Unified effort carries Leyden past GBS
Vasquez hat-trick paces 3-1 upset victory
By Ken Keenan
GLENVIEW -- Bursting at the seams with super-charged energy, Leyden won its fifth-straight match with a 3-1 upset victory over host Glenbrook South in nonconference action Thursday night.
The suddenly sizzling Eagles (7-6-1 overall) were paced by dynamic junior forward Alan Vasquez, who tallied all three of his team's goals to earn Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors. Vasquez opened the scoring in the 11th minute and gave Leyden a 1-0 halftime lead. His second marker made it 2-0 with 12:59 to go in the second half.
After the Titans chopped the lead in half on a penalty kick by junior forward Justin Leszynski in the 78th minute, Vasquez iced the decision with a veritable empty-net goal with merely 12 seconds remaining.
But this was no one-man show. Fueled by an all-for-one mindset, Leyden baffled the Titans, who entered the match ranked no. 22 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 with an overall mark of 9-4-3.
"No question, this was the best game we've played all year -- by a mile," said longtime Leyden head coach Mark Valintis. "Everybody was talking and communicating all 80 minutes.There was no finger-pointing. Everyone covered for each other and picked each other up. That made all the difference in the world."
Added Vasquez: "I feel like we were in need of a win against a big team. We played our hearts out to get it."
Glenbrook South skipper Reggie Lara had nothing but praise for the high-flying Eagles. At the same time, he issued a warning to his own squad. After bolting to a 5-1-2 start this season, Glenbrook South fell to a pedestrian 4-4-1 in its last nine matches after the loss.
"I think coach Valintis does a great job over there," Lara said. "The players buy in and play like a team. Tonight, one side showed mental toughness. The other side -- no. We complained about calls, got flustered. Very similar to other games, we dominate possession, and then a counterattack and the other team scores."
Lara continued: "We're good when we play together. When we lack mental toughness, we can implode pretty quickly. We know we're capable of doing better. But I don't want to take away from Leyden at all. They've got a talented, dangerous team. They're skilled. They work hard, and they seized their opportunity (Thursday night)."
Vasquez put the Titans in chase mode with his first goal, assisted by junior midfielder Matt Espinoza. The slick Vasquez had another chance in the 36th minute, but Glenbrook South junior goalkeeper C.J. Morse rushed out to nab the ball at the last second with the speedy Eagles forward in hot pursuit.
With 55 seconds to go before the break, Vasquez dished a pass to junior mid Alan Jacinto, who quickly zipped a 30-yard strike from the right side just past the far post.
The second goal by Vasquez put the finishing touch on a smooth passing play. It began with Espinoza, continued with sophomore mid Pablo Mancha and ended with a pass from junior middie Dylan Santamaria to Vasquez, who settled the ball in front before banging it home inside the right post.
"That was a big letdown," said Titans senior forward Sam Rogers. "To be knocking on the door, then it's 2-0."
Added Glenbrook South senior midfielder Jose Santos-DeSoto: "We were expecting to win this game. To be so close ... hard to keep your head up."
Vasquez and his teammmates noticed.
"After the second goal, we could see they put their heads down," he said.
Following the successful PK try by Leszynski that came with only 1:28 showing after a Leyden foul in the box, Glenbrook South still had a chance to notch the equalizer. With Morse stationed at least 30 yards out of the box to aid the attack, Vasquez spoiled the Titans' strategy by intercepting a pass from the Titans' keeper and sending it into a wide-open cage from about 25 yards to conclude the scoring.
"(The Eagles) were all over the field," Rogers said. "But we gotta connect better ... got to come out firing and get the first goal."
Leyden's collective effort on defense didn't allow that to happen, though the Titans did have a handful of decent chances early on.
In the 28th minute, Leyden sophomore keeper Kai Kopera made a nice stop to foil an in-close from Glenbrook South senior forward Zach Ochab. Two minutes later, Kopera had the answer for a snaking, left-footed shot by junior forward Jeffrey Keating.
Kopera also punched out a rising, 45-yard free kick by senior defender Julian Issar in the 33rd minute. Fifteen minutes into the second half, Kopera snuffed a head attempt by Titans senior forward Danny Sergiev, and he did the same on a dipping, 40-yard free kick by senior mid Jhovany Guadarrama with 19:45 left in the second session.
Kopera also made a stellar diving save on a tricky, left-footed strike by Sergiev with 13:35 to go.
