Solorio's Sanchez a star by any name
Junior forward tallies twice in Sun Warriors’ 4-2 win over Juarez
By Patrick Z. McGavin
CHICAGO -- The name is subtly adjusted from what he previously went by. His game is beguiling as ever -- it produces a catch in the throat as one witnesses the sensation of his movement, grace and precision.
On the state’s largest platform a year ago, the Solorio star forward, who scored the first two goals in the 6-0 rout over Gibault in the Class AA state championship, went by the space-grabbing Alejandro Sanchez Jr.
Now the name is more concentrated and direct: Alex Sanchez.
By any other measure, he is still something to behold.
After his breakout sophomore campaign of 25 goals led the Sun Warriors’ attack, Sanchez is back for more. As the top player in the city, Sanchez combines a bracing mixture of speed, talent, skill and playmaking prowess.
On Monday, he opened the new campaign with four goals over an overmatched Intrinsic team in a 10-0 rout. Solorio needs to be threatened.
“That’s what we like,” standout senior forward Carlos Villa said. “When you get tested, you get that spark in you, and you just want more. That is when we are at our best.”
The Sun Warriors, ranked ninth in Chicagoland Soccer’s Preseason Top 25, started slowly and fell behind a spirited Juarez side before Sanchez blasted home two goals two first half goals and Jonathan Vasquez added a goal and assist in the 4-2 victory in their Gage Park neighborhood Wednesday afternoon.
Solorio (2-0-0, 1-0-0) extended its winning streak to nine games dating to last year’s state tournament run.
Sanchez is off to an electric start with the six goals. He also earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match prize for his first half goals that nullified the fast start by the Eagles (0-1-0, 0-1-0).
“At the beginning we started out sloppy and toward the end we just had to pick it up and play harder,” Sanchez said. “We want to get out and get goals. We have been practicing since the early summer. We have mostly the same group back, and we are working on getting our chemistry together.
“That’s the most important part.”
The Premier Division has been the Chicago Public League gold standard. The city has adopted a new format and expanded to two divisions. This game marked the first of the newly created Premier Division South.
Juarez went 7-0-0 in the First Division South last year. In the city, reputations matter, as does classification.
“The guys have really come together and coalesced around the idea that we belong in the Premier Division,” veteran Juarez coach Daniel Michmerhuizen said.. “That’s our slogan. We belong in this division, and we are going to give it everything we’ve got. First game of the year is always tough, and to start off against the state champions and give them a good game and make them work hard for their win, that is a strong showing.
“We played them two years ago, and it was not nearly as strong a showing.”
Solorio coach Adrian Calleros is operating under a different reality as well. Three years ago Solorio played in a Class AA supersectional. In making the staggering leap to state champion, the representation has shifted.
“In the past, it is what I always told our players, as a kind of pep talk,” Calleros said. “There’s a target on your back. Whenever you play a team that’s gone downstate, or won city, that’s part of the talk. This is who you are going to measure yourself against. Now we are that team, the gauge, and there is no coming out flat. We are going to get everybody’s best game.
“That’s just what it is.”
The Eagles made Solorio pay for the slow start. Midfielder Jesus Castellanos smashed home a rebound shot in the 14th minute for the opening salvo. Solorio quickly adapted to the higher caliber players and slowly began to assert its superiority of talent.
Sanchez is the elite finisher, the kind of singular talent who needs just the tiniest speck of space to create his damage off the dribble. Villa is the fulcrum of the Sun Warriors’ attack. The team is at its best with him at the center. He is a magician with the ball, and his ability to find cutters and players off handoffs and the give-and-go is joyous to watch.
“The way they scored got us mad and sparked us,” Villa said.
Sanchez scored two signature goals with a deft use of speed, skill and ability to take defenders off the dribble and take advantage of the smallest defensive lapse. He scored in the 21st and 29th minutes to put the Sun Warriors up 2-1 at the break.
“Basically I try to turn and face the goal, and if possible, play one-and-two, give-and-go, something that will make me open in space, either take it myself, or take a long shot or create for somebody else,” he said.
Juarez has rebuilt its entire backline and the lack of experience showed.
As I told the guys, we made four mistakes and they made us pay on every one of them, and they only made two mistakes,” Michmerhuizen said. “We just made more mistakes, and they capitalized on them.
“They’re good enough to make us pay every time.”
Vasquez has also made a tremendous leap from a year ago. A secondary offensive threat last year, he has blossomed into a deeply capable and serious threat of his own. He assisted Sanchez’s second goal. He extended the advantage to 3-1 in the 58th minute on a beautiful sequence with Villa, who got to his customary spot in the middle and left a trailing ball Vasquez was able to run on to with authority.
