Mount Carmel blitzes Bloom with fast start
Sanchez goal/assist nets no. 15 Caravan WCRC consolation title
By Patrick Z. McGavin
BRIDGEVIEW -- The normal imaginative process ends the moment players step on the surface at Toyota Park. Everything is amplified and expanded -- in reach, depth and the possibilities. Balls that fly out of play on a normal-sized high school field remain forever in play.
The teams that are open to change, improvisation and the ability to carry out a game plan are the best situated to achieve their ends.
Mount Carmel's Moises Sanchez had never played at Toyota Park. He seized on the larger objectives.
“We knew coming into this game we had to set the tone early,” Sanchez said. “We knew if we started out strong early they’d have to defend the entire match and that would get them tired. It’s a big field, and we wanted to have them move around a lot.
“Once they are tired the spaces open up.”
Sanchez orchestrated a sterling early attack by scoring a goal and assisting on another in first six minutes as the Caravan, ranked 15th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, dominated from beginning to end in their 4-1 victory over Bloom in the consolation championship of the Windy City Ram Classic on the Chicago Fire home pitch Monday morning.
The matchup underlined the quality of the competition, and the symmetry of the tournament's 32-team bracket. Mount Carmel and Bloom lost respective first round games to no. 12 Argo and no. 13 Bremen, the participants in the winners’ bracket title.
Defending state Class AA runnerup Mount Carmel (6-1-0) rose to its challenge.
“Obviously we did not start out the season the way we wanted to by losing to Argo,” defender Axel Gongora said. “That was as tough loss. But I think we are getting back on track. They were a tough team, and we made a lot of mistakes.”
In the consolation championship, both teams started quickly. In the third minute, Bloom forward Carlos Vazquez smashed a header off the post. Mount Carmel was sharp and accurate from the beginning. They made their chances count.
In the fifth minute, Sanchez wove the ball against the Blazing Trojans’ back and slotted a pass that Gongora collected and finished with a one-touch low liner for the quick Caravan advantage.
“It’s a great field,” Gongora said. “We had more time to pass the ball and make our runs. Our outside backs and midfielders did great to open up. Our coach told us we had to come out strong and show were the best team on the field today, even though Argo and the other team were also playing. We wanted to be the best team that played.
“We obviously showed that the first 20 minutes.”
Just as important, Mount Carmel did not lay off or get comfortable. The quick goal was just the start of the accumulated pressure and ecstatic style of playing.
Sanchez, who had nine goals and 10 assists last year for the state finalist, followed his assist with another deep run and caught an over-the-top ball from Salvador Valencia and fired in a ball from the right wing for the second goal a minute later.
Sanchez earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match prize for his accomplished play.
“Playing on a big field like this I knew I had to open up my game,” Sanchez said. “When our center midfielder was coming up I knew I had to open up to create the one-two. It was almost the exact same for my goal, except this time I cut it upfield and played my own (shot).”
Bloom (4-2-0) was staggered from the start. The Blazing Trojans have six returning starters from last year’s very solid team. The team graduated 13 seniors, most significantly 2016 Chicagoland Soccer all-state honoree Alex Segoviano. With the special rules of the tournament, just 70 minutes of running time of two 35-minute halves, getting behind two goals early is a difficult place to operate out of.
“I think it deflated our egos with those two quick goals,” Bloom coach Kelly Gutierrez said. “It was a lot bigger field than we are accustomed, so getting used to that took some time. After that, I thought we played pretty well. We played more on the defensive third of the field than I’d have liked. Had that first header gone in, it might have changed the dynamic of the game.”
Just as the Trojans got their feet underneath them, Mount Carmel struck again. In the 26th minute, reserve Nico Fox broke free on the right wing and blasted a ball from about 19 yards for the 3-0 Caravan advantage.
Bloom fought back with a terrific re-start from Anthony Aldape in the 43rd minute. The forward's first free kick earlier in the second half got caught up in the defensive wall. On his second free kick, he delivered a beautiful left-footed ball from the right wing from about 18 yards that broke brilliantly inside the near post for the goal.
It turned out to be the team’s lone significant highlight.
“I saw where the goalie was standing, and I knew where to hit the ball,” Aldape said. “They played better than us throughout the game. They attacked more with the ball. I don’t think we were scared or anything.”
