Oak Forest falls to Hubbard on early error
Visitors capitalize on defensive giveaway for intense 1-0 win
By Steve Millar
OAK FOREST – In his first high school game, Oak Forest freshman goalkeeper Adam Jedrzejczyk felt he earned a bit of redemption.
As a whole, the Bengals have the rest of the season to redeem themselves after a tough season-opener.
Hubbard senior Diego Gonzalez took advantage of a defensive miscue to score the game’s only goal as the Greyhounds topped the host Bengals 1-0 in the season-opener for both teams.
“There wasn’t a whole lot I liked,” Oak Forest coach Kieran Byrne said. “I didn’t think we played with enough heart. We were at home. It’s our opener. We’ve got to bring a certain attitude and tempo.
“If you want to beat a team like Hubbard, the first thing you have to do is bring the attitude. We didn’t do that. We didn’t emotionally control ourselves throughout the game. We didn’t work hard enough without the ball. We didn’t work hard enough or smart enough with the ball.”
In the eighth minute, Jedrzejczyk got caught out of the net looking to play the ball to a teammate. Instead, it resulted in a turnover.
Gonzalez, Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match, took advantage by coming up with the loose ball and firing a shot into the back of the net to give the Greyhounds (1-0-0) the only goal they needed.
“I pressured the defender and caused a mistake,” Gonzalez said. “I had almost an open net, and I placed it in. It felt good. It gave us a nice advantage the rest of the game.”
It was a learning moment for Oak Forest (0-1-0).
“That was just super unlucky, and it sucks that’s what lost us the game,” senior defender Gavin Collery said. “It was just one mistake. It’s just going to give us a lesson to communicate more.”
Jedrzejczyk was motivated to make up for the error.
“There was a pass in the middle, I ran out, there was just a little bit of a miscommunication,” he said. “It was a mistake, but those mistakes can lead to success. We just have to play as a team and succeed as a team.
“I just took a couple deep breaths, left that in the past and worked on the future. I wanted to redeem myself.”
Jedrzejczyk did that with six saves, including a few huge stops in the second half. He impressed Byrne with his ability to bounce back.
“I thought Adam did really well,” Byrne said. “He stood up toward the end of the game and made some really big saves to keep us in the game. As a freshman, he’s going to learn an awful lot in terms of who is playing in front of him and what he has to do to complement them.
“For them it’s the same way. It’s learning, ‘How do we
complement our keeper and protect our keeper?’”
Jedrzejczyk made a diving save to deny Marvin Beltran on a strong shot from the top of the box with 15 minutes to go.
“It was mostly staying on my toes and focusing on the ball every single second,” he said. “I saw their player had an open shot, so I dove to it and got to it successfully.”
He also denied Gonzalez on a point-blank chance in the final minute.
Oak Forest’s back line of Collery, Michael Speaker, Luis Rosales and Kyle Baker helped keep Hubbard off the scoreboard after the initial goal, despite the Greyhounds controlling possession much of the way.
The Bengals fought for the equalizer but could not find it.
They did, however, generate a bevy of chances over the final 20 minutes.
In the 70th minute, Nolan Price had a good look at goal off a corner kick by Alex Stacy but could not get much on his shot that was saved by Hubbard goalkeeper Francisco Contreras.
Another Oak Forest corner kick five minutes later led to a dangerous situation. The ball bounced around the box before being cleared by Hubbard defender Luis Godinez.
Ian Evans fired wide on a volley off Michael Speaker’s free kick in the 78th minute on the Bengals’ last good opportunity.
“I think it’s a momentum thing,” Byrne said. “If the momentum is going with you through the game, you get the bounce of the ball. If the momentum is with them all game, they get the bounce of the ball. You make your own luck in games by how hard you work. You generate those chances.
“Instead of being like, ‘Oh my God, I could score’ when that chance comes up, you’re anticipating it. You’re expecting the ball to come to you because it has been all night.”
Hubbard coach Diogenis Diaz was thrilled with his team’s ability to hold on.