Otherwise, Leyden's well-positioned D-men -- including seniors Jose Diaz and Kacper Nowaczyk, and juniors Jesus Recendez and Edgar Orozco, as well as Mancha, Espinoza , Jacinto and junior mids Ozzie Pacheco and Carlos Duarte -- banded together to hold the fort.
"Our defense was outstanding ... stopping everything," Espinoza said.
Added Recendez: "The main part, we were working as a team and for each other."
Leyden skipper Valintis said, "We had some growing pains early this year, but the kids haven't given up. They're coachable, and they help each and enjoy playing together and for each other."
That's exactly the kind of chemistry lesson Lara doesn't want his troops to forget, especially with the IHSA postseason looming.
"We should be coming together as a team," Lara said. "I'm hoping we can hit a restart ... figure out what to do to right the ship so the season doesn't end in the first round of the playoffs. I hope we clean it up and find that mental toughness."
Santos-DeSoto agreed, saying it's up to the players to reclaim their mojo from earlier in the campaign.
"We're expected to play well, so we have to do that in the next couple of games," Santos-DeSoto said. "We've had a couple wake-up calls already."
Added Schechtman: "I hope this is the last wake-up call. It's who is going to start that flame? You can't just wait for it to happen."
Starting lineups
Leyden
G: Kai Kopera
D: Jose Diaz
D: Jesus Recendez
D: Edgar Orozco
D: Kacper Nowaczyk
M: Alan Jacinto
M: Ozzie Pacheco
M: Pablo Mancha
M: Matt Espinoza
M: Carlos Duarte
F: Alan Vasquez
Glenbard South
G: C.J. Morse
D: Jose Santos-DeSoto
D: Michael Zenzola
D: Drew Maytum
D: Julian Issar
M: Danny Sergiev
M: Jhovany Guadarrama
M: Blake Shechtman
F: Zach Ochab
F: Sam Rogers
F: Justin Leszynski
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Alan Vasquez, jr., F, Leyden
Scoring summary
First half
Leyden: Alan Vasquez (assisted by Matt Espinoza) in 11th minute
Second half
Leyden: Vasquez (assisted by Dylan Santamaria) in 67th minute
Glenbrook South: Justin Leszynski (PK) in 78th minute
Leyden: Vasquez (unassisted) in 79th minute
Vasquez hat-trick paces 3-1 upset victory
By Ken Keenan
GLENVIEW -- Bursting at the seams with super-charged energy, Leyden won its fifth-straight match with a 3-1 upset victory over host Glenbrook South in nonconference action Thursday night.
The suddenly sizzling Eagles (7-6-1 overall) were paced by dynamic junior forward Alan Vasquez, who tallied all three of his team's goals to earn Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors. Vasquez opened the scoring in the 11th minute and gave Leyden a 1-0 halftime lead. His second marker made it 2-0 with 12:59 to go in the second half.
After the Titans chopped the lead in half on a penalty kick by junior forward Justin Leszynski in the 78th minute, Vasquez iced the decision with a veritable empty-net goal with merely 12 seconds remaining.
But this was no one-man show. Fueled by an all-for-one mindset, Leyden baffled the Titans, who entered the match ranked no. 22 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 with an overall mark of 9-4-3.
"No question, this was the best game we've played all year -- by a mile," said longtime Leyden head coach Mark Valintis. "Everybody was talking and communicating all 80 minutes.There was no finger-pointing. Everyone covered for each other and picked each other up. That made all the difference in the world."
Added Vasquez: "I feel like we were in need of a win against a big team. We played our hearts out to get it."
Glenbrook South skipper Reggie Lara had nothing but praise for the high-flying Eagles. At the same time, he issued a warning to his own squad. After bolting to a 5-1-2 start this season, Glenbrook South fell to a pedestrian 4-4-1 in its last nine matches after the loss.
"I think coach Valintis does a great job over there," Lara said. "The players buy in and play like a team. Tonight, one side showed mental toughness. The other side -- no. We complained about calls, got flustered. Very similar to other games, we dominate possession, and then a counterattack and the other team scores."
Lara continued: "We're good when we play together. When we lack mental toughness, we can implode pretty quickly. We know we're capable of doing better. But I don't want to take away from Leyden at all. They've got a talented, dangerous team. They're skilled. They work hard, and they seized their opportunity (Thursday night)."
Vasquez put the Titans in chase mode with his first goal, assisted by junior midfielder Matt Espinoza. The slick Vasquez had another chance in the 36th minute, but Glenbrook South junior goalkeeper C.J. Morse rushed out to nab the ball at the last second with the speedy Eagles forward in hot pursuit.
