Rochelle Zell douses Hope,
earns ‘keep’-sake win
Tigers senior rookie GK Stern nets 1st shutout in 1-0 decision
By Bill McLean
WHEELING — More often than not, where there’s a goalkeeper, there’s also a good story.
Take Micah Stern, Rochelle Zell’s senior net man. About a month before the start of this unique boys soccer season, Stern approached Tigers coach David Martinez with a bold declaration:
“I’d like to play goalie for your varsity.”
No matter that Stern had nil experience at the position. No matter that Stern had nil experience … in soccer.
“Micah,” Martinez said, “just wanted to try something new this spring and be with his friends.”
Stern and his buddies welcomed Hope Academy at Heritage Park’s Field 1 on Wednesday afternoon. It wasn’t a friendly; it counted, as a Chicago Prep Conference matchup played in breezy, rainy, chilly conditions.
And Stern proved, once again, that his mates could count on him.
Zell edged Chicago-based Hope 1-0 on a beautifully executed goal and improved to 6-0-0 overall and 4-0-0 in the CPC. Stern made only four saves, but he handled the ball often and calmly defused dicey moments in traffic against a young, talent-soaked crew of Eagles. For his fine effort, Stern earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honor.
Hope coach George Linares’ squad features eight freshmen, including dazzling midfielder Diego Garcia, whose speed and guile earned him several scoring chances. He and midfielder Christian Taylor teamed up often on give-and-go sequences and didn’t appear fazed in the least against the unbeaten college preparatory school from Deerfield.
In other words, it kept Rochelle Zell and its keeper on their toes.
“Micah was all over the place for us, against a team with a lot of skill,” Martinez said.
“That’s a dangerous team,” Stern said after his first shutout.
Zell tri-captain and forward Noah Brody is dangerous to the nth degree with a soccer at his feet. He’s 100-yard-dasher fast and super competitive, and he was in the middle of the game’s lone goal. Brody chased down a lengthy, well-executed service from freshman Jesse Shapira, settled the ball and then delivered a bullet of a cross to freshman midfielder/forward Simon Levitan, who had hustled to a spot deep in the box in front of Hope keeper Juan Fuentes.
Levitan, at forward for the first time this spring, stretched his left leg somewhat awkwardly to catch up to the speed of Brody’s pass and redirected the ball for a tap-in tally in the 46th minute.
Levitan had entered as a sub only a minute before notching his first goal of the season.
“Perfect,” Levitan said of Brody’s cross. “As the ball got close to me, all I was thinking was, ‘I hope I don’t miss it.’”
The result marked Zell’s second win versus Hope (2-3-0, 1-3-0) in nine days. Zell had bested Hope 6-4 on the same pitch on March 16, getting all six goals — yes, a double hat-trick and a program record — from junior midfielder Noah Silvers.
Silvers, a nationally ranked fencer, was not available to play in the rematch Wednesday because of a fencing commitment.
From epic soccer effort to epee moments.
Martinez was missing four other Tigers — three because of injury and another who’d received a red card in a recent JV match and had to sit out Hope-Zell II.
“Grit can win you games,” said Martinez, whose club took only three shots and a pair of corner kicks against the wind in the first half. “We were grittier today.”
Rochelle Zell’s backs — Gabe Gruenberg, Daniel Taitz, Jeremy Budin and Shomri Mlotek — played sturdily in front of the Tigers’ rookie keeper. Gruenberg, a tri-captain, came through with a key stop on a Hope rush at the end of the first half, moments after Brody had applied heat on Hope’s ‘D’ with a rush of his own.
Perhaps Stern’s top moment of the afternoon occurred in the 62nd minute, when he soared to come down with a high-bounding ball 10 yards in front of the goalmouth. It wasn’t a save, but it wound up quelling Hope’s last hope to knot it at 1.
Some eight minutes later, Zell junior midfielder Zach Rosen controlled a corner kick and got a clean look on an attempt to double the hosts’ advantage. A Fuentes save meant Zell would have to wait a little longer to exhale under the raindrops.
