Glenbard North can't capitalize in title clash
Despite man advantage, Panthers fall 1-0 to West Chicago
By Dave Owen
ADDISON – Earning a man advantage for the rest of the match from an opposing player’s red card is usually a great sign for a team.
But for Glenbard North, the timing of that usually great news couldn’t have been much worse.
With top scorer Gabe Jurado sidelined by an ankle injury and a talented defensive opponent to face in West Chicago, the Panthers (4-2-0) suffered a 1-0 loss to the Wildcats (6-0-1) in Saturday’s championship game of the 9th annual Joe Novy Classic at Addison Trail.
“They (West Chicago) kept everything compact and really shut down the passing lanes throughwhere we’re usually able to combine and break down teams and create those openings,” Glenbard North coach Spero Mandakas said. “That wasn’t necessarily there.”
West Chicago's tenacity and talent had much to do with that – as did the key Panthers absence.
“Gabe Jurado had two hat-tricks in this tournament already,” Mandakas said, “but he was out today with an ankle injury he suffered against Morton (a Panthers loss on Thursday). We also lost our starting keeper (Martin Argirov) Thursday night, so we had our backup Eddie Medina in.
“Then when he (Medina) got hurt, we had to go to a field player (Jesus Aragon) at the end.”
It was a good news-bad news tradeoff for the Panthers: red card advantage vs. key injuries. The soccer gods give, and taketh away.
For its part, West Chicago played brilliantly to overcome the massive challenge of drawing a red card with 3:52 left in the first half of a 0-0 tournament championship match.
The card came on a wild end-to-end play.
With West Chicago’s Jahir Martinez down on the ground near the top of the box after Erik Hernandez Flores’ long clear upfield of a Wildcats corner kick, the Panthers’ counterattack bid ended with a hard tackle on sprinting dribbler Raul Pasillas 50 yards from Martinez.
“We were pretty mad,” Martinez said, “because I shot the ball and they cleated me, but they still managed to play the game. Then we got the red card.
“But our coach (Jose Villa) told us (after the card) to not worry about it, to keep on playing, so we did.”
That required a lot of discipline against an opponent of the Panthers’ magnitude.
“We knew they were going to press us, and we just played our style,” Martinez said of his team’s approach to being a man down.
“Touching the ball, finding the wings, and flipping the ball to the corners because our wings have a lot of speed. We were looking for our wings, and that’s how we got our goal.”
That winning strike came with 28:38 to play in the match.
Winning a clearing attempt along the left sideline about 30 yards out, Martinez lined a strong one-hop drive towards the goal.
Goalkeeper Medina was able to bat down the try, but amidst contact in the crease, West Chicago’s Isaias Palacios won control of the rebound for a point-blank goal and a 1-0 lead.
“What a great opportunity from Jahir taking the shot, and then our guy on the rebound just being alert,” Villa said. “He (Palacios) has been an awesome player off the bench. He could start or come off the bench, but regardless of where he’s at, he’s going to produce.
“Hats off to him for being alert. He was where he needed to be.”
A sudden 1-0 deficit was only part of the Panthers’ pain. Medina was down on the ground injured after the play and left the match without returning.
“They got a counter, our keeper makes a good save, has the ball in his hand and gets tackled to the ground,” Mandakas said.
But the Panthers mentor was hardly bemoaning the ruling, nor its effect on the game’s outcome.
“It was bang-bang – maybe a missed call, maybe not,” he said. “Either way, we’re playing a man up in a final. We’ve got to rely on us scoring a goal, not on keeping a clean-sheet and getting to penalties (PKs).”
The Panthers threatened often to answer the goal. But in the case of West Chicago’s defense, a brick wall, even without 1/10th of its mortar remains hard to topple.
With 16:15 to play, Nestor Dominguez’s pass sprung Ramon Acosta on an end line run. But Martinez cleared Acosta’s cross to the front of the goal.
On a Panthers corner kick two minutes later, goalkeeper Luis Parra made the save on Dominguez’s low 18-yard shot.
Then with 12:20 left, Dominguez’s send towards Nathaniel Enriquez racing into the box was broken up by Wildcats defender Lukas Stary.
Two more Panthers corner kick chances followed in the next six minutes, resulting in only one shot (a 30-yard one-timer by Ode Emena over the net off a Wildcats clear of the box).
“Once they got the red card,” Flores said, “we tried working at connecting and combining as a team, and we tried building it up from there.”
West Chicago’s defensive discipline made that task very difficult.
