Bartlett blanked in the rain
Glenbard East escapes with 1-0 victory in Upstate 8 clash
By Chris Walker
BARTLETT – Rudy Reyes kicked his leg high into the air in frustration with a few minutes remaining in Tuesday’s Upstate Eight Conference game.
The Bartlett senior was furious.
He missed the potential game-tying goal against Glenbard East with 3:12 remaining and probably realized that he wouldn’t be blessed with another great opportunity again.
It didn’t help that the Hawks struggled all afternoon in creating threats on offense. It got worse when they fell behind. And, it most certainly didn’t help matters that a stready rain arrived midway through the first half and decided to stick around for the remainder of the day, turning the natural surface of the field into a giant banana peel much better suited for King Kong.
The Hawks departed with a frustration cloud floating overhead as they fell to the Rams 1-0.
“We had our chances, we had opportunities,” Bartlett coach Vince Revak said. “Rudy Reyes had a glaring chance right at the end but just got the ball caught underneath his feet, and defensively we played OK. (Goalkeeper) Jeremy Taylor played great today in net and saved our butts a number of times. It’s hard to lose 1-0. Almost as a coach I would rather lose 7-0 and be able to say there was no chance, because this is yet another loss where we were within striking distance.”
Glenbard East (3-2-3, 2-2-1) got its goal with 18:13 remaining in the game as junior Patrick Campuzano scored off a rebound.
“I was on the wing and anticipating the shot from Thomas (Sotelo),” Campuzano said. “Right when Thomas took that left-footed shot I knew he (Taylor) was going to fumble it. So I came in hard and did what I had to do and put it in the back of the net.”
Obviously the man of the moment since he scored the only goal, Campuzano was beaming afterwards, and likely equally as enthusiastic upon hearing the news that he was named the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match.
“It all feels absolutely great,” he said. “In a game like this without any goals, it makes me work harder and made me want to get that goal. It feels great to be the one that put it in and won it for the team.”
The fact that it was Campuzano’s first goal of the season probably had something to do with the huge smile that never left his face.
It still probably hasn’t left him.
“He’s been one who we hope to get to that level of play because we see potential where he can go with things,” Glenbard East coach Josh Adler said. “Hopefully this will give him a nice jump start to the rest of the season.”
Campuzano and his teammates had some other chances but they proved unable to finish any of them and some of that had to do with a tremendous effort from Taylor.
“Their goal was just a mistake that we could’ve fixed because someone just dropped their man,” Taylor said. “I made the save, but it was just an unlucky rebound, I guess.”
One of the bright spots for Bartlett in the loss certainly was Taylor who feels like he’s gaining confidence after each practice and game.
“My confidence hasn’t been the highest this year after not playing all summer because of an injury,” he said. “So it felt good to come out here and make some decent saves. It’s going to help my confidence going into next game.”
He certainly won the praise of Adler who saw his Rams attack on numerous occasions only to be thwarted by Taylor’s efforts.
“I was really pleased with our playing from an attacking standpoint from the back third of the field, to the middle and getting it to the final third and putting things in dangerous situations,” Adler said. “But their goalie (Taylor) played out of his mind and that helped keep him in the game. He kind of made it frustrating for us in front of the net, but it was still a good day in what we were able to produce.”
The Rams implemented an interesting tactic, starting the game and pretending to be down 2-0. It worked.
“For us we’ve always put a lot of emphasis on our defense, especially on the road,” Adler said. “We put ourselves in the mentality that we have to make up some new ground. So that’s our new thing. We’re down 2-0 on the road, and it helps us get a different thought process to get ourselves going. I thought we did a good job of frustrating them at times, minimizing their chances and the shots they had were ones we were able to manage for the most part.”
Brandon Palid, Raj Parikh, Kamil Jarzabek, Omar Chavez, Sebastian Gonzalez and Reyes had some of the better scoring chances for the Hawks, while the Rams saw a shot carom off the right post with 13:21 left in the first half, had back-to-back shots denied by Taylor and then a third rebound attempt hook just left early in the second half, lose a goal due to an offsides call and failed to extend their lead with 3:46 left when Ian Moran was left open from in close, but Taylor was there once again to deny him.
“This was disappointing,” Revak said. “We came off such a good win against Schaumburg and worked comprehensibly better so it feels like one step forward, two steps back. We looked like a different team out there. Obviously conditions of the field aren’t ideal, and we were missing a couple of guys with injuries and other issues, which didn’t help, but it just wasn’t a good game for us.”