The game almost ended on another successful Brody-Levitan connection. Brody found Levitan wide open just inside the box in the 79th minute. Fuentes used his chest and both arms to field Levitan’s hard shot.
“We worked hard for this win, all 80 minutes,” Brody said. “We were hyped up for it.”
Next up for Zell is a home match against Holy Trinity on Tuesday, beginning at 5 p.m. Zell topped host Holy Trinity 3-1 on March 17.
Footnotes: Rochelle Zell outscored its first four foes this spring by a combined margin of 23-7. … A rainbow appeared during the first half of Wednesday’s Hope-Zell match at Heritage Park, giving Zell coach Martinez a host of colorful reasons to smile behind his mask after a scoreless first half. But the rainbow disappeared about five minutes later, as a steady downpour returned, winds picked up and the temperature dropped. Martinez’s smile? He produced another one after the victory. … Hope Academy coach Linares, on the rough weather conditions: “Beautiful. I’ll never complain about it; it’s the Chicago area.” The Eagles’ head coach also noted the game had the intensity of a playoff contest from start to finish. … Zell’s enrollment: 170; Hope’s enrollment: 220. … Taitz also serves as a Rochelle Zell tri-captain.
Starting lineups
Hope
GK Juan Fuentes
D Miles Coleman
D Xavier Catalan
D Xavier Magana
M Luis Gutierrez
M Adrian Bahena
M Christian Taylor
M Diego Garcia
M Aaron Tellez
F Jovany Rosas
F Miguel Ramirez
Rochelle Zell
GK Micah Stern
D Gabe Gruenberg
D Daniel Taitz
D Jeremy Budin
D Shomri Mlotek
M Matan Lieberman
M Zach Rosen
M Jesse Levitas
M Jesse Shapira
F Noah Brody
F Oren Nochimowski
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Micah Stern, sr., GK, Rochelle Zell
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Rochelle Zell — Simon Levitan (Brody), 46’
earns ‘keep’-sake win
Tigers senior rookie GK Stern nets 1st shutout in 1-0 decision
By Bill McLean
WHEELING — More often than not, where there’s a goalkeeper, there’s also a good story.
Take Micah Stern, Rochelle Zell’s senior net man. About a month before the start of this unique boys soccer season, Stern approached Tigers coach David Martinez with a bold declaration:
“I’d like to play goalie for your varsity.”
No matter that Stern had nil experience at the position. No matter that Stern had nil experience … in soccer.
“Micah,” Martinez said, “just wanted to try something new this spring and be with his friends.”
Stern and his buddies welcomed Hope Academy at Heritage Park’s Field 1 on Wednesday afternoon. It wasn’t a friendly; it counted, as a Chicago Prep Conference matchup played in breezy, rainy, chilly conditions.
And Stern proved, once again, that his mates could count on him.
Zell edged Chicago-based Hope 1-0 on a beautifully executed goal and improved to 6-0-0 overall and 4-0-0 in the CPC. Stern made only four saves, but he handled the ball often and calmly defused dicey moments in traffic against a young, talent-soaked crew of Eagles. For his fine effort, Stern earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honor.
Hope coach George Linares’ squad features eight freshmen, including dazzling midfielder Diego Garcia, whose speed and guile earned him several scoring chances. He and midfielder Christian Taylor teamed up often on give-and-go sequences and didn’t appear fazed in the least against the unbeaten college preparatory school from Deerfield.
In other words, it kept Rochelle Zell and its keeper on their toes.
“Micah was all over the place for us, against a team with a lot of skill,” Martinez said.
“That’s a dangerous team,” Stern said after his first shutout.
Zell tri-captain and forward Noah Brody is dangerous to the nth degree with a soccer at his feet. He’s 100-yard-dasher fast and super competitive, and he was in the middle of the game’s lone goal. Brody chased down a lengthy, well-executed service from freshman Jesse Shapira, settled the ball and then delivered a bullet of a cross to freshman midfielder/forward Simon Levitan, who had hustled to a spot deep in the box in front of Hope keeper Juan Fuentes.
