New Trier’s chemistry too much for Lane
Trevians take 29th regional title with 2-1 victory
By Gary Larsen
NORTHFIELD — After Lane lost 2-1 to New Trier in a 3A regional title game on Saturday, Lane coach Andrew Ricks was still able to appreciate what he’d witnessed.
“That was worthy of a regional title game,” Ricks said.
New Trier (15-3-2) is the top seed of this year’s Evanston Sectional and ranked no. 4 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25. The Trevians got goals from Dominic de Boer and Ben Streett and showed great form to earn their 29th regional title.
New Trier plays St. Patrick in a sectional semifinal game Tuesday.
“We’re connecting pretty well right now,” New Trier junior Daniel Gunther said. “We’ve really worked on the way we connect this year. That’s what we are, and we can’t trust that enough. We’re a passing high school team.”
Ninth-seeded Lane (13-6-2) sought its fourth regional title. Daniel Arroyo scored nine minutes into the game but a tough, organized New Trier backline kept the slate clean from there.
Lane senior Fernando Alvarado is one of the best forwards around, but defenders Gunther, Andrew Kuhn, Jeffrey Urban, and James Paden stayed solid in front of keeper James McGranahan.
“They were pretty compact, and every time I got the ball they closed in on me,” Alvarado said. “Me being the single forward and being outnumbered, I would always have two guys on me, and they did a good job closing me down.
“New Trier is not an easy opponent, and we played our hardest today. New Trier brought it, but we didn’t lose without putting up a fight.”
The Trevians tied the game at 17 minutes on de Boer’s goal off a feed from David Kugler, and the tie held to halftime. Lane keeper Jakub Bozek made consecutive big saves on Logan Weaver and Alexander Powell Beane at 31 minutes.
Lane defender Matthew Bozek raced back to disrupt Weaver on a through-ball at 38 minutes, and Weaver deked a pair of defenders deep on the left side and sent a ball across that Indians keeper Jakub Bozek snared at the post.
Weaver was at it one final time before halftime, sending in a long one-hopper that Bozek fielded cleanly. The Trevians played the first half with a stiff wind at their backs but worked to keep it on the carpet in building their attack.
“We want to work it out of the back, no matter what we do,” Gunther said. “We want to keep possession, because we always know that just sending it into the middle is a crapshoot. Back to our very first game, we booted it (upfield) way more than we do now.”
The Indians had the wind at their back in the second half, but it was the Trevians that found the game-winning goal, on a feed from de Boer that Streetts buried from 12 yards at 43 minutes.
For scoring one goal and assisting on another, de Boer was named Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match.
Alvarado’s best scoring chance to tie the game came at 51 minutes, but McGranahan hit the turf to save the toe-poke from 12 yards.
The teams traded corner kicks at 65 minutes.
Lane fought hard to the end of regulation, but New Trier stayed in control.
“I’m proud of them,” Ricks said of his Indians. “I wanted a chance to play New Trier and measure ourselves, and we did.”
The Trevians figured Alvarado and Arroyo would key the Indians’ attack.
“They had those two dominant players so we knew we had to lock them down,” Gunther said. “And it was all about covering today especially because of the wind. The second balls were so key.”
New Trier won 2-0 Tuesday over Notre Dame in the semifinals. The Trevians knew they had to be ready for Lane.
“No matter what, there are no easy games,” Gunther said. “You’ve got to fight, and you’re never too big to worry about the small things.”
The Indians beat Leyden in 3-2 in PKs after a 1-1 deadlock in the semifinals.
“It was a prize fight. We were going back and forth,” Ricks said of the win over Leyden. “I’m proud of them. We showed character, and our senior backup goalie (Jhan Estrada) went in for PKs and stopped one. So I was proud of him for coming in off the bench after sitting there all day.”
Ricks will say goodbye to 13 seniors from this year’s team, including Saturday starters Alvarado, Cathal O’Connor, Osvaldo Alfaro, Omar Divanovic and Jae Riding.
“They were great kids and their character was fantastic,” Ricks said. “We got so few yellow cards this year. There was no BS, no bullying, none of that stuff. That would be the legacy, I’d say.”
Alvarado will miss playing soccer in a Lane uniform, but he’ll miss his teammates even more.
“We became family. We’re all brothers,” Alvarado said. “Every time we won, we won together and every time we lost, we lost together. And this year we really put in the work.”
“At the beginning of the year it was more of an individualistic type of approach, and our defense had some problems. As the season continued, our defense fixed their mistakes that were happening in the back, and we started to attack as a team. We became very comfortable with each other and started having that chemistry.”
He left the field in Northfield with one wish for next year’s Indians.
“It would be to play as a family, because the bond we had this year was incredible,” Alvarado said. “I want that to happen to them next year, too.”
Starting lineups
New Trier
GK James McGranahan
D Daniel Gunther
D Andrew Kuhn
D Jeffrey Urban
D James Paden
MF Dominic de Boer
MF Ben Streett
MF Logan Weaver
MF David Kugler
F Alexander Powell Beane
F Aidan Crowder
Lane
GK Jakub Bozek
D Matthew Bozek
D Daniel Rau
D Jae Ryding
D Osvaldo Alfaro
MF Omar Divanovic
MF Cathal O’Connor
MF Michael Junay
MF David Arroyo
MF Grant Nagle
F Fernando Alvarado
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match — Dominic de Boer, sr., M, New Trier
Scoring summary
First half
Lane - Arroyo (UA) 9 minutes
New Trier - de Boer (Kugler) 12 minutes
Second half
New Trier - Streett (de Boer) 43 minutes
Trevians take 29th regional title with 2-1 victory
By Gary Larsen
NORTHFIELD — After Lane lost 2-1 to New Trier in a 3A regional title game on Saturday, Lane coach Andrew Ricks was still able to appreciate what he’d witnessed.