“After the third goal, it gave us a little more confidence and a little bit more room to operate,” Vasquez said. “We played more as a team. After we scored the third goal, I thought we started to hustle more and look for that fourth, even fifth goal. We settled down and played our style of soccer.
“We try to push each other and help each other to get the result.”
Juarez hung around and closed within 3-2 in the 67th minute as junior defender Roberto Valencia, a converted midfielder, drilled a free kick from about 30 yards for a textbook score. The goal elevated the Eagles’ confidence.
“After my goal I felt like we could have won the game, honestly,” he said. “At that point I think we needed to talk more with my defense. We could not really allow those mistakes. I was not talking as much. After the first half, when they scored the first two goals, I was encouraged to talk more with my defense.”
One of the emerging young talents shut the door on any hope of a Juarez comeback. Sophomore forward Donovan Dorantes punctuated a sharp sequence by blasting home a ball from the right wing from about 12 yards in the 72nd minute.
“We’ve gotten by a couple of teams with individual talent,” Calleros said. “The fourth goal was the first time we really put it together and made five passes and a wing came in and scored. The first two goals were just great individual effort by Alex Sanchez. In soccer you are going to have that. We have become accustomed to playing a better brand of soccer.
“It’s a team, and all 11 guys are touching the ball, and we are moving off. That is our ideal and where we want to get.”
Starting lineups
Juarez
GK: Benito Martinez
D: Roberto Valencia
D: Angel Cruz
D: Oscar Cruz
D: Omar Cardona
MF: Omar Zamago
MF: Jesus Castellanos
MF: Adrian Juarez
MF: Manuel Santiago
F: Jarrell Harris
F: Kevin Martinez
Solorio
GK: Joel Estrada
D: Omar Salgado
D: Kevin Patino
D: Brian Marin
D: Edgar Torres
MF: Rafael Soto
MF: Donovan Dorantes
MF: David Gamez
MF: Jonathan Vasquez
F: Alex Sanchez
F: Carlos Villa
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Alex Sanchez,. Solorio, jr., F
Scoring summary
First half
Juarez—Jesus Castellanos (rebound), 16th minute
Solorio—Alex Sanchez (Carlos Villa), 21st minute
Solorio—Sanchez (Jonathan Vasquez), 29th minute
Second half
Solorio—Vasquez (Villa), 58th minute
Juarez— Roberto Valencia (free kick), 67th minute
Solorio—Donovan Dorantes (Brian Marin), 72nd minute
Junior forward tallies twice in Sun Warriors’ 4-2 win over Juarez
By Patrick Z. McGavin
CHICAGO -- The name is subtly adjusted from what he previously went by. His game is beguiling as ever -- it produces a catch in the throat as one witnesses the sensation of his movement, grace and precision.
On the state’s largest platform a year ago, the Solorio star forward, who scored the first two goals in the 6-0 rout over Gibault in the Class AA state championship, went by the space-grabbing Alejandro Sanchez Jr.
Now the name is more concentrated and direct: Alex Sanchez.
By any other measure, he is still something to behold.
After his breakout sophomore campaign of 25 goals led the Sun Warriors’ attack, Sanchez is back for more. As the top player in the city, Sanchez combines a bracing mixture of speed, talent, skill and playmaking prowess.
On Monday, he opened the new campaign with four goals over an overmatched Intrinsic team in a 10-0 rout. Solorio needs to be threatened.
“That’s what we like,” standout senior forward Carlos Villa said. “When you get tested, you get that spark in you, and you just want more. That is when we are at our best.”
The Sun Warriors, ranked ninth in Chicagoland Soccer’s Preseason Top 25, started slowly and fell behind a spirited Juarez side before Sanchez blasted home two goals two first half goals and Jonathan Vasquez added a goal and assist in the 4-2 victory in their Gage Park neighborhood Wednesday afternoon.
Solorio (2-0-0, 1-0-0) extended its winning streak to nine games dating to last year’s state tournament run.
Sanchez is off to an electric start with the six goals. He also earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match prize for his first half goals that nullified the fast start by the Eagles (0-1-0, 0-1-0).
“At the beginning we started out sloppy and toward the end we just had to pick it up and play harder,” Sanchez said. “We want to get out and get goals. We have been practicing since the early summer. We have mostly the same group back, and we are working on getting our chemistry together.
“That’s the most important part.”
The Premier Division has been the Chicago Public League gold standard. The city has adopted a new format and expanded to two divisions. This game marked the first of the newly created Premier Division South.
Juarez went 7-0-0 in the First Division South last year. In the city, reputations matter, as does classification.
“The guys have really come together and coalesced around the idea that we belong in the Premier Division,” veteran Juarez coach Daniel Michmerhuizen said.. “That’s our slogan. We belong in this division, and we are going to give it everything we’ve got. First game of the year is always tough, and to start off against the state champions and give them a good game and make them work hard for their win, that is a strong showing.
