Glenbard North GK Veremis
makes 1-goal lead hold up vs. WWS
Junior makes 11 saves in 1-0 DuKane Conference victory
By Jared Birchfield
WHEATON -- When Glenbard North’s Jorge Roman lined up to take a penalty kick at the 35:01 mark of the first half, little did the senior know that his shot would be the difference-maker in the DuKane Conference clash with Wheaton Warrenville South on Tuesday night at Red Grange Field.
Roman’s boot got past Tigers goalkeeper Jared Ferreya and hit the left rear corner of the net to put the Panthers up, 1-0. After that neither team could make the score line change.
For the final 74:59 of the match, it could appear that a defensive struggle ensued.
But Wheaton Warrenville South (8-7-4, 3-3-1) took shots on goal throughout the match goal. But Stavros Veremis, Glenbard North’s goalkeeper consistantly denied them. He made 11 saves for his seventh shutout of the season.
“Our keeper bailed us out time after time after time,” said Panthers coach Spero Mandakas. “He's been excellent for us all year. He makes saves. He's been able to extend and reach and keep us in the game which he’s done quite a few times throughout the season. He had five or six saves in the last 20 minutes.”
Veremis said his self-assurance in the net was the key to his success.
“I just think it’s the confidence thing,” Veremis said. “Going into every game knowing I have the ability to make a save and make sure I'm staying focused out there.”
The junior keeper said the Glenbard North backline also deserved a lot of credit for the victory.
“They made it a lot easier for me. A lot of times when we got clogged up at the back, they handled a lot of cross balls which would be difficult for me to deal with,” Veremis said.
For his efforts between the pipes, Veremis earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honor.
Wheaton Warrenville South coach Guy Callipari agreed Veremis was a major factor in the contest, which was the Tigers’ regular-season finale.
“I thought we had some really good looks and some really good shots. On any other given day they might have found the back of the net,” Callipari said. “But their goalie was up to the task today and made some big saves for them.”
Roman made the PK sound easy.
“Going into the kick, I knew which side I was going to hit it towards. I just hit it, and it went in,” the sophomore said. “I faked out the goalkeeper with my eyes showing I’m going somewhere else.”
Wheaton Warrenville South defender Nikhil Bawa would have liked to get back the opening minutes of the match.
“In the first five minutes we conceded a stupid goal and the rest of the game we couldn't come back,” Bawa said. “I think we totally dominated the game. I heard someone say we almost had 30 shots (on goal). It's just unfortunate we go let one in.”
Callipari appreciated Bawa’s effort on the backline.
“He showed a lot of a lot of confidence and ability,” the Tigers coach said. “He got us out of the back cleanly and cleaned up for a lot of mistakes that we made defensively.”
Mandakas would have liked to see a more aggressive offense from his team.
“We needed to do more in that second half and not just be reluctant and sit on that one-goal lead and defend for 40 minutes,” said the Glenbard North coach “We just needed to connect passes.
“We talked about it at halftime. We saw it in instances (in the second half) where we connected five or six passes, and we were able to find a good through-ball. But we're just reluctant to be around the ball.”
Mandakas felt the center of his team was solid.
“Our midfielders definitely had better games. We had a few guys with some shaky distribution and others that were just showing up in the wrong areas,” he said. “So, we're going to work and training tomorrow on cleaning that up and be more effective there and be prepared for (Thursday’s last regular-season match against) St. Charles East.
“I feel like a lot of their chances were generated through getting the ball wide and breaking our press from our midfield. We need to do better with our switches and our cover and not being content with giving them some easy shots,” Mandakas continued. “We were not getting the ball clear. We got to do a better job at changing phases so we can build out a little bit quicker.”
Callipari was happy with everything but the result.
“I thought it was very well-played game. It could have been won or lost in the midfield. The play there was fairly even. I appreciate (Glenbard North’s) effort trying to build out of the back which allowed us to pressure,” he said.
