13 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, entered the contest with zero wins against eighth-ranked Libertyville in program history.
Strangely enough, the big victory was not enough to push Grayslake Central into the tournament championship.
The Rams and New Trier, who tied 1-1 on the event’s opening day Aug. 27, finished with identical 2-0-1 records in the group stage. However the Trevians took the tiebreaker with the higher goal-differential in the other pool games (plus-four to plus-two).
So Grayslake Central will face Waukegan at 9 a.m. in Saturday’s third place game at New Trier’s campus in Northfield.
Libertyville (2-2-0) — a three-time Northside College Showcase champion in Thunholm’s just begun sixth season — will meet Round Lake for fifth place at the same site.
“The best soccer memories for most are made here, right here, in a high school game like tonight’s,” said Andersson, who guided last year’s Rams to a program-best fourth place at the Class AA state tournament in Hoffman Estates. “I played college soccer (University of Southern Indiana) but not much sticks out from those years.
“My Libertyville years? I have a lot of good memories.”
Man of the Match Marynevych nearly scored as the clock melted toward 0:00 at the end of the first half. His speed and all-out determination preceded his right-footed shot following a mad-dash. The ball skidded past Wildcats senior goalkeeper Eli Johnson but just to the west of the far post.
Oh-so-close.
A teammate bear-hugged a spent Marynevych for the effort.
The quad-captain then approached Andersson and spilled his thoughts on what Grayslake Central would need to do to succeed in the second half.
Seven minutes after the second half kickoff, Marynevych gathered a feed from senior forward Raymond Sereno in Rams real estate and then turned into a smaller version of Usain Bolt, sprinting about 60 yards before sneaking an eight-foot, near-post blast past Johnson.
It crossed the goal line at a Gillette-sharp angle.
“I was waiting, waiting, waiting for someone, anybody, to stop him or slow him down,” a somewhat exasperated Thunholm said. “It was a back-and-forth game, for the most part. We had (good play) here and there. We’re not consistent. We talked afterward about mental toughness about the importance of having that during games.
“We’re not finishing, either.”
Marynevych knows the keeper he bear.
Johnson knows Marynevych.
They played club soccer together for two seasons.
“He’s a skilled keeper,” Marynevych said. “I found an opening after my run. “It was an opportunity; I took a shot.
“I liked the mindset everyone on our team had. Our intensity was exactly where it needed to be.”
Libertyville was hampered by the loss of senior midfielder Felix Amyot, who suffered a leg injury in the first half.
“He told me that he heard a pop,” Thunholm said. “He’s a go-to for us; we certainly missed him.”
Additionally, Libertyville had to play without the valuable services of sophomore center back Nick Snow for the last 52 minutes.
Snow went down with an upper-body injury, and stayed down for quite a while after doing all he could to thwart another rush from Marynevych.
The pair collided hard at a spot located a tad north of Libertyville’s 18.
“Nick leads with his presence, by the way he plays,” Thunholm said. “His vocal leadership will come. Remember, he’s only a sophomore.”
A Wildcats senior posed a steady concern for Andersson during most of the second half. Midfielder and tri-captain Alec LaRoi assumed forward duties and created a plethora of dangerous sequences.
“He was a handful,” Andersson praised.
Winning goalkeeper Uriel Garcia-Perez, a junior, made six saves, none bigger than a high punch-away on a LaRoi missile in the 61st minute. A minute earlier, he’d soared to secure a two-handed save on another LaRoi shot.
“This game came down to possession,” Andersson said before lauding the performances of senior back and 2021 Chicagoland Soccer all-starter Lucas Veenstra, junior midfielder and consummate playmaker Mitchell Fein and senior midfielder and quad-captain Alan Alonso. “We possessed — that was the key, no doubt, because Libertyville is big, fast, strong. Alan has amazing touch, doesn’t he? He also helps us with his vision, his scanning, his shoulder checks.”
