St. Patrick retains Irish Cup vs. Notre Dame
Shamrocks win 4-1 for 3rd-straight series win over Dons
By Gary Larsen
CHICAGO — St. Patrick can come at you in waves on the counter attack, play possession soccer, and hurt you on set pieces. When it comes to the Shamrocks, everything is situational.
“We have a lot of different ways we can play,” St. Patrick coach Kyle McClure confirmed.
The Shamrocks scored in multiple ways during their 4-1 win over Notre Dame on Wednesday with seven different players putting their stamp on the box score.
The heated rivalry between the East Suburban Catholic Conference programs was also on full display at Read-Dunning field in Chicago, with the Irish Cup trophy on the line.
Wednesday’s win gave St. Patrick possession of the Cup for the third-consecutive year.
“Every rivalry game is tough. Everyone wants to win the Cup,” St. Patrick midfielder Aaron Moreno-Lopez said. “It’s always a physical game. I guess we just wanted it more this year.”
Notre Dame (5-5-3, 1-4-1) knew it faced a skilled team in St. Patrick (12-0-2, 2-0-1), which is ranked fourth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25. But the Dons came out hard from the outset to hold the Shamrocks’ dangerous attack out of the net.
“I’m really proud of how our boys battled,” Notre Dame coach Mike Smith said. “We came in knowing we weren’t going to possess the ball as much as (St. Patrick) and that we’d have to defend really well. I thought we did that for the first 25 or 30 minutes but giving up two goals before halftime was certainly crushing on us.”
The game’s first goal came at 32 minutes from Matthew Piwowarczyk on a ball centered from the left side by Malcolm McGee. It was the sophomore Piwowarczyk’s first varsity goal, and it lit a fire under the Shamrocks’ attack.
“I thought (Piwowarczyk) played his best game of the season,” McClure said. “He rotates into that center mid spot and for a sophomore he’s a very good player. He really stepped up today, and Malcolm (McGee) had a nice game off the bench. For them to come in and get us that first goal was huge. It really got us going.”
Two minutes later, St. Patrick’s Jaden Buelvas streaked behind the Notre Dame backline in transition, gathering a long ball sent over the top by Moreno-Lopez, and scored to make it 2-0 at the break.
Notre Dame came out in the second half with urgency. The Dons halved their deficit just two minutes into play when senior David Mikolajczyk lofted a high shot from distance on the left side that fell under the crossbar near the far post.
Smith was happy with the way his group responded.
“Kudos to the boys. They stayed fired up,” Smith said. “My captains got on the boys at halftime, and then pulling one back to make the game 2-1 was exciting. It breathed some new life into us. The bench was showing energy, and the guys on the field were showing energy.”
The Dons kept pressing but the Shamrocks were up to the challenge. St. Patrick played without starting center back Adam Przytula due to illness, but starters Collin Kroeger, Juan Leon, and Narcizo Ibarra led a three-back formation that kept Notre Dame to the single tally.
Shamrocks keeper Jorge Cebrero stayed aggressive and also made a few nice saves.
“We moved the ball really good together, and we found our midfielders and forwards pretty well,” Kroeger said. “We just have to move the ball and make sure we transition really quick, front and back. They were a really good team, but I thought we did a good job of stopping them forward.”
After St. Patrick’s Luis Angel Saucedo headed a ball off the crossbar at 60 minutes, a crazy-good strike from teammate Jonathan Rodriguez at 61 minutes gave St. Patrick at 3-1 lead.
Rodriguez took a pass from Angel Adame on the right side and from 23 yards blistered a shot from a tough angle inside the far post that stretched the side netting.
Notre Dame keeper Jeremy Spina made a sprawling kick-save of a shot taken by McGee at 67 minutes, and at 69 minutes Cebrero raced out to the 18 to snatch a through-ball with a Don running on.
The game’s final goal came at 73 minutes after Saucedo hit a post and Moreno-Lopez was there to clean it up.
“(Moreno-Lopez) provides a lot of senior leadership, and he’s one of our (five) four-year starters,” McClure said. “He takes all our corners and free kicks, he’s really smart, and we don’t like to take him out even when he gets tired because when we get a free kick or a corner he’s so dangerous on those.”
Moreno-Lopez and Rodriguez lead the Shamrocks with 10 assists apiece this season.
For his play on Wednesday, Moreno-Lopez was named Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match.
The Shamrocks also attacked and finished on four goals without leading scorer Joshua Torres (18 goals), who played roughly the first 20 minutes but was a healthy scratch for the rest of the contest.
Notre Dame got gritty performances all over the pitch and none any more so than the ones given by senior midfielders Mikolajczyk and Jaime Gutierrez.
