2nd half turnaround drives
Glenbard North past Maine West
Panthers take 3-0 win in Joe Novy Classic 5th place game
By Mike Garofola
ADDISON -- Three second half goals from Christian Escobedo, Pablo De la Cruz, and Calvin Musiek led Glenbard North to a convincing 3-0 victory over Maine West to claim fifth place at the 10th-annual Joe Novy Classic at host Addison Trail.
The Panthers afternoon victory on the turf followed a disappointing mid-week 2-1 loss to eventual tourney champion Addison Trail. That result made this contest one of importance to the classy captain duo of Ren Santillan and Lucas Tran of Glenbard North (2-2-1).
The seniors said it was the team needed. They provided their usual steady play and leadership from box-to-box for 80 minutes.
"Those two (Santillan and Tran) have been great leaders since coming into our program," said Panthers manager Spero Mandakas. “(They) are the hardest-working players, whether in training or during our games, which you saw today out there. Both are going to do very well in life down the road.”
Glenbard North has to shake off a slow start.
"We were not at our best in the first half; (Maine West) was the better team," said Santillan, who plans to study mechanical engineering next fall, hopefully at his top college choice, the University of Illinois. “But we came out in the second half with a lot more energy, moved the ball quicker, created more chances and eventually finished a few of them.
"We have a talented roster, but at times this season we play as individuals, and not as a team," began Tran, who sat just in front of Santillan, and Michael Bonsi in Mandakas' 2-3-2-3 formation.
"(They) had us in our end for most of the first half. We were defending a lot and not really getting much going the other way.
“When you saw us play as a team in the second half, that's when we were able to do a lot of very good things in our attack, which I know we can do because of the talent we have," added Tran, who plans on going into the Bio-Med field upon his college education.
Alan Matans men from Maine West did not look like a club that would leave on this day as one with a 1-4-0 overall record. The Warriors enjoyed plenty of the play in the first half, while not allowing much of quality on frame against its keeper Omar Rodea Espinosa until the final minutes of the first half when the Panthers attack came to life.
"Our first half of play was very encouraging.” said Warriors manager and true gentlemen, Alan Matan.
"I liked the way we communicated, played on both sides of the ball. We were patient, yet played with some really nice pace, and our movement was very good also.
"But as we have seen already this season, we got bit by the injury bug once again, with four players getting injured in the second half, three of which were starters. When your bench is already short for various reasons, it's going to catch up to you eventually."
A nice-looking build-up from the Warriors at the quarter hour signaled plenty of one-way traffic for the men in white shirts. The work resulted in a trio of corners and a wicked blast from Christo Georgiafentis, which forced Glenbard North keeper Stavros Veremis into action. A nicely played cross from Brady Blevens to Kevin Abad that resulted in yet another corner.
"I really liked our first half today," began Abad, who wears the captain’s armband along with teammate, Juan Ponce.
"I liked the way we talked, attacked. Our confidence, it was very good, but after that early goal just after the half, we hung our heads, and struggled in our play, especially after losing a couple of guys to injuries."
Abad, along with Giovanni Mendez, Benji Cerda, and Kacper Woroszylo, who was named all-sectional in 2019, were key figures in the Warriors first half attack. Each member of this quartet provided purposeful runs, service, and danger in the Glenbard North end.
The Panthers were not without chances. Just before the intermission, a clever one-two combination from Christian Escobedo and Luis Roman created a in-close chance for Santillan, who saw his attempt taken off the line by an alert Georgiafentis.
"We were okay for about 10 minutes or so in the first half, but we played way too direct, never attacked with numbers," said Mandakas. “As a result, we found the ball in our end for most of the half. "
That ended just 8 minutes into the second period when Carlos Villagrana chested and settled a ball to his feet, then quickly played a wonderful diagonal ball to Escobedo that pried open the Warriors defensive unit.
Escobedo, a sophomore, finished on the opposite side of Omar Rodea Espinosa who had no chance to stop the well-placed finish.
This strike ignited the Panthers, who did impressive work as they produced the type of offensive display that Santillan, Tran and their manager knew they were capable of.
"We can go pretty deep with our roster," said Mandakas. "We brought on fresh legs every 9-10 minutes. In the second half the guys were giving us the type of play to force pressure on Maine West and to expose them in their own end
The Panthers saw impressive efforts from Calvin Muciek, Christopher Arroyo and Colin Hernandez.
Pablo DeLaCruz, Luis Roman, along with Arroyo and Villagrana, who received most of the praise after the game from Mandakas, and his two captains.
