Rochelle Zell has off day,
Hope springs to win
Visitors score last 4 goals for Chicago Prep Conference victory
By Bobby Narang
DEERFIELD — Nothing went right for Rochelle Zell on Monday.
After opening the season with an impressive 6-0 home conference victory over Holy Trinity in front of a large crowd on a beautiful late afternoon, the Tigers attempted to duplicate the effort against league rival Hope.
But from the outset, things seemed amiss.
The field was full of mud from heavy rain earlier in the day and not a single fan was in attendance near the small make-shift bleacher area at the scheduled kickoff time.
The match started five minutes late and four minutes in, the game ball sailed over the fence into the highway side — one of five times it happened in the 80-minute affair.
Worst of all, the Tigers came out flat. Their communication and energy level was significantly lower than the opener, and they played as sluggish as the muddy field looked.
Hope took advantage of its enhanced opportunity and scored twice in each half to record a 4-1 win.
Just when the game ended, a slight dripping of rain started falling to mirror Zell’s emotions. The game was full of meteorological changes, from a heavy wind at the start to a small window of sunshine to the post-game drops of rain. The weather, in a way, matched the Tigers up-and-down play.
Jesse Shapira scored the first goal of the game, handing the Tigers a 1-0 lead with a blast shot from 23 yards that went right through the Hope keeper’s hands in the 12th minute. That was it for Zelle, who allowed four goals in the final 47:02 of play.
“It’s early in the season,” Rochelle Zell coach David Martinez said. “We always start off our season late. We started August 10, even then we have kids in summer camp.
“Now we’re trying to gain our skills, but we don’t have time because of all the games. We only have limited dates we can play. The boys played hard. You have to credit Hope.
“They continued to attack and found their ways in. The energy is something that the boys have to find within. No matter how tired they are, it’s an 80-minute game. We have to leave it all on the field. We have to just do it.
“We started off flat, did get that early goal but then slowly sat back and let Hope do its thing. It hurt us in the end. We let them pass around us, but we will adjust. Film is needed.”
Hope (3-0-0, 2-0-0 in the Chicago Prep Conference) turned up effort to avenge a 3-2 loss to the Tigers in their second matchup last season. Zell took the 2021 series with the win and a tie.
“I think it was more teamwork and everybody playing the way they should,” Hope coach Guadalupe Alvarez said. “The first few minutes we didn’t have good concentration and gave up that goal.
“We managed to pass the ball around better, which helped open their defense up more and gave us some opportunities to score. It’s a nice victory for the boys. They’ve been working hard, and they deserve this.”
Hope’s resurgence was sparked by Diego Garcia. The junior forward was a menace on the field, constantly probing for weak spots and relying on his excellent skills to get off quality shot attempts. He scored the tying goal in the 33rd minute before adding a second half goal to pad the lead to 57th minute. It came on a long pass that was followed by a 1-v-1 move. He finished on the highlight-reel play for a 3-1 edge.
“Diego’s a really good player and is coming to practice every day and gives really good effort,” Alvarez said. “All the time he’s dedicated with good effort in practice.”
Garcia estimated his season goal total at “six or seven.” He said it was solid win following last season’s loss to the Tigers (1-2-0), who have only played league matches so far this season.
“It was a good victory, and felt nice scoring a couple of goals for the team to get the victory,” Garcia said. “I’ve been putting a lot of effort in practice. My coach has really got to me to get on point. We’re looking to win conference and regionals. We have to work hard. This was a nice ‘W.’
Rochelle Zell senior goalie Jacob Weiss allowed four goals, but he showed strong instincts, leadership and fortitude in the defeat.
He racked up six of his 11 saves in the second half.
The Tigers just struggled putting together passes and played sluggishly on defense, committing mental errors that allowed Garcia and his teammates to find good shot attempts.
“We have to play a full 80 minutes,” Rochelle Zell senior midfielder Harrison Harkavy said. “We came out and scored a goal early, but we just weren’t ready to play a full 80 minutes. That’s me included. We have to bring that energy. It happens. We have two more games this week, and we have to learn from our mistakes.”
Senior defender Jeremy Budin said Monday’s loss can be a learning lesson.
“It felt in the first half they were playing through our middle, but we adjusted and did a different formation,” Budin said. “We played some good defense until we ran out of energy with just over 15 minutes left. We have to keep it together the whole time. We have to use the hustle. That’s usually one of our advantages.”
Junior defender Ari Jankelowitz, a first-year student at Rochelle Zell, said the Tigers can’t dwell on the loss.
“It was unfortunate we lost this opportunity, but we can learn from our mistakes,” he said. “We have to get a better result in our next game. I just want to help the team and do my best whenever I step onto the field.”
Starting lineups
Hope
No roster
Rochelle Zell
GK: Jacob Weiss
D: Coby Halpern
D: Gabe Hirsch
D: Ari Jankelowitz
D: Jeremy Budin
MF: Ben Rosenfeld
MF: Harrison Harkavy
MF: Julian Tocher
F: Jesse Shapira
F: Oren Nochimowski
F: Simon Levitan
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Diego Garcia, jr., F, Hope
Scoring summary
First half
Rochelle Zell: Jesse Shapira (Harrison Harkavy), 12’
Hope: Diego Garcia (unassisted), 33’
Hope: no. 6 (unassisted), 36’
Second half
Hope: Diego Garcia (unassisted), 57’
Hope: no. 6 (no. 5), 69’
Hope springs to win
Visitors score last 4 goals for Chicago Prep Conference victory
By Bobby Narang
DEERFIELD — Nothing went right for Rochelle Zell on Monday.
