Super strike leads Warren past Lake Forest
Galvan goal leads Blue Devils to 1-0 NSSL action
By Tom Hamilton II
GURNEE -- On April 13th, 2021, Warren’s boys soccer team travelled to Lake Forest for a North Suburban Conference matchup. The visiting Blue Devils prevailed 4-0 en route to a conference title, a perfect 15-0-0 spring season and the top spot in the state in the Chicagoland Soccer Final 50 poll. The young Scouts scrapped their way to a 2-5-2 finish as the smallest school in one of the state’s most punishing soccer conferences.
Exactly three months to the day after that NSC battle, both squads featured plenty of new faces when Lake Forest travelled to Gurnee to take on host Warren in North Shore Summer League action on a beautiful summer evening. Despite all of the personnel changes, both teams flashed plenty of potential as Warren prevailed 1-0 courtesy of a spectacular strike from central midfielder Michael Galvan.
Both squads have been in a transitional phase in the summer up to this point, and the opening minutes suggested as much. The focus was building from the back to fund their attacks with short passing sequences, and playing safe to get a feel for their rivals.
The Scouts earned four-consecutive corner kicks between the 4th and 5th minutes, but Warren defenders repeatedly cleared any danger.
The momentum gradually shifted and Warren began using the width of the field to establish possession upfield. However, Lake Forest goalkeeper Connor Koefelda (seven saves) and the Scouts’ backline -- marshalled expertly by incoming senior center backs Thibaut Sacherer and Padraig Day -- remained compact. They made sure that Warren’s attackers were unable to find space to receive the ball in the 18-yard box and restricted them to long free kicks and hopeful crosses.
About 20 minutes into the match, Warren began to play with more urgency in attack. The Blue Devils mixed things up with long, inviting balls out of the back and sent attackers forward in greater numbers. Lake Forest remained organized and disciplined on defense and only allowed a speculative effort from a direct 30-yard free kick that Koefelda smothered assuredly.
The momentum continued to build in the Blue Devils’ favor and led to the game-winner in the 28th minute. Galvan, who had largely served as a metronomic passer in the midfield up to that point, pounced on a loose ball from about 24 yards on the left side, picked his head up after settling the ball quickly and rifled a curling effort into the right-side netting.
“I was just supporting someone that was going up for a header,” said the incoming junior whose industrious two-way performance earned him Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match honor. “I got the ball to my feet and then had an open shot, so I shot it outside the box.”
The goal inspired a new level of confidence in the Blue Devils. Their passing became quicker, their movement more creative and their runs into the box were more explosive.
“We just started passing more, communicating and moving off the ball and just checking in to open up for other players,” said Galvan.
Lake Forest was forced to focus on recovering deep to establish numbers in and around their box. Though they were able to work the ball into dangerous positions high upfield with some quick, effective build-up play in the 30th and 37th minutes, the Scouts were stymied by the stout, determined defending of incoming senior center back Cael Harris and his Warren backline.
The Blue Devils ended the half with a shot from range and an inviting cross in the final 2 minutes, but Koefelda claimed them comfortably.
Warren continued to dominate possession for the first 15 minutes of the second half and forced Koefelda to rush far off his line several times. The charges frustrated Warren’s attackers who lost the races to the ball.
As Warren continued to switch the point of attack from left to right and back again at pace in an effort to build on their lead, the Lake Forest squad grew in confidence as their disciplined defending held the Blue Devils at bay. That confidence led the Scouts to start finding quality counterattacking opportunities, including their best scoring opportunity of the night in the 58th minute.
After several Warren midfielders and defenders had surged forward in an effort to overwhelm the Lake Forest defense, the Scouts played a classic short-short-long passing combination from the back to break through Warren’s pressure and send pacey midfielder Jack Rice on the counter. The incoming junior surged forward and scissor-stepped his way past the last defender. He sent a hard, low strike towards the bottom left corner of the Warren net for what appeared to be a certain goal. However, freshman keeper Ethan Cole (four saves) reacted quickly to dive to his right and push the shot just outside the post.
That chance inspired the Scouts to look for further opportunities on the counterattack. While Warren continued utilizing every inch of space to string together pass after pass in search of an insurance goal, Lake Forest pulled numbers back behind the ball. The Scouts found a couple more quality chances for Rice on the counter, only for Harris, his fellow Warren backs, and Cole -- a late call-up who rose impressively to meet the night’s challenges -- to frustrate them at each turn.
Galvan and fellow Blue Devils midfielder Alexis Medina, a creative senior playmaker, created a handful of promising attacks for Warren in the last 20 minutes with their exceptional close control and vision.
But the final chance of the match fell to Lake Forest in the 76th minute. Rice was able to get his head onto a pinpoint cross from dynamic senior playmaker Jackson Shoemaker, only to watch as his eight-yard shot sail just past the back post.
