Geneva earns tie vs. Glenbard North
Vikings set pieces the norm in 1-1 DuKane draw
By Gary Larsen
CAROL STREAM — Glenbard North knew Geneva was strong on set pieces heading into their DuKane Conference match on Tuesday, and defended those set pieces well.
All but once.
After host Glenbard North took a 1-0 lead on a Raul Pasillas goal on a redirected shot taken by Gabe Jurado at 16 minutes, the Panthers defended Geneva set plays well for the next half-hour of play.
That’s when the Vikings’ Zach Puklin scored the equalizer at 52 minutes off a Shun Yonehara corner kick to force a 1-1 tie that held up to the end of regulation.
Yonehara’s corner bounced once near the near post to Puklin in front of the goalmouth, where the senior calmly buried it. Per DKC rules, the game ended in a regulation tie.
A tie is no one’s favorite outcome but neither side’s coach was upset at the final buzzer, although both would have liked a win.
“I thought it was a fair result,” North coach Spero Mandakis said, “but we can’t leave a ball bouncing in the box like that, so that was kind of a communication breakdown.”
Geneva coach Jason Bhatta liked the way his team fought while chasing a one-goal deficit but would have liked to see more danger created in North’s box off of set pieces.
“I thought we played well,” Bhatta said. “If we’re not going to score in the run of play let’s get one on a set play, and we did. But we need to be a little sharper because if this is the playoffs and we tie, we’re going into overtime and maybe penalty kicks.”
On Senior Night in Carol Stream, Glenbard North (10-8-3, 3-2-3) played without a few key contributors in midfielders Emmanuel Castanon and Nathaniel Enriquez for assorted reasons.
The Panthers struggled with their possession game as a result, and instead fell into a pattern of dangerous counterattacks, many of which were kickstarted on clears off of Geneva (11-5-1, 4-1-2) set pieces.
Geneva’s Yonehara sent a free kick whipping past the far post from the left side at 10 minutes with three Vikings running on. Geneva forward Matt Fuller got a touch on a long throw-in from Ethan Hipp at 12 minutes, but the ball rolled into the waiting hands of North keeper Martin Argirov.
Jurado found a good look in transition at 12 minutes that he sent just wide of the post from 12 yards on the right side. But his next shot bore fruit.
Jurado blistered a ball from 20 yards at 16 minutes, and as it attempted to speed past Pasilla in the box, but Pasilla stuck out his foot and redirected it for the score.
Yonehara sent in a handful of corner kicks and Hipp sent in more than a few dangerous throw-ins to halftime. Geneva also sent its share of free kicks into the box but legitimate scoring chances never truly materialized.
“I think we played hard and set up a quite a few chances on set plays and just weren’t able to convert them,” Yonehara said. “But I think, really, our best bet heading into regionals is getting those set plays down.”
Glenbard North central defenders Ren Santillan and Chris Arroyo were also key in the Panthers’ effort in thwarting Geneva’s set piece attempts.
“I think we defended well tonight,” Argirov said. “We played a physical game in the air and headers were a huge part of the game tonight. We realized every time (Geneva) had a big throw-in they’d try to flick it in the box, but we tried to contest it as much as possible.”
Jurado nearly made it 2-0 just before halftime when he sped upfield onto the end of a long pass and went in alone on Geneva keeper Osten Lockner. But Jurado’s shot from 16 yards on the right side rolled just inches outside the far post.
Bhatta’s halftime talk centered partly on limiting chances like the one Jurado nearly scored on before halftime.
“We were leaving our two center backs on an island at times,” Bhatta said. “At times it was two-on-two, so we talked about not getting so many guys forward. We tried to hold one of our outside backs back and that seemed to help in the second half.”
Geneva pushed even harder to start the second half. Braeden McPheron, Matthew Fuller, and Joe Carli all found shots on their feet that either Argirov saved or flew wide of frame through 50 minutes.
The equalizer for Geneva came on a Yonehara corner kick at 52 minutes that bounced once near the near post and found Puklin alone in the goalmouth.
