GBN, HP lack sharpness, but not scoring
Giants win CSL North crown with 2-2 tie at Glenbrook North
By Gary Larsen
NORTHBROOK - Some days are diamonds and some days are stones, and the 2-2 tie that played out between host Glenbrook North and Highland Park on Wednesday didn’t have much shine to it.
“It’s one of those things where you know you didn’t play bad, but you didn’t play great,” North coach Paul Vignocchi said. His counterpart agreed.
“This was definitely not our best performance,” Highland Park coach Blake Novotny said.
Still, fans in Northbrook were given an entertaining game of twists and turns, and one which ultimately made Highland Park sole owners of this year’s Central Suburban League North Division title.
Highland Park (8-2-4, 3-0-2) last won the conference title in 2014 and Wednesday’s win officially knocked two-time defending champion Glenbrook North (5-6-3, 2-2-1) from the North Division throne.
“I wish we would have run through the finish line instead of stumbling, but it’s still good to pick up a tie at least and have an outright conference championship,” Novotny said.
Glenbrook North twice took a one-goal lead on Highland Park only to see the Giants come back both times to tie the score.
The lone goal of the first half came when North’s Joey Martens turned the corner at the endline on the right side and centered a ball that Jan Bogdan buried from 8 yards in the game’s eighth minute.
“We came out pretty strong, and we were playing more as a unit tonight,” North senior Ben Gordon said. “We were finding passes through the middle, getting more possession, and that’s definitely something we’ve been working on. So that was definitely a plus.”
Bogdan knocked on the door of a second goal several times in the first half. He nearly got on the end of balls sent in by Sam Sullivan and Nico Adducci, and almost ran down a through-ball at 27 minutes but Highland Park keeper Ethan Fineman left his line and won the race.
North was most dangerous in the counterattack, while Highland Park’s Ronin Moore, Luke Zucker, and Joey Schwartz were infinitely dangerous during solid stretches of attacking pressure by the Giants.
“They’re just a solid team with no weaknesses around the field,” Gordon said of Highland Park. “They just play good possession, good soccer, no kick-and-run and they have speed up-top. Controlling all of that was difficult, but I felt like we did a pretty good job tonight.”
Gordon suffered a leg injury in the first half but fought through it and shined defensively throughout the second half. That effort earned him Chicagoland Soccer
Man of the Match honors.
Schwartz made a few nifty moves in traffic just inside the top of the box before pulling a ball back and firing at 37 minutes on North keeper Nick Washelesky, who made the stop. Schwartz’s skill was definitely on display Wednesday.
“Joey is actually sick. He had a fever this morning of 102,” Novotny said. “But he’s skilled; he moves well. He’s quick with good pace, and when he starts playing combos with people that’s when he’s at his best.”
Highland Park scored five minutes into the second half on a tripping call inside the box. Schwartz converted the penalty kick to tie the game at 1-1.
Martens gave North a 2-1 lead five minutes later, taking a feed from Sullivan up the heart of the field and dribbling in past a lone defender. Fineman charged out and sprawled to get a hand on Martens’ shot from 16 yards, but the ball caromed in off the post at 50 minutes.
At various points during any Glenbrook North game, Martens can seem like a one-man gang. Sullivan’s skill in the middle of the field is obvious, as is Konrad Kulesza’s, and players like Adducci and Bogdan were offensively prominent throughout Wednesday’s tie.
“They brought (Martens) up higher in the second half, and he brought pace,” Novotny said. “He was dangerous.”
North center backs Gordon and Schueler also shined in the face of the Giants’ attack, and Washelesky made a fine kick-save at 51 minutes at the post and stayed aggressive off his line throughout.
“Nick played a great game. He came off his line and got a few balls for us, which was nice,” Schueler said. “He has only gotten better throughout the season.”
Still, Highland Park found a second equalizing goal at 61 minutes, when Manny Guzman Vega scored from point-blank range and roofed his shot past a defenseless Washelesky. The Giants have showed resilience throughout the 2018 season.
“What I’ve seen from them all year is the ability to fight and stay in games,” Novotny said. “Somehow we’ve avoided losses. We have four ties now. In one of our (two) losses the game was cut short and the other came in the third game of a tournament in Indiana. So I feel like no matter who we’ve played, we’ve somehow stuck it out.”
