Ebema pushes Willowbrook past Leyden, puts exclamation point on season
Junior's brace delivers 2nd place league finish, perfect home slate
By Bobby Narang
VILLA PARK – Willowbrook’s Liron Ebema lifted up the spirits of his teammates Tuesday night.
Twice.
They returned the favor in the postgame celebration.
Playing amid an unrelenting and driving rain for the majority of Tuesday’s game, Willowbrook and Leyden struggled finding quality shots and scoring goals.
Except for Ebema.
The junior forward scored twice, capped by a golden goal in the first minute of overtime to lift the Warriors to a 2-1 win over Leyden in West Suburban Conference Gold Division finale for both teams.
After Ebema celebrated with his team for several moments, his teammates decided to lift him up and give him a short ride. Maximiliano Solis and Luke Ceplecha put Ebema – who is pretty tall by the way – on their shoulders to thank him for putting a victorious end to the league game.
Ebema admitted he was happy to end the game, calling it a very cold and long night.
“I started to warm up a bit in the game, but it was so tough out there,” Ebema said. “At one point, I thought it was hailing. I don’t even remember the last time I’ve played in weather like tonight. But it doesn’t matter, we got the win.
“When it went in, my adrenaline was still kicking, and I didn’t realize it was (a goal) until my teammates started running toward me. It was nice we were able to finish it off quickly.”
On his golden goal, Ebema took advantage of some chaos in the box for his eighth score of the season. It came just 42 seconds into the first overtime.
Before the extra time, the referees informed both teams that overtime would be sudden death rather than the traditional conference method via two full overtimes and penalty kicks if still tied. Ebema’s goal shocked the sparse crowd. He knocked in the shot from 11 yards after a deflection came right to him.
“I just got the ball and struck it and not much thought put into it,” Ebema said. “The ball bounced to my chest, and I was able to control it and shoot it."
By beating the Eagles, Willowbrook (11-7-3, 4-2-x) secured a second place finish in the conference; perennial champion Morton took top honors again. The Warriors also closed out the regular-season with an undefeated record at home.
Willowbrook coach Victor Lopez credited his players for showing tremendous fortitude on a tough night to play soccer.
“It was a great win,” Lopez. “These kids have been working really hard this week. They really deserve it. Our goal was to get first place in the conference, but second place is still great. We told them to play with heart and to play for their family, because we had a really bad storm and they kept supporting us in the game.
“Liron has been helping us a lot. We have to take advantage of his speed, and he makes a big difference every time he has a 1-v-1. We knew we had to look for him. I’m so proud of my kids.”
The Eagles (10-6-5, 4-2-x) lost for the second time in their last three games, but enter the playoffs as a team to watch. Tuesday’s defeat was only the second time since Sept. 3 that the team has suffered a loss. They dropped a hard-fought 2-1 overtime decision to no. 4 Morton on Oct. 6.
Leyden has a playoff warm-up game against Wheaton North on Saturday to end the regular-season.
“(Willowbrook) was the better team in the second half, and they deserved it, “ Leyden coach Mark Valintis said. “They beat us to every ball. We’re not surprised by it. They beat us to every ball in the last 50 minutes. This is not the game we want to play a week before playoffs considering everything we’ve done up to this point. We just didn’t play well tonight. For a lot of that you have to give credit to Willowbrook.
“After the first half, they were in our face. We couldn’t handle it. We just let a lot of chances slip through. They hit a great goal to open the scoring. They outhustled us on that last goal. It was a good hard-fought game. We have to fine-tune some things and will rest some guys on Saturday.”
Leyden senior defender Avi Flores said the overtime loss stung, because the Willowbrook had more energy for most of the game. The Eagles dominated the possession in the first half, tallying six shots on goal including hitting the post, but failed to score. Senior midfielder Javier Solis supplied the team's lone goal when he scored on a penalty kick in the 50th minute to tie the score at 1-1.