Reyes said the field conditions truly made an impact and not a good one.
“Coach said we didn’t play the same way as we did in the Schaumburg game, but I didn’t think we played that bad. I think the field maybe messed us up,” he said. “I had a few slips trying to get the ball and then I had that open shot that I completely missed. But I wasn’t concentrating enough. I was too anxious to score and tie the game and just didn’t do it.”
The Hawks were without the services of defenders Matthew Tobin, Zander Zamora and Connor Medendorp, and forward Mauricio Vigil.
“We played slower, but I honestly don’t know what the reason why was,” Taylor said. “We were missing a couple of key players, but I think we just needed to capitalize on some of our chances.”
Bartlett (2-7-1, 1-2-1) will look to rebound against West Chicago on Friday before competing in the Hampshire Tournament on Saturday. The Hawks will have little rest;they have a quick turn-around and take on Streamwood on Monday.
“We want to be at our best for the playoffs so we’re taking it one game at a time,” Taylor said. “I think we’re going to figure it out, and with this next tournament in Hampshire I think we’re going to be a team that is definitely going to be an underdog. I think we’re going to do something, but we need to figure it out soon. We’ll hopefully get our confidence boosted up. That’s what we need right now.”
Starting lineups
Glenbard East
GK: Gerardo Galvez
D: Robert Erickson
D: Alex Johnson
D: Adler Joiner
D: Luke McLeese
MF: Clay Kepuraitis
MF: Ian Moran
MF: Nick O’Brien
MF: Gavin Wooldridge
F:Patrick Campuzano
F:Thomas Sotelo
Bartlett
GK: Jeremy Taylor
D: Sebastian Gonzalez
D: Austin Cichon
D: Kevin Nara
D: Ethan Sproule
MF: Carlos Alfaro
MF: Nico Gomez
MF: Brandon Palid
MF: Rudy Reyes
F:Kamil Jarzabek
F:Amine Medendorp
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Patrick Campuzano, Glenbard East, jr., MF/F
Scoring summary
First half
None
Second half
Glenbard East – Patrick Campuzano (Thomas Sotelo), 18:13
Glenbard East escapes with 1-0 victory in Upstate 8 clash
By Chris Walker
BARTLETT – Rudy Reyes kicked his leg high into the air in frustration with a few minutes remaining in Tuesday’s Upstate Eight Conference game.
The Bartlett senior was furious.
He missed the potential game-tying goal against Glenbard East with 3:12 remaining and probably realized that he wouldn’t be blessed with another great opportunity again.
It didn’t help that the Hawks struggled all afternoon in creating threats on offense. It got worse when they fell behind. And, it most certainly didn’t help matters that a stready rain arrived midway through the first half and decided to stick around for the remainder of the day, turning the natural surface of the field into a giant banana peel much better suited for King Kong.
The Hawks departed with a frustration cloud floating overhead as they fell to the Rams 1-0.
“We had our chances, we had opportunities,” Bartlett coach Vince Revak said. “Rudy Reyes had a glaring chance right at the end but just got the ball caught underneath his feet, and defensively we played OK. (Goalkeeper) Jeremy Taylor played great today in net and saved our butts a number of times. It’s hard to lose 1-0. Almost as a coach I would rather lose 7-0 and be able to say there was no chance, because this is yet another loss where we were within striking distance.”
Glenbard East (3-2-3, 2-2-1) got its goal with 18:13 remaining in the game as junior Patrick Campuzano scored off a rebound.
“I was on the wing and anticipating the shot from Thomas (Sotelo),” Campuzano said. “Right when Thomas took that left-footed shot I knew he (Taylor) was going to fumble it. So I came in hard and did what I had to do and put it in the back of the net.”
Obviously the man of the moment since he scored the only goal, Campuzano was beaming afterwards, and likely equally as enthusiastic upon hearing the news that he was named the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match.
“It all feels absolutely great,” he said. “In a game like this without any goals, it makes me work harder and made me want to get that goal. It feels great to be the one that put it in and won it for the team.”
The fact that it was Campuzano’s first goal of the season probably had something to do with the huge smile that never left his face.
It still probably hasn’t left him.
“He’s been one who we hope to get to that level of play because we see potential where he can go with things,” Glenbard East coach Josh Adler said. “Hopefully this will give him a nice jump start to the rest of the season.”
