Warren works its way past Lake Zurich
Blue Devils hope overdue win puts team back on right path
By Bobby Narang
GURNEE — When the final buzzer sounded in Friday night’s hard-fought 2-1 victory over Lake Zurich, Warren’s Matt Paraskos and Lucas Ahonen hit the deck.
As the players from both teams milled around the field, Paraskos and Ahonen decided to lay on the grass for a few seconds to rest their weary bodies — or perhaps just take a moment to chill following an action-packed, 80-minute battle between North Suburban Conference teams.
The Blue Devils and Bears met for a rare Friday night clash, a time usually reserved for American football. A sparse crowd was treated to high-level talent on both sides, inspiring goals and countless near-misses to go with solid play from the keepers.
The Blue Devils (6-2-1, 1-1-1) kept their hopes of surpassing Stevenson (10-0-1, 3-0-0) and Libertyville (5-3-2, 2-0-1) alive while pushing the Bears (3-4-2, 1-2-0) down a spot in the standings.
Warren, ranked No. 13 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, notched its first win since defeating Indian Trail (Wis.) 3-1 on Sept. 1. They lost 2-0 to no. 5 Grayslake Central on Sept. 6, tied with honorable mention Libertyville on Sept. 8 and dropped a 1-0 decision to 11th-ranked Stevenson on Sept. 13 to end a brutal three-game stretch of high-caliber opponents.
Miguel Garcia, the Chicagoland Man of the Match, notched a double in the first half to push the Blue Devils back on track.
Paraskos said Warren needed a jolt of momentum with games against Mundelein, Waukegan, Wauconda, Carmel and Lake Forest slated for the next two weeks.
“That was a crazy game, a lot of chances back and forth,” Paraskos said. “I was running up and down, and Miguel scored two goals. It was a hard-fought win that we really needed coming back from … last week.
“I wanted to (score) to finish the game off, but just missed at the end. This win sets us up for a good spot. We’re going into the hard part of the season. This is where it really starts and can push us to give us momentum going into the playoffs.”
Lake Zurich made the Blue Devils work for the home victory. The Bears’ Ian Ferguson raised his season total to 10 goals with a tally off a header to even the match at 1-1 in the 23rd minute. Lake Zurich goalie
Ferguson said it was a tough defeat.
“It was one of those games back and forth between two great teams and very balanced. You could tell we have a lot of passion between us,” Ferguson said. “We both were battling back and forth and words were said out there. But when it comes down to it, we didn’t have it to finish. Our day will come. We will finish soon one day. That’s part of the game.”
Lake Zurich coach Mike Schmitz said Friday’s close loss is a theme this season. The Bears have played a difficult schedule, losing to Glenbrook North, Taft, Stevenson, highly ranked Conant and now Warren.
“We had so many opportunities. We hit the crossbar, the side post, shot just wide,” Schmitz said. “It was kind of how our season is going. Just one or two mistakes and it ends up in the back of our net. We can’t seem to finish. We’re hoping we’re building some good luck and karma for the end for the end of the season.”
In the first 17 minutes, the conference showdown featured very little action. Before Garcia’s opener with 23:03 remaining in the first half, the best play of the game wasn’t on the field.
When a hard-kicked ball sailed high into the top row of the main grandstand, a fan casually stuck out his foot to knock away the fast-arriving ball, leading to a rousing round of applause from a majority of the crowd.
Two minutes later, Garcia ended the scoreless game with a stunning move to get free before knocking in a short shot for a 1-0 lead. With 17:25 left, Ferguson scored Lake Zurich’s goal on a header via a nice service.
“Tyler Wits had a nice free kick, and I was able to get a (goal),” Ferguson said.
Warren goalie Ethan Cole, who recorded five saves, collected three of them in a frenetic two-minute span midway through the first half.
His counterpart Kanski made nine saves, including a memorable stop in the 33rd minute. But no one could hamper Garcia’s superior talents in the 35th minute. He smacked a ball was still in the air into the net from a few yards away. He just missed a hat-trick due to a stunning save from Kanski in the 44th minute.
“The first goal, I got played in space and just tried to do my job and put the ball away,” said the senior forward, who has a team-high 12 goals. “The second goal I was able to get it in the air off my right foot. My job is to score goals. The team is getting better and improving every day. I think we’re going to be pretty good.”
Lake Zurich battled for the equalizer. The Bears had seven shot attempts over the final 37 minutes, including one at the final buzzer.
