Batavia tops Glenbard North
to sit atop DuKane
Hosts take 3-0 decision to end 3-game skid
By C. Walker
BATAVIA – Before Tuesday, the last time Batavia won its first two conference games it was playing in a different conference.
So, yeah, it had been a while for the Bulldogs, who won their second-straight DuKane Conference game and will look to make it three in a row later this week after they took care of a short-handed Glenbard North squad, 3-0.
“I thought they came out really focused today,” Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “I thought we had a good plan. For a conference which we haven’t played well in the last couple years, these guys are kind of taking it pretty seriously.
“They were really focused and ready to go and played some of their best soccer so hopefully we can do that again Thursday.”
Batavia won the Upstate Eight Conference’s River Division in 2014, finishing the conference season undefeated (6-0-1) and proceeded to win a regional title and a sectional semifinal before seeing its season close after a memorable 19-3-3 campaign.
The Bulldogs bounced back from an emotional Saturday. They were defeated handily, 6-1, by West Aurora, but the most important part of the day was a celebration of Kyle Nicely, the 16-year-old Batavia player who passed away almost exactly two years ago.
The home team got back to work Tuesday night to end a three-game losing streak that saw it get beat by a combined score of 13-2.
“I think they definitely played very well,” Gianfrancesco said. “Probably the best game of a full 80 (minutes) they’ve played all year and definitely a nice bounce back after the last three games. Pretty solid.”
Glenbard North (4-5-2, 0-1-1) rebounded from a 4-1 loss to Glenbard West last Thursday to defeat Glenbard South 2-0 Saturday. The Panthers couldn’t draw even at Batavia, and then saw the game get away from them later with a pair of goals in the final 16 minutes.
“I thought we brought a good effort today,” Glenbard North coach Spero Mandakas said. “We were down our starting center back captain (Ren Santillan), who was out sick today, and we were down two midfielders (Jorge Roman and Luis Roman) who had a church commitment. We brought a few JV guys up (Isaac Hernandez and Andy Pena) and they stepped up. The effort level was there, and the guys stepped in and filled in the roles that we asked of them.”
Injuries and other adversity have overwhelmed the Panthers at times, but they continue to keep fighting. In addition to the three players who were out on Tuesday, four others were sidelined with injuries, including three who are out for the season.
Batavia (5-5-0, 2-0-0) broke through with 25:36 left in the first half. Ryan Kahley forwarded the ball to Mana Monarrez who got past Glenbard North goalkeeper Stavros Veremis who came off his line to try to deny him. Monarrez lined his shot inside the far post for the game-winner.
Monarrez, who added an assist and kept the Panthers busy all night, was recognized as the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match.
“I had the same thing like that against Wheaton North (Sept. 7),” Monarrez said. “I was able to just take the keeper on and have enough confidence to put in the back of the net. There wasn’t nothing much to it.”
It was the kind of start that the Glenbard North wanted to avoid.
“We’re up challenging a set piece early, and we kind of got caught flat, got countered and we go down 1-0 at half,” Mandakas said. “And we had some quality chances, but we need to be more effective in the final third. We’re trying to get the perfect shot.”
Glenbard North sophomore Christian Escobedo had a solid opportunity in the 23rd minute, but his attempt was thwarted by Batavia goalkeeper Ryan Horlock and the Panthers went into halftime down 1-0, a deficit they chased for 50 minutes.
The Panthers had a positive conversation at halftime and came out and battled in what was a high-energy and physical contest that featured a nice-sized crowd that was peppered in by a vocal student section of about two dozen Batavia fans who definitely made their presence known.
“We got past the first half and talked about what we need to do to be effective,” Mandakas said.
“There were a few calls that were kind of mind-boggling that kind of go the opposite way, and we’re caught in a situation where we had a guy on two soft yellows and red, and they have a guy that takes down the last guy, and they’re sitting with a full 10 on their side and we’re not.
“I wasn’t happy with that, but we need to battle and take some of that adversity and overcome those situations and find a solution out of it.”
Batavia senior defender Grant LaRette-Kauffman praised the Bulldogs supporters who fired up his team and his teammates for applying pressure for a full 80 minutes.
“We had a decent amount of people show up compared to usual, and they were pretty excited,” LaRette-Kauffman said. “It hypes us up a lot when we hear all the people actually cheering for us.”
That extra boost of adrenalin certainly helped contain the Panthers, who played a man down for about the last 20 minutes of the game.
“They had some pretty fast guys, but the way we pressed up helped us stop that. Also, I really appreciate (sophomore) Owen (Stahl) who is always covering my back if they play the ball over,” LaRette-Kauffman said. “Our pressuring helped us the most. We were getting up on their guys, making them make mistakes and then letting us attack off that.”