Campuzano and his teammates had some other chances but they proved unable to finish any of them and some of that had to do with a tremendous effort from Taylor.
“Their goal was just a mistake that we could’ve fixed because someone just dropped their man,” Taylor said. “I made the save, but it was just an unlucky rebound, I guess.”
One of the bright spots for Bartlett in the loss certainly was Taylor who feels like he’s gaining confidence after each practice and game.
“My confidence hasn’t been the highest this year after not playing all summer because of an injury,” he said. “So it felt good to come out here and make some decent saves. It’s going to help my confidence going into next game.”
He certainly won the praise of Adler who saw his Rams attack on numerous occasions only to be thwarted by Taylor’s efforts.
“I was really pleased with our playing from an attacking standpoint from the back third of the field, to the middle and getting it to the final third and putting things in dangerous situations,” Adler said. “But their goalie (Taylor) played out of his mind and that helped keep him in the game. He kind of made it frustrating for us in front of the net, but it was still a good day in what we were able to produce.”
The Rams implemented an interesting tactic, starting the game and pretending to be down 2-0. It worked.
“For us we’ve always put a lot of emphasis on our defense, especially on the road,” Adler said. “We put ourselves in the mentality that we have to make up some new ground. So that’s our new thing. We’re down 2-0 on the road, and it helps us get a different thought process to get ourselves going. I thought we did a good job of frustrating them at times, minimizing their chances and the shots they had were ones we were able to manage for the most part.”
Brandon Palid, Raj Parikh, Kamil Jarzabek, Omar Chavez, Sebastian Gonzalez and Reyes had some of the better scoring chances for the Hawks, while the Rams saw a shot carom off the right post with 13:21 left in the first half, had back-to-back shots denied by Taylor and then a third rebound attempt hook just left early in the second half, lose a goal due to an offsides call and failed to extend their lead with 3:46 left when Ian Moran was left open from in close, but Taylor was there once again to deny him.
“This was disappointing,” Revak said. “We came off such a good win against Schaumburg and worked comprehensibly better so it feels like one step forward, two steps back. We looked like a different team out there. Obviously conditions of the field aren’t ideal, and we were missing a couple of guys with injuries and other issues, which didn’t help, but it just wasn’t a good game for us.”
Reyes said the field conditions truly made an impact and not a good one.
“Coach said we didn’t play the same way as we did in the Schaumburg game, but I didn’t think we played that bad. I think the field maybe messed us up,” he said. “I had a few slips trying to get the ball and then I had that open shot that I completely missed. But I wasn’t concentrating enough. I was too anxious to score and tie the game and just didn’t do it.”
The Hawks were without the services of defenders Matthew Tobin, Zander Zamora and Connor Medendorp, and forward Mauricio Vigil.
“We played slower, but I honestly don’t know what the reason why was,” Taylor said. “We were missing a couple of key players, but I think we just needed to capitalize on some of our chances.”
Bartlett (2-7-1, 1-2-1) will look to rebound against West Chicago on Friday before competing in the Hampshire Tournament on Saturday. The Hawks will have little rest;they have a quick turn-around and take on Streamwood on Monday.
“We want to be at our best for the playoffs so we’re taking it one game at a time,” Taylor said. “I think we’re going to figure it out, and with this next tournament in Hampshire I think we’re going to be a team that is definitely going to be an underdog. I think we’re going to do something, but we need to figure it out soon. We’ll hopefully get our confidence boosted up. That’s what we need right now.”
Starting lineups
Glenbard East
GK: Gerardo Galvez
D: Robert Erickson
D: Alex Johnson
D: Adler Joiner
D: Luke McLeese
MF: Clay Kepuraitis
MF: Ian Moran
MF: Nick O’Brien
MF: Gavin Wooldridge
F:Patrick Campuzano
F:Thomas Sotelo
Bartlett
GK: Jeremy Taylor
D: Sebastian Gonzalez
D: Austin Cichon
D: Kevin Nara
D: Ethan Sproule
MF: Carlos Alfaro
MF: Nico Gomez
MF: Brandon Palid
MF: Rudy Reyes
F:Kamil Jarzabek
F:Amine Medendorp
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Patrick Campuzano, Glenbard East, jr., MF/F
Scoring summary
First half
None
Second half
Glenbard East – Patrick Campuzano (Thomas Sotelo), 18:13