Footnotes
Kudos to Libertyville’s Thursday quartet of ball boys: Andrew Scrogham, Matthew Moore, Ben Kristopher and Brayden Ways. The members of the freshman soccer class hustled along the sidelines as if they were auditioning for work in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. They were alert. They cared. They communicated well. “This is our first time doing this,” Scrogham said. It looked like their 100th time, at least. … Marynevych netted 20 goals and dished out seven assists in the Rams’ historic season last fall. … Marynevych, on Alonso: “He’s our assist god.” … Marynevych, on freshman defender Damion Sereno: “His blocking abilities … he’s the clamp.” … Libertyville’s LaRoi and senior tri-captain Andrew Phillips stood side by side after Thursday’s loss, fielding a few questions after the Wildcats’ second-straight loss following a pair of wins (over Class A Cristo Rey St. Martin and Class 3A Loyola) to open the season. “We needed to create more chances than we did tonight,” Laroi admitted. “And finishing … we have to finish,” Phillips added. “But we don’t give up; we’ll never do that.”
Starting lineups
Libertyville
GK Eli Johnson
D Nick Snow
D Jake Berlowski
D C.J. Villani
D Jack Huber
MF Andrew Phillips
MF Noah Finnema
MF Felix Amyot
MF Alec LaRoi
F Mateo Portillo
F Cole Danner
Grayslake Central
GK Uriel Garcia-Perez
D Eric Garcia-Perez
D Jose Chavez
D Damion Sereno
D Lucas Veenstra
MF Mitchell Fein
MF Nick Molochnikov
MF Alan Alonso
F Raymond Sereno
F Cameron Paul
F Daniel Marynevych
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Daniel Marynevych, sr.,F, Grayslake Central
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Grayslake Central — Marynevych (R. Sereno), 47’
Libertyville in coaching friendly
Rams gain 1st win vs. Libertyville in Northside showcase
By Bill McLean
LIBERTYVILLE — Grayslake Central coach Keith Andersson and Libertyville coach Kevin Thunholm go back.
Way back.
Andersson graduated from Libertyville in 1989, four years before Thunholm collected his LHS diploma. But the longtime friends and former Wildcats soccer players knew each other as Lake County grade-schoolers.
No wonder they hugged warmly for extended seconds and slapped backs before the start of Thursday night’s Northside College Showcase final pool match in steamy Libertyville.
“Hey, Keith, this guy (see byline) wanted to know who’s older, you or me?” the fun-loving, quick-witted Thunholm cracked afterward.
“Can you believe that?”
Believe this: Andersson’s Rams edged Thunholm’s Wildcats 1-0 on a breathless, second half goal by Grayslake Central senior forward and Chicagoland Soccer All-Stater Daniel Marynevych, who might be the most intense booter in Illinois, if not in the Midwest.
“Daniel wants to … win,” Andersson said in what will likely go down as the understatement of the millennium. “That will of his, that desire, it brings everyone around him up.”
Grayslake Central (3-0-1), ranked no. 13 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, entered the contest with zero wins against eighth-ranked Libertyville in program history.
Strangely enough, the big victory was not enough to push Grayslake Central into the tournament championship.
The Rams and New Trier, who tied 1-1 on the event’s opening day Aug. 27, finished with identical 2-0-1 records in the group stage. However the Trevians took the tiebreaker with the higher goal-differential in the other pool games (plus-four to plus-two).
So Grayslake Central will face Waukegan at 9 a.m. in Saturday’s third place game at New Trier’s campus in Northfield.
Libertyville (2-2-0) — a three-time Northside College Showcase champion in Thunholm’s just begun sixth season — will meet Round Lake for fifth place at the same site.
“The best soccer memories for most are made here, right here, in a high school game like tonight’s,” said Andersson, who guided last year’s Rams to a program-best fourth place at the Class AA state tournament in Hoffman Estates. “I played college soccer (University of Southern Indiana) but not much sticks out from those years.
“My Libertyville years? I have a lot of good memories.”
Man of the Match Marynevych nearly scored as the clock melted toward 0:00 at the end of the first half. His speed and all-out determination preceded his right-footed shot following a mad-dash. The ball skidded past Wildcats senior goalkeeper Eli Johnson but just to the west of the far post.
Oh-so-close.
A teammate bear-hugged a spent Marynevych for the effort.
The quad-captain then approached Andersson and spilled his thoughts on what Grayslake Central would need to do to succeed in the second half.