“We’ve had some tough luck,” Schmitz said. “We’re progressing, and our effort is getting better every game. Ian has been outstanding all year. Tyler Wits does so many good things out there. Phil comes up big for us every game and keeps us in games. He’s a great teammate and a kid.”
Warren coach Jason Ahonen said the Blue Devils are playing another Friday night game this season. They travel to New Trier on Oct. 7. He felt his players grinded out a solid conference victory.
“It was nice to get a win,” Ahonen said. “We had been struggling scoring. Our best defense was our offense. Lake Zurich is very dangerous. Ian Ferguson is a very gifted player capable of attacking in many different ways.
“I knew they were very dangerous with set pieces. We have to continue to move forward and attack and work the way we did tonight. We have some talented players.
“Overall, the boys needed this win for the weekend. They get two days off. We don’t have an easy game in our conference. You have to show up every game. We have to get better, play harder and finish our chances.”
Warren senior defender Ryan Stanciak said Blue Devils were motivated to end the week with a win.
“Our work-rate is there right now, especially from our last game,” Stanciak said. “Communication is key, and we’re doing really well with that.
“Last week we weren’t too happy with ourselves, but we pushed ourselves really hard in practice this week. We have to keep this trajectory going into the rest of the season.”
Starting lineups
Lake Zurich
GK: Filip Kanski
D: Jack Cardwell
D: Rani Elremaily
D: Ben Lowe
D: Tag Niepomnik
MF: Tyler Wits
MF: Ian Ferguson
MF: Oscar Ponikarczyk
F: Anthony Kim
F: Matt Margiel
F: Owen Peich
Warren
GK: Ethan Cole
D: Tyler Hughes
D: Jack Elkinton
D: Ryan Stanciak
MF: Mike Galvan
MF: Chris Crowson
MF: Tommy DeSanto
MF: Matt Paraskos
F: Lucas Ahonen
F: Lionel Arizmendi
F: Miguel Garcia
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Miguel Garcia, sr., F, Warren
Scoring summary
First half
Warren: Garcia (Crowson), 17’
Lake Zurich: Ferguson (Wits), 33’
Warren: Garcia (Arizmendi) 35’
Second half
No scoring
Blue Devils hope overdue win puts team back on right path
By Bobby Narang
GURNEE — When the final buzzer sounded in Friday night’s hard-fought 2-1 victory over Lake Zurich, Warren’s Matt Paraskos and Lucas Ahonen hit the deck.
As the players from both teams milled around the field, Paraskos and Ahonen decided to lay on the grass for a few seconds to rest their weary bodies — or perhaps just take a moment to chill following an action-packed, 80-minute battle between North Suburban Conference teams.
The Blue Devils and Bears met for a rare Friday night clash, a time usually reserved for American football. A sparse crowd was treated to high-level talent on both sides, inspiring goals and countless near-misses to go with solid play from the keepers.
The Blue Devils (6-2-1, 1-1-1) kept their hopes of surpassing Stevenson (10-0-1, 3-0-0) and Libertyville (5-3-2, 2-0-1) alive while pushing the Bears (3-4-2, 1-2-0) down a spot in the standings.
Warren, ranked No. 13 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, notched its first win since defeating Indian Trail (Wis.) 3-1 on Sept. 1. They lost 2-0 to no. 5 Grayslake Central on Sept. 6, tied with honorable mention Libertyville on Sept. 8 and dropped a 1-0 decision to 11th-ranked Stevenson on Sept. 13 to end a brutal three-game stretch of high-caliber opponents.
Miguel Garcia, the Chicagoland Man of the Match, notched a double in the first half to push the Blue Devils back on track.
Paraskos said Warren needed a jolt of momentum with games against Mundelein, Waukegan, Wauconda, Carmel and Lake Forest slated for the next two weeks.
“That was a crazy game, a lot of chances back and forth,” Paraskos said. “I was running up and down, and Miguel scored two goals. It was a hard-fought win that we really needed coming back from … last week.
“I wanted to (score) to finish the game off, but just missed at the end. This win sets us up for a good spot. We’re going into the hard part of the season. This is where it really starts and can push us to give us momentum going into the playoffs.”
Lake Zurich made the Blue Devils work for the home victory. The Bears’ Ian Ferguson raised his season total to 10 goals with a tally off a header to even the match at 1-1 in the 23rd minute. Lake Zurich goalie
Ferguson said it was a tough defeat.