Kahley assisted Josh Denault with 15:46 left in the game as the Bulldogs were finally able to extend their lead.
“We were definitely on them,” Gianfrancesco said. “It’s just finishing. Getting that second one and even getting that third one and then it was kind of done.”
A few minutes later and Batavia senior goalkeeper Logan Saenz made a diving save with 12:10 remaining that preserved the shutout and two-score advantage.
The Bulldogs scored again with 4:33 left and once again Denault finished things off. He took a ball from Monarrez and blasted it through for the 3-0 lead and something more for the Batavia faithful to cheer about.
“The environment was just amazing,” Monarrez said. “Just the fans and everything going on with the refs, everyone is like a part of it, whether it was the away fans or our fans, everyone was in it.”
Emotions running rampant can be crushing to a team’s chances if there isn’t the right balance and composure. The Bulldogs seemed to dine on the energy while battling on the pitch and keeping their cool.
“It’s all about being the bigger man and staying composed and just being happy with the game no matter what happens,” Monarrez said. “It’s just something that we have to do to stay calm, stay happy and enjoy the game.”
While the final was 3-0, Glenbard North walked away feeling they were far better than the final score and gained some positives.
“I think the JV guys stepped up and played really well,” Panthers sophomore midfielder Colin Hernandez said. “I feel like the score line didn’t really show what the game was, but I think in the end they played better than us.
“We’ll get back to practice tomorrow and keep working hard, listen to what coach says. We need to listen to the game plan and keep going. I think that we have the talent on our team, but we’ve just got to execute.”
Starting lineups
Glenbard North
GK Stavros Veremis
D Steve Gospodinov
D Lucas Tran
D Nick Partington
D Christopher Arroyo
D Diego Chicas
MF Christian Escobedo
MF Colin Hernandez
F Azael Velazquez
F Carlos Villagrana
F Pablo DeLaCruz
Batavia
GK Ryan Horlock
D Grant LeRette-Kauffman
D Quinn Salyers
D Brody Seitzinger
D Owen Stahl
MF Will Bardol
MF Ben Hanson
MF Ryan Kahley
F Alec Crum
F Josh Denault
F Mana Monarrez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Mana Monarrez, sr., F., Batavia
Scoring summary
First half
B: Mana Monarrez (Ryan Kahley), 14th minute
Second half
B: Josh Denault (Kahley), 64th
B: Denault (Monarrez), 75th
to sit atop DuKane
Hosts take 3-0 decision to end 3-game skid
By C. Walker
BATAVIA – Before Tuesday, the last time Batavia won its first two conference games it was playing in a different conference.
So, yeah, it had been a while for the Bulldogs, who won their second-straight DuKane Conference game and will look to make it three in a row later this week after they took care of a short-handed Glenbard North squad, 3-0.
“I thought they came out really focused today,” Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “I thought we had a good plan. For a conference which we haven’t played well in the last couple years, these guys are kind of taking it pretty seriously.
“They were really focused and ready to go and played some of their best soccer so hopefully we can do that again Thursday.”
Batavia won the Upstate Eight Conference’s River Division in 2014, finishing the conference season undefeated (6-0-1) and proceeded to win a regional title and a sectional semifinal before seeing its season close after a memorable 19-3-3 campaign.
The Bulldogs bounced back from an emotional Saturday. They were defeated handily, 6-1, by West Aurora, but the most important part of the day was a celebration of Kyle Nicely, the 16-year-old Batavia player who passed away almost exactly two years ago.
The home team got back to work Tuesday night to end a three-game losing streak that saw it get beat by a combined score of 13-2.
“I think they definitely played very well,” Gianfrancesco said. “Probably the best game of a full 80 (minutes) they’ve played all year and definitely a nice bounce back after the last three games. Pretty solid.”
Glenbard North (4-5-2, 0-1-1) rebounded from a 4-1 loss to Glenbard West last Thursday to defeat Glenbard South 2-0 Saturday. The Panthers couldn’t draw even at Batavia, and then saw the game get away from them later with a pair of goals in the final 16 minutes.
“I thought we brought a good effort today,” Glenbard North coach Spero Mandakas said. “We were down our starting center back captain (Ren Santillan), who was out sick today, and we were down two midfielders (Jorge Roman and Luis Roman) who had a church commitment. We brought a few JV guys up (Isaac Hernandez and Andy Pena) and they stepped up. The effort level was there, and the guys stepped in and filled in the roles that we asked of them.”
Injuries and other adversity have overwhelmed the Panthers at times, but they continue to keep fighting. In addition to the three players who were out on Tuesday, four others were sidelined with injuries, including three who are out for the season.