The no. 10-seeded Eagles have the luxury of hosting a Class 3A regional, but have a tough road to the title game. They battle no. 6 Maine South next Tuesday. Flores said the Eagles have the potential to win a regional but have to clean up parts of their game.
“We can’t complain about the weather, because they faced it, too,” Flores said. “We didn’t play our game today, which is disappointing. We have to get stronger and come back from this. I thought my teammate headed their last goal out …, but they wanted it more.
“We’ve had a tough schedule and got to get ready for the playoffs. We have to fix the errors we saw tonight and see what we can do in the playoffs.”
The teams looked headed to a scoreless regulation due to uneven play in the sloppy conditions until Ebema’s long shot provided an energy jolt.
Ebema put an end to the lack of scoring by drilling a shot from roughly 32 yards into the net in the 48th minute.
“I got the ball and saw an opportunity to score,” he said. “I just decided to hit it as hard as I could, and it went top corner. “
Even after the rain finally stopped with 11 minutes left in regulation, both teams couldn’t muster a solid shot on goal. Ebema’s golden goal was the ideal way for the Warriors to end the regular-season. The no. 14-seed Warriors play third-seeded host Conant next Wednesday in a 3A regional semifinal.
Willowbrook senior Aiden Amin said he was overjoyed to see Ebema’s shot nestle into the twine to end the game.
“I saw a long ball and Lucas (Bohm) fighting hard to make something happen, and he brought the defender with him. The ball popped out to Liron, and he had a nice volley into the back of the net,” he said. “The whole game it was freezing cold and wind blowing in everyone’s face. The win is huge, to get second place in conference. This is great for the program and the guys.
“Everyone really worked hard. This is very well deserved. We kept fighting and got results. First place in the conference would’ve been nice, but we were undefeated at home, just amazing results.”
Willowbrook senior midfielder Richardo Acosta, a captain, said the team wants more success.
“We’re ready for the playoffs,” Acosta said. “If we play like this or better, we have a lot of chances to keep our season going longer. We have to keep working hard and making results. It was very hard to play today at the start because of the rain. We couldn’t do long passes very good. We came together at the end and played with good spirit.”
Leyden goalie Daniel Llanos had a rather uneventful night with just two saves in the game. His counterpart, Willowbrook’s Jack Voss, was not so underchallenged. The senior tallied five of his seven saves in the first 40 minutes.
Voss said the victory was sweet for the senior class after some rough few years. In the COVID-19-shortened 2021 spring season when the current seniors were sophomores, the Warriors lost all 10 of their games. Last season, the Warriors won five of 17 games and but for the second season in a row failed to win a conference game.
“It was amazing with Liron’s overtime goal,” Voss said. “It was great to win our last home conference game. We all had the desire to win our final game, especially to go from finishing last in our conference and not winning a game the last two years, so second in conference is pretty good. That was a tough season. This year we’ve come together and been playing together. We’re looking forward to the Conant game, and we will put everything on the line and hopefully get to the second round of the playoffs.”
Starting lineups
Leyden
GK: Daniel Llanos
D: Yadier DeLaCruz
D: Fabian Rodriguez
D: Stefano Andrino
D: Avi Flores
MF: Ariel Diaz
MF: Oliver Salgado
MF: Rafa Nozka
MF: Brandon Delgado
F: Danny Guevara
F: Javier Solis
Willowbrook
GK: Jack Voss
D: Carlos Garcia
D: Dean Romano
D: Luke Ceplecha
D: Adrian Gesiki
MF: Richardo Acosta
MF: Aiden Amin
MF: Maximiliano Solis
MF: Marwan Smadi
F: Vinicius Da Silva
F: Liron Ebema
Chicagoland Man of the Match: Liron Ebema, jr., F, Willowbrook
Scoring summary
First half
No goals scored
Second half
Willowbrook: Ebema (Mahone), 48’
Leyden: Cabrero (penalty kick), 50’
First OT
Willowbrook: Ebema (Bohm), 81’
Junior's brace delivers 2nd place league finish, perfect home slate
By Bobby Narang
VILLA PARK – Willowbrook’s Liron Ebema lifted up the spirits of his teammates Tuesday night.