And with 7:30 left, the Wildcats generated their own great chance when Moises Morfin burst in left and lined a shot off the post. Panthers defender Alberto Solorio blocked the ensuing rebound attempt.
Glenbard North would threaten again with 6:15 left (an Enriquez corner kick cleared away), 2:05 to go (a throw-in 10 yards out that resulted in a Martinez shot block and clear) and with a pair of free kicks from 40 yards or beyond in the final 1:25.
On the second of those restarts, Flores lined a 40-yard try over the net. A clear of a Panthers throw-in with five seconds left would seal the 1-0 West Chicago win.
Even as they were unable to break through Saturday, the Panthers know better days lay ahead.
“This is one game,” Flores said. “There’s a great season ahead of us. We just have to keep grinding and be committed to having a good season.”
The runnerup finish at Addison Trail produced plenty of individual highlights for the Panthers.
“We had solid play all throughout the tournament from Emmanuel Castanon and Ode (Emena) in the middle,” Mandakas said. “And Ramon Acosta was voted all-tournament team – he’s our left back. He’s solid with great distribution, and he does a good job blocking everything.
“And we got some solid minutes today from Nathaniel Enriquez, who’s been out the whole tournament before this. And it’s promising to get guys back like Raul Pasillas – it’s his second or third game back from injury.
“So once everyone gets in there and we have some training sessions together, it’ll be interesting to see how we come out,” Mandakas added.
The final two days at the four-game Addison Trail tournament were full of drama.
“It’s a great tournament,” Mandakas said. “We know against AT and West Chicago that it’s going to be a playoff type atmosphere. And one goal settled it.
“We beat AT on a 30-yard free kick (in Tuesday’s semifinals), and they (West Chicago) beat us today on kind of a broken play. It’s all about grinding out games and being able to find those one or two opportunities to decide the game.”
The other big next challenge for the Panthers is obvious.
“Our conference opener is Tuesday,” Mandakas said, “so we hope one of our two goalies is healthy.”
Before exiting with injury Saturday, Medina excelled.
The Panthers goalkeeper came up big in the 19th minute with a leaping deflection wide on Morfin’s left side rush and 6-yard shot. Then in the 35th minute, his diving save denied Brian Nieves’ 22-yard drive.
“We knew coming in that they (the Wildcats) were really dynamic and moved the ball well, “ Mandakas said, “so we talked about sends with outside shooters, and switches (defensively).
“In the first half we were chasing way too much. But being at 0-0 at halftime that was something positive to build off. Then being a man up we saw areas we wanted to attack, but that didn’t necessarily happen.”
After the red card, West Chicago had to adjust on the fly.
“One, we talked about the depth on this team, the fact that players can come in and make a difference,” Villa said. “At the same time, we talked at halftime that this is a great test for us.
“This was really going to show the character that we bring, and just how we’re going to be able to come out of this one, a positive result or whatever it may be. And if it wouldn’t have been the best result, we still had to go out there and play.
“A lot of credit to Glenbard North,” Villa added. “They’re a tough team to break down.
“We thought they’d play strong defense and they did, but at the same time we had to be organized against their counter. A great effort from them, and a great final I thought.”
And greatest of all from the Wildcats’ viewpoint, a tournament championship.
“It means a lot,” Martinez said. “At West Chicago we’re not that big (a school), and we just want to make our team known. It’s really nice winning this tournament.”
And the way the Wildcats did it made the accomplishment sweeter.
“This speaks a lot about these kids,” Villa said. “They’re working hard for everything.
“We have a couple of goals we want to accomplish this season, and this (AT title) is one of them. We’ve achieved it, and I’m sure these guys will enjoy the weekend with it and then come back to work Monday ready for the next (goal).
“We’re confident in every single one of these guys, and we love their work ethic. So we’re extremely proud of each and every one of them. They earned it (the win).”
Starting lineups
Glenbard North
GK: Eduardo Medina
D: David Rivera
D: Ramon Acosta
D: Ren Santillan
D: Alberto Solorio
M: Raul Pasillas
M: Emmanuel Castanon
M: Ode Emena
M: Erik Hernandez Flores
F: Nathaniel Enriquez
F: Nestor Dominguez
West Chicago
GK: Luis Parra
D: Ben Suddeth
D: Alejandro Cadena
D: Alonso Salinas
D: Alexis Arroyo
M: Brian Bonilla
M: Diego Cortes
M: Jahir Martinez
M: Tristan Alfaro
M: Jonathan Sanchez
F: Moises Morfin
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Jahir Martinez, sr. M, West Chicago
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
WC- Isaias Palacios (rebound), 52nd minute
Despite man advantage, Panthers fall 1-0 to West Chicago
By Dave Owen
ADDISON – Earning a man advantage for the rest of the match from an opposing player’s red card is usually a great sign for a team.