Batavia (5-5-0, 2-0-0) broke through with 25:36 left in the first half. Ryan Kahley forwarded the ball to Mana Monarrez who got past Glenbard North goalkeeper Stavros Veremis who came off his line to try to deny him. Monarrez lined his shot inside the far post for the game-winner.
Monarrez, who added an assist and kept the Panthers busy all night, was recognized as the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match.
“I had the same thing like that against Wheaton North (Sept. 7),” Monarrez said. “I was able to just take the keeper on and have enough confidence to put in the back of the net. There wasn’t nothing much to it.”
It was the kind of start that the Glenbard North wanted to avoid.
“We’re up challenging a set piece early, and we kind of got caught flat, got countered and we go down 1-0 at half,” Mandakas said. “And we had some quality chances, but we need to be more effective in the final third. We’re trying to get the perfect shot.”
Glenbard North sophomore Christian Escobedo had a solid opportunity in the 23rd minute, but his attempt was thwarted by Batavia goalkeeper Ryan Horlock and the Panthers went into halftime down 1-0, a deficit they chased for 50 minutes.
The Panthers had a positive conversation at halftime and came out and battled in what was a high-energy and physical contest that featured a nice-sized crowd that was peppered in by a vocal student section of about two dozen Batavia fans who definitely made their presence known.
“We got past the first half and talked about what we need to do to be effective,” Mandakas said.
“There were a few calls that were kind of mind-boggling that kind of go the opposite way, and we’re caught in a situation where we had a guy on two soft yellows and red, and they have a guy that takes down the last guy, and they’re sitting with a full 10 on their side and we’re not.
“I wasn’t happy with that, but we need to battle and take some of that adversity and overcome those situations and find a solution out of it.”
Batavia senior defender Grant LaRette-Kauffman praised the Bulldogs supporters who fired up his team and his teammates for applying pressure for a full 80 minutes.
“We had a decent amount of people show up compared to usual, and they were pretty excited,” LaRette-Kauffman said. “It hypes us up a lot when we hear all the people actually cheering for us.”
That extra boost of adrenalin certainly helped contain the Panthers, who played a man down for about the last 20 minutes of the game.
“They had some pretty fast guys, but the way we pressed up helped us stop that. Also, I really appreciate (sophomore) Owen (Stahl) who is always covering my back if they play the ball over,” LaRette-Kauffman said. “Our pressuring helped us the most. We were getting up on their guys, making them make mistakes and then letting us attack off that.”
Kahley assisted Josh Denault with 15:46 left in the game as the Bulldogs were finally able to extend their lead.
“We were definitely on them,” Gianfrancesco said. “It’s just finishing. Getting that second one and even getting that third one and then it was kind of done.”
A few minutes later and Batavia senior goalkeeper Logan Saenz made a diving save with 12:10 remaining that preserved the shutout and two-score advantage.
The Bulldogs scored again with 4:33 left and once again Denault finished things off. He took a ball from Monarrez and blasted it through for the 3-0 lead and something more for the Batavia faithful to cheer about.
“The environment was just amazing,” Monarrez said. “Just the fans and everything going on with the refs, everyone is like a part of it, whether it was the away fans or our fans, everyone was in it.”
Emotions running rampant can be crushing to a team’s chances if there isn’t the right balance and composure. The Bulldogs seemed to dine on the energy while battling on the pitch and keeping their cool.
“It’s all about being the bigger man and staying composed and just being happy with the game no matter what happens,” Monarrez said. “It’s just something that we have to do to stay calm, stay happy and enjoy the game.”
While the final was 3-0, Glenbard North walked away feeling they were far better than the final score and gained some positives.
“I think the JV guys stepped up and played really well,” Panthers sophomore midfielder Colin Hernandez said. “I feel like the score line didn’t really show what the game was, but I think in the end they played better than us.
“We’ll get back to practice tomorrow and keep working hard, listen to what coach says. We need to listen to the game plan and keep going. I think that we have the talent on our team, but we’ve just got to execute.”
Starting lineups
Glenbard North
GK Stavros Veremis
D Steve Gospodinov
D Lucas Tran
D Nick Partington
D Christopher Arroyo
D Diego Chicas
MF Christian Escobedo
MF Colin Hernandez
F Azael Velazquez
F Carlos Villagrana
F Pablo DeLaCruz
Batavia
GK Ryan Horlock
D Grant LeRette-Kauffman
D Quinn Salyers
D Brody Seitzinger
D Owen Stahl
MF Will Bardol
MF Ben Hanson
MF Ryan Kahley
F Alec Crum
F Josh Denault
F Mana Monarrez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Mana Monarrez, sr., F., Batavia
Scoring summary
First half
B: Mana Monarrez (Ryan Kahley), 14th minute
Second half
B: Josh Denault (Kahley), 64th
B: Denault (Monarrez), 75th