Late goal advances
Dixon past Genoa-Kingston
77th-minute goal takes GK-dominated game in Big Northern semi
By Len Eisele
DIXON -- Both Dixon and Genoa-Kingston came into the semifinal round of the Big Northern Conference Tournament with potent offenses, but it was the defense and goalkeeping that stole the show on the field Wednesday at Sauk Valley Community College. The top-seeded Dukes squeaked by the fourth-seeded Cogs with a late goal in a 1-0 thriller.
“You know, I like scoring in the first minute and holding the rest of the game,” Dixon coach Josh Brigl said. “I’m wound up now just because of that (win). It’s going to be one of those where we’re riding high. We’ll recover tomorrow. It was a good emotional win. That was awesome.”
With just under three minutes left in the game, the Dukes broke through on a pass from Bradyn Langloss to Logan Ethridge. Langloss pushed the ball behind the stout Cogs defense and left Ethridge with a clear path to the goal. He connected from 15 yards.
“I knew we had it at that point,” Brigl said. “There was a moment with about 20 minutes left in the game where I was thinking whoever gets the first one, it’s going to be the only one.”
Other than that pass, the Cogs held Langloss in check. The Dixon forward leads his team with 19 goals.
“Our job was trying to stop Langloss, and we did that,” Cogs coach Randy Tate said. “We knew somebody else was going to have to score.”
The Cogs had quality scoring chances, especially late in the first half, but couldn’t convert on the opportunities.
“We wanted to find the back of the net, but it just wasn’t our day,” Cogs’ junior forward Eagan Reams said. “Sometimes it’s not your day and you just have to move on and forget about it.”
The best chance for the Cogs came in the 25th minute after a handball violation on Dixon inside the box. Reams lined up for the penalty kick and smashed it low to the right side of the net, but Dixon senior goalkeeper Ryan Pitzer guessed right and made a diving grab to stop the scoring chance.
“I was very excited,” Pitzer said. “That was my first PK that I have saved in high school. That got me really excited and all my teammates were excited as well.”
The Cogs (6-6-1, 3-3-0) had another scoring opportunity with a one-on-one attempt for Junior Leon with nine seconds left in the first half. Leon broke free of the Dixon defense and had only Pitzer to beat, but Pitzer proved up to the challenge. The Dixon goalkeeper made a soaring deflection, pushing the ball over the net on the 8-yard shot attempt by Leon. Pitzer finished with four saves, including the two one-on-one stops.
“I’m just feeling a little down but proud of these guys,” Leon said. “They gave a good fight against the number one seed, so I’m just proud of these guys.”
Not to be outdone, goalkeeper Rony Vasquez and the Cogs defense kept the powerful Dixon offense off the scoring sheet for almost the entire game.
“Our guys stepped up today,” Cogs coach Randy Tate said. “They just got that one lucky bounce that got behind us, got behind the defense. They were able to get that one past us.”
Vasquez finished with eight saves.
Dixon had chances to score in the first half foiled by the strong Cogs defense. Ethridge seemed to have a goal in the first half in the 20th minute after a near collision with a charging Vasquez left him with an open net. After he knocked it in, he turned to see the referee signalling Cogs’ ball. The offocial ruled that Ethridge had knocked the ball out of the goalkeeper’s hands.
Minutes earlier the Dukes appeared to have gotten through the back of the defense, but Genoa-Kingston's Angel Tapia charged up from the back side and knocked the ball out of the box with a strong header.
The Dukes (11-3-0, 7-0-0) employed an extra attacker most of the game. That put pressure on not just the Cogs defense and affected their ability to score. Reams, who usually sits up-top waiting for the midfielders to clear the ball to him, was forced to pinch in and try to steal the ball.
“They like to play possession,” Reams said. “I saw they had a center defensive midfielder hanging back to keep the ball. I tried to come back to disrupt that and take away that pass and try to find Junior.”
The Cogs high-scoring tandem of Reams and Leon were held scoreless for just the second time this season.
Reams leads the Cogs with 24 goals to go along with 5 assists, while Leon is first in assists with 16 and second in goals with 19.
“We know that Reams and Leon are dangerous,” Brigl said. “The more we can slow the attack down the better for us. Pitzer came up big for us. Just grind it out, that’s what we’ve been doing all year.”
Game notes
The match was the second between the teams this year. Dixon beat Genoa-Kingston 4-2 in Genoa in the season-opener. The Cogs played without some of their top players in the first matchup including Reams.
The Cogs will play at 4:15 p.m. at Mendota in the third place game Friday. Dixon hosts third-seeded Rockford Christian at 4:15 p.m. Friday for the Big Northern Conference Tournament championship.
Starting Lineups
Genoa-Kingston
GK Rony Vasquez
FB Angel Tapia
FB Marco Beltran
FB Ben Younker
FB Alan Rangel
MF Alejo Pacheco
MF Angel Tapia
MF Leonardo Rocha
MF Juan Campos
FW Junior Leon
FW Eagan Reams
Dixon
GK Ryan Pitzer
FB Graesen Blumhoff
FB Ethan Fox
FB Tristan Smith
FB Griffey Rodriguez
MF Austin Pleskovitch
MF Bradyn Langloss
MF Alex Georgiev
FW Luis Xique
FW Logan Ethridge
FW Boston Glessner
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ryan Pitzer, sr., GK, Dixon
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Dixon - Ethridge (Langloss) 77th minute
Dixon past Genoa-Kingston
77th-minute goal takes GK-dominated game in Big Northern semi
By Len Eisele
DIXON -- Both Dixon and Genoa-Kingston came into the semifinal round of the Big Northern Conference Tournament with potent offenses, but it was the defense and goalkeeping that stole the show on the field Wednesday at Sauk Valley Community College. The top-seeded Dukes squeaked by the fourth-seeded Cogs with a late goal in a 1-0 thriller.