“Compared to other seasons, our intensity throughout the 80 minutes was the biggest difference,” he said. “We were really solid on defense. We still have some trouble getting to those balls in the air in the back. We have to keep working on that, but the intensity we put out was the most important thing for us.
“Even though we had several scoring chances, since it was a tight game to the end, our guys had to keep their concentration to the very last minute. For high schoolers, that’s so complicated. But they did it, and that’s why I was so proud of them.”
Gonzalez said he expects the Greyhounds to continue to play with passion.
“We have a lot of courage, and we give our all every game,” he said. “It’s a good boost knowing we’ve got our first game in, and we’ve already got our first win.”
Oak Forest walked away knowing they need to better keep their composure. The intense game featured several cards on both sides, including a straight red card that left Oak Forest a man down for the final 5:15.
“We can learn not to argue with the refs and not to argue with the other team,” Jedrzejczyk said. “We need to play our game and let our game show them instead of arguing with them.”
Byrne knows there are good days ahead for his team.
“So far, they’ve been great to work with,” he said. “Now we have to take what we’re doing in training onto the pitch. If we can do that, I think we’ll be absolutely fine. We have to reset now mentally and move forward from this.”
Starting lineups
Hubbard
GK – Francisco Contreras
D – Yoel Ruiz
D – Isaac Raygosa
D – Luis Diaz
D – Stewart DeAngelo
MF – Oswaldo Perez
MF – Diego Gallo
MF – Marvin Beltran
MF – Daniel Ibarra
F – Diego Gonzalez
F – Luis Alvizo
Oak Forest
GK – Adam Jedrzejczyk
D- Michael Speaker
D – Luis Rosales
D – Gavin Collery
D – Kyle Baker
MF – Giovanni Cabrera
MF – Miguel Zavala
MF – Lennon Flores
MF – Ian Evans
F – Ian Plancarte
F – Alex Stacy
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Diego Gonzalez, Hubbard, sr., F
Scoring summary
First half
Hubbard – Gonzalez (unassisted), 8th minute
Second half
No scoring
Visitors capitalize on defensive giveaway for intense 1-0 win
By Steve Millar
OAK FOREST – In his first high school game, Oak Forest freshman goalkeeper Adam Jedrzejczyk felt he earned a bit of redemption.
As a whole, the Bengals have the rest of the season to redeem themselves after a tough season-opener.
Hubbard senior Diego Gonzalez took advantage of a defensive miscue to score the game’s only goal as the Greyhounds topped the host Bengals 1-0 in the season-opener for both teams.
“There wasn’t a whole lot I liked,” Oak Forest coach Kieran Byrne said. “I didn’t think we played with enough heart. We were at home. It’s our opener. We’ve got to bring a certain attitude and tempo.
“If you want to beat a team like Hubbard, the first thing you have to do is bring the attitude. We didn’t do that. We didn’t emotionally control ourselves throughout the game. We didn’t work hard enough without the ball. We didn’t work hard enough or smart enough with the ball.”
In the eighth minute, Jedrzejczyk got caught out of the net looking to play the ball to a teammate. Instead, it resulted in a turnover.
Gonzalez, Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match, took advantage by coming up with the loose ball and firing a shot into the back of the net to give the Greyhounds (1-0-0) the only goal they needed.
“I pressured the defender and caused a mistake,” Gonzalez said. “I had almost an open net, and I placed it in. It felt good. It gave us a nice advantage the rest of the game.”
It was a learning moment for Oak Forest (0-1-0).
“That was just super unlucky, and it sucks that’s what lost us the game,” senior defender Gavin Collery said. “It was just one mistake. It’s just going to give us a lesson to communicate more.”
Jedrzejczyk was motivated to make up for the error.
“There was a pass in the middle, I ran out, there was just a little bit of a miscommunication,” he said. “It was a mistake, but those mistakes can lead to success. We just have to play as a team and succeed as a team.
“I just took a couple deep breaths, left that in the past and worked on the future. I wanted to redeem myself.”