Twice.
They returned the favor in the postgame celebration.
Playing amid an unrelenting and driving rain for the majority of Tuesday’s game, Willowbrook and Leyden struggled finding quality shots and scoring goals.
Except for Ebema.
The junior forward scored twice, capped by a golden goal in the first minute of overtime to lift the Warriors to a 2-1 win over Leyden in West Suburban Conference Gold Division finale for both teams.
After Ebema celebrated with his team for several moments, his teammates decided to lift him up and give him a short ride. Maximiliano Solis and Luke Ceplecha put Ebema – who is pretty tall by the way – on their shoulders to thank him for putting a victorious end to the league game.
Ebema admitted he was happy to end the game, calling it a very cold and long night.
“I started to warm up a bit in the game, but it was so tough out there,” Ebema said. “At one point, I thought it was hailing. I don’t even remember the last time I’ve played in weather like tonight. But it doesn’t matter, we got the win.
“When it went in, my adrenaline was still kicking, and I didn’t realize it was (a goal) until my teammates started running toward me. It was nice we were able to finish it off quickly.”
On his golden goal, Ebema took advantage of some chaos in the box for his eighth score of the season. It came just 42 seconds into the first overtime.
Before the extra time, the referees informed both teams that overtime would be sudden death rather than the traditional conference method via two full overtimes and penalty kicks if still tied. Ebema’s goal shocked the sparse crowd. He knocked in the shot from 11 yards after a deflection came right to him.
“I just got the ball and struck it and not much thought put into it,” Ebema said. “The ball bounced to my chest, and I was able to control it and shoot it."
By beating the Eagles, Willowbrook (11-7-3, 4-2-x) secured a second place finish in the conference; perennial champion Morton took top honors again. The Warriors also closed out the regular-season with an undefeated record at home.
Willowbrook coach Victor Lopez credited his players for showing tremendous fortitude on a tough night to play soccer.
“It was a great win,” Lopez. “These kids have been working really hard this week. They really deserve it. Our goal was to get first place in the conference, but second place is still great. We told them to play with heart and to play for their family, because we had a really bad storm and they kept supporting us in the game.
“Liron has been helping us a lot. We have to take advantage of his speed, and he makes a big difference every time he has a 1-v-1. We knew we had to look for him. I’m so proud of my kids.”
The Eagles (10-6-5, 4-2-x) lost for the second time in their last three games, but enter the playoffs as a team to watch. Tuesday’s defeat was only the second time since Sept. 3 that the team has suffered a loss. They dropped a hard-fought 2-1 overtime decision to no. 4 Morton on Oct. 6.
Leyden has a playoff warm-up game against Wheaton North on Saturday to end the regular-season.
“(Willowbrook) was the better team in the second half, and they deserved it, “ Leyden coach Mark Valintis said. “They beat us to every ball. We’re not surprised by it. They beat us to every ball in the last 50 minutes. This is not the game we want to play a week before playoffs considering everything we’ve done up to this point. We just didn’t play well tonight. For a lot of that you have to give credit to Willowbrook.
“After the first half, they were in our face. We couldn’t handle it. We just let a lot of chances slip through. They hit a great goal to open the scoring. They outhustled us on that last goal. It was a good hard-fought game. We have to fine-tune some things and will rest some guys on Saturday.”
Leyden senior defender Avi Flores said the overtime loss stung, because the Willowbrook had more energy for most of the game. The Eagles dominated the possession in the first half, tallying six shots on goal including hitting the post, but failed to score. Senior midfielder Javier Solis supplied the team's lone goal when he scored on a penalty kick in the 50th minute to tie the score at 1-1.