“You know, I like scoring in the first minute and holding the rest of the game,” Dixon coach Josh Brigl said. “I’m wound up now just because of that (win). It’s going to be one of those where we’re riding high. We’ll recover tomorrow. It was a good emotional win. That was awesome.”
With just under three minutes left in the game, the Dukes broke through on a pass from Bradyn Langloss to Logan Ethridge. Langloss pushed the ball behind the stout Cogs defense and left Ethridge with a clear path to the goal. He connected from 15 yards.
“I knew we had it at that point,” Brigl said. “There was a moment with about 20 minutes left in the game where I was thinking whoever gets the first one, it’s going to be the only one.”
Other than that pass, the Cogs held Langloss in check. The Dixon forward leads his team with 19 goals.
“Our job was trying to stop Langloss, and we did that,” Cogs coach Randy Tate said. “We knew somebody else was going to have to score.”
The Cogs had quality scoring chances, especially late in the first half, but couldn’t convert on the opportunities.
“We wanted to find the back of the net, but it just wasn’t our day,” Cogs’ junior forward Eagan Reams said. “Sometimes it’s not your day and you just have to move on and forget about it.”
The best chance for the Cogs came in the 25th minute after a handball violation on Dixon inside the box. Reams lined up for the penalty kick and smashed it low to the right side of the net, but Dixon senior goalkeeper Ryan Pitzer guessed right and made a diving grab to stop the scoring chance.
“I was very excited,” Pitzer said. “That was my first PK that I have saved in high school. That got me really excited and all my teammates were excited as well.”
The Cogs (6-6-1, 3-3-0) had another scoring opportunity with a one-on-one attempt for Junior Leon with nine seconds left in the first half. Leon broke free of the Dixon defense and had only Pitzer to beat, but Pitzer proved up to the challenge. The Dixon goalkeeper made a soaring deflection, pushing the ball over the net on the 8-yard shot attempt by Leon. Pitzer finished with four saves, including the two one-on-one stops.
“I’m just feeling a little down but proud of these guys,” Leon said. “They gave a good fight against the number one seed, so I’m just proud of these guys.”
Not to be outdone, goalkeeper Rony Vasquez and the Cogs defense kept the powerful Dixon offense off the scoring sheet for almost the entire game.
“Our guys stepped up today,” Cogs coach Randy Tate said. “They just got that one lucky bounce that got behind us, got behind the defense. They were able to get that one past us.”
Vasquez finished with eight saves.
Dixon had chances to score in the first half foiled by the strong Cogs defense. Ethridge seemed to have a goal in the first half in the 20th minute after a near collision with a charging Vasquez left him with an open net. After he knocked it in, he turned to see the referee signalling Cogs’ ball. The offocial ruled that Ethridge had knocked the ball out of the goalkeeper’s hands.
Minutes earlier the Dukes appeared to have gotten through the back of the defense, but Genoa-Kingston's Angel Tapia charged up from the back side and knocked the ball out of the box with a strong header.
The Dukes (11-3-0, 7-0-0) employed an extra attacker most of the game. That put pressure on not just the Cogs defense and affected their ability to score. Reams, who usually sits up-top waiting for the midfielders to clear the ball to him, was forced to pinch in and try to steal the ball.
“They like to play possession,” Reams said. “I saw they had a center defensive midfielder hanging back to keep the ball. I tried to come back to disrupt that and take away that pass and try to find Junior.”
The Cogs high-scoring tandem of Reams and Leon were held scoreless for just the second time this season.
Reams leads the Cogs with 24 goals to go along with 5 assists, while Leon is first in assists with 16 and second in goals with 19.
“We know that Reams and Leon are dangerous,” Brigl said. “The more we can slow the attack down the better for us. Pitzer came up big for us. Just grind it out, that’s what we’ve been doing all year.”
Game notes
The match was the second between the teams this year. Dixon beat Genoa-Kingston 4-2 in Genoa in the season-opener. The Cogs played without some of their top players in the first matchup including Reams.
The Cogs will play at 4:15 p.m. at Mendota in the third place game Friday. Dixon hosts third-seeded Rockford Christian at 4:15 p.m. Friday for the Big Northern Conference Tournament championship.
Starting Lineups
Genoa-Kingston
GK Rony Vasquez
FB Angel Tapia
FB Marco Beltran
FB Ben Younker
FB Alan Rangel
MF Alejo Pacheco
MF Angel Tapia
MF Leonardo Rocha
MF Juan Campos
FW Junior Leon
FW Eagan Reams
Dixon
GK Ryan Pitzer
FB Graesen Blumhoff
FB Ethan Fox
FB Tristan Smith
FB Griffey Rodriguez
MF Austin Pleskovitch
MF Bradyn Langloss
MF Alex Georgiev
FW Luis Xique
FW Logan Ethridge
FW Boston Glessner
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ryan Pitzer, sr., GK, Dixon
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Dixon - Ethridge (Langloss) 77th minute