Leyden tie vs. Glenbrook South
continues season-changing run
Unbeaten skein in double digits; GK Llanos plays big in 1-1 result
By Rusty Silber
GLENVIEW – After a dismal start to the season, Leyden has stepped up its game and played some awfully good soccer.
The Eagles are (7-0-3) in their last 10 games after a hard-fought 1-1 nonconference draw Thursday night at Glenbroook South.
"We played some really good teams early on in the year," Leyden coach Matt Valintis said. "That kind of forced us to grow up. Since then, we've kind of found our stride. We were able to figure out what was going on even here tonight, where to position our guys to give us a shot. At times it worked beautifully and other times we had to keep subbing in guys. Overall, I'm very happy on how we hung in there."
Now, the Eagles (7-5-4) are ready for what lies ahead of them as they move into the final two weeks of the regular-season and the playoffs. They received the no. 10 seed at the Glenbrook South Sectional, one spot behind the hosts.
"It's time to move on and see what October holds," Valintis said. "The weather has started to change. The benches start to get a little shorter. The games tend to get a bit more exciting with a playoff feel. So, that's what everybody is looking forward to."
Glenbrook South (6-8-6) had the better of the play and chances in the match, but the Titans had to scramble to score late to earn the draw in a wild finish.
"At times, (Glenbrook South) was relentless, and we couldn't get out of our own end" Valintis said. “Other times, we had them pinned back, and they couldn't get out of their own end.
“I guess from my perspective I'm happy with a draw. We did have the lead and gave it up late. But Glenbrook South created a lot better chances than we did. To be honest we're pretty lucky to walk out with a tie."
The Eagles found the lead in the 77th minute of play after the Titans nearly scored. The ball was deflected near the back post off a corner kick. Glenbrook South had the ball near the goal line, but Leyden cleared the ball forward.
Off the transition, Brandon Delgado sent a long ball beyond midfield. Javier Solis made the run to control the ball, beat a Glenbrook South defender and found the back of the net for the 1-0 advantage. It was the fifth goal of the season for Solis, who has been recovering from an injured ankle.
"I saw the lane, and I saw the defender coming at me," Solis said. "I saw him coming at me at like 100 miles per hour. So, I had a chance to cut in, I looked up for a second and the ball was already on my left foot. I'm not a lefty, but you have to use it sometimes. I was able to get it into the net. In the last 3 to 4 minutes of the game it's very exciting.
“It was a lot of pressure to shoot it, but I knew my teammates trusted me, and I had their support."
Leyden keeper Daniel Llanos had a spectacular night. He made six of his eight saves in the second half and showed the wide range of his ability, from stopping short-range shots to punching the ball over the bar. Because of his efforts he was named the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match.
"It's all about training and being in the right position at the right moment," Llanos said. "You can't be caught off balance. It paid off too. Sometimes, you have to make those saves. It determines if you win or lose, especially in a tie game like this one. I was just able to hold them off."
Llanos is only a sophomore and just starting to get comfortable leading the team from the back.
"It's a great honor. Last year I was on the freshman team," Llanos said. "This year, I managed to make it to the varsity. I'm just privileged to be playing with the varsity players."
Leyden continued its streak with an impressive 5-0 nonconference home win against Ridgewood on Saturday.
Glenbrook South found a way to tie the match a minute later. Conor Beach scored his sixth goal of the season and his second one on a header that was served from Adrian Potoniec (seven assists).
"I was very excited that I scored," said Beach who stands 6-foot-3. "I didn't want to lose the game. It really doesn't matter how you score the goal. Right away (after the surrendered goal) our reaction was positive. I knew that we were going to get a goal. I just felt it, and we were filled with energy. We just needed to go to the goal."
Glenbrook South came out strong in the first five minutes of the match. The Titans created numerous chances at the Leyden goal, but they just couldn't find the finishing touch.
The Titans applied pressure up-top at various times through the first half and built some even better opportunities in the second half. They were on the doorstep, but Leyden’s Llanos kept making save after save.
