Reavis set pieces overpower Oak Lawn
Porras and Cedillo score in in 2-0 consolation quarterfinal win
By Patrick Z. McGavin
BURBANK -- The Reavis players like to joke that senior midfielder Juan Cedillo plays with his head.
The reference is to his almost preternatural ability on headers. He just has a knack for scoring in that manner, especially off of set pieces.
That only tells part of the story. With senior Marek Judka, Cedillo is also the free kick specialist. He is also heady, in the truest sense of the word. He is able to capably dissect where his team is vulnerable.
“After our first game, we were off,” Cedillo said. “We knew our formation, but we were not playing it well or the way are capable of. In our second game, we played much better.”
Cedillo and junior midfielder Diego Porras scored off beautifully designed set pieces as the Rams defeated Oak Lawn 2-0 in a consolation quarterfinal of the Windy City Ram Classic at home Saturday afternoon.
The Rams’ quest to qualify for the consolation title game against Young at SeatGeek Stadium on Thursday hit the wall as Lincoln-Way West ended their tournament run with a 3-0 victory in the semifinal round.
The day began on a much brighter note. With Judek as a flanking partner, Cedillo was a whirl of activity against the Spartans. Reavis (2-2-0) displayed exemplary form, intensity and creativity from the start.
Judek plays every field position. He has superb size, balance and speed. His early pressure established the template for the Rams’ success formula. They flooded Oak Lawn’s back and attacked from every angle.
Judek hit the post in the sixth minute. It was a sign of things to come. The game marked the Rams’ most concentrated and purest effort of the first week.
Kevin Ibarra, another talented senior midfielder, blasted a ball that skipped just over the top of the bar. Forward Jose Rico made strong diagonal runs that forced the Spartans’ middle and backline to continuously retreat and react to their attack.
As the aggressor, Reavis shaped the pace and rhythm. Oak Lawn was seemingly always a step behind. As a result, Oak Lawn tended to reach.
One such foul gave the Rams an ideal scoring threat with Jurek’s free kick from about 22 yards in the 18th minute. Lodged on the left wing, he blasted a curving ball that midfielder Diego Porras timed beautifully for his first goal of the year.
“I saw the defenders following me, and I was trying to block the goalie’s view. I saw the ball low, and I just went and tapped it in,” Porras said.
Reavis was not satisfied.
The Rams maintained their pressure and pushed the ball wide. With a five-man back, the middle was free and fairly unobstructed. Oak Lawn (1-2-0) struggled to keep up.
Cedillo struck moments later. Off a throw in from the right side, senior defender Daniel Rosado utilized his cannon arm with another perfectly placed ball that Cedillo smashed home on the header.
“Daniel has a very good arm and a powerful throw,” Cedillo said. “We work on that a lot in training with the set pieces. We are always trying to find my head, and just skip it back or put it back behind the goal.”
Porras and Cedillo each scored their first goal of the season.
For his outstanding play, Cedillo earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match distinction.
Oak Lawn countered in the second half and developed greater consistency and possession. Coach Nick Joiner has a team in transition. One of his starters, junior midfielder Gustava Alvarez, is a transfer from Reavis.
“It was a tale of two halves,” Joiner said. “In the second half we got some new guys who were playing some new positions, and they brought us a lot of energy. I thought that gave us a much more even game.
“In the first half, we came out a little slow. That is what this tournament is for. The throw-in and the free kicks --I thought their set pieces were really well executed. We lost our marks there, for sure.”
Senior forward Angel Garcia was Oak Lawn's offensive bright spot, creating some fairly dangerous chances in open space that created some concern in the Rams’ back.
Twice Garcia generated decent shots from middle distance that junior keeper Kamil Staszel made stops on. The Reavis keeper finished with four saves.
“I feel like we definitely built our game up in the second half compared with the first half,” Garcia said. “In the first half, we came out very sluggish. Our set pieces weren’t the greatest, and they were beating us to the ball. In the second half I thought our press got to them more, and they were not able to play the ball outside as much.