Washelesky punched out a long Schwartz throw-in at the near post at 65 minutes, and Martens blistered a shot that Fineman saved at the post at 69 minutes for what effectively served as the game’s final legitimately dangerous shot on net.
Vignocchi was pleased with what Gordon and Schueler gave him in back against the Giants and applauded the day’s work put in by Washelesky. Still, he knows his side could have played better.
“Overall there are things we need to work on, but it’s one of those things where you know you didn’t play bad but you didn’t play great,” Vignocchi said. “I’m glad we got the game in, but I don’t think we played that well.”
Glenbrook North heads to the Go 4 the Goal Fall Classic tournament in Iowa this weekend, where they’ll continue to seek chemistry before the looming Illinois state playoffs begin.
“Everything is starting to come together, we’re communicating more and getting more comfortable with each other,” Schueler said. “That will only get better as we get closer to the playoffs.
“We’re picking up little things and pieces from each game, and we’re getting players back and healthy that are important for us. We should be ready to go.”
Starting lineups
Glenbrook North
GK: Nick Washelesky
D: Ben Gordon
D: David Schueler
D: Patrick O’Brien
D: Noah Ben-Isvy
MF: Nate Aronson
MF: Konrad Kulesza
MF: Sam Sullivan
MF: Nico Adducci
F: Jan Bogdan
F: Joey Martens
Highland Park
GK: Ethan Fineman
D: Aaron Bach
D: Mason Kimbarovsky
D: Christ Mateos
D: Ivan Roldan
MF: Ronin Moore
MF: Joey Schwartz
MF: Matt Holleman
MF: Danny Barragan
F: Alexis Perez
F: Luke Zucker
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ben Gordon, sr., D, Glenbrook North
Scoring summary
First half
Glenbrook North — Bogdan (Martens), 8 minutes
Second half
Highland Park — Schwartz (PK), 45 minutes
Glenbrook North — Martens (Sullivan), 50 minutes
Highland Park — Guzman Vega (UA), 61 minutes
Giants win CSL North crown with 2-2 tie at Glenbrook North
By Gary Larsen
NORTHBROOK - Some days are diamonds and some days are stones, and the 2-2 tie that played out between host Glenbrook North and Highland Park on Wednesday didn’t have much shine to it.
“It’s one of those things where you know you didn’t play bad, but you didn’t play great,” North coach Paul Vignocchi said. His counterpart agreed.
“This was definitely not our best performance,” Highland Park coach Blake Novotny said.
Still, fans in Northbrook were given an entertaining game of twists and turns, and one which ultimately made Highland Park sole owners of this year’s Central Suburban League North Division title.
Highland Park (8-2-4, 3-0-2) last won the conference title in 2014 and Wednesday’s win officially knocked two-time defending champion Glenbrook North (5-6-3, 2-2-1) from the North Division throne.
“I wish we would have run through the finish line instead of stumbling, but it’s still good to pick up a tie at least and have an outright conference championship,” Novotny said.
Glenbrook North twice took a one-goal lead on Highland Park only to see the Giants come back both times to tie the score.
The lone goal of the first half came when North’s Joey Martens turned the corner at the endline on the right side and centered a ball that Jan Bogdan buried from 8 yards in the game’s eighth minute.
“We came out pretty strong, and we were playing more as a unit tonight,” North senior Ben Gordon said. “We were finding passes through the middle, getting more possession, and that’s definitely something we’ve been working on. So that was definitely a plus.”
Bogdan knocked on the door of a second goal several times in the first half. He nearly got on the end of balls sent in by Sam Sullivan and Nico Adducci, and almost ran down a through-ball at 27 minutes but Highland Park keeper Ethan Fineman left his line and won the race.
North was most dangerous in the counterattack, while Highland Park’s Ronin Moore, Luke Zucker, and Joey Schwartz were infinitely dangerous during solid stretches of attacking pressure by the Giants.
“They’re just a solid team with no weaknesses around the field,” Gordon said of Highland Park. “They just play good possession, good soccer, no kick-and-run and they have speed up-top. Controlling all of that was difficult, but I felt like we did a pretty good job tonight.”