Mount Carmel’s depth wore out the Blazing Trojans. Caravan coach Antonio Godinez used a constant flow of substitutions. Part of that strategy was to give all his players a chance to get on the Toyota Park field. The Caravan lost very little going to their bench.
In the 59th minute, Mount Carmel punctuated the strong win. Midfielder Duncan Luning executed a beautiful two-on-one, pushing the ball deep into the Bloom interior and slotting a pass to sophomore reserve Shaun Mirr as he completed his run.
Mirr hammered home the ball for the emphatic close to a strong performance.
“We always work on starting strong and finishing strong,” Godinez said. “We started really well. We wanted to stretch them out, and the guys were fit. They have been working out in the early morning in order to get ready to play this game. After the Argo game, the guys needed to learn their lesson. It’s better to learn it early than later. We just came back together, organized ourselves and started playing better.
“This might be the only time to play on this field. We made some adjustments, and we had to figure out who our best 11 on the field together was. The guys have really responded for us.”
Starting lineups
Bloom
GK: Nicholas Salinas
D: Miguel Mariano
D: Roberto Coria
D: Alexander Mariano
D: Johan Boyo
D: Kevin Gavina
MF: Jonathan Muro
MF: Alexis Gomez
MF: Jose Rodriguez
F: Anthony Aldape
F: Carlos Vazquez
Mount Carmel
GK: Sergio Valencia
D: Kendall Nichols
D: Giovanni Vargas
D: James Flowers
D: Axel Gongora
MF: Cesar Cosio
MF: Salvador Valencia
MF:: Moises Sanchez
MF: Felix Mendoza
MF: Duncan Luning
F: Josiah Ash
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Moises Sanchez, sr., MF, Mount Carmel
Scoring summary
First half
Mount Carmel—Axel Gongora (Moises Sanchez) in the fifth minute
Mount Carmel—Sanchez (Salvador Valencia) in the sixth minute
Mount Carmel—Nico Fox in the 26th minute
Second half
Bloom—Anthony Aldape (free kick) in the 43rd minute
Mount Carmel—Shaun Mirr (Duncan Luning) in the 59th minute
Sanchez goal/assist nets no. 15 Caravan WCRC consolation title
By Patrick Z. McGavin
BRIDGEVIEW -- The normal imaginative process ends the moment players step on the surface at Toyota Park. Everything is amplified and expanded -- in reach, depth and the possibilities. Balls that fly out of play on a normal-sized high school field remain forever in play.
The teams that are open to change, improvisation and the ability to carry out a game plan are the best situated to achieve their ends.
Mount Carmel's Moises Sanchez had never played at Toyota Park. He seized on the larger objectives.
“We knew coming into this game we had to set the tone early,” Sanchez said. “We knew if we started out strong early they’d have to defend the entire match and that would get them tired. It’s a big field, and we wanted to have them move around a lot.
“Once they are tired the spaces open up.”
Sanchez orchestrated a sterling early attack by scoring a goal and assisting on another in first six minutes as the Caravan, ranked 15th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, dominated from beginning to end in their 4-1 victory over Bloom in the consolation championship of the Windy City Ram Classic on the Chicago Fire home pitch Monday morning.
The matchup underlined the quality of the competition, and the symmetry of the tournament's 32-team bracket. Mount Carmel and Bloom lost respective first round games to no. 12 Argo and no. 13 Bremen, the participants in the winners’ bracket title.
Defending state Class AA runnerup Mount Carmel (6-1-0) rose to its challenge.
“Obviously we did not start out the season the way we wanted to by losing to Argo,” defender Axel Gongora said. “That was as tough loss. But I think we are getting back on track. They were a tough team, and we made a lot of mistakes.”
In the consolation championship, both teams started quickly. In the third minute, Bloom forward Carlos Vazquez smashed a header off the post. Mount Carmel was sharp and accurate from the beginning. They made their chances count.
In the fifth minute, Sanchez wove the ball against the Blazing Trojans’ back and slotted a pass that Gongora collected and finished with a one-touch low liner for the quick Caravan advantage.
“It’s a great field,” Gongora said. “We had more time to pass the ball and make our runs. Our outside backs and midfielders did great to open up. Our coach told us we had to come out strong and show were the best team on the field today, even though Argo and the other team were also playing. We wanted to be the best team that played.