But for Glenbard North, the timing of that usually great news couldn’t have been much worse.
With top scorer Gabe Jurado sidelined by an ankle injury and a talented defensive opponent to face in West Chicago, the Panthers (4-2-0) suffered a 1-0 loss to the Wildcats (6-0-1) in Saturday’s championship game of the 9th annual Joe Novy Classic at Addison Trail.
“They (West Chicago) kept everything compact and really shut down the passing lanes throughwhere we’re usually able to combine and break down teams and create those openings,” Glenbard North coach Spero Mandakas said. “That wasn’t necessarily there.”
West Chicago's tenacity and talent had much to do with that – as did the key Panthers absence.
“Gabe Jurado had two hat-tricks in this tournament already,” Mandakas said, “but he was out today with an ankle injury he suffered against Morton (a Panthers loss on Thursday). We also lost our starting keeper (Martin Argirov) Thursday night, so we had our backup Eddie Medina in.
“Then when he (Medina) got hurt, we had to go to a field player (Jesus Aragon) at the end.”
It was a good news-bad news tradeoff for the Panthers: red card advantage vs. key injuries. The soccer gods give, and taketh away.
For its part, West Chicago played brilliantly to overcome the massive challenge of drawing a red card with 3:52 left in the first half of a 0-0 tournament championship match.
The card came on a wild end-to-end play.
With West Chicago’s Jahir Martinez down on the ground near the top of the box after Erik Hernandez Flores’ long clear upfield of a Wildcats corner kick, the Panthers’ counterattack bid ended with a hard tackle on sprinting dribbler Raul Pasillas 50 yards from Martinez.
“We were pretty mad,” Martinez said, “because I shot the ball and they cleated me, but they still managed to play the game. Then we got the red card.
“But our coach (Jose Villa) told us (after the card) to not worry about it, to keep on playing, so we did.”
That required a lot of discipline against an opponent of the Panthers’ magnitude.
“We knew they were going to press us, and we just played our style,” Martinez said of his team’s approach to being a man down.
“Touching the ball, finding the wings, and flipping the ball to the corners because our wings have a lot of speed. We were looking for our wings, and that’s how we got our goal.”
That winning strike came with 28:38 to play in the match.
Winning a clearing attempt along the left sideline about 30 yards out, Martinez lined a strong one-hop drive towards the goal.
Goalkeeper Medina was able to bat down the try, but amidst contact in the crease, West Chicago’s Isaias Palacios won control of the rebound for a point-blank goal and a 1-0 lead.
“What a great opportunity from Jahir taking the shot, and then our guy on the rebound just being alert,” Villa said. “He (Palacios) has been an awesome player off the bench. He could start or come off the bench, but regardless of where he’s at, he’s going to produce.
“Hats off to him for being alert. He was where he needed to be.”
A sudden 1-0 deficit was only part of the Panthers’ pain. Medina was down on the ground injured after the play and left the match without returning.
“They got a counter, our keeper makes a good save, has the ball in his hand and gets tackled to the ground,” Mandakas said.
But the Panthers mentor was hardly bemoaning the ruling, nor its effect on the game’s outcome.
“It was bang-bang – maybe a missed call, maybe not,” he said. “Either way, we’re playing a man up in a final. We’ve got to rely on us scoring a goal, not on keeping a clean-sheet and getting to penalties (PKs).”
The Panthers threatened often to answer the goal. But in the case of West Chicago’s defense, a brick wall, even without 1/10th of its mortar remains hard to topple.
With 16:15 to play, Nestor Dominguez’s pass sprung Ramon Acosta on an end line run. But Martinez cleared Acosta’s cross to the front of the goal.
On a Panthers corner kick two minutes later, goalkeeper Luis Parra made the save on Dominguez’s low 18-yard shot.
Then with 12:20 left, Dominguez’s send towards Nathaniel Enriquez racing into the box was broken up by Wildcats defender Lukas Stary.
Two more Panthers corner kick chances followed in the next six minutes, resulting in only one shot (a 30-yard one-timer by Ode Emena over the net off a Wildcats clear of the box).
“Once they got the red card,” Flores said, “we tried working at connecting and combining as a team, and we tried building it up from there.”
West Chicago’s defensive discipline made that task very difficult.