Tiger Gael Alfaro was one of the standouts in the center of the pitch according to the Wheaton Warrenville coach.
“Gael did a nice job. He has great vision and great distribution skills,” he said.
Callipari felt the outcome might have been different if his Tigers were able to capitalize on Panthers miscues.
“Consequently, we made one mistake and we paid the price for that this evening,” he said. “They made several mistakes, and we didn't make them pay the price for those mistakes and therein lies the difference.
“But that's the beauty of the game and ugliness of it. I thought we were in the vital area several times and weren't contested right at the beginning of the second half and yet we didn't hit frame.”
The Tigers coach believes his team is ready for the postseason. Wheaton Warrenville South, seeded 11th in the Plainfield North Secdtional, travels to six-seed East Aurora for its Class 3A regional opener next Tuesday.
“Going forward it's win or go home so we have to put our best foot forward. We've done that several times We know that we can score, and we know we can compete.” Callipari said. “I'm really proud of how we played so far this year. We can only get better and games like this one show we have the potential do something in the postseason.”
Glenbard North (8-8-3, 2-2-2), an eighth-seeded regional host in the Class 3A Addison Trail Sectional, faces a familiar foe in their first postseason match next Tuesday – DuKane Conference rival and ninth-seed St. Charles North.
Starting lineups
Glenbard North
GK Stavros Veremis
D Steve Gospodinov
D Ren Santillan
D Ayan Sheik
D AndyPena
MF Lucas Tran
MF Christian Escobedo
MF Colin Hernandez
F Carlos Villagrana
F Jorge Roman
F Pablo DeLaCruz
Wheaton Warrenville South
GK Jared Ferreya
D Tim Foley
D Brian Tunney
D Nikhil Bawa
M Edgar Guzman
M Gael Alfaro
M Oleg Greben
F Jason Weisheit
F Marco Gonzalez
F Cristian Munoz
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Stavros Veremis, jr., GK, Glenbard North
Scoring summary
First half
GN: Jorge Roman (PK) 5th minute
Second half
No scoring
makes 1-goal lead hold up vs. WWS
Junior makes 11 saves in 1-0 DuKane Conference victory
By Jared Birchfield
WHEATON -- When Glenbard North’s Jorge Roman lined up to take a penalty kick at the 35:01 mark of the first half, little did the senior know that his shot would be the difference-maker in the DuKane Conference clash with Wheaton Warrenville South on Tuesday night at Red Grange Field.
Roman’s boot got past Tigers goalkeeper Jared Ferreya and hit the left rear corner of the net to put the Panthers up, 1-0. After that neither team could make the score line change.
For the final 74:59 of the match, it could appear that a defensive struggle ensued.
But Wheaton Warrenville South (8-7-4, 3-3-1) took shots on goal throughout the match goal. But Stavros Veremis, Glenbard North’s goalkeeper consistantly denied them. He made 11 saves for his seventh shutout of the season.
“Our keeper bailed us out time after time after time,” said Panthers coach Spero Mandakas. “He's been excellent for us all year. He makes saves. He's been able to extend and reach and keep us in the game which he’s done quite a few times throughout the season. He had five or six saves in the last 20 minutes.”
Veremis said his self-assurance in the net was the key to his success.
“I just think it’s the confidence thing,” Veremis said. “Going into every game knowing I have the ability to make a save and make sure I'm staying focused out there.”
The junior keeper said the Glenbard North backline also deserved a lot of credit for the victory.
“They made it a lot easier for me. A lot of times when we got clogged up at the back, they handled a lot of cross balls which would be difficult for me to deal with,” Veremis said.
For his efforts between the pipes, Veremis earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honor.
Wheaton Warrenville South coach Guy Callipari agreed Veremis was a major factor in the contest, which was the Tigers’ regular-season finale.
“I thought we had some really good looks and some really good shots. On any other given day they might have found the back of the net,” Callipari said. “But their goalie was up to the task today and made some big saves for them.”
Roman made the PK sound easy.
