Latin rally ties North Shore Country Day
Romans, Raiders meet Tuesday with ISL title on line
By Michael Wojtychiw
WINNETKA - North Shore Country Day came into its first matchup with Latin on a roll. After dropping its season opener to Lake Forest Academy, the Raiders won eight-consecutive games, including five Independent School League contests, and outscored their opponents 46-3.
North Shore Country Day put up a crooked number on the scoreboard against the Romans, but a different result would follow.
After the hosts scored the game's first two goals, Latin roared back with two goals of its own in the second half to tie the hosts at the Skokie Playfields.
"When you don't create the chances and score as many, it's a different story when you're playing against better opposition," North Shore Country Day manager Kyle Jones said. "It's harder to do that, but I feel like we've got one or two more gears in us.
"We didn't lose the game, and there's still a lot to play for. We've still got two or three more gears in us. Hopefully we'll see that next week."
The Raiders (8-1-1, 5-0-1) looked well on their way to replicating their high-scoring ways when junior midfielder Mason Roberts-Jones lined up for a corner in the fifth minute and saw it hit the back of the net to give the team a quick 1-0 lead.
The blitzing style continued during much of the first half. The Raiders consistently put pressure on the Romans defense and keeper. North Shore Country Day earned three more corners in the first half of the first half, but wasn't able to convert any of them.
Mason-Roberts, who handles many of the Raiders' free and corner kicks, managed to put another free kick on goal, but Latin keeper Quin Kies continually made the save and two more in the first 40 minutes to keep his team in the hunt.
North Shore Country Day got on the board again in the 32nd minute when senior forward Vincent Luglio, a Colorado College commit, put a ball past Kies to give his squad a 2-0 lead going into the half.
"My brother (sophomore midfielder Walter) got the ball on the wing and played a really nice through-ball to Mason (Roberts-Jones), who took it down, cut it over to me," he said. "I took it inside my right foot and kind of curled it into the top corner."
Something switched for the Romans during halftime. They came out the aggressor throughout the half.
"We pulled Sam Gibson back to give us some more support at midfield," Latin manager Andrew Sanchez said. "We knew they were going to play slow, so we tried to speed up the game and make them not as comfortable playing slow."
Latin did to North Shore Country Day in the second half what the Raiders did to them in the first. A Latin goal was wiped off by an offsides call, but the Romans got on the board a couple minutes later when senior defenseman Colin Campbell put a penalty kick past North Shore Country Day junior keeper Nick Potter.
The Latin push to the goal continued. The Romans got numerous free kicks, penalty kicks or shots on goal, but they would all be cleared or saved by Potter. Latin's Ethan Mullens put four free kicks, corners or shots on frame himself.
"That's one of our keys every day," said Sanchez when talking about his team's execution on set pieces. "We at least spend 20-30 minutes on set pieces. Corners, free kicks, we want our guys to be prepared. It's part of our program, from the freshman level on up."
While the Romans applied pressure to the North Shore Country Day, the home squad couldn't replicate what they did in the first half. The Raiders only managed one shot on goal and three free kicks in the second half.
"They came out fast in the second half, and we didn't match that intensity," Kyle Jones said. "We got punished. If you let the ball bounce like that, you're going to be in some trouble.
"But lesson learned, take it on the chin, and it just means Tuesday will be a little bit bigger now."
"I feel like they did a better job of winning 50/50s in the second half, and that made the difference," Luglio said. "I felt like we didn't have the same intensity that we did in the first half.
"It's our first real test we've had all season. Most of our games have been blowouts. I think we wrongly expected just to cruise, and they caught us by surprise."
Latin (3-0-1) got the equalizer with two minutes remaining when junior forward Sam Gibson raced downfield after a booming kick from Kies and put in a shot past Potter.
"Our guys are resiliant," Sanchez said. "We were tested Wednesday against U-High (Chicago), going down and us having to climb back, having a PK for the second-straight game.