“We played them two years ago, and it was not nearly as strong a showing.”
Solorio coach Adrian Calleros is operating under a different reality as well. Three years ago Solorio played in a Class AA supersectional. In making the staggering leap to state champion, the representation has shifted.
“In the past, it is what I always told our players, as a kind of pep talk,” Calleros said. “There’s a target on your back. Whenever you play a team that’s gone downstate, or won city, that’s part of the talk. This is who you are going to measure yourself against. Now we are that team, the gauge, and there is no coming out flat. We are going to get everybody’s best game.
“That’s just what it is.”
The Eagles made Solorio pay for the slow start. Midfielder Jesus Castellanos smashed home a rebound shot in the 14th minute for the opening salvo. Solorio quickly adapted to the higher caliber players and slowly began to assert its superiority of talent.
Sanchez is the elite finisher, the kind of singular talent who needs just the tiniest speck of space to create his damage off the dribble. Villa is the fulcrum of the Sun Warriors’ attack. The team is at its best with him at the center. He is a magician with the ball, and his ability to find cutters and players off handoffs and the give-and-go is joyous to watch.
“The way they scored got us mad and sparked us,” Villa said.
Sanchez scored two signature goals with a deft use of speed, skill and ability to take defenders off the dribble and take advantage of the smallest defensive lapse. He scored in the 21st and 29th minutes to put the Sun Warriors up 2-1 at the break.
“Basically I try to turn and face the goal, and if possible, play one-and-two, give-and-go, something that will make me open in space, either take it myself, or take a long shot or create for somebody else,” he said.
Juarez has rebuilt its entire backline and the lack of experience showed.
As I told the guys, we made four mistakes and they made us pay on every one of them, and they only made two mistakes,” Michmerhuizen said. “We just made more mistakes, and they capitalized on them.
“They’re good enough to make us pay every time.”
Vasquez has also made a tremendous leap from a year ago. A secondary offensive threat last year, he has blossomed into a deeply capable and serious threat of his own. He assisted Sanchez’s second goal. He extended the advantage to 3-1 in the 58th minute on a beautiful sequence with Villa, who got to his customary spot in the middle and left a trailing ball Vasquez was able to run on to with authority.
“After the third goal, it gave us a little more confidence and a little bit more room to operate,” Vasquez said. “We played more as a team. After we scored the third goal, I thought we started to hustle more and look for that fourth, even fifth goal. We settled down and played our style of soccer.
“We try to push each other and help each other to get the result.”
Juarez hung around and closed within 3-2 in the 67th minute as junior defender Roberto Valencia, a converted midfielder, drilled a free kick from about 30 yards for a textbook score. The goal elevated the Eagles’ confidence.
“After my goal I felt like we could have won the game, honestly,” he said. “At that point I think we needed to talk more with my defense. We could not really allow those mistakes. I was not talking as much. After the first half, when they scored the first two goals, I was encouraged to talk more with my defense.”
One of the emerging young talents shut the door on any hope of a Juarez comeback. Sophomore forward Donovan Dorantes punctuated a sharp sequence by blasting home a ball from the right wing from about 12 yards in the 72nd minute.
“We’ve gotten by a couple of teams with individual talent,” Calleros said. “The fourth goal was the first time we really put it together and made five passes and a wing came in and scored. The first two goals were just great individual effort by Alex Sanchez. In soccer you are going to have that. We have become accustomed to playing a better brand of soccer.
“It’s a team, and all 11 guys are touching the ball, and we are moving off. That is our ideal and where we want to get.”
Starting lineups
Juarez
GK: Benito Martinez
D: Roberto Valencia
D: Angel Cruz
D: Oscar Cruz
D: Omar Cardona
MF: Omar Zamago
MF: Jesus Castellanos
MF: Adrian Juarez
MF: Manuel Santiago
F: Jarrell Harris
F: Kevin Martinez
Solorio
GK: Joel Estrada
D: Omar Salgado
D: Kevin Patino
D: Brian Marin
D: Edgar Torres
MF: Rafael Soto
MF: Donovan Dorantes
MF: David Gamez
MF: Jonathan Vasquez
F: Alex Sanchez
F: Carlos Villa
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Alex Sanchez,. Solorio, jr., F
Scoring summary
First half
Juarez—Jesus Castellanos (rebound), 16th minute
Solorio—Alex Sanchez (Carlos Villa), 21st minute
Solorio—Sanchez (Jonathan Vasquez), 29th minute
Second half
Solorio—Vasquez (Villa), 58th minute
Juarez— Roberto Valencia (free kick), 67th minute
Solorio—Donovan Dorantes (Brian Marin), 72nd minute