Warren’s performance might not have looked exactly like those that defined their 2021 spring season, but Blue Devils head coach Jason Ahonen isn’t looking to measure this group to the one that topped the state at the end of the pandemic-shortened spring season.
“To try to compare to last year’s team is unfair to this group,” said Ahonen. “When you graduate that many guys, it’s more or less are we going to have to rebuild, or are we just going to retool? And that’s what we're going through right now.
“It’s a lot of guys trying to fill in. Do we go younger; do we go senior-laden? [We’re] trying to figure it out. We had success at all the levels last year, but it's a balancing act of how is it going to look?”
Despite the transitional nature of this summer’s squad, Ahonen is pleased with what he has seen from his young group so far.
“Obviously [the] summer’s been interesting,” said Ahonen. “We are in camp now; I've been able to kind of work on some of those things that I’ve seen us struggle with in summer league … so far. I I thought today we looked a bit better. I thought we started having some light bulbs go on, started flipping some switches a little bit, just conceptually, in what we want to do.”
The coach was also quick to note that even though his current group might look different from the last one, it will continue to strive to maintain the existing playing philosophy that has served the program so well in the past.
“We have a certain style,” Ahonen explained. “We want to play out of the back. We want to play through the five channels of the field. We want to play through different levels. We want to possess the ball.
“Those are staples that, it doesn't matter what team I have, we're going to try to do those things. Some years we may give up more goals than we score because we give up the ball in the back, but that's the way the game is moving, and when the game's moving that way it's our job I think, as high school coaches, to put our players in positions to be successful not only at our level, but in the next level.”
While Lake Forest wasn’t quite able to avenge their loss from three months ago, coach Rob Parry saw promise in his boys’ performance, particularly in their defensive efforts.
“I thought [the Lake Forest defenders] were outstanding,” said Parry. “We defended very, very well. The one goal was a long shot the kid hit right in the corner; it was a great goal. We held them to long shots, one or two scrambles and forced them to make offsides runs. Our backline was excellent today.
“We were under a lot of pressure last year, and we would defend well, but we couldn't find the out ball. We worked on the defense today and the shape, now we’ll be working on finding that out ball.”
Starting formations
Lake Forest: 3-5-2
Warren Township: 4-3-3
Note: rosters were not available due to the fluid nature of the summer league
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match:
Michael Galvan, jr., CMF, Warren
Scoring summary
First half
Warren: Michael Galvan (unassisted), 28th minute
Second half
No scoring
Galvan goal leads Blue Devils to 1-0 NSSL action
By Tom Hamilton II
GURNEE -- On April 13th, 2021, Warren’s boys soccer team travelled to Lake Forest for a North Suburban Conference matchup. The visiting Blue Devils prevailed 4-0 en route to a conference title, a perfect 15-0-0 spring season and the top spot in the state in the Chicagoland Soccer Final 50 poll. The young Scouts scrapped their way to a 2-5-2 finish as the smallest school in one of the state’s most punishing soccer conferences.
Exactly three months to the day after that NSC battle, both squads featured plenty of new faces when Lake Forest travelled to Gurnee to take on host Warren in North Shore Summer League action on a beautiful summer evening. Despite all of the personnel changes, both teams flashed plenty of potential as Warren prevailed 1-0 courtesy of a spectacular strike from central midfielder Michael Galvan.
Both squads have been in a transitional phase in the summer up to this point, and the opening minutes suggested as much. The focus was building from the back to fund their attacks with short passing sequences, and playing safe to get a feel for their rivals.
The Scouts earned four-consecutive corner kicks between the 4th and 5th minutes, but Warren defenders repeatedly cleared any danger.
The momentum gradually shifted and Warren began using the width of the field to establish possession upfield. However, Lake Forest goalkeeper Connor Koefelda (seven saves) and the Scouts’ backline -- marshalled expertly by incoming senior center backs Thibaut Sacherer and Padraig Day -- remained compact. They made sure that Warren’s attackers were unable to find space to receive the ball in the 18-yard box and restricted them to long free kicks and hopeful crosses.
About 20 minutes into the match, Warren began to play with more urgency in attack. The Blue Devils mixed things up with long, inviting balls out of the back and sent attackers forward in greater numbers. Lake Forest remained organized and disciplined on defense and only allowed a speculative effort from a direct 30-yard free kick that Koefelda smothered assuredly.
The momentum continued to build in the Blue Devils’ favor and led to the game-winner in the 28th minute. Galvan, who had largely served as a metronomic passer in the midfield up to that point, pounced on a loose ball from about 24 yards on the left side, picked his head up after settling the ball quickly and rifled a curling effort into the right-side netting.
“I was just supporting someone that was going up for a header,” said the incoming junior whose industrious two-way performance earned him Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match honor. “I got the ball to my feet and then had an open shot, so I shot it outside the box.”