"Luis (Roman) in the middle was creating, and moving really well with and without the ball, and it was a big reason we were so dangerous in the second half," said Santillan.
DeLaCruz, and Villagrana shared Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match honors.
"Arroyo can play all over the place and has, except for between the sticks," said Mandakas. "Today he was outstanding.”
Added Tran: "The movement from Carlos in the second half really helped our attack, and Pablo was just amazing up-top for us also."
With the shorthanded Warriors now sitting deeper than they would have liked to help defend the now super-charged Panthers attack, they required a timely clearing effort off the line from Jonathan Raya of a quality chance by Villagrana near the hour.
However, when the Warriors were unable to clear the area, DeLaCruz made them pay when the junior doubled the Panthers advantage when he easily finished a rebound after a nasty strike off the post from Arroyo.
Just for good measure, Muciek added another to the scoreboard one minute from time after Escobedo delivered a brilliant helper through the box.
"Our last 15-20 minutes was very good. We'll want to take that going forward this coming week, beginning with Geneva on Tuesday when we open conference play," said Mandakas.
"There are a lot of new faces on our varsity roster. It helped us to get five games in before conference begins to help us sort some things out and get the guys plenty of minutes against some quality competition."
Starting lineups
Maine West (4-4-2)
G- Omar Rodea Espinosa
D- Giovanni Mendez
D- Aaron Mendoza
D- Juan Ponce
D- Andy Gaitan
M- Brady Blevins
M- Mo Belhmidya
M- Christian Vivar
M- Jose Alvarado
F- Benji Cerda
F- Kevin Abad
Glenbard North (2-3-2-3)
G- Stavros Veremis
D- Michael Bonsi
D- Ren Santillan
D- Diego Chicas
D- Lucas Tran
D- Steve Gospodinov
M- Colin Hernandez
M- Christopher Arroyo
F- Ayan Sheik
F- Azael Nino Velasquez
F- Carlos Villagrana
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match:
Pablo DeLaCruz, jr., F/MF, Glenbard North
Carlos Villagrana, sr., F, Glenbard North
Referee: Ralph Senson
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Glenbard North: Escobedo (Villagrana) 48'
Glenbard North: De la Cruz (Arroyo) 75'
Glenbard North: Muciek (Escobedo, Hernandez) 79'
Glenbard North past Maine West
Panthers take 3-0 win in Joe Novy Classic 5th place game
By Mike Garofola
ADDISON -- Three second half goals from Christian Escobedo, Pablo De la Cruz, and Calvin Musiek led Glenbard North to a convincing 3-0 victory over Maine West to claim fifth place at the 10th-annual Joe Novy Classic at host Addison Trail.
The Panthers afternoon victory on the turf followed a disappointing mid-week 2-1 loss to eventual tourney champion Addison Trail. That result made this contest one of importance to the classy captain duo of Ren Santillan and Lucas Tran of Glenbard North (2-2-1).
The seniors said it was the team needed. They provided their usual steady play and leadership from box-to-box for 80 minutes.
"Those two (Santillan and Tran) have been great leaders since coming into our program," said Panthers manager Spero Mandakas. “(They) are the hardest-working players, whether in training or during our games, which you saw today out there. Both are going to do very well in life down the road.”
Glenbard North has to shake off a slow start.
"We were not at our best in the first half; (Maine West) was the better team," said Santillan, who plans to study mechanical engineering next fall, hopefully at his top college choice, the University of Illinois. “But we came out in the second half with a lot more energy, moved the ball quicker, created more chances and eventually finished a few of them.
"We have a talented roster, but at times this season we play as individuals, and not as a team," began Tran, who sat just in front of Santillan, and Michael Bonsi in Mandakas' 2-3-2-3 formation.
"(They) had us in our end for most of the first half. We were defending a lot and not really getting much going the other way.
“When you saw us play as a team in the second half, that's when we were able to do a lot of very good things in our attack, which I know we can do because of the talent we have," added Tran, who plans on going into the Bio-Med field upon his college education.
Alan Matans men from Maine West did not look like a club that would leave on this day as one with a 1-4-0 overall record. The Warriors enjoyed plenty of the play in the first half, while not allowing much of quality on frame against its keeper Omar Rodea Espinosa until the final minutes of the first half when the Panthers attack came to life.
"Our first half of play was very encouraging.” said Warriors manager and true gentlemen, Alan Matan.
"I liked the way we communicated, played on both sides of the ball. We were patient, yet played with some really nice pace, and our movement was very good also.