The no. 10-seeded Eagles have the luxury of hosting a Class 3A regional, but have a tough road to the title game. They battle no. 6 Maine South next Tuesday. Flores said the Eagles have the potential to win a regional but have to clean up parts of their game.
“We can’t complain about the weather, because they faced it, too,” Flores said. “We didn’t play our game today, which is disappointing. We have to get stronger and come back from this. I thought my teammate headed their last goal out …, but they wanted it more.
“We’ve had a tough schedule and got to get ready for the playoffs. We have to fix the errors we saw tonight and see what we can do in the playoffs.”
The teams looked headed to a scoreless regulation due to uneven play in the sloppy conditions until Ebema’s long shot provided an energy jolt.
Ebema put an end to the lack of scoring by drilling a shot from roughly 32 yards into the net in the 48th minute.
“I got the ball and saw an opportunity to score,” he said. “I just decided to hit it as hard as I could, and it went top corner. “
Even after the rain finally stopped with 11 minutes left in regulation, both teams couldn’t muster a solid shot on goal. Ebema’s golden goal was the ideal way for the Warriors to end the regular-season. The no. 14-seed Warriors play third-seeded host Conant next Wednesday in a 3A regional semifinal.
Willowbrook senior Aiden Amin said he was overjoyed to see Ebema’s shot nestle into the twine to end the game.
“I saw a long ball and Lucas (Bohm) fighting hard to make something happen, and he brought the defender with him. The ball popped out to Liron, and he had a nice volley into the back of the net,” he said. “The whole game it was freezing cold and wind blowing in everyone’s face. The win is huge, to get second place in conference. This is great for the program and the guys.
“Everyone really worked hard. This is very well deserved. We kept fighting and got results. First place in the conference would’ve been nice, but we were undefeated at home, just amazing results.”
Willowbrook senior midfielder Richardo Acosta, a captain, said the team wants more success.
“We’re ready for the playoffs,” Acosta said. “If we play like this or better, we have a lot of chances to keep our season going longer. We have to keep working hard and making results. It was very hard to play today at the start because of the rain. We couldn’t do long passes very good. We came together at the end and played with good spirit.”
Leyden goalie Daniel Llanos had a rather uneventful night with just two saves in the game. His counterpart, Willowbrook’s Jack Voss, was not so underchallenged. The senior tallied five of his seven saves in the first 40 minutes.
Voss said the victory was sweet for the senior class after some rough few years. In the COVID-19-shortened 2021 spring season when the current seniors were sophomores, the Warriors lost all 10 of their games. Last season, the Warriors won five of 17 games and but for the second season in a row failed to win a conference game.
“It was amazing with Liron’s overtime goal,” Voss said. “It was great to win our last home conference game. We all had the desire to win our final game, especially to go from finishing last in our conference and not winning a game the last two years, so second in conference is pretty good. That was a tough season. This year we’ve come together and been playing together. We’re looking forward to the Conant game, and we will put everything on the line and hopefully get to the second round of the playoffs.”
Starting lineups
Leyden
GK: Daniel Llanos
D: Yadier DeLaCruz
D: Fabian Rodriguez
D: Stefano Andrino
D: Avi Flores
MF: Ariel Diaz
MF: Oliver Salgado
MF: Rafa Nozka
MF: Brandon Delgado
F: Danny Guevara
F: Javier Solis
Willowbrook
GK: Jack Voss
D: Carlos Garcia
D: Dean Romano
D: Luke Ceplecha
D: Adrian Gesiki
MF: Richardo Acosta
MF: Aiden Amin
MF: Maximiliano Solis
MF: Marwan Smadi
F: Vinicius Da Silva
F: Liron Ebema
Chicagoland Man of the Match: Liron Ebema, jr., F, Willowbrook
Scoring summary
First half
No goals scored
Second half
Willowbrook: Ebema (Mahone), 48’
Leyden: Cabrero (penalty kick), 50’
First OT
Willowbrook: Ebema (Bohm), 81’