Late finish by New Trier answers
early Glenbrook South goal
Ranked powers play to draw in CSL South opener
By Patrick Z. McGavin
GLENVIEW -- New Trier had the wrong kind of experience, and Glenbrook South wondered aloud what might have been.
In the Central Suburban League South Division debut of two heavyweights Tuesday night, the game was exhilarating and fascinating to see. The atmosphere was electric. A massive Tuesday night crowd on a gorgeous night was treated to some very high-caliber soccer.
Glenbrook South stormed early. The cool, methodical and precise New Trier answered late.
“I was so happy to see the crowd out here,” Glenbrook South coach Reggie Lara said. “It was so huge to have all the teachers here for Teachers Appreciation Night.
“It almost had a Friday night football feel to the game at times.”
New Trier, ranked seventh in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, certainly noticed.
“They had a lot of fans, and they might have had an effect,” New Trier forward Aidan Crowder said. “I am not sure. They came out firing, and we were not ready for that.
“We just had to adjust, which put ourselves in a harder position to win.”
No. 14 Glenbrook South stunned the Trevians in the early moments with a goal moments that held firm for more than an hour of play until forward Alex Powell delivered a late equalizer and a 1-1 draw.
Glenbrook South (5-1-3, 0-0-1) played with an explosiveness and levity from the jump. The Titans play yielded an early corner kick. In the second minute after the serve, senior midfielder Julian Issar caught a short ball from Jose Santos-DeSoto and drilled home a short volley for his first goal of the year.
“We definitely have size, a lot of height,” Issar said. “The ball got hit up, and there were a couple of guys going for it. I judged it, and I think it was Blake [Schectman] in front of me. He missed it, and I just saw it bounce. I hit it with my left foot hoping it would go in, and it did.”
Glenbrook South showed a vital energy and sense of urgency.
“I especially liked it because a couple of games in the past we have come out really slow, but we really brought it in the first couple of minutes and set the tone, which was really good,” Issar said.
“We set the intensity, and we didn’t drop it for the majority of the game.”
In a marquee match, early goals are enormously important from both sides. The Titans had the momentum.
“I was super excited with the hot start that the guys had,” Lara said. “We have been a second half team up to this point. One of our keys to the game was starting out hot. I thought with the crowd feeding our energy, these guys brought it to them, and we were able to stick that goal in the second minute of the game.
“That was huge.”
New Trier was swooning but just a bit. The moment was blinding, if temporary.
On Thursday in a conference crossover, Maine West scored in the first minute, rendering the Trevians dazed. They rebounded by scoring six unanswered goals.
“We have been struggling with the way we start lately,” Crowder said. “This has happened recently, and most of the time we have been able to come back and win, but not tonight.
“Every single game we have played, that first goal is so important because that just unlocks the rest of our team. We have to work on getting that goal earlier. We got it kind of late in the second half, and we didn’t have that much time to score a second goal.”
Two schools of thought orbit around early goals: it is psychologically deflating to permit an early score; or does a team rally aound the realization that plenty of time remains to answer.
New Trier (6-1-2, 0-0-1) recovered well, with Crowder in particular proving very dangerous. Midfielders Jake Krueger and Will Franzen began to push the ball wide and create dangerous opportunities on the wings.
Powell, an electric forward, has emerged as one of the top scoring threats on the North Shore. He is sublime in space, using his quickness and speed to create the necessary separation.
Still, the Trevians seemed a bit shell-shocked, haunted by the actions of the opening minutes.
“For better or worse we have been in this situation a few times this year,” New Trier coach Matt Ravenscraft said. “We have shown we can battle back from a deficit. It’s a quality we have as a team.
“It is not necessarily a quality that you want to know that you have.”
New Trier regrouped and excelled at creating high pressure and pushing numbers forward. The Trevians created three corners in the first 12 minutes of the game.
Krueger is the corner specialist, and he served several promising balls. New Trier was in a zone, but it was fairly amorphous, without shape or definition. In the first 20 minutes, New Trier generated strong pressure. Something was missing, a solid final touch or a fully executed sequence.