Levitan, at forward for the first time this spring, stretched his left leg somewhat awkwardly to catch up to the speed of Brody’s pass and redirected the ball for a tap-in tally in the 46th minute.
Levitan had entered as a sub only a minute before notching his first goal of the season.
“Perfect,” Levitan said of Brody’s cross. “As the ball got close to me, all I was thinking was, ‘I hope I don’t miss it.’”
The result marked Zell’s second win versus Hope (2-3-0, 1-3-0) in nine days. Zell had bested Hope 6-4 on the same pitch on March 16, getting all six goals — yes, a double hat-trick and a program record — from junior midfielder Noah Silvers.
Silvers, a nationally ranked fencer, was not available to play in the rematch Wednesday because of a fencing commitment.
From epic soccer effort to epee moments.
Martinez was missing four other Tigers — three because of injury and another who’d received a red card in a recent JV match and had to sit out Hope-Zell II.
“Grit can win you games,” said Martinez, whose club took only three shots and a pair of corner kicks against the wind in the first half. “We were grittier today.”
Rochelle Zell’s backs — Gabe Gruenberg, Daniel Taitz, Jeremy Budin and Shomri Mlotek — played sturdily in front of the Tigers’ rookie keeper. Gruenberg, a tri-captain, came through with a key stop on a Hope rush at the end of the first half, moments after Brody had applied heat on Hope’s ‘D’ with a rush of his own.
Perhaps Stern’s top moment of the afternoon occurred in the 62nd minute, when he soared to come down with a high-bounding ball 10 yards in front of the goalmouth. It wasn’t a save, but it wound up quelling Hope’s last hope to knot it at 1.
Some eight minutes later, Zell junior midfielder Zach Rosen controlled a corner kick and got a clean look on an attempt to double the hosts’ advantage. A Fuentes save meant Zell would have to wait a little longer to exhale under the raindrops.
The game almost ended on another successful Brody-Levitan connection. Brody found Levitan wide open just inside the box in the 79th minute. Fuentes used his chest and both arms to field Levitan’s hard shot.
“We worked hard for this win, all 80 minutes,” Brody said. “We were hyped up for it.”
Next up for Zell is a home match against Holy Trinity on Tuesday, beginning at 5 p.m. Zell topped host Holy Trinity 3-1 on March 17.
Footnotes: Rochelle Zell outscored its first four foes this spring by a combined margin of 23-7. … A rainbow appeared during the first half of Wednesday’s Hope-Zell match at Heritage Park, giving Zell coach Martinez a host of colorful reasons to smile behind his mask after a scoreless first half. But the rainbow disappeared about five minutes later, as a steady downpour returned, winds picked up and the temperature dropped. Martinez’s smile? He produced another one after the victory. … Hope Academy coach Linares, on the rough weather conditions: “Beautiful. I’ll never complain about it; it’s the Chicago area.” The Eagles’ head coach also noted the game had the intensity of a playoff contest from start to finish. … Zell’s enrollment: 170; Hope’s enrollment: 220. … Taitz also serves as a Rochelle Zell tri-captain.
Starting lineups
Hope
GK Juan Fuentes
D Miles Coleman
D Xavier Catalan
D Xavier Magana
M Luis Gutierrez
M Adrian Bahena
M Christian Taylor
M Diego Garcia
M Aaron Tellez
F Jovany Rosas
F Miguel Ramirez
Rochelle Zell
GK Micah Stern
D Gabe Gruenberg
D Daniel Taitz
D Jeremy Budin
D Shomri Mlotek
M Matan Lieberman
M Zach Rosen
M Jesse Levitas
M Jesse Shapira
F Noah Brody
F Oren Nochimowski
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Micah Stern, sr., GK, Rochelle Zell
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Rochelle Zell — Simon Levitan (Brody), 46’