With 55 seconds to go before the break, Vasquez dished a pass to junior mid Alan Jacinto, who quickly zipped a 30-yard strike from the right side just past the far post.
The second goal by Vasquez put the finishing touch on a smooth passing play. It began with Espinoza, continued with sophomore mid Pablo Mancha and ended with a pass from junior middie Dylan Santamaria to Vasquez, who settled the ball in front before banging it home inside the right post.
"That was a big letdown," said Titans senior forward Sam Rogers. "To be knocking on the door, then it's 2-0."
Added Glenbrook South senior midfielder Jose Santos-DeSoto: "We were expecting to win this game. To be so close ... hard to keep your head up."
Vasquez and his teammmates noticed.
"After the second goal, we could see they put their heads down," he said.
Following the successful PK try by Leszynski that came with only 1:28 showing after a Leyden foul in the box, Glenbrook South still had a chance to notch the equalizer. With Morse stationed at least 30 yards out of the box to aid the attack, Vasquez spoiled the Titans' strategy by intercepting a pass from the Titans' keeper and sending it into a wide-open cage from about 25 yards to conclude the scoring.
"(The Eagles) were all over the field," Rogers said. "But we gotta connect better ... got to come out firing and get the first goal."
Leyden's collective effort on defense didn't allow that to happen, though the Titans did have a handful of decent chances early on.
In the 28th minute, Leyden sophomore keeper Kai Kopera made a nice stop to foil an in-close from Glenbrook South senior forward Zach Ochab. Two minutes later, Kopera had the answer for a snaking, left-footed shot by junior forward Jeffrey Keating.
Kopera also punched out a rising, 45-yard free kick by senior defender Julian Issar in the 33rd minute. Fifteen minutes into the second half, Kopera snuffed a head attempt by Titans senior forward Danny Sergiev, and he did the same on a dipping, 40-yard free kick by senior mid Jhovany Guadarrama with 19:45 left in the second session.
Kopera also made a stellar diving save on a tricky, left-footed strike by Sergiev with 13:35 to go.
Otherwise, Leyden's well-positioned D-men -- including seniors Jose Diaz and Kacper Nowaczyk, and juniors Jesus Recendez and Edgar Orozco, as well as Mancha, Espinoza , Jacinto and junior mids Ozzie Pacheco and Carlos Duarte -- banded together to hold the fort.
"Our defense was outstanding ... stopping everything," Espinoza said.
Added Recendez: "The main part, we were working as a team and for each other."
Leyden skipper Valintis said, "We had some growing pains early this year, but the kids haven't given up. They're coachable, and they help each and enjoy playing together and for each other."
That's exactly the kind of chemistry lesson Lara doesn't want his troops to forget, especially with the IHSA postseason looming.
"We should be coming together as a team," Lara said. "I'm hoping we can hit a restart ... figure out what to do to right the ship so the season doesn't end in the first round of the playoffs. I hope we clean it up and find that mental toughness."
Santos-DeSoto agreed, saying it's up to the players to reclaim their mojo from earlier in the campaign.
"We're expected to play well, so we have to do that in the next couple of games," Santos-DeSoto said. "We've had a couple wake-up calls already."
Added Schechtman: "I hope this is the last wake-up call. It's who is going to start that flame? You can't just wait for it to happen."
Starting lineups
Leyden
G: Kai Kopera
D: Jose Diaz
D: Jesus Recendez
D: Edgar Orozco
D: Kacper Nowaczyk
M: Alan Jacinto
M: Ozzie Pacheco
M: Pablo Mancha
M: Matt Espinoza
M: Carlos Duarte
F: Alan Vasquez
Glenbard South
G: C.J. Morse
D: Jose Santos-DeSoto
D: Michael Zenzola
D: Drew Maytum
D: Julian Issar
M: Danny Sergiev
M: Jhovany Guadarrama
M: Blake Shechtman
F: Zach Ochab
F: Sam Rogers
F: Justin Leszynski
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Alan Vasquez, jr., F, Leyden
Scoring summary
First half
Leyden: Alan Vasquez (assisted by Matt Espinoza) in 11th minute
Second half
Leyden: Vasquez (assisted by Dylan Santamaria) in 67th minute
Glenbrook South: Justin Leszynski (PK) in 78th minute
Leyden: Vasquez (unassisted) in 79th minute