“Jaime and David have been two of our top guys all year long,” Smith said. “We found out that as they do good things for us, we have success as a team. David had one of the best games I’ve ever seen from him today, and he had a hell of a shot to score a goal for us. And our other captain, Nicky (Marchese), has been a tank for us up-top all year.”
Notre Dame defenders Clayton Sheehan and Joe Waltz were also prominent in helping to slow down the Shamrocks. At least as much as slowing St. Patrick down is sometimes possible.
“Props to (St. Patrick). They’ve got a really, really strong team,” Smith said. “It’s been fun watching a couple of their senior players grow up over the last couple years. They have a lot of talent. Hopefully they'll make some noise in the 3A playoffs, and we can do the same in the AA playoffs."
St. Patrick travels to a tournament in Kentucky for games on Friday and Saturday, before returning to play in a PepsiCo bracket title game Sunday against top-ranked Morton.
McClure will rest players when he can during a rough slate of upcoming games, and he was pleased with the effort his boys gave him against Notre Dame.
“Without Adam today and Joshua for most of the game, it gave some other guys an opportunity to step up, and they did a really good job of that,” McClure said. “It was a good, team win.”
Starting lineups
St. Patrick
GK: Jorge Cebrero
D: Juan Leon
D: Collin Kroeger
D: Narcizo Ibarra
M: Angel Adame
M: Luis Angel Saucedo
M: Jonathan Rodriquez
M: Jaden Buelvas
M: Aaron Moreno-Lopez
F: Sebastian Modrzejewski
F: Joshua Torres
Notre Dame
GK: Jeremy Spina
D: Andrew Gale
D: Dylan Steurer
D: Clayton Sheehan
D: Joe Waltz
M: Paul Harris
M: David Mikolajczyk
M: Zach Zwolfer
M: Jaime Gutierrez
M: Andres Barrezueta
F: Nicky Marchese
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match — Aaron Moreno-Lopez, sr., M, St. Patrick
Scoring summary
First half
St. Patrick — Piwowarczyk (McGee) 32 minutes
St. Patrick — Buelvas (Moreno-Lopez) 34 minutes
Second half
Notre Dame — Mikolajczyk (UA) 42 minutes
St. Patrick — Rodriguez (Adame) 67 minutes
St. Patrick — Moreno-Lopez (Saucedo) 73 minutes
Shamrocks win 4-1 for 3rd-straight series win over Dons
By Gary Larsen
CHICAGO — St. Patrick can come at you in waves on the counter attack, play possession soccer, and hurt you on set pieces. When it comes to the Shamrocks, everything is situational.
“We have a lot of different ways we can play,” St. Patrick coach Kyle McClure confirmed.
The Shamrocks scored in multiple ways during their 4-1 win over Notre Dame on Wednesday with seven different players putting their stamp on the box score.
The heated rivalry between the East Suburban Catholic Conference programs was also on full display at Read-Dunning field in Chicago, with the Irish Cup trophy on the line.
Wednesday’s win gave St. Patrick possession of the Cup for the third-consecutive year.
“Every rivalry game is tough. Everyone wants to win the Cup,” St. Patrick midfielder Aaron Moreno-Lopez said. “It’s always a physical game. I guess we just wanted it more this year.”
Notre Dame (5-5-3, 1-4-1) knew it faced a skilled team in St. Patrick (12-0-2, 2-0-1), which is ranked fourth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25. But the Dons came out hard from the outset to hold the Shamrocks’ dangerous attack out of the net.
“I’m really proud of how our boys battled,” Notre Dame coach Mike Smith said. “We came in knowing we weren’t going to possess the ball as much as (St. Patrick) and that we’d have to defend really well. I thought we did that for the first 25 or 30 minutes but giving up two goals before halftime was certainly crushing on us.”
The game’s first goal came at 32 minutes from Matthew Piwowarczyk on a ball centered from the left side by Malcolm McGee. It was the sophomore Piwowarczyk’s first varsity goal, and it lit a fire under the Shamrocks’ attack.
“I thought (Piwowarczyk) played his best game of the season,” McClure said. “He rotates into that center mid spot and for a sophomore he’s a very good player. He really stepped up today, and Malcolm (McGee) had a nice game off the bench. For them to come in and get us that first goal was huge. It really got us going.”
Two minutes later, St. Patrick’s Jaden Buelvas streaked behind the Notre Dame backline in transition, gathering a long ball sent over the top by Moreno-Lopez, and scored to make it 2-0 at the break.
Notre Dame came out in the second half with urgency. The Dons halved their deficit just two minutes into play when senior David Mikolajczyk lofted a high shot from distance on the left side that fell under the crossbar near the far post.
