Zion-Benton holds sway over Palatine
Zee-Bees take Sanchez Memorial semifinal 3-0
By Bobby Narang
WAUCONDA — With just under 16 minutes left in Thursday’s match against Zion-Benton, Palatine goalie Augustine Medina tried to spark his team.
The Zee-Bees had blitzed the Pirates with a three-goal barrage in a 22-minute span of the first half on the third day of the 2022 edition of Wauconda’s Alonso Sanchez Memorial Tournament.
At that point, the Pirates had yet to score a goal. With their chances of playing in Saturday’s title game slowly fading away, Medina barked out some words of encouragement to his teammates.
As he stared out to the other side of the pitch — where the action was taking place — Medina yelled out “We’ve got to play with some intensity!”
His teammates heard the message, but the Zion-Benton’s backline and keeper Brandon Ayala-Gonzalez were too strong on this night.
The Zee-Bees rode their strong start, with goals from three different players, to cruise to the 3-0 win over the Pirates at Ray Porten Athletic Field.
Zion-Benton (4-0-1), which is ranked 19th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, will try for its second-consecutive title win Saturday when they play the tournament host in the championship. Last Saturday, the Zee-Bees won the North Shore invitational.
Palatine (3-2-0) will tackle McHenry in the third place game, which starts 15 minutes after the fifth place match between Crystal Lake South and North Chicago. The day’s opener kicks off at 8 a.m.
“I thought the first 10 minutes or so was actually better than the start we’ve had in the last few games,” Palatine coach Aaron Morris said. “We talked about going a little more direct, putting them under a little more stress on the backline. I thought we did that. We stayed a little bit higher, collected second balls and won some first ones. But then the work-rate dropped off.
“You have to credit them. (Zion-Benton) is a talented team. They move well, and we stopped communication. That first goal they scored was an example of that. We didn’t communicate. That first goal, I think, really rattled us. Then things really went off the rails for the next 15 minutes until halftime.”
The Pirates, who defeated Crystal Lake South 1-0 on Wednesday, weren’t able to get many clean looks against the Zee-Bees nor put much pressure on their defense.
Ayala-Gonzalez collected seven stops, but the majority of his stops were of the basic variety. That prompted him to playfully grab two of the saves to add some excitement.
He did, however, step up when needed and preserved his shutout with an extended dive to stop a blast by Palatine’s Issac Lara in the 59th minute.
“I think right now we’ve got a ways to go,” Morris said. “Things are not very clean now in terms of our movement off the ball. In terms of the system I think there’s some confusion, and the spacing doesn’t look very good, especially getting forward.
“We’ve had some good results. I’m happy with that. We have to learn that the small mistakes that we’re making are causing us to get buried.
“We’re also not taking advantage of other team’s mistakes enough. In our two losses, against Buffalo Grove and this one, you make a couple of mistakes and are down. You have to keep your focus for 80 minutes. We’ve played well in spurts but not 80 minutes. It’s a learning experience. We have to reflect on it. There’s a long ways to go.”
Zion-Benton added Palatine to its list of victims with Highland Park, Dundee-Crown and Glenbrook South; the Zee-Bees settled for a draw against Crystal Lake South. The team is off to its best start since 2019, when it finished second in the North Suburban Conference.
Damonte Mason started the scoring for the Zee-Bees in the 12th minute. In quick span that started 18 minutes later, David Mendoza and Bryan Bielma put the game away.
“We have a lot of returning players and are very senior heavy,” Zion-Benton coach Cliff Pontillo said. “We had a very disappointing season last year. This group of seniors really committed themselves to not have a repeat of the mental mistakes we made. It’s a mental toughness thing. So far this year, we’ve beaten some really good teams.
“They’ve taken the next step. They’re determined to have a better outcome than last year. They recognize they have a lot of talent and can compete with anybody in the state. It’s a good group of guys. It’s fun to come to practices.”
The Zee-Bees nearly punched in a few late goals, but Medina made a stellar play on a shot with just under four minutes remaining. Mason tried to notch his second goal of the game with eight seconds remaining, but a Palatine defender deflected the close-in shot.
Palatine senior defender Liam Rhattigan, a second-year starter, noted his team has to become mentally stronger.
“I see potential here,” Rhattigan said. “We just put our heads down too soon, especially when a sequence doesn’t go our way. We have to handle situations better and move on. We have to learn from this game.”
Palatine junior defender Andrew Kania, who’s adjusting to play high school soccer for the first time, echoed Rhattigan’s words about a positive mental attitude.
“I love all the guys, and we’re trying to get things together,” he said. “We just have to build it up. We have to get better chemistry and build it. We have to get through some learning experiences. After the first goal, we needed to keep going. We have enough talent to come back.”
Starting lineups
Zion-Benton
GK: Brandon Ayala-Gonzalez
D: Ivan Andrade
D: Javy Gonzalez
D: Johan DeLaO
D: Jared Sanchez
MF: Joseph Veloza
MF: Denny Matute
MF: Booker Brown
MF: Ramiro Diaz
F: Damonte Mason
F: David Mendoza
Palatine
GK: Augustine Medina
D: Fabian Vargas
D: Jordan Mok
D: Liam Rhattigan
D: Andrew Kania
MF: Damien Drzewiecki
MF: Zachery Sondergaard
MF: Dennis Valle
MF: Karan Toor
F: Jesus Leyva
F: Karol Noga
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Damonte Mason, sr., F, Zion-Benton
Scoring summary
First half
Zion-Benton: Mason (Hernandez), 12’
Zion-Benton: Mendoza (Bielma), 30’
Zion-Benton: Bielma (Diaz), 32’
Second half
No scoring
Zee-Bees take Sanchez Memorial semifinal 3-0
By Bobby Narang
WAUCONDA — With just under 16 minutes left in Thursday’s match against Zion-Benton, Palatine goalie Augustine Medina tried to spark his team.