The goal inspired a new level of confidence in the Blue Devils. Their passing became quicker, their movement more creative and their runs into the box were more explosive.
“We just started passing more, communicating and moving off the ball and just checking in to open up for other players,” said Galvan.
Lake Forest was forced to focus on recovering deep to establish numbers in and around their box. Though they were able to work the ball into dangerous positions high upfield with some quick, effective build-up play in the 30th and 37th minutes, the Scouts were stymied by the stout, determined defending of incoming senior center back Cael Harris and his Warren backline.
The Blue Devils ended the half with a shot from range and an inviting cross in the final 2 minutes, but Koefelda claimed them comfortably.
Warren continued to dominate possession for the first 15 minutes of the second half and forced Koefelda to rush far off his line several times. The charges frustrated Warren’s attackers who lost the races to the ball.
As Warren continued to switch the point of attack from left to right and back again at pace in an effort to build on their lead, the Lake Forest squad grew in confidence as their disciplined defending held the Blue Devils at bay. That confidence led the Scouts to start finding quality counterattacking opportunities, including their best scoring opportunity of the night in the 58th minute.
After several Warren midfielders and defenders had surged forward in an effort to overwhelm the Lake Forest defense, the Scouts played a classic short-short-long passing combination from the back to break through Warren’s pressure and send pacey midfielder Jack Rice on the counter. The incoming junior surged forward and scissor-stepped his way past the last defender. He sent a hard, low strike towards the bottom left corner of the Warren net for what appeared to be a certain goal. However, freshman keeper Ethan Cole (four saves) reacted quickly to dive to his right and push the shot just outside the post.
That chance inspired the Scouts to look for further opportunities on the counterattack. While Warren continued utilizing every inch of space to string together pass after pass in search of an insurance goal, Lake Forest pulled numbers back behind the ball. The Scouts found a couple more quality chances for Rice on the counter, only for Harris, his fellow Warren backs, and Cole -- a late call-up who rose impressively to meet the night’s challenges -- to frustrate them at each turn.
Galvan and fellow Blue Devils midfielder Alexis Medina, a creative senior playmaker, created a handful of promising attacks for Warren in the last 20 minutes with their exceptional close control and vision.
But the final chance of the match fell to Lake Forest in the 76th minute. Rice was able to get his head onto a pinpoint cross from dynamic senior playmaker Jackson Shoemaker, only to watch as his eight-yard shot sail just past the back post.
Warren’s performance might not have looked exactly like those that defined their 2021 spring season, but Blue Devils head coach Jason Ahonen isn’t looking to measure this group to the one that topped the state at the end of the pandemic-shortened spring season.
“To try to compare to last year’s team is unfair to this group,” said Ahonen. “When you graduate that many guys, it’s more or less are we going to have to rebuild, or are we just going to retool? And that’s what we're going through right now.
“It’s a lot of guys trying to fill in. Do we go younger; do we go senior-laden? [We’re] trying to figure it out. We had success at all the levels last year, but it's a balancing act of how is it going to look?”
Despite the transitional nature of this summer’s squad, Ahonen is pleased with what he has seen from his young group so far.
“Obviously [the] summer’s been interesting,” said Ahonen. “We are in camp now; I've been able to kind of work on some of those things that I’ve seen us struggle with in summer league … so far. I I thought today we looked a bit better. I thought we started having some light bulbs go on, started flipping some switches a little bit, just conceptually, in what we want to do.”
The coach was also quick to note that even though his current group might look different from the last one, it will continue to strive to maintain the existing playing philosophy that has served the program so well in the past.
“We have a certain style,” Ahonen explained. “We want to play out of the back. We want to play through the five channels of the field. We want to play through different levels. We want to possess the ball.
“Those are staples that, it doesn't matter what team I have, we're going to try to do those things. Some years we may give up more goals than we score because we give up the ball in the back, but that's the way the game is moving, and when the game's moving that way it's our job I think, as high school coaches, to put our players in positions to be successful not only at our level, but in the next level.”
While Lake Forest wasn’t quite able to avenge their loss from three months ago, coach Rob Parry saw promise in his boys’ performance, particularly in their defensive efforts.
“I thought [the Lake Forest defenders] were outstanding,” said Parry. “We defended very, very well. The one goal was a long shot the kid hit right in the corner; it was a great goal. We held them to long shots, one or two scrambles and forced them to make offsides runs. Our backline was excellent today.
“We were under a lot of pressure last year, and we would defend well, but we couldn't find the out ball. We worked on the defense today and the shape, now we’ll be working on finding that out ball.”
Starting formations
Lake Forest: 3-5-2
Warren Township: 4-3-3
Note: rosters were not available due to the fluid nature of the summer league
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match:
Michael Galvan, jr., CMF, Warren
Scoring summary
First half
Warren: Michael Galvan (unassisted), 28th minute
Second half
No scoring