“That was worthy of a regional title game,” Ricks said.
New Trier (15-3-2) is the top seed of this year’s Evanston Sectional and ranked no. 4 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25. The Trevians got goals from Dominic de Boer and Ben Streett and showed great form to earn their 29th regional title.
New Trier plays St. Patrick in a sectional semifinal game Tuesday.
“We’re connecting pretty well right now,” New Trier junior Daniel Gunther said. “We’ve really worked on the way we connect this year. That’s what we are, and we can’t trust that enough. We’re a passing high school team.”
Ninth-seeded Lane (13-6-2) sought its fourth regional title. Daniel Arroyo scored nine minutes into the game but a tough, organized New Trier backline kept the slate clean from there.
Lane senior Fernando Alvarado is one of the best forwards around, but defenders Gunther, Andrew Kuhn, Jeffrey Urban, and James Paden stayed solid in front of keeper James McGranahan.
“They were pretty compact, and every time I got the ball they closed in on me,” Alvarado said. “Me being the single forward and being outnumbered, I would always have two guys on me, and they did a good job closing me down.
“New Trier is not an easy opponent, and we played our hardest today. New Trier brought it, but we didn’t lose without putting up a fight.”
The Trevians tied the game at 17 minutes on de Boer’s goal off a feed from David Kugler, and the tie held to halftime. Lane keeper Jakub Bozek made consecutive big saves on Logan Weaver and Alexander Powell Beane at 31 minutes.
Lane defender Matthew Bozek raced back to disrupt Weaver on a through-ball at 38 minutes, and Weaver deked a pair of defenders deep on the left side and sent a ball across that Indians keeper Jakub Bozek snared at the post.
Weaver was at it one final time before halftime, sending in a long one-hopper that Bozek fielded cleanly. The Trevians played the first half with a stiff wind at their backs but worked to keep it on the carpet in building their attack.
“We want to work it out of the back, no matter what we do,” Gunther said. “We want to keep possession, because we always know that just sending it into the middle is a crapshoot. Back to our very first game, we booted it (upfield) way more than we do now.”
The Indians had the wind at their back in the second half, but it was the Trevians that found the game-winning goal, on a feed from de Boer that Streetts buried from 12 yards at 43 minutes.
For scoring one goal and assisting on another, de Boer was named Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match.
Alvarado’s best scoring chance to tie the game came at 51 minutes, but McGranahan hit the turf to save the toe-poke from 12 yards.
The teams traded corner kicks at 65 minutes.
Lane fought hard to the end of regulation, but New Trier stayed in control.
“I’m proud of them,” Ricks said of his Indians. “I wanted a chance to play New Trier and measure ourselves, and we did.”
The Trevians figured Alvarado and Arroyo would key the Indians’ attack.
“They had those two dominant players so we knew we had to lock them down,” Gunther said. “And it was all about covering today especially because of the wind. The second balls were so key.”
New Trier won 2-0 Tuesday over Notre Dame in the semifinals. The Trevians knew they had to be ready for Lane.
“No matter what, there are no easy games,” Gunther said. “You’ve got to fight, and you’re never too big to worry about the small things.”
The Indians beat Leyden in 3-2 in PKs after a 1-1 deadlock in the semifinals.
“It was a prize fight. We were going back and forth,” Ricks said of the win over Leyden. “I’m proud of them. We showed character, and our senior backup goalie (Jhan Estrada) went in for PKs and stopped one. So I was proud of him for coming in off the bench after sitting there all day.”
Ricks will say goodbye to 13 seniors from this year’s team, including Saturday starters Alvarado, Cathal O’Connor, Osvaldo Alfaro, Omar Divanovic and Jae Riding.
“They were great kids and their character was fantastic,” Ricks said. “We got so few yellow cards this year. There was no BS, no bullying, none of that stuff. That would be the legacy, I’d say.”
Alvarado will miss playing soccer in a Lane uniform, but he’ll miss his teammates even more.
“We became family. We’re all brothers,” Alvarado said. “Every time we won, we won together and every time we lost, we lost together. And this year we really put in the work.”
“At the beginning of the year it was more of an individualistic type of approach, and our defense had some problems. As the season continued, our defense fixed their mistakes that were happening in the back, and we started to attack as a team. We became very comfortable with each other and started having that chemistry.”
He left the field in Northfield with one wish for next year’s Indians.
“It would be to play as a family, because the bond we had this year was incredible,” Alvarado said. “I want that to happen to them next year, too.”
Starting lineups
New Trier
GK James McGranahan
D Daniel Gunther
D Andrew Kuhn
D Jeffrey Urban
D James Paden
MF Dominic de Boer
MF Ben Streett
MF Logan Weaver
MF David Kugler
F Alexander Powell Beane
F Aidan Crowder
Lane
GK Jakub Bozek
D Matthew Bozek
D Daniel Rau
D Jae Ryding
D Osvaldo Alfaro
MF Omar Divanovic
MF Cathal O’Connor
MF Michael Junay
MF David Arroyo
MF Grant Nagle
F Fernando Alvarado
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match — Dominic de Boer, sr., M, New Trier
Scoring summary
First half
Lane - Arroyo (UA) 9 minutes
New Trier - de Boer (Kugler) 12 minutes
Second half
New Trier - Streett (de Boer) 43 minutes