Even Powell had what appeared a certain goal off a cross from about 12 yards only to see his wind-up completely miss the chance.
“I had my eyes on the prize, and I just completed whiffed it,” he said.
“We can’t be on the back foot that early,” Ravenscraft said. “I would have hoped we’d have learned from the Maine West game. When we are playing well and in the run of play, that is closer to the hallmark of our team.”
Glenbrook South is big and rangy. Their size and length is imposing, especially to create passes or control the action through the air.
“Defensively we try to force teams to play more direct, because that over-the-top ball feeds well into the backline and we are able to win that,” Lara said.
“Our average height is 6-feet, and we have a couple of guys who are 6-feet-5, and we try to earn as many set pieces as possible, corner kicks, penalty kicks, and kind the put the defense on their heels and make the goalkeeper feel that size as we are going to the goal.”
Forward Danny Sergiev, one of those 6-foot-5 players, smashed a header off the bar in the 50th minute. Glenbrook South stayed dangerous and kept the Trevians off-balance enough to maintain the lead well into the second half.
"I think we are getting towards our potential,” Issar said. “I don’t think we reached it yet. I think we are definitely moving in the right direction. The thing that I was most excited about was our defensive line, with guys like Drew Maytum, Jose, they played really well against their fast guys up-top.
“I think they shut them down pretty well.”
Each team scored in the north end and developed their goal out of corner kicks. In the 64th minute, New Trier delivered as Krueger served a sharp and beautifully rendered floater that Powell elevated on and smashed home with a header.
“It was a fantastic ball by Jake, and I was able to clear my defender. I saw it coming, and I just headed it,” Powell said. It was his seventh goal of the season.
For their excellent work, Alex Powell and Julian Issar shared the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match distinction.
If the Trevians’ goal marked the culmination of some strong play and consistent pressure, Powell also pointed out that the equalizer proved New Trier needs to be ready at the beginning.
“We have had the struggle of going down early in games before,” Powell said. “That gives us fuel, but that is not a good thing at all. While it gives us fuel when they score, we cannot always be coming out soft and losing our poise and conceding that first goal.
“The best teams are going to take that first goal and just keep on going. We have to get better at not letting them get that first goal.
In another riveting clash, Sergiev crashed the net and nearly put in a goal only to be stymied by the Trevians’ equally lanky keeper Aidan Crawford.
It was that kind of night, brash, bold and filled with emotion and intensity. The fact that many players compete for the same Glenview-based club program, FC United, heightened the drama.
Ravenscraft welcomed the opportunity of the grand test and what it means going forward.
“It’s great our kids had the opportunity to play in this kind of atmosphere,” he said. “I wouldn’t say it was quite hostile, but you are playing in front of a lot of fans. There is more energy than maybe you are used to.
“Hopefully we are able to learn from that.”
The dynamic was more bittersweet for Glenbrook South. New Trier had the more consistent run of play. The Titans had the better scoring chances.
Lara wondered aloud about a more positive outcome.
“Any time that you can tie New Trier, it is often a good day,” he said. “Today it is a little bittersweet in that I felt we had chances we just could not bury. I hope that doesn’t haunt us in terms of winning conference.
“Overall I am really proud of how the boys played and how hard they played.”
Starting lineups
New Trier
GK: Aidan Crawford
D: Seth Babbitt
D: James Paden
D: Ronan O’Neill
D: Peter Norehad
MF: Ryan Ball
MF: Jake Krueger
MF: Will Franzen
MF: ZacH Moskowwitz
F: Aidan Crowder
F: Alex Powell
Glenbrook South
GK: Christian Noordover
D: Ryan Batka
D: Michael Zenzola
D: Drew Maytum
MF: Jose Santos-DeSoto
MF: Arturo Moyo
MF: Tangis Purevrentsen
MF: Blake Shechtman
MF: Julian Issar
F: Danny Sergiev
F: Zach Ochab
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match: Alex Powell, sr., F, New Trier
Julian Issar, sr., MF, Glenbrook South
Scoring summary
First half
Glenbrook South—Julian Issar (Jose Santos-DeSoto), second minute
Second half
New Trier—Alex Powell (Jake Krueger), 64th minute
early Glenbrook South goal
Ranked powers play to draw in CSL South opener
By Patrick Z. McGavin
GLENVIEW -- New Trier had the wrong kind of experience, and Glenbrook South wondered aloud what might have been.