“We are learning how to apply more pressure and keep our cool. We just need to build our set pieces and block theirs out. They had a lot of good players and a lot of good plays too.”
The sport is often unforgiving. Playing so many games internalizes the pressure to improve quickly, or risk falling behind even farther.
The Classic is a daunting and necessary experience.
“We have a lot of new guys, a lot of young guys, a couple of transfers, and we are just learning how to play together and how to fit into the system,” Joiner said.
“Jelling is the word, I’d say.”
While Judka and Cedillo were Reavis' offensive masterminds, they were not the sole authors of the victory.
The Rams’ back also played a pivotal role. Rosado, Patrick Mrowca, Christian Garcia, Alex Froylan and Julian Ochoa collapsed space and rarely allowed the Oak Lawn attack to materialize.
With the graduation of two-time Chicagoland Soccer All-State performer Fernando Barragan, the year marks a new beginning. Reavis is ready to make its mark.
“Our expectations are always high,” coach Mark Gniadek said. “Our team was very young last year, and we have matured a lot. We always set as our goal winning a conference championship.”
Starting lineups
Oak Lawn
GK: Armani Velastegui
D: Steve Hebel
D: Rudy Sanchez
D: Mike Conroy
D: Joel Serna
MF: Mohamed Mohamed
MF: Gustavo Alvarez
MF: Fernando Diaz
MF: Luis Guzman
F: Mohammad Diab
F: Angel Garcia
Reavis
GK: Kamil Staszel
D: Daniel Rosado
D: Patrick Mrowca
D: Christian Garcia
D: Alex Froylan
D: Julian Ochoa
MF: Kevin Ibarra
MF: Juan Cedillo
MF: Diego Porras
F: Marek Judka
F: Jose Rico
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Juan Cedillo, sr., MF, Reavis
Scoring summary
First half
Reavis—Diego Porras (Marek Judka), 18th minute
Reavis—Juan Cedillo (Daniel Rosado), 21st minute
Second half
No scoring
Porras and Cedillo score in in 2-0 consolation quarterfinal win
By Patrick Z. McGavin
BURBANK -- The Reavis players like to joke that senior midfielder Juan Cedillo plays with his head.
The reference is to his almost preternatural ability on headers. He just has a knack for scoring in that manner, especially off of set pieces.
That only tells part of the story. With senior Marek Judka, Cedillo is also the free kick specialist. He is also heady, in the truest sense of the word. He is able to capably dissect where his team is vulnerable.
“After our first game, we were off,” Cedillo said. “We knew our formation, but we were not playing it well or the way are capable of. In our second game, we played much better.”
Cedillo and junior midfielder Diego Porras scored off beautifully designed set pieces as the Rams defeated Oak Lawn 2-0 in a consolation quarterfinal of the Windy City Ram Classic at home Saturday afternoon.
The Rams’ quest to qualify for the consolation title game against Young at SeatGeek Stadium on Thursday hit the wall as Lincoln-Way West ended their tournament run with a 3-0 victory in the semifinal round.
The day began on a much brighter note. With Judek as a flanking partner, Cedillo was a whirl of activity against the Spartans. Reavis (2-2-0) displayed exemplary form, intensity and creativity from the start.
Judek plays every field position. He has superb size, balance and speed. His early pressure established the template for the Rams’ success formula. They flooded Oak Lawn’s back and attacked from every angle.
Judek hit the post in the sixth minute. It was a sign of things to come. The game marked the Rams’ most concentrated and purest effort of the first week.
Kevin Ibarra, another talented senior midfielder, blasted a ball that skipped just over the top of the bar. Forward Jose Rico made strong diagonal runs that forced the Spartans’ middle and backline to continuously retreat and react to their attack.
As the aggressor, Reavis shaped the pace and rhythm. Oak Lawn was seemingly always a step behind. As a result, Oak Lawn tended to reach.