The Zee-Bees had blitzed the Pirates with a three-goal barrage in a 22-minute span of the first half on the third day of the 2022 edition of Wauconda’s Alonso Sanchez Memorial Tournament.
At that point, the Pirates had yet to score a goal. With their chances of playing in Saturday’s title game slowly fading away, Medina barked out some words of encouragement to his teammates.
As he stared out to the other side of the pitch — where the action was taking place — Medina yelled out “We’ve got to play with some intensity!”
His teammates heard the message, but the Zion-Benton’s backline and keeper Brandon Ayala-Gonzalez were too strong on this night.
The Zee-Bees rode their strong start, with goals from three different players, to cruise to the 3-0 win over the Pirates at Ray Porten Athletic Field.
Zion-Benton (4-0-1), which is ranked 19th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, will try for its second-consecutive title win Saturday when they play the tournament host in the championship. Last Saturday, the Zee-Bees won the North Shore invitational.
Palatine (3-2-0) will tackle McHenry in the third place game, which starts 15 minutes after the fifth place match between Crystal Lake South and North Chicago. The day’s opener kicks off at 8 a.m.
“I thought the first 10 minutes or so was actually better than the start we’ve had in the last few games,” Palatine coach Aaron Morris said. “We talked about going a little more direct, putting them under a little more stress on the backline. I thought we did that. We stayed a little bit higher, collected second balls and won some first ones. But then the work-rate dropped off.
“You have to credit them. (Zion-Benton) is a talented team. They move well, and we stopped communication. That first goal they scored was an example of that. We didn’t communicate. That first goal, I think, really rattled us. Then things really went off the rails for the next 15 minutes until halftime.”
The Pirates, who defeated Crystal Lake South 1-0 on Wednesday, weren’t able to get many clean looks against the Zee-Bees nor put much pressure on their defense.
Ayala-Gonzalez collected seven stops, but the majority of his stops were of the basic variety. That prompted him to playfully grab two of the saves to add some excitement.
He did, however, step up when needed and preserved his shutout with an extended dive to stop a blast by Palatine’s Issac Lara in the 59th minute.
“I think right now we’ve got a ways to go,” Morris said. “Things are not very clean now in terms of our movement off the ball. In terms of the system I think there’s some confusion, and the spacing doesn’t look very good, especially getting forward.
“We’ve had some good results. I’m happy with that. We have to learn that the small mistakes that we’re making are causing us to get buried.
“We’re also not taking advantage of other team’s mistakes enough. In our two losses, against Buffalo Grove and this one, you make a couple of mistakes and are down. You have to keep your focus for 80 minutes. We’ve played well in spurts but not 80 minutes. It’s a learning experience. We have to reflect on it. There’s a long ways to go.”
Zion-Benton added Palatine to its list of victims with Highland Park, Dundee-Crown and Glenbrook South; the Zee-Bees settled for a draw against Crystal Lake South. The team is off to its best start since 2019, when it finished second in the North Suburban Conference.
Damonte Mason started the scoring for the Zee-Bees in the 12th minute. In quick span that started 18 minutes later, David Mendoza and Bryan Bielma put the game away.
“We have a lot of returning players and are very senior heavy,” Zion-Benton coach Cliff Pontillo said. “We had a very disappointing season last year. This group of seniors really committed themselves to not have a repeat of the mental mistakes we made. It’s a mental toughness thing. So far this year, we’ve beaten some really good teams.
“They’ve taken the next step. They’re determined to have a better outcome than last year. They recognize they have a lot of talent and can compete with anybody in the state. It’s a good group of guys. It’s fun to come to practices.”
The Zee-Bees nearly punched in a few late goals, but Medina made a stellar play on a shot with just under four minutes remaining. Mason tried to notch his second goal of the game with eight seconds remaining, but a Palatine defender deflected the close-in shot.
Palatine senior defender Liam Rhattigan, a second-year starter, noted his team has to become mentally stronger.
“I see potential here,” Rhattigan said. “We just put our heads down too soon, especially when a sequence doesn’t go our way. We have to handle situations better and move on. We have to learn from this game.”
Palatine junior defender Andrew Kania, who’s adjusting to play high school soccer for the first time, echoed Rhattigan’s words about a positive mental attitude.
“I love all the guys, and we’re trying to get things together,” he said. “We just have to build it up. We have to get better chemistry and build it. We have to get through some learning experiences. After the first goal, we needed to keep going. We have enough talent to come back.”
Starting lineups
Zion-Benton
GK: Brandon Ayala-Gonzalez
D: Ivan Andrade
D: Javy Gonzalez
D: Johan DeLaO
D: Jared Sanchez
MF: Joseph Veloza
MF: Denny Matute
MF: Booker Brown
MF: Ramiro Diaz
F: Damonte Mason
F: David Mendoza
Palatine
GK: Augustine Medina
D: Fabian Vargas
D: Jordan Mok
D: Liam Rhattigan
D: Andrew Kania
MF: Damien Drzewiecki
MF: Zachery Sondergaard
MF: Dennis Valle
MF: Karan Toor
F: Jesus Leyva
F: Karol Noga
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Damonte Mason, sr., F, Zion-Benton
Scoring summary
First half
Zion-Benton: Mason (Hernandez), 12’
Zion-Benton: Mendoza (Bielma), 30’
Zion-Benton: Bielma (Diaz), 32’
Second half
No scoring