After opening the season with an impressive 6-0 home conference victory over Holy Trinity in front of a large crowd on a beautiful late afternoon, the Tigers attempted to duplicate the effort against league rival Hope.
But from the outset, things seemed amiss.
The field was full of mud from heavy rain earlier in the day and not a single fan was in attendance near the small make-shift bleacher area at the scheduled kickoff time.
The match started five minutes late and four minutes in, the game ball sailed over the fence into the highway side — one of five times it happened in the 80-minute affair.
Worst of all, the Tigers came out flat. Their communication and energy level was significantly lower than the opener, and they played as sluggish as the muddy field looked.
Hope took advantage of its enhanced opportunity and scored twice in each half to record a 4-1 win.
Just when the game ended, a slight dripping of rain started falling to mirror Zell’s emotions. The game was full of meteorological changes, from a heavy wind at the start to a small window of sunshine to the post-game drops of rain. The weather, in a way, matched the Tigers up-and-down play.
Jesse Shapira scored the first goal of the game, handing the Tigers a 1-0 lead with a blast shot from 23 yards that went right through the Hope keeper’s hands in the 12th minute. That was it for Zelle, who allowed four goals in the final 47:02 of play.
“It’s early in the season,” Rochelle Zell coach David Martinez said. “We always start off our season late. We started August 10, even then we have kids in summer camp.
“Now we’re trying to gain our skills, but we don’t have time because of all the games. We only have limited dates we can play. The boys played hard. You have to credit Hope.
“They continued to attack and found their ways in. The energy is something that the boys have to find within. No matter how tired they are, it’s an 80-minute game. We have to leave it all on the field. We have to just do it.
“We started off flat, did get that early goal but then slowly sat back and let Hope do its thing. It hurt us in the end. We let them pass around us, but we will adjust. Film is needed.”
Hope (3-0-0, 2-0-0 in the Chicago Prep Conference) turned up effort to avenge a 3-2 loss to the Tigers in their second matchup last season. Zell took the 2021 series with the win and a tie.
“I think it was more teamwork and everybody playing the way they should,” Hope coach Guadalupe Alvarez said. “The first few minutes we didn’t have good concentration and gave up that goal.
“We managed to pass the ball around better, which helped open their defense up more and gave us some opportunities to score. It’s a nice victory for the boys. They’ve been working hard, and they deserve this.”
Hope’s resurgence was sparked by Diego Garcia. The junior forward was a menace on the field, constantly probing for weak spots and relying on his excellent skills to get off quality shot attempts. He scored the tying goal in the 33rd minute before adding a second half goal to pad the lead to 57th minute. It came on a long pass that was followed by a 1-v-1 move. He finished on the highlight-reel play for a 3-1 edge.
“Diego’s a really good player and is coming to practice every day and gives really good effort,” Alvarez said. “All the time he’s dedicated with good effort in practice.”
Garcia estimated his season goal total at “six or seven.” He said it was solid win following last season’s loss to the Tigers (1-2-0), who have only played league matches so far this season.
“It was a good victory, and felt nice scoring a couple of goals for the team to get the victory,” Garcia said. “I’ve been putting a lot of effort in practice. My coach has really got to me to get on point. We’re looking to win conference and regionals. We have to work hard. This was a nice ‘W.’
Rochelle Zell senior goalie Jacob Weiss allowed four goals, but he showed strong instincts, leadership and fortitude in the defeat.
He racked up six of his 11 saves in the second half.
The Tigers just struggled putting together passes and played sluggishly on defense, committing mental errors that allowed Garcia and his teammates to find good shot attempts.
“We have to play a full 80 minutes,” Rochelle Zell senior midfielder Harrison Harkavy said. “We came out and scored a goal early, but we just weren’t ready to play a full 80 minutes. That’s me included. We have to bring that energy. It happens. We have two more games this week, and we have to learn from our mistakes.”
Senior defender Jeremy Budin said Monday’s loss can be a learning lesson.
“It felt in the first half they were playing through our middle, but we adjusted and did a different formation,” Budin said. “We played some good defense until we ran out of energy with just over 15 minutes left. We have to keep it together the whole time. We have to use the hustle. That’s usually one of our advantages.”
Junior defender Ari Jankelowitz, a first-year student at Rochelle Zell, said the Tigers can’t dwell on the loss.
“It was unfortunate we lost this opportunity, but we can learn from our mistakes,” he said. “We have to get a better result in our next game. I just want to help the team and do my best whenever I step onto the field.”
Starting lineups
Hope
No roster
Rochelle Zell
GK: Jacob Weiss
D: Coby Halpern
D: Gabe Hirsch
D: Ari Jankelowitz
D: Jeremy Budin
MF: Ben Rosenfeld
MF: Harrison Harkavy
MF: Julian Tocher
F: Jesse Shapira
F: Oren Nochimowski
F: Simon Levitan
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Diego Garcia, jr., F, Hope
Scoring summary
First half
Rochelle Zell: Jesse Shapira (Harrison Harkavy), 12’
Hope: Diego Garcia (unassisted), 33’
Hope: no. 6 (unassisted), 36’
Second half
Hope: Diego Garcia (unassisted), 57’
Hope: no. 6 (no. 5), 69’