"We've been lucky but we're not going to quit. Even with the five-minute overtime, they're going to try to put in a goal every second they can. It all starts with our seniors."
The five-minute overtime period saw North Shore Country Day's Danny Becker put a shot on goal, and a Raider goal wiped out because of an offsides penalty on a corner by Mason-Jones.
"The referee said it was offsides," Jones said. "It looked like they (Latin) had a man on the post, but that was the call, and we had to move on."
Due to numerous reason, the Romans had only played three games going into Friday's matchup. Sanchez was happy with how they played against a tough opponent, especially as his squad gets ready to play every day, except for Sunday, for the next week.
"The big thing for us is our depth will be tested," he said. "Today we didn't dig too deep into the bench, and that's going to be something we can do on Saturday. But Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we've got Parker, these guys (NSCD) again and Parker again, so they're not going to get much rest. They're going to get tested."
North Shore Country Day and Latin will meet again Tuesday in Chicago in a game that could decide the conference championship.
Starting lineups
Latin
GK: Quin Kies
D: Nick Buday
D: Colin Campbell
D: Ascher Cahn
D: Reed Rasmussen
D: Cameron Woan
MF: Ethan Mullens
MF: Shahab Kousheshi
MF: Eytan Raviv
MF: Peter Bernhardt
F: Sam Gibson
North Shore Country Day
GK: Nick Potter
D: Augie Gallun
D: John Sprenger
D: Finn Doornweerd
D: Ethan Stump
D: Tae Won Lillig
MF: Jacob Sherman
MF: Axel Garcia
MF: Mason Roberts-Jones
F: Danny Becker
F: Vincent Luglio
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Mason Roberts-Jones, jr. MF, North Shore Country Day
Scoring Summary
First half
North Shore Country Day - Mason Roberts-Jones, fifth minute
North Shore Country Day - Vincent Luglio (Roberts-Jones), 32nd minute
Second half
Latin - Colin Campbell (PK), 53rd minute
Latin - Sam Gibson (Quin Kies), 78th minute
Overtime
No scoring
Romans, Raiders meet Tuesday with ISL title on line
By Michael Wojtychiw
WINNETKA - North Shore Country Day came into its first matchup with Latin on a roll. After dropping its season opener to Lake Forest Academy, the Raiders won eight-consecutive games, including five Independent School League contests, and outscored their opponents 46-3.
North Shore Country Day put up a crooked number on the scoreboard against the Romans, but a different result would follow.
After the hosts scored the game's first two goals, Latin roared back with two goals of its own in the second half to tie the hosts at the Skokie Playfields.
"When you don't create the chances and score as many, it's a different story when you're playing against better opposition," North Shore Country Day manager Kyle Jones said. "It's harder to do that, but I feel like we've got one or two more gears in us.
"We didn't lose the game, and there's still a lot to play for. We've still got two or three more gears in us. Hopefully we'll see that next week."
The Raiders (8-1-1, 5-0-1) looked well on their way to replicating their high-scoring ways when junior midfielder Mason Roberts-Jones lined up for a corner in the fifth minute and saw it hit the back of the net to give the team a quick 1-0 lead.
The blitzing style continued during much of the first half. The Raiders consistently put pressure on the Romans defense and keeper. North Shore Country Day earned three more corners in the first half of the first half, but wasn't able to convert any of them.
Mason-Roberts, who handles many of the Raiders' free and corner kicks, managed to put another free kick on goal, but Latin keeper Quin Kies continually made the save and two more in the first 40 minutes to keep his team in the hunt.
North Shore Country Day got on the board again in the 32nd minute when senior forward Vincent Luglio, a Colorado College commit, put a ball past Kies to give his squad a 2-0 lead going into the half.
"My brother (sophomore midfielder Walter) got the ball on the wing and played a really nice through-ball to Mason (Roberts-Jones), who took it down, cut it over to me," he said. "I took it inside my right foot and kind of curled it into the top corner."
Something switched for the Romans during halftime. They came out the aggressor throughout the half.