One such foul gave the Rams an ideal scoring threat with Jurek’s free kick from about 22 yards in the 18th minute. Lodged on the left wing, he blasted a curving ball that midfielder Diego Porras timed beautifully for his first goal of the year.
“I saw the defenders following me, and I was trying to block the goalie’s view. I saw the ball low, and I just went and tapped it in,” Porras said.
Reavis was not satisfied.
The Rams maintained their pressure and pushed the ball wide. With a five-man back, the middle was free and fairly unobstructed. Oak Lawn (1-2-0) struggled to keep up.
Cedillo struck moments later. Off a throw in from the right side, senior defender Daniel Rosado utilized his cannon arm with another perfectly placed ball that Cedillo smashed home on the header.
“Daniel has a very good arm and a powerful throw,” Cedillo said. “We work on that a lot in training with the set pieces. We are always trying to find my head, and just skip it back or put it back behind the goal.”
Porras and Cedillo each scored their first goal of the season.
For his outstanding play, Cedillo earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match distinction.
Oak Lawn countered in the second half and developed greater consistency and possession. Coach Nick Joiner has a team in transition. One of his starters, junior midfielder Gustava Alvarez, is a transfer from Reavis.
“It was a tale of two halves,” Joiner said. “In the second half we got some new guys who were playing some new positions, and they brought us a lot of energy. I thought that gave us a much more even game.
“In the first half, we came out a little slow. That is what this tournament is for. The throw-in and the free kicks --I thought their set pieces were really well executed. We lost our marks there, for sure.”
Senior forward Angel Garcia was Oak Lawn's offensive bright spot, creating some fairly dangerous chances in open space that created some concern in the Rams’ back.
Twice Garcia generated decent shots from middle distance that junior keeper Kamil Staszel made stops on. The Reavis keeper finished with four saves.
“I feel like we definitely built our game up in the second half compared with the first half,” Garcia said. “In the first half, we came out very sluggish. Our set pieces weren’t the greatest, and they were beating us to the ball. In the second half I thought our press got to them more, and they were not able to play the ball outside as much.
“We are learning how to apply more pressure and keep our cool. We just need to build our set pieces and block theirs out. They had a lot of good players and a lot of good plays too.”
The sport is often unforgiving. Playing so many games internalizes the pressure to improve quickly, or risk falling behind even farther.
The Classic is a daunting and necessary experience.
“We have a lot of new guys, a lot of young guys, a couple of transfers, and we are just learning how to play together and how to fit into the system,” Joiner said.
“Jelling is the word, I’d say.”
While Judka and Cedillo were Reavis' offensive masterminds, they were not the sole authors of the victory.
The Rams’ back also played a pivotal role. Rosado, Patrick Mrowca, Christian Garcia, Alex Froylan and Julian Ochoa collapsed space and rarely allowed the Oak Lawn attack to materialize.
With the graduation of two-time Chicagoland Soccer All-State performer Fernando Barragan, the year marks a new beginning. Reavis is ready to make its mark.
“Our expectations are always high,” coach Mark Gniadek said. “Our team was very young last year, and we have matured a lot. We always set as our goal winning a conference championship.”
Starting lineups
Oak Lawn
GK: Armani Velastegui
D: Steve Hebel
D: Rudy Sanchez
D: Mike Conroy
D: Joel Serna
MF: Mohamed Mohamed
MF: Gustavo Alvarez
MF: Fernando Diaz
MF: Luis Guzman
F: Mohammad Diab
F: Angel Garcia
Reavis
GK: Kamil Staszel
D: Daniel Rosado
D: Patrick Mrowca
D: Christian Garcia
D: Alex Froylan
D: Julian Ochoa
MF: Kevin Ibarra
MF: Juan Cedillo
MF: Diego Porras
F: Marek Judka
F: Jose Rico
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Juan Cedillo, sr., MF, Reavis
Scoring summary
First half
Reavis—Diego Porras (Marek Judka), 18th minute
Reavis—Juan Cedillo (Daniel Rosado), 21st minute
Second half
No scoring