"We are creating a lot of chances," Potoniec said. "We're generating opportunities, but we're just not finishing. It's been kind of our trouble recently trying to put the ball into the back of the net.
“Part of it comes from the warm-up, when we do shooting drills. Our team isn't 100 percent locked in, and it comes from that. You just play the way you practice."
Glenbrook South never gave up trying to find the finishing touch in the final third.
"It was frustrating, we know that we had so many chances and golden opportunities inside the six-yard box that we didn't put away," Glenbrook South coach Reggie Lara said. "We do take it to teams early on. I was worried that this game was going the same way as other games have gone. We were knocking on the door and right there on the six, not putting shots away, and suddenly the other team comes up with a goal.
“The next thing you know, we're chasing. Partly, it was unbelievable saves from their goalkeeper, but we need to put the ball away."
Still, the Titans gain something from the tie.
"I'm happy for the draw and the way they responded after giving up a goal," Lara said. "With a few minutes left, it would've been very easy to put their heads down and call it a night. The fact is that they buckled down and kept going at them. It was awesome that we got that goal at the end of the game to tie it up. It was a little bit of a positive to take away from it."
Starting Lineups
Leyden
GK-Daniel Llanos
D-Yadier DeLaCruz
D-Stefano Andrino
D-Avi Flores
D-William Rivera
MF-Ariel Diaz
MF-Brandon Delgado
MF-Rafa Nozka
MF-Oliver Salgado
F-Javier Solis
F-Danny Guevara
Glenbrook South
GK-Jack Danby
D-Jeffrey Podjasek
D-Teddy Sturiale
D-Chris Sanchez
D-Jimmy Aglikin
MF-Alec Grenolds
MF-Ben Baczewski
MF-Anthony Kifarkis
F-Conor Beach
F-Adrian Potoniec
F-Kevin Perez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Daniel Llanos, so., GK, Leyden
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Leyden - Javier Solis (Brandon Delgado), 77'
GBS - Conor Beach (Adrian Potoniec), 78'
continues season-changing run
Unbeaten skein in double digits; GK Llanos plays big in 1-1 result
By Rusty Silber
GLENVIEW – After a dismal start to the season, Leyden has stepped up its game and played some awfully good soccer.
The Eagles are (7-0-3) in their last 10 games after a hard-fought 1-1 nonconference draw Thursday night at Glenbroook South.
"We played some really good teams early on in the year," Leyden coach Matt Valintis said. "That kind of forced us to grow up. Since then, we've kind of found our stride. We were able to figure out what was going on even here tonight, where to position our guys to give us a shot. At times it worked beautifully and other times we had to keep subbing in guys. Overall, I'm very happy on how we hung in there."
Now, the Eagles (7-5-4) are ready for what lies ahead of them as they move into the final two weeks of the regular-season and the playoffs. They received the no. 10 seed at the Glenbrook South Sectional, one spot behind the hosts.
"It's time to move on and see what October holds," Valintis said. "The weather has started to change. The benches start to get a little shorter. The games tend to get a bit more exciting with a playoff feel. So, that's what everybody is looking forward to."
Glenbrook South (6-8-6) had the better of the play and chances in the match, but the Titans had to scramble to score late to earn the draw in a wild finish.
"At times, (Glenbrook South) was relentless, and we couldn't get out of our own end" Valintis said. “Other times, we had them pinned back, and they couldn't get out of their own end.
“I guess from my perspective I'm happy with a draw. We did have the lead and gave it up late. But Glenbrook South created a lot better chances than we did. To be honest we're pretty lucky to walk out with a tie."
The Eagles found the lead in the 77th minute of play after the Titans nearly scored. The ball was deflected near the back post off a corner kick. Glenbrook South had the ball near the goal line, but Leyden cleared the ball forward.
Off the transition, Brandon Delgado sent a long ball beyond midfield. Javier Solis made the run to control the ball, beat a Glenbrook South defender and found the back of the net for the 1-0 advantage. It was the fifth goal of the season for Solis, who has been recovering from an injured ankle.