Gordon suffered a leg injury in the first half but fought through it and shined defensively throughout the second half. That effort earned him Chicagoland Soccer
Man of the Match honors.
Schwartz made a few nifty moves in traffic just inside the top of the box before pulling a ball back and firing at 37 minutes on North keeper Nick Washelesky, who made the stop. Schwartz’s skill was definitely on display Wednesday.
“Joey is actually sick. He had a fever this morning of 102,” Novotny said. “But he’s skilled; he moves well. He’s quick with good pace, and when he starts playing combos with people that’s when he’s at his best.”
Highland Park scored five minutes into the second half on a tripping call inside the box. Schwartz converted the penalty kick to tie the game at 1-1.
Martens gave North a 2-1 lead five minutes later, taking a feed from Sullivan up the heart of the field and dribbling in past a lone defender. Fineman charged out and sprawled to get a hand on Martens’ shot from 16 yards, but the ball caromed in off the post at 50 minutes.
At various points during any Glenbrook North game, Martens can seem like a one-man gang. Sullivan’s skill in the middle of the field is obvious, as is Konrad Kulesza’s, and players like Adducci and Bogdan were offensively prominent throughout Wednesday’s tie.
“They brought (Martens) up higher in the second half, and he brought pace,” Novotny said. “He was dangerous.”
North center backs Gordon and Schueler also shined in the face of the Giants’ attack, and Washelesky made a fine kick-save at 51 minutes at the post and stayed aggressive off his line throughout.
“Nick played a great game. He came off his line and got a few balls for us, which was nice,” Schueler said. “He has only gotten better throughout the season.”
Still, Highland Park found a second equalizing goal at 61 minutes, when Manny Guzman Vega scored from point-blank range and roofed his shot past a defenseless Washelesky. The Giants have showed resilience throughout the 2018 season.
“What I’ve seen from them all year is the ability to fight and stay in games,” Novotny said. “Somehow we’ve avoided losses. We have four ties now. In one of our (two) losses the game was cut short and the other came in the third game of a tournament in Indiana. So I feel like no matter who we’ve played, we’ve somehow stuck it out.”
Washelesky punched out a long Schwartz throw-in at the near post at 65 minutes, and Martens blistered a shot that Fineman saved at the post at 69 minutes for what effectively served as the game’s final legitimately dangerous shot on net.
Vignocchi was pleased with what Gordon and Schueler gave him in back against the Giants and applauded the day’s work put in by Washelesky. Still, he knows his side could have played better.
“Overall there are things we need to work on, but it’s one of those things where you know you didn’t play bad but you didn’t play great,” Vignocchi said. “I’m glad we got the game in, but I don’t think we played that well.”
Glenbrook North heads to the Go 4 the Goal Fall Classic tournament in Iowa this weekend, where they’ll continue to seek chemistry before the looming Illinois state playoffs begin.
“Everything is starting to come together, we’re communicating more and getting more comfortable with each other,” Schueler said. “That will only get better as we get closer to the playoffs.
“We’re picking up little things and pieces from each game, and we’re getting players back and healthy that are important for us. We should be ready to go.”
Starting lineups
Glenbrook North
GK: Nick Washelesky
D: Ben Gordon
D: David Schueler
D: Patrick O’Brien
D: Noah Ben-Isvy
MF: Nate Aronson
MF: Konrad Kulesza
MF: Sam Sullivan
MF: Nico Adducci
F: Jan Bogdan
F: Joey Martens
Highland Park
GK: Ethan Fineman
D: Aaron Bach
D: Mason Kimbarovsky
D: Christ Mateos
D: Ivan Roldan
MF: Ronin Moore
MF: Joey Schwartz
MF: Matt Holleman
MF: Danny Barragan
F: Alexis Perez
F: Luke Zucker
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ben Gordon, sr., D, Glenbrook North
Scoring summary
First half
Glenbrook North — Bogdan (Martens), 8 minutes
Second half
Highland Park — Schwartz (PK), 45 minutes
Glenbrook North — Martens (Sullivan), 50 minutes
Highland Park — Guzman Vega (UA), 61 minutes