"But as we have seen already this season, we got bit by the injury bug once again, with four players getting injured in the second half, three of which were starters. When your bench is already short for various reasons, it's going to catch up to you eventually."
A nice-looking build-up from the Warriors at the quarter hour signaled plenty of one-way traffic for the men in white shirts. The work resulted in a trio of corners and a wicked blast from Christo Georgiafentis, which forced Glenbard North keeper Stavros Veremis into action. A nicely played cross from Brady Blevens to Kevin Abad that resulted in yet another corner.
"I really liked our first half today," began Abad, who wears the captain’s armband along with teammate, Juan Ponce.
"I liked the way we talked, attacked. Our confidence, it was very good, but after that early goal just after the half, we hung our heads, and struggled in our play, especially after losing a couple of guys to injuries."
Abad, along with Giovanni Mendez, Benji Cerda, and Kacper Woroszylo, who was named all-sectional in 2019, were key figures in the Warriors first half attack. Each member of this quartet provided purposeful runs, service, and danger in the Glenbard North end.
The Panthers were not without chances. Just before the intermission, a clever one-two combination from Christian Escobedo and Luis Roman created a in-close chance for Santillan, who saw his attempt taken off the line by an alert Georgiafentis.
"We were okay for about 10 minutes or so in the first half, but we played way too direct, never attacked with numbers," said Mandakas. “As a result, we found the ball in our end for most of the half. "
That ended just 8 minutes into the second period when Carlos Villagrana chested and settled a ball to his feet, then quickly played a wonderful diagonal ball to Escobedo that pried open the Warriors defensive unit.
Escobedo, a sophomore, finished on the opposite side of Omar Rodea Espinosa who had no chance to stop the well-placed finish.
This strike ignited the Panthers, who did impressive work as they produced the type of offensive display that Santillan, Tran and their manager knew they were capable of.
"We can go pretty deep with our roster," said Mandakas. "We brought on fresh legs every 9-10 minutes. In the second half the guys were giving us the type of play to force pressure on Maine West and to expose them in their own end
The Panthers saw impressive efforts from Calvin Muciek, Christopher Arroyo and Colin Hernandez.
Pablo DeLaCruz, Luis Roman, along with Arroyo and Villagrana, who received most of the praise after the game from Mandakas, and his two captains.
"Luis (Roman) in the middle was creating, and moving really well with and without the ball, and it was a big reason we were so dangerous in the second half," said Santillan.
DeLaCruz, and Villagrana shared Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match honors.
"Arroyo can play all over the place and has, except for between the sticks," said Mandakas. "Today he was outstanding.”
Added Tran: "The movement from Carlos in the second half really helped our attack, and Pablo was just amazing up-top for us also."
With the shorthanded Warriors now sitting deeper than they would have liked to help defend the now super-charged Panthers attack, they required a timely clearing effort off the line from Jonathan Raya of a quality chance by Villagrana near the hour.
However, when the Warriors were unable to clear the area, DeLaCruz made them pay when the junior doubled the Panthers advantage when he easily finished a rebound after a nasty strike off the post from Arroyo.
Just for good measure, Muciek added another to the scoreboard one minute from time after Escobedo delivered a brilliant helper through the box.
"Our last 15-20 minutes was very good. We'll want to take that going forward this coming week, beginning with Geneva on Tuesday when we open conference play," said Mandakas.
"There are a lot of new faces on our varsity roster. It helped us to get five games in before conference begins to help us sort some things out and get the guys plenty of minutes against some quality competition."
Starting lineups
Maine West (4-4-2)
G- Omar Rodea Espinosa
D- Giovanni Mendez
D- Aaron Mendoza
D- Juan Ponce
D- Andy Gaitan
M- Brady Blevins
M- Mo Belhmidya
M- Christian Vivar
M- Jose Alvarado
F- Benji Cerda
F- Kevin Abad
Glenbard North (2-3-2-3)
G- Stavros Veremis
D- Michael Bonsi
D- Ren Santillan
D- Diego Chicas
D- Lucas Tran
D- Steve Gospodinov
M- Colin Hernandez
M- Christopher Arroyo
F- Ayan Sheik
F- Azael Nino Velasquez
F- Carlos Villagrana
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match:
Pablo DeLaCruz, jr., F/MF, Glenbard North
Carlos Villagrana, sr., F, Glenbard North
Referee: Ralph Senson
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Glenbard North: Escobedo (Villagrana) 48'
Glenbard North: De la Cruz (Arroyo) 75'
Glenbard North: Muciek (Escobedo, Hernandez) 79'