"We pulled Sam Gibson back to give us some more support at midfield," Latin manager Andrew Sanchez said. "We knew they were going to play slow, so we tried to speed up the game and make them not as comfortable playing slow."
Latin did to North Shore Country Day in the second half what the Raiders did to them in the first. A Latin goal was wiped off by an offsides call, but the Romans got on the board a couple minutes later when senior defenseman Colin Campbell put a penalty kick past North Shore Country Day junior keeper Nick Potter.
The Latin push to the goal continued. The Romans got numerous free kicks, penalty kicks or shots on goal, but they would all be cleared or saved by Potter. Latin's Ethan Mullens put four free kicks, corners or shots on frame himself.
"That's one of our keys every day," said Sanchez when talking about his team's execution on set pieces. "We at least spend 20-30 minutes on set pieces. Corners, free kicks, we want our guys to be prepared. It's part of our program, from the freshman level on up."
While the Romans applied pressure to the North Shore Country Day, the home squad couldn't replicate what they did in the first half. The Raiders only managed one shot on goal and three free kicks in the second half.
"They came out fast in the second half, and we didn't match that intensity," Kyle Jones said. "We got punished. If you let the ball bounce like that, you're going to be in some trouble.
"But lesson learned, take it on the chin, and it just means Tuesday will be a little bit bigger now."
"I feel like they did a better job of winning 50/50s in the second half, and that made the difference," Luglio said. "I felt like we didn't have the same intensity that we did in the first half.
"It's our first real test we've had all season. Most of our games have been blowouts. I think we wrongly expected just to cruise, and they caught us by surprise."
Latin (3-0-1) got the equalizer with two minutes remaining when junior forward Sam Gibson raced downfield after a booming kick from Kies and put in a shot past Potter.
"Our guys are resiliant," Sanchez said. "We were tested Wednesday against U-High (Chicago), going down and us having to climb back, having a PK for the second-straight game.
"We've been lucky but we're not going to quit. Even with the five-minute overtime, they're going to try to put in a goal every second they can. It all starts with our seniors."
The five-minute overtime period saw North Shore Country Day's Danny Becker put a shot on goal, and a Raider goal wiped out because of an offsides penalty on a corner by Mason-Jones.
"The referee said it was offsides," Jones said. "It looked like they (Latin) had a man on the post, but that was the call, and we had to move on."
Due to numerous reason, the Romans had only played three games going into Friday's matchup. Sanchez was happy with how they played against a tough opponent, especially as his squad gets ready to play every day, except for Sunday, for the next week.
"The big thing for us is our depth will be tested," he said. "Today we didn't dig too deep into the bench, and that's going to be something we can do on Saturday. But Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we've got Parker, these guys (NSCD) again and Parker again, so they're not going to get much rest. They're going to get tested."
North Shore Country Day and Latin will meet again Tuesday in Chicago in a game that could decide the conference championship.
Starting lineups
Latin
GK: Quin Kies
D: Nick Buday
D: Colin Campbell
D: Ascher Cahn
D: Reed Rasmussen
D: Cameron Woan
MF: Ethan Mullens
MF: Shahab Kousheshi
MF: Eytan Raviv
MF: Peter Bernhardt
F: Sam Gibson
North Shore Country Day
GK: Nick Potter
D: Augie Gallun
D: John Sprenger
D: Finn Doornweerd
D: Ethan Stump
D: Tae Won Lillig
MF: Jacob Sherman
MF: Axel Garcia
MF: Mason Roberts-Jones
F: Danny Becker
F: Vincent Luglio
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Mason Roberts-Jones, jr. MF, North Shore Country Day
Scoring Summary
First half
North Shore Country Day - Mason Roberts-Jones, fifth minute
North Shore Country Day - Vincent Luglio (Roberts-Jones), 32nd minute
Second half
Latin - Colin Campbell (PK), 53rd minute
Latin - Sam Gibson (Quin Kies), 78th minute
Overtime
No scoring