Jedrzejczyk did that with six saves, including a few huge stops in the second half. He impressed Byrne with his ability to bounce back.
“I thought Adam did really well,” Byrne said. “He stood up toward the end of the game and made some really big saves to keep us in the game. As a freshman, he’s going to learn an awful lot in terms of who is playing in front of him and what he has to do to complement them.
“For them it’s the same way. It’s learning, ‘How do we
complement our keeper and protect our keeper?’”
Jedrzejczyk made a diving save to deny Marvin Beltran on a strong shot from the top of the box with 15 minutes to go.
“It was mostly staying on my toes and focusing on the ball every single second,” he said. “I saw their player had an open shot, so I dove to it and got to it successfully.”
He also denied Gonzalez on a point-blank chance in the final minute.
Oak Forest’s back line of Collery, Michael Speaker, Luis Rosales and Kyle Baker helped keep Hubbard off the scoreboard after the initial goal, despite the Greyhounds controlling possession much of the way.
The Bengals fought for the equalizer but could not find it.
They did, however, generate a bevy of chances over the final 20 minutes.
In the 70th minute, Nolan Price had a good look at goal off a corner kick by Alex Stacy but could not get much on his shot that was saved by Hubbard goalkeeper Francisco Contreras.
Another Oak Forest corner kick five minutes later led to a dangerous situation. The ball bounced around the box before being cleared by Hubbard defender Luis Godinez.
Ian Evans fired wide on a volley off Michael Speaker’s free kick in the 78th minute on the Bengals’ last good opportunity.
“I think it’s a momentum thing,” Byrne said. “If the momentum is going with you through the game, you get the bounce of the ball. If the momentum is with them all game, they get the bounce of the ball. You make your own luck in games by how hard you work. You generate those chances.
“Instead of being like, ‘Oh my God, I could score’ when that chance comes up, you’re anticipating it. You’re expecting the ball to come to you because it has been all night.”
Hubbard coach Diogenis Diaz was thrilled with his team’s ability to hold on.
“Compared to other seasons, our intensity throughout the 80 minutes was the biggest difference,” he said. “We were really solid on defense. We still have some trouble getting to those balls in the air in the back. We have to keep working on that, but the intensity we put out was the most important thing for us.
“Even though we had several scoring chances, since it was a tight game to the end, our guys had to keep their concentration to the very last minute. For high schoolers, that’s so complicated. But they did it, and that’s why I was so proud of them.”
Gonzalez said he expects the Greyhounds to continue to play with passion.
“We have a lot of courage, and we give our all every game,” he said. “It’s a good boost knowing we’ve got our first game in, and we’ve already got our first win.”
Oak Forest walked away knowing they need to better keep their composure. The intense game featured several cards on both sides, including a straight red card that left Oak Forest a man down for the final 5:15.
“We can learn not to argue with the refs and not to argue with the other team,” Jedrzejczyk said. “We need to play our game and let our game show them instead of arguing with them.”
Byrne knows there are good days ahead for his team.
“So far, they’ve been great to work with,” he said. “Now we have to take what we’re doing in training onto the pitch. If we can do that, I think we’ll be absolutely fine. We have to reset now mentally and move forward from this.”
Starting lineups
Hubbard
GK – Francisco Contreras
D – Yoel Ruiz
D – Isaac Raygosa
D – Luis Diaz
D – Stewart DeAngelo
MF – Oswaldo Perez
MF – Diego Gallo
MF – Marvin Beltran
MF – Daniel Ibarra
F – Diego Gonzalez
F – Luis Alvizo
Oak Forest
GK – Adam Jedrzejczyk
D- Michael Speaker
D – Luis Rosales
D – Gavin Collery
D – Kyle Baker
MF – Giovanni Cabrera
MF – Miguel Zavala
MF – Lennon Flores
MF – Ian Evans
F – Ian Plancarte
F – Alex Stacy
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Diego Gonzalez, Hubbard, sr., F
Scoring summary
First half
Hubbard – Gonzalez (unassisted), 8th minute
Second half
No scoring