"I saw the lane, and I saw the defender coming at me," Solis said. "I saw him coming at me at like 100 miles per hour. So, I had a chance to cut in, I looked up for a second and the ball was already on my left foot. I'm not a lefty, but you have to use it sometimes. I was able to get it into the net. In the last 3 to 4 minutes of the game it's very exciting.
“It was a lot of pressure to shoot it, but I knew my teammates trusted me, and I had their support."
Leyden keeper Daniel Llanos had a spectacular night. He made six of his eight saves in the second half and showed the wide range of his ability, from stopping short-range shots to punching the ball over the bar. Because of his efforts he was named the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match.
"It's all about training and being in the right position at the right moment," Llanos said. "You can't be caught off balance. It paid off too. Sometimes, you have to make those saves. It determines if you win or lose, especially in a tie game like this one. I was just able to hold them off."
Llanos is only a sophomore and just starting to get comfortable leading the team from the back.
"It's a great honor. Last year I was on the freshman team," Llanos said. "This year, I managed to make it to the varsity. I'm just privileged to be playing with the varsity players."
Leyden continued its streak with an impressive 5-0 nonconference home win against Ridgewood on Saturday.
Glenbrook South found a way to tie the match a minute later. Conor Beach scored his sixth goal of the season and his second one on a header that was served from Adrian Potoniec (seven assists).
"I was very excited that I scored," said Beach who stands 6-foot-3. "I didn't want to lose the game. It really doesn't matter how you score the goal. Right away (after the surrendered goal) our reaction was positive. I knew that we were going to get a goal. I just felt it, and we were filled with energy. We just needed to go to the goal."
Glenbrook South came out strong in the first five minutes of the match. The Titans created numerous chances at the Leyden goal, but they just couldn't find the finishing touch.
The Titans applied pressure up-top at various times through the first half and built some even better opportunities in the second half. They were on the doorstep, but Leyden’s Llanos kept making save after save.
"We are creating a lot of chances," Potoniec said. "We're generating opportunities, but we're just not finishing. It's been kind of our trouble recently trying to put the ball into the back of the net.
“Part of it comes from the warm-up, when we do shooting drills. Our team isn't 100 percent locked in, and it comes from that. You just play the way you practice."
Glenbrook South never gave up trying to find the finishing touch in the final third.
"It was frustrating, we know that we had so many chances and golden opportunities inside the six-yard box that we didn't put away," Glenbrook South coach Reggie Lara said. "We do take it to teams early on. I was worried that this game was going the same way as other games have gone. We were knocking on the door and right there on the six, not putting shots away, and suddenly the other team comes up with a goal.
“The next thing you know, we're chasing. Partly, it was unbelievable saves from their goalkeeper, but we need to put the ball away."
Still, the Titans gain something from the tie.
"I'm happy for the draw and the way they responded after giving up a goal," Lara said. "With a few minutes left, it would've been very easy to put their heads down and call it a night. The fact is that they buckled down and kept going at them. It was awesome that we got that goal at the end of the game to tie it up. It was a little bit of a positive to take away from it."
Starting Lineups
Leyden
GK-Daniel Llanos
D-Yadier DeLaCruz
D-Stefano Andrino
D-Avi Flores
D-William Rivera
MF-Ariel Diaz
MF-Brandon Delgado
MF-Rafa Nozka
MF-Oliver Salgado
F-Javier Solis
F-Danny Guevara
Glenbrook South
GK-Jack Danby
D-Jeffrey Podjasek
D-Teddy Sturiale
D-Chris Sanchez
D-Jimmy Aglikin
MF-Alec Grenolds
MF-Ben Baczewski
MF-Anthony Kifarkis
F-Conor Beach
F-Adrian Potoniec
F-Kevin Perez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Daniel Llanos, so., GK, Leyden
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Leyden - Javier Solis (Brandon Delgado), 77'
GBS - Conor Beach (Adrian Potoniec), 78'