Seven minutes after the second half kickoff, Marynevych gathered a feed from senior forward Raymond Sereno in Rams real estate and then turned into a smaller version of Usain Bolt, sprinting about 60 yards before sneaking an eight-foot, near-post blast past Johnson.
It crossed the goal line at a Gillette-sharp angle.
“I was waiting, waiting, waiting for someone, anybody, to stop him or slow him down,” a somewhat exasperated Thunholm said. “It was a back-and-forth game, for the most part. We had (good play) here and there. We’re not consistent. We talked afterward about mental toughness about the importance of having that during games.
“We’re not finishing, either.”
Marynevych knows the keeper he bear.
Johnson knows Marynevych.
They played club soccer together for two seasons.
“He’s a skilled keeper,” Marynevych said. “I found an opening after my run. “It was an opportunity; I took a shot.
“I liked the mindset everyone on our team had. Our intensity was exactly where it needed to be.”
Libertyville was hampered by the loss of senior midfielder Felix Amyot, who suffered a leg injury in the first half.
“He told me that he heard a pop,” Thunholm said. “He’s a go-to for us; we certainly missed him.”
Additionally, Libertyville had to play without the valuable services of sophomore center back Nick Snow for the last 52 minutes.
Snow went down with an upper-body injury, and stayed down for quite a while after doing all he could to thwart another rush from Marynevych.
The pair collided hard at a spot located a tad north of Libertyville’s 18.
“Nick leads with his presence, by the way he plays,” Thunholm said. “His vocal leadership will come. Remember, he’s only a sophomore.”
A Wildcats senior posed a steady concern for Andersson during most of the second half. Midfielder and tri-captain Alec LaRoi assumed forward duties and created a plethora of dangerous sequences.
“He was a handful,” Andersson praised.
Winning goalkeeper Uriel Garcia-Perez, a junior, made six saves, none bigger than a high punch-away on a LaRoi missile in the 61st minute. A minute earlier, he’d soared to secure a two-handed save on another LaRoi shot.
“This game came down to possession,” Andersson said before lauding the performances of senior back and 2021 Chicagoland Soccer all-starter Lucas Veenstra, junior midfielder and consummate playmaker Mitchell Fein and senior midfielder and quad-captain Alan Alonso. “We possessed — that was the key, no doubt, because Libertyville is big, fast, strong. Alan has amazing touch, doesn’t he? He also helps us with his vision, his scanning, his shoulder checks.”
Footnotes
Kudos to Libertyville’s Thursday quartet of ball boys: Andrew Scrogham, Matthew Moore, Ben Kristopher and Brayden Ways. The members of the freshman soccer class hustled along the sidelines as if they were auditioning for work in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. They were alert. They cared. They communicated well. “This is our first time doing this,” Scrogham said. It looked like their 100th time, at least. … Marynevych netted 20 goals and dished out seven assists in the Rams’ historic season last fall. … Marynevych, on Alonso: “He’s our assist god.” … Marynevych, on freshman defender Damion Sereno: “His blocking abilities … he’s the clamp.” … Libertyville’s LaRoi and senior tri-captain Andrew Phillips stood side by side after Thursday’s loss, fielding a few questions after the Wildcats’ second-straight loss following a pair of wins (over Class A Cristo Rey St. Martin and Class 3A Loyola) to open the season. “We needed to create more chances than we did tonight,” Laroi admitted. “And finishing … we have to finish,” Phillips added. “But we don’t give up; we’ll never do that.”
Starting lineups
Libertyville
GK Eli Johnson
D Nick Snow
D Jake Berlowski
D C.J. Villani
D Jack Huber
MF Andrew Phillips
MF Noah Finnema
MF Felix Amyot
MF Alec LaRoi
F Mateo Portillo
F Cole Danner
Grayslake Central
GK Uriel Garcia-Perez
D Eric Garcia-Perez
D Jose Chavez
D Damion Sereno
D Lucas Veenstra
MF Mitchell Fein
MF Nick Molochnikov
MF Alan Alonso
F Raymond Sereno
F Cameron Paul
F Daniel Marynevych
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Daniel Marynevych, sr.,F, Grayslake Central
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Grayslake Central — Marynevych (R. Sereno), 47’