“I just saw that the ball bounced, and the keeper went to dive and he missed it,” Puklin said. “I got lucky and just tapped it in. We go over them in practice a lot and most of our goals this season have been on set plays. We’ve got some guys that can finish on them.”
Glenbard North answered with its best spell of pressure in the second half, and Curado sent a free kick just over the bar at 58 minutes. Geneva then began finding restarts at a steady rate, with Carli flicking a Hipp throw into Argirov’s hands at 62 minutes.
Geneva’s Grant Havertine forced Argirov into a diving stop on a good rip from distance at 63 minutes as the most dangerous final shot of the game. The next 17 minutes played out with more Geneva set plays plus a few potentially dangerous free kicks for Glenbard North that went for naught down the stretch.
Bhatta applauded Puklin’s timely goal, along with the play of Yonehara, who covers a lot of ground in any game. “(Yonehara) is everywhere, all the time,” Bhatta said.
Despite being unable to play its typical possession game, Glenbard North’s tooth-and-nail effort was effective.
“I liked that we didn’t give up,” Pasillas said. “After they scored, we didn’t hang our heads, and we started to win some of those fifty-fifties. I thought we played good.”
Starting lineups
Glenbard North
GK: Martin Argirov
D: Owen Van Poucke
D: Ren Santillan
D: Christopher Arroyo
D: Ramon Acosta
M: Ode Edema
M: Erik Hernandez Flores
M: Nester Dominguez
M: Nathaniel Enriquez
F: Ethan Van Poucke
F: Gabriel Jurado
Geneva
GK: Osten Lockner
D: Grant Havertine
D: Evan Horvath
D: Clayton Williams
D: Braeden McPheron
M: Josh Eiss
M: Joe Carli
M: Shun Yonehara
M: Dominick Peri
M: Ethan Hipp
F: Matthew Fuller
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match: Gabe Jurado, jr., F, Glenbard North
Zach Puklin, sr., D, Geneva
Scoring summary
First half
Glenbard North — Pasilla (Jurado) 16 minutes
Second half
Geneva — Puklin (Yonehara) 52 minutes
Vikings set pieces the norm in 1-1 DuKane draw
By Gary Larsen
CAROL STREAM — Glenbard North knew Geneva was strong on set pieces heading into their DuKane Conference match on Tuesday, and defended those set pieces well.
All but once.
After host Glenbard North took a 1-0 lead on a Raul Pasillas goal on a redirected shot taken by Gabe Jurado at 16 minutes, the Panthers defended Geneva set plays well for the next half-hour of play.
That’s when the Vikings’ Zach Puklin scored the equalizer at 52 minutes off a Shun Yonehara corner kick to force a 1-1 tie that held up to the end of regulation.
Yonehara’s corner bounced once near the near post to Puklin in front of the goalmouth, where the senior calmly buried it. Per DKC rules, the game ended in a regulation tie.
A tie is no one’s favorite outcome but neither side’s coach was upset at the final buzzer, although both would have liked a win.
“I thought it was a fair result,” North coach Spero Mandakis said, “but we can’t leave a ball bouncing in the box like that, so that was kind of a communication breakdown.”
Geneva coach Jason Bhatta liked the way his team fought while chasing a one-goal deficit but would have liked to see more danger created in North’s box off of set pieces.
“I thought we played well,” Bhatta said. “If we’re not going to score in the run of play let’s get one on a set play, and we did. But we need to be a little sharper because if this is the playoffs and we tie, we’re going into overtime and maybe penalty kicks.”
On Senior Night in Carol Stream, Glenbard North (10-8-3, 3-2-3) played without a few key contributors in midfielders Emmanuel Castanon and Nathaniel Enriquez for assorted reasons.
The Panthers struggled with their possession game as a result, and instead fell into a pattern of dangerous counterattacks, many of which were kickstarted on clears off of Geneva (11-5-1, 4-1-2) set pieces.
Geneva’s Yonehara sent a free kick whipping past the far post from the left side at 10 minutes with three Vikings running on. Geneva forward Matt Fuller got a touch on a long throw-in from Ethan Hipp at 12 minutes, but the ball rolled into the waiting hands of North keeper Martin Argirov.