In the Central Suburban League South Division debut of two heavyweights Tuesday night, the game was exhilarating and fascinating to see. The atmosphere was electric. A massive Tuesday night crowd on a gorgeous night was treated to some very high-caliber soccer.
Glenbrook South stormed early. The cool, methodical and precise New Trier answered late.
“I was so happy to see the crowd out here,” Glenbrook South coach Reggie Lara said. “It was so huge to have all the teachers here for Teachers Appreciation Night.
“It almost had a Friday night football feel to the game at times.”
New Trier, ranked seventh in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, certainly noticed.
“They had a lot of fans, and they might have had an effect,” New Trier forward Aidan Crowder said. “I am not sure. They came out firing, and we were not ready for that.
“We just had to adjust, which put ourselves in a harder position to win.”
No. 14 Glenbrook South stunned the Trevians in the early moments with a goal moments that held firm for more than an hour of play until forward Alex Powell delivered a late equalizer and a 1-1 draw.
Glenbrook South (5-1-3, 0-0-1) played with an explosiveness and levity from the jump. The Titans play yielded an early corner kick. In the second minute after the serve, senior midfielder Julian Issar caught a short ball from Jose Santos-DeSoto and drilled home a short volley for his first goal of the year.
“We definitely have size, a lot of height,” Issar said. “The ball got hit up, and there were a couple of guys going for it. I judged it, and I think it was Blake [Schectman] in front of me. He missed it, and I just saw it bounce. I hit it with my left foot hoping it would go in, and it did.”
Glenbrook South showed a vital energy and sense of urgency.
“I especially liked it because a couple of games in the past we have come out really slow, but we really brought it in the first couple of minutes and set the tone, which was really good,” Issar said.
“We set the intensity, and we didn’t drop it for the majority of the game.”
In a marquee match, early goals are enormously important from both sides. The Titans had the momentum.
“I was super excited with the hot start that the guys had,” Lara said. “We have been a second half team up to this point. One of our keys to the game was starting out hot. I thought with the crowd feeding our energy, these guys brought it to them, and we were able to stick that goal in the second minute of the game.
“That was huge.”
New Trier was swooning but just a bit. The moment was blinding, if temporary.
On Thursday in a conference crossover, Maine West scored in the first minute, rendering the Trevians dazed. They rebounded by scoring six unanswered goals.
“We have been struggling with the way we start lately,” Crowder said. “This has happened recently, and most of the time we have been able to come back and win, but not tonight.
“Every single game we have played, that first goal is so important because that just unlocks the rest of our team. We have to work on getting that goal earlier. We got it kind of late in the second half, and we didn’t have that much time to score a second goal.”
Two schools of thought orbit around early goals: it is psychologically deflating to permit an early score; or does a team rally aound the realization that plenty of time remains to answer.
New Trier (6-1-2, 0-0-1) recovered well, with Crowder in particular proving very dangerous. Midfielders Jake Krueger and Will Franzen began to push the ball wide and create dangerous opportunities on the wings.
Powell, an electric forward, has emerged as one of the top scoring threats on the North Shore. He is sublime in space, using his quickness and speed to create the necessary separation.
Still, the Trevians seemed a bit shell-shocked, haunted by the actions of the opening minutes.
“For better or worse we have been in this situation a few times this year,” New Trier coach Matt Ravenscraft said. “We have shown we can battle back from a deficit. It’s a quality we have as a team.
“It is not necessarily a quality that you want to know that you have.”
New Trier regrouped and excelled at creating high pressure and pushing numbers forward. The Trevians created three corners in the first 12 minutes of the game.
Krueger is the corner specialist, and he served several promising balls. New Trier was in a zone, but it was fairly amorphous, without shape or definition. In the first 20 minutes, New Trier generated strong pressure. Something was missing, a solid final touch or a fully executed sequence.
Even Powell had what appeared a certain goal off a cross from about 12 yards only to see his wind-up completely miss the chance.