“It was one of those games back and forth between two great teams and very balanced. You could tell we have a lot of passion between us,” Ferguson said. “We both were battling back and forth and words were said out there. But when it comes down to it, we didn’t have it to finish. Our day will come. We will finish soon one day. That’s part of the game.”
Lake Zurich coach Mike Schmitz said Friday’s close loss is a theme this season. The Bears have played a difficult schedule, losing to Glenbrook North, Taft, Stevenson, highly ranked Conant and now Warren.
“We had so many opportunities. We hit the crossbar, the side post, shot just wide,” Schmitz said. “It was kind of how our season is going. Just one or two mistakes and it ends up in the back of our net. We can’t seem to finish. We’re hoping we’re building some good luck and karma for the end for the end of the season.”
In the first 17 minutes, the conference showdown featured very little action. Before Garcia’s opener with 23:03 remaining in the first half, the best play of the game wasn’t on the field.
When a hard-kicked ball sailed high into the top row of the main grandstand, a fan casually stuck out his foot to knock away the fast-arriving ball, leading to a rousing round of applause from a majority of the crowd.
Two minutes later, Garcia ended the scoreless game with a stunning move to get free before knocking in a short shot for a 1-0 lead. With 17:25 left, Ferguson scored Lake Zurich’s goal on a header via a nice service.
“Tyler Wits had a nice free kick, and I was able to get a (goal),” Ferguson said.
Warren goalie Ethan Cole, who recorded five saves, collected three of them in a frenetic two-minute span midway through the first half.
His counterpart Kanski made nine saves, including a memorable stop in the 33rd minute. But no one could hamper Garcia’s superior talents in the 35th minute. He smacked a ball was still in the air into the net from a few yards away. He just missed a hat-trick due to a stunning save from Kanski in the 44th minute.
“The first goal, I got played in space and just tried to do my job and put the ball away,” said the senior forward, who has a team-high 12 goals. “The second goal I was able to get it in the air off my right foot. My job is to score goals. The team is getting better and improving every day. I think we’re going to be pretty good.”
Lake Zurich battled for the equalizer. The Bears had seven shot attempts over the final 37 minutes, including one at the final buzzer.
“We’ve had some tough luck,” Schmitz said. “We’re progressing, and our effort is getting better every game. Ian has been outstanding all year. Tyler Wits does so many good things out there. Phil comes up big for us every game and keeps us in games. He’s a great teammate and a kid.”
Warren coach Jason Ahonen said the Blue Devils are playing another Friday night game this season. They travel to New Trier on Oct. 7. He felt his players grinded out a solid conference victory.
“It was nice to get a win,” Ahonen said. “We had been struggling scoring. Our best defense was our offense. Lake Zurich is very dangerous. Ian Ferguson is a very gifted player capable of attacking in many different ways.
“I knew they were very dangerous with set pieces. We have to continue to move forward and attack and work the way we did tonight. We have some talented players.
“Overall, the boys needed this win for the weekend. They get two days off. We don’t have an easy game in our conference. You have to show up every game. We have to get better, play harder and finish our chances.”
Warren senior defender Ryan Stanciak said Blue Devils were motivated to end the week with a win.
“Our work-rate is there right now, especially from our last game,” Stanciak said. “Communication is key, and we’re doing really well with that.
“Last week we weren’t too happy with ourselves, but we pushed ourselves really hard in practice this week. We have to keep this trajectory going into the rest of the season.”
Starting lineups
Lake Zurich
GK: Filip Kanski
D: Jack Cardwell
D: Rani Elremaily
D: Ben Lowe
D: Tag Niepomnik
MF: Tyler Wits
MF: Ian Ferguson
MF: Oscar Ponikarczyk
F: Anthony Kim
F: Matt Margiel
F: Owen Peich
Warren
GK: Ethan Cole
D: Tyler Hughes
D: Jack Elkinton
D: Ryan Stanciak
MF: Mike Galvan
MF: Chris Crowson
MF: Tommy DeSanto
MF: Matt Paraskos
F: Lucas Ahonen
F: Lionel Arizmendi
F: Miguel Garcia
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Miguel Garcia, sr., F, Warren
Scoring summary
First half
Warren: Garcia (Crowson), 17’
Lake Zurich: Ferguson (Wits), 33’
Warren: Garcia (Arizmendi) 35’
Second half
No scoring