Smith was happy with the way his group responded.
“Kudos to the boys. They stayed fired up,” Smith said. “My captains got on the boys at halftime, and then pulling one back to make the game 2-1 was exciting. It breathed some new life into us. The bench was showing energy, and the guys on the field were showing energy.”
The Dons kept pressing but the Shamrocks were up to the challenge. St. Patrick played without starting center back Adam Przytula due to illness, but starters Collin Kroeger, Juan Leon, and Narcizo Ibarra led a three-back formation that kept Notre Dame to the single tally.
Shamrocks keeper Jorge Cebrero stayed aggressive and also made a few nice saves.
“We moved the ball really good together, and we found our midfielders and forwards pretty well,” Kroeger said. “We just have to move the ball and make sure we transition really quick, front and back. They were a really good team, but I thought we did a good job of stopping them forward.”
After St. Patrick’s Luis Angel Saucedo headed a ball off the crossbar at 60 minutes, a crazy-good strike from teammate Jonathan Rodriguez at 61 minutes gave St. Patrick at 3-1 lead.
Rodriguez took a pass from Angel Adame on the right side and from 23 yards blistered a shot from a tough angle inside the far post that stretched the side netting.
Notre Dame keeper Jeremy Spina made a sprawling kick-save of a shot taken by McGee at 67 minutes, and at 69 minutes Cebrero raced out to the 18 to snatch a through-ball with a Don running on.
The game’s final goal came at 73 minutes after Saucedo hit a post and Moreno-Lopez was there to clean it up.
“(Moreno-Lopez) provides a lot of senior leadership, and he’s one of our (five) four-year starters,” McClure said. “He takes all our corners and free kicks, he’s really smart, and we don’t like to take him out even when he gets tired because when we get a free kick or a corner he’s so dangerous on those.”
Moreno-Lopez and Rodriguez lead the Shamrocks with 10 assists apiece this season.
For his play on Wednesday, Moreno-Lopez was named Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match.
The Shamrocks also attacked and finished on four goals without leading scorer Joshua Torres (18 goals), who played roughly the first 20 minutes but was a healthy scratch for the rest of the contest.
Notre Dame got gritty performances all over the pitch and none any more so than the ones given by senior midfielders Mikolajczyk and Jaime Gutierrez.
“Jaime and David have been two of our top guys all year long,” Smith said. “We found out that as they do good things for us, we have success as a team. David had one of the best games I’ve ever seen from him today, and he had a hell of a shot to score a goal for us. And our other captain, Nicky (Marchese), has been a tank for us up-top all year.”
Notre Dame defenders Clayton Sheehan and Joe Waltz were also prominent in helping to slow down the Shamrocks. At least as much as slowing St. Patrick down is sometimes possible.
“Props to (St. Patrick). They’ve got a really, really strong team,” Smith said. “It’s been fun watching a couple of their senior players grow up over the last couple years. They have a lot of talent. Hopefully they'll make some noise in the 3A playoffs, and we can do the same in the AA playoffs."
St. Patrick travels to a tournament in Kentucky for games on Friday and Saturday, before returning to play in a PepsiCo bracket title game Sunday against top-ranked Morton.
McClure will rest players when he can during a rough slate of upcoming games, and he was pleased with the effort his boys gave him against Notre Dame.
“Without Adam today and Joshua for most of the game, it gave some other guys an opportunity to step up, and they did a really good job of that,” McClure said. “It was a good, team win.”
Starting lineups
St. Patrick
GK: Jorge Cebrero
D: Juan Leon
D: Collin Kroeger
D: Narcizo Ibarra
M: Angel Adame
M: Luis Angel Saucedo
M: Jonathan Rodriquez
M: Jaden Buelvas
M: Aaron Moreno-Lopez
F: Sebastian Modrzejewski
F: Joshua Torres
Notre Dame
GK: Jeremy Spina
D: Andrew Gale
D: Dylan Steurer
D: Clayton Sheehan
D: Joe Waltz
M: Paul Harris
M: David Mikolajczyk
M: Zach Zwolfer
M: Jaime Gutierrez
M: Andres Barrezueta
F: Nicky Marchese
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match — Aaron Moreno-Lopez, sr., M, St. Patrick
Scoring summary
First half
St. Patrick — Piwowarczyk (McGee) 32 minutes
St. Patrick — Buelvas (Moreno-Lopez) 34 minutes
Second half
Notre Dame — Mikolajczyk (UA) 42 minutes
St. Patrick — Rodriguez (Adame) 67 minutes
St. Patrick — Moreno-Lopez (Saucedo) 73 minutes