“I had my eyes on the prize, and I just completed whiffed it,” he said.
“We can’t be on the back foot that early,” Ravenscraft said. “I would have hoped we’d have learned from the Maine West game. When we are playing well and in the run of play, that is closer to the hallmark of our team.”
Glenbrook South is big and rangy. Their size and length is imposing, especially to create passes or control the action through the air.
“Defensively we try to force teams to play more direct, because that over-the-top ball feeds well into the backline and we are able to win that,” Lara said.
“Our average height is 6-feet, and we have a couple of guys who are 6-feet-5, and we try to earn as many set pieces as possible, corner kicks, penalty kicks, and kind the put the defense on their heels and make the goalkeeper feel that size as we are going to the goal.”
Forward Danny Sergiev, one of those 6-foot-5 players, smashed a header off the bar in the 50th minute. Glenbrook South stayed dangerous and kept the Trevians off-balance enough to maintain the lead well into the second half.
"I think we are getting towards our potential,” Issar said. “I don’t think we reached it yet. I think we are definitely moving in the right direction. The thing that I was most excited about was our defensive line, with guys like Drew Maytum, Jose, they played really well against their fast guys up-top.
“I think they shut them down pretty well.”
Each team scored in the north end and developed their goal out of corner kicks. In the 64th minute, New Trier delivered as Krueger served a sharp and beautifully rendered floater that Powell elevated on and smashed home with a header.
“It was a fantastic ball by Jake, and I was able to clear my defender. I saw it coming, and I just headed it,” Powell said. It was his seventh goal of the season.
For their excellent work, Alex Powell and Julian Issar shared the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match distinction.
If the Trevians’ goal marked the culmination of some strong play and consistent pressure, Powell also pointed out that the equalizer proved New Trier needs to be ready at the beginning.
“We have had the struggle of going down early in games before,” Powell said. “That gives us fuel, but that is not a good thing at all. While it gives us fuel when they score, we cannot always be coming out soft and losing our poise and conceding that first goal.
“The best teams are going to take that first goal and just keep on going. We have to get better at not letting them get that first goal.
In another riveting clash, Sergiev crashed the net and nearly put in a goal only to be stymied by the Trevians’ equally lanky keeper Aidan Crawford.
It was that kind of night, brash, bold and filled with emotion and intensity. The fact that many players compete for the same Glenview-based club program, FC United, heightened the drama.
Ravenscraft welcomed the opportunity of the grand test and what it means going forward.
“It’s great our kids had the opportunity to play in this kind of atmosphere,” he said. “I wouldn’t say it was quite hostile, but you are playing in front of a lot of fans. There is more energy than maybe you are used to.
“Hopefully we are able to learn from that.”
The dynamic was more bittersweet for Glenbrook South. New Trier had the more consistent run of play. The Titans had the better scoring chances.
Lara wondered aloud about a more positive outcome.
“Any time that you can tie New Trier, it is often a good day,” he said. “Today it is a little bittersweet in that I felt we had chances we just could not bury. I hope that doesn’t haunt us in terms of winning conference.
“Overall I am really proud of how the boys played and how hard they played.”
Starting lineups
New Trier
GK: Aidan Crawford
D: Seth Babbitt
D: James Paden
D: Ronan O’Neill
D: Peter Norehad
MF: Ryan Ball
MF: Jake Krueger
MF: Will Franzen
MF: ZacH Moskowwitz
F: Aidan Crowder
F: Alex Powell
Glenbrook South
GK: Christian Noordover
D: Ryan Batka
D: Michael Zenzola
D: Drew Maytum
MF: Jose Santos-DeSoto
MF: Arturo Moyo
MF: Tangis Purevrentsen
MF: Blake Shechtman
MF: Julian Issar
F: Danny Sergiev
F: Zach Ochab
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match: Alex Powell, sr., F, New Trier
Julian Issar, sr., MF, Glenbrook South
Scoring summary
First half
Glenbrook South—Julian Issar (Jose Santos-DeSoto), second minute
Second half
New Trier—Alex Powell (Jake Krueger), 64th minute