“Going into the kick, I knew which side I was going to hit it towards. I just hit it, and it went in,” the sophomore said. “I faked out the goalkeeper with my eyes showing I’m going somewhere else.”
Wheaton Warrenville South defender Nikhil Bawa would have liked to get back the opening minutes of the match.
“In the first five minutes we conceded a stupid goal and the rest of the game we couldn't come back,” Bawa said. “I think we totally dominated the game. I heard someone say we almost had 30 shots (on goal). It's just unfortunate we go let one in.”
Callipari appreciated Bawa’s effort on the backline.
“He showed a lot of a lot of confidence and ability,” the Tigers coach said. “He got us out of the back cleanly and cleaned up for a lot of mistakes that we made defensively.”
Mandakas would have liked to see a more aggressive offense from his team.
“We needed to do more in that second half and not just be reluctant and sit on that one-goal lead and defend for 40 minutes,” said the Glenbard North coach “We just needed to connect passes.
“We talked about it at halftime. We saw it in instances (in the second half) where we connected five or six passes, and we were able to find a good through-ball. But we're just reluctant to be around the ball.”
Mandakas felt the center of his team was solid.
“Our midfielders definitely had better games. We had a few guys with some shaky distribution and others that were just showing up in the wrong areas,” he said. “So, we're going to work and training tomorrow on cleaning that up and be more effective there and be prepared for (Thursday’s last regular-season match against) St. Charles East.
“I feel like a lot of their chances were generated through getting the ball wide and breaking our press from our midfield. We need to do better with our switches and our cover and not being content with giving them some easy shots,” Mandakas continued. “We were not getting the ball clear. We got to do a better job at changing phases so we can build out a little bit quicker.”
Callipari was happy with everything but the result.
“I thought it was very well-played game. It could have been won or lost in the midfield. The play there was fairly even. I appreciate (Glenbard North’s) effort trying to build out of the back which allowed us to pressure,” he said.
Tiger Gael Alfaro was one of the standouts in the center of the pitch according to the Wheaton Warrenville coach.
“Gael did a nice job. He has great vision and great distribution skills,” he said.
Callipari felt the outcome might have been different if his Tigers were able to capitalize on Panthers miscues.
“Consequently, we made one mistake and we paid the price for that this evening,” he said. “They made several mistakes, and we didn't make them pay the price for those mistakes and therein lies the difference.
“But that's the beauty of the game and ugliness of it. I thought we were in the vital area several times and weren't contested right at the beginning of the second half and yet we didn't hit frame.”
The Tigers coach believes his team is ready for the postseason. Wheaton Warrenville South, seeded 11th in the Plainfield North Secdtional, travels to six-seed East Aurora for its Class 3A regional opener next Tuesday.
“Going forward it's win or go home so we have to put our best foot forward. We've done that several times We know that we can score, and we know we can compete.” Callipari said. “I'm really proud of how we played so far this year. We can only get better and games like this one show we have the potential do something in the postseason.”
Glenbard North (8-8-3, 2-2-2), an eighth-seeded regional host in the Class 3A Addison Trail Sectional, faces a familiar foe in their first postseason match next Tuesday – DuKane Conference rival and ninth-seed St. Charles North.
Starting lineups
Glenbard North
GK Stavros Veremis
D Steve Gospodinov
D Ren Santillan
D Ayan Sheik
D AndyPena
MF Lucas Tran
MF Christian Escobedo
MF Colin Hernandez
F Carlos Villagrana
F Jorge Roman
F Pablo DeLaCruz
Wheaton Warrenville South
GK Jared Ferreya
D Tim Foley
D Brian Tunney
D Nikhil Bawa
M Edgar Guzman
M Gael Alfaro
M Oleg Greben
F Jason Weisheit
F Marco Gonzalez
F Cristian Munoz
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Stavros Veremis, jr., GK, Glenbard North
Scoring summary
First half
GN: Jorge Roman (PK) 5th minute
Second half
No scoring