“We obviously showed that the first 20 minutes.”
Just as important, Mount Carmel did not lay off or get comfortable. The quick goal was just the start of the accumulated pressure and ecstatic style of playing.
Sanchez, who had nine goals and 10 assists last year for the state finalist, followed his assist with another deep run and caught an over-the-top ball from Salvador Valencia and fired in a ball from the right wing for the second goal a minute later.
Sanchez earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match prize for his accomplished play.
“Playing on a big field like this I knew I had to open up my game,” Sanchez said. “When our center midfielder was coming up I knew I had to open up to create the one-two. It was almost the exact same for my goal, except this time I cut it upfield and played my own (shot).”
Bloom (4-2-0) was staggered from the start. The Blazing Trojans have six returning starters from last year’s very solid team. The team graduated 13 seniors, most significantly 2016 Chicagoland Soccer all-state honoree Alex Segoviano. With the special rules of the tournament, just 70 minutes of running time of two 35-minute halves, getting behind two goals early is a difficult place to operate out of.
“I think it deflated our egos with those two quick goals,” Bloom coach Kelly Gutierrez said. “It was a lot bigger field than we are accustomed, so getting used to that took some time. After that, I thought we played pretty well. We played more on the defensive third of the field than I’d have liked. Had that first header gone in, it might have changed the dynamic of the game.”
Just as the Trojans got their feet underneath them, Mount Carmel struck again. In the 26th minute, reserve Nico Fox broke free on the right wing and blasted a ball from about 19 yards for the 3-0 Caravan advantage.
Bloom fought back with a terrific re-start from Anthony Aldape in the 43rd minute. The forward's first free kick earlier in the second half got caught up in the defensive wall. On his second free kick, he delivered a beautiful left-footed ball from the right wing from about 18 yards that broke brilliantly inside the near post for the goal.
It turned out to be the team’s lone significant highlight.
“I saw where the goalie was standing, and I knew where to hit the ball,” Aldape said. “They played better than us throughout the game. They attacked more with the ball. I don’t think we were scared or anything.”
Mount Carmel’s depth wore out the Blazing Trojans. Caravan coach Antonio Godinez used a constant flow of substitutions. Part of that strategy was to give all his players a chance to get on the Toyota Park field. The Caravan lost very little going to their bench.
In the 59th minute, Mount Carmel punctuated the strong win. Midfielder Duncan Luning executed a beautiful two-on-one, pushing the ball deep into the Bloom interior and slotting a pass to sophomore reserve Shaun Mirr as he completed his run.
Mirr hammered home the ball for the emphatic close to a strong performance.
“We always work on starting strong and finishing strong,” Godinez said. “We started really well. We wanted to stretch them out, and the guys were fit. They have been working out in the early morning in order to get ready to play this game. After the Argo game, the guys needed to learn their lesson. It’s better to learn it early than later. We just came back together, organized ourselves and started playing better.
“This might be the only time to play on this field. We made some adjustments, and we had to figure out who our best 11 on the field together was. The guys have really responded for us.”
Starting lineups
Bloom
GK: Nicholas Salinas
D: Miguel Mariano
D: Roberto Coria
D: Alexander Mariano
D: Johan Boyo
D: Kevin Gavina
MF: Jonathan Muro
MF: Alexis Gomez
MF: Jose Rodriguez
F: Anthony Aldape
F: Carlos Vazquez
Mount Carmel
GK: Sergio Valencia
D: Kendall Nichols
D: Giovanni Vargas
D: James Flowers
D: Axel Gongora
MF: Cesar Cosio
MF: Salvador Valencia
MF:: Moises Sanchez
MF: Felix Mendoza
MF: Duncan Luning
F: Josiah Ash
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Moises Sanchez, sr., MF, Mount Carmel
Scoring summary
First half
Mount Carmel—Axel Gongora (Moises Sanchez) in the fifth minute
Mount Carmel—Sanchez (Salvador Valencia) in the sixth minute
Mount Carmel—Nico Fox in the 26th minute
Second half
Bloom—Anthony Aldape (free kick) in the 43rd minute
Mount Carmel—Shaun Mirr (Duncan Luning) in the 59th minute