Jurado found a good look in transition at 12 minutes that he sent just wide of the post from 12 yards on the right side. But his next shot bore fruit.
Jurado blistered a ball from 20 yards at 16 minutes, and as it attempted to speed past Pasilla in the box, but Pasilla stuck out his foot and redirected it for the score.
Yonehara sent in a handful of corner kicks and Hipp sent in more than a few dangerous throw-ins to halftime. Geneva also sent its share of free kicks into the box but legitimate scoring chances never truly materialized.
“I think we played hard and set up a quite a few chances on set plays and just weren’t able to convert them,” Yonehara said. “But I think, really, our best bet heading into regionals is getting those set plays down.”
Glenbard North central defenders Ren Santillan and Chris Arroyo were also key in the Panthers’ effort in thwarting Geneva’s set piece attempts.
“I think we defended well tonight,” Argirov said. “We played a physical game in the air and headers were a huge part of the game tonight. We realized every time (Geneva) had a big throw-in they’d try to flick it in the box, but we tried to contest it as much as possible.”
Jurado nearly made it 2-0 just before halftime when he sped upfield onto the end of a long pass and went in alone on Geneva keeper Osten Lockner. But Jurado’s shot from 16 yards on the right side rolled just inches outside the far post.
Bhatta’s halftime talk centered partly on limiting chances like the one Jurado nearly scored on before halftime.
“We were leaving our two center backs on an island at times,” Bhatta said. “At times it was two-on-two, so we talked about not getting so many guys forward. We tried to hold one of our outside backs back and that seemed to help in the second half.”
Geneva pushed even harder to start the second half. Braeden McPheron, Matthew Fuller, and Joe Carli all found shots on their feet that either Argirov saved or flew wide of frame through 50 minutes.
The equalizer for Geneva came on a Yonehara corner kick at 52 minutes that bounced once near the near post and found Puklin alone in the goalmouth.
“I just saw that the ball bounced, and the keeper went to dive and he missed it,” Puklin said. “I got lucky and just tapped it in. We go over them in practice a lot and most of our goals this season have been on set plays. We’ve got some guys that can finish on them.”
Glenbard North answered with its best spell of pressure in the second half, and Curado sent a free kick just over the bar at 58 minutes. Geneva then began finding restarts at a steady rate, with Carli flicking a Hipp throw into Argirov’s hands at 62 minutes.
Geneva’s Grant Havertine forced Argirov into a diving stop on a good rip from distance at 63 minutes as the most dangerous final shot of the game. The next 17 minutes played out with more Geneva set plays plus a few potentially dangerous free kicks for Glenbard North that went for naught down the stretch.
Bhatta applauded Puklin’s timely goal, along with the play of Yonehara, who covers a lot of ground in any game. “(Yonehara) is everywhere, all the time,” Bhatta said.
Despite being unable to play its typical possession game, Glenbard North’s tooth-and-nail effort was effective.
“I liked that we didn’t give up,” Pasillas said. “After they scored, we didn’t hang our heads, and we started to win some of those fifty-fifties. I thought we played good.”
Starting lineups
Glenbard North
GK: Martin Argirov
D: Owen Van Poucke
D: Ren Santillan
D: Christopher Arroyo
D: Ramon Acosta
M: Ode Edema
M: Erik Hernandez Flores
M: Nester Dominguez
M: Nathaniel Enriquez
F: Ethan Van Poucke
F: Gabriel Jurado
Geneva
GK: Osten Lockner
D: Grant Havertine
D: Evan Horvath
D: Clayton Williams
D: Braeden McPheron
M: Josh Eiss
M: Joe Carli
M: Shun Yonehara
M: Dominick Peri
M: Ethan Hipp
F: Matthew Fuller
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match: Gabe Jurado, jr., F, Glenbard North
Zach Puklin, sr., D, Geneva
Scoring summary
First half
Glenbard North — Pasilla (Jurado) 16 minutes
Second half
Geneva — Puklin (Yonehara) 52 minutes