And with 7:30 left, the Wildcats generated their own great chance when Moises Morfin burst in left and lined a shot off the post. Panthers defender Alberto Solorio blocked the ensuing rebound attempt.
Glenbard North would threaten again with 6:15 left (an Enriquez corner kick cleared away), 2:05 to go (a throw-in 10 yards out that resulted in a Martinez shot block and clear) and with a pair of free kicks from 40 yards or beyond in the final 1:25.
On the second of those restarts, Flores lined a 40-yard try over the net. A clear of a Panthers throw-in with five seconds left would seal the 1-0 West Chicago win.
Even as they were unable to break through Saturday, the Panthers know better days lay ahead.
“This is one game,” Flores said. “There’s a great season ahead of us. We just have to keep grinding and be committed to having a good season.”
The runnerup finish at Addison Trail produced plenty of individual highlights for the Panthers.
“We had solid play all throughout the tournament from Emmanuel Castanon and Ode (Emena) in the middle,” Mandakas said. “And Ramon Acosta was voted all-tournament team – he’s our left back. He’s solid with great distribution, and he does a good job blocking everything.
“And we got some solid minutes today from Nathaniel Enriquez, who’s been out the whole tournament before this. And it’s promising to get guys back like Raul Pasillas – it’s his second or third game back from injury.
“So once everyone gets in there and we have some training sessions together, it’ll be interesting to see how we come out,” Mandakas added.
The final two days at the four-game Addison Trail tournament were full of drama.
“It’s a great tournament,” Mandakas said. “We know against AT and West Chicago that it’s going to be a playoff type atmosphere. And one goal settled it.
“We beat AT on a 30-yard free kick (in Tuesday’s semifinals), and they (West Chicago) beat us today on kind of a broken play. It’s all about grinding out games and being able to find those one or two opportunities to decide the game.”
The other big next challenge for the Panthers is obvious.
“Our conference opener is Tuesday,” Mandakas said, “so we hope one of our two goalies is healthy.”
Before exiting with injury Saturday, Medina excelled.
The Panthers goalkeeper came up big in the 19th minute with a leaping deflection wide on Morfin’s left side rush and 6-yard shot. Then in the 35th minute, his diving save denied Brian Nieves’ 22-yard drive.
“We knew coming in that they (the Wildcats) were really dynamic and moved the ball well, “ Mandakas said, “so we talked about sends with outside shooters, and switches (defensively).
“In the first half we were chasing way too much. But being at 0-0 at halftime that was something positive to build off. Then being a man up we saw areas we wanted to attack, but that didn’t necessarily happen.”
After the red card, West Chicago had to adjust on the fly.
“One, we talked about the depth on this team, the fact that players can come in and make a difference,” Villa said. “At the same time, we talked at halftime that this is a great test for us.
“This was really going to show the character that we bring, and just how we’re going to be able to come out of this one, a positive result or whatever it may be. And if it wouldn’t have been the best result, we still had to go out there and play.
“A lot of credit to Glenbard North,” Villa added. “They’re a tough team to break down.
“We thought they’d play strong defense and they did, but at the same time we had to be organized against their counter. A great effort from them, and a great final I thought.”
And greatest of all from the Wildcats’ viewpoint, a tournament championship.
“It means a lot,” Martinez said. “At West Chicago we’re not that big (a school), and we just want to make our team known. It’s really nice winning this tournament.”
And the way the Wildcats did it made the accomplishment sweeter.
“This speaks a lot about these kids,” Villa said. “They’re working hard for everything.
“We have a couple of goals we want to accomplish this season, and this (AT title) is one of them. We’ve achieved it, and I’m sure these guys will enjoy the weekend with it and then come back to work Monday ready for the next (goal).
“We’re confident in every single one of these guys, and we love their work ethic. So we’re extremely proud of each and every one of them. They earned it (the win).”
Starting lineups
Glenbard North
GK: Eduardo Medina
D: David Rivera
D: Ramon Acosta
D: Ren Santillan
D: Alberto Solorio
M: Raul Pasillas
M: Emmanuel Castanon
M: Ode Emena
M: Erik Hernandez Flores
F: Nathaniel Enriquez
F: Nestor Dominguez
West Chicago
GK: Luis Parra
D: Ben Suddeth
D: Alejandro Cadena
D: Alonso Salinas
D: Alexis Arroyo
M: Brian Bonilla
M: Diego Cortes
M: Jahir Martinez
M: Tristan Alfaro
M: Jonathan Sanchez
F: Moises Morfin
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Jahir Martinez, sr. M, West Chicago
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
WC- Isaias Palacios (rebound), 52nd minute