Metea Valley tops Plainfield East,
but misses title shot
Amor, Lynch each score twice; Warstang final canceled
By Paul LaTour
AURORA -- As happy as Metea Valley was to earn its 5-1 victory over Plainfield East on Saturday, the Mustangs faced some bad news following it. The spot they earned in the Warstang Invitational championship game would go unused -- the final was canceled due to poor field conditions at Waubonsie Valley.
“You always want to play in a final,” Mustangs coach Josh Robinson said. “The whole reason you play in tournaments is to go win them. So we’re disappointed we’re not playing the final. The kids were ready.”
The championship couldn’t be moved to Metea Valley’s stadium because the football team was scheduled to complete their game from Friday night that was postponed because of a storm.
In a way, the cancelation may have been a blessing in disguise for the Mustangs (12-4-2), who played two games and completed the postponement of another game earlier in the week. Unexpectedly having Saturday afternoon off also gave the players more time to get ready for Homecoming activities scheduled for the night.
“Every single kid said he was committed to coming to the game – knowing they might miss pictures, and they were going to scramble -- because they wanted to go play in a final. But now the kids can get some rest,” Robinson said.
The Mustangs earned their rest after dominating the Bengals in a game moved up an hour to make time for the final Warstang Green Division game to be squeezed in before football took over the field.
Shareef Amor earned Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors for his timely two-goal performance. Fellow senior James Lynch notched two goals and an assist. Evan Lang added a goal and an assist for the Mustangs (12-4-2), who increased their winning streak to nine games.
Amor broke a 1-1 tie late in the first half and then scored midway through the second half to help the Mustangs establish control. Lynch followed with a pair of insurance goals to insert the dagger.
Deadlocked at 1-1 in the 39th minute, Amor used his strength to break free from an aggressive defender to give the Mustangs their second lead of the day.
“I got played a ball diagonally (from Matthew Berry) and the guy was pulling my jersey, so I just wanted to keep my composure and get a shot on, and I did, and it went in. I was pretty happy about that,” Amor said.
“That kind of gave us momentum to begin the second half. Then I scored another goal, so we kept going and eventually got the win.”
That second goal came in the 50th minute when he outmuscled another Bengals player to score on a rebound. The ball rolled across the goal line before either the keeper or defender could recover.
“He just outwilled those kids on both goals, really. And so that’s fantastic,” Robinson said. “We like pretty goals, but they all count the same. We love ones like that where guys are just willing to outwork the other kid.”
Lynch made it 4-1 just under three minutes later when Evan Lang found him for an easy goal.
“Evan played a really good one in, and it just kind of bounced around,” said Lynch, who had a goal nullified by an offside call earlier in the half.
“It landed at my feet, so I just passed it in -- not the most difficult thing to do.”
The scores left Plainfield East (3-15-0) reeling.
“The timing of goals hurt,” Bengals coach Cosimo Patano said. “Lots of credit to Metea. They were really well organized, did well. They have some very good players, so kudos to them.”
Lynch completed the scoring with just over a minute remaining in the game after an assist from Colin Bastianoni.
In the first half, Lang opened the scoring for the Mustangs on an assist from Dominic Capezutto. But the Bengals used a rare Mustangs miscue to tie it 1-1 on a free kick that skipped off the wet turf and into the goal.
“We didn’t communicate well on a long free kick,” Robinson said. “We should have been able to clear it out.”
However, Robinson added he loved how his team responded to that hiccup, shutting down the Bengals the rest of the way while outscoring them 4-0.
“A lot of times we would just flounder there, but no, we just kept fighting away at it," he said. “That’s what we’ve been really proud of, and I'm happy with that. We’ve had that kind of consistency: continue to work; keep after it. Guys are staying positive with each other.”
The large lead allowed Robinson to continue substituting liberally as he’s done for a while this season.
“We’ve been able to have a nice rotation of guys where we’re keeping guys fresh, getting guys playing time, getting guys in the mix with different guys“," he said. “We’re playing a full 18, 19 guys right now, which is really nice.
“It shows in just how much they’re playing for each other now. They’re all engaged and involved, which is awesome.”
Robinson hopes that strategy pays off and that his team will be well rested for an upcoming week that features games against the sectional’s top two seeds. The Mustangs play top-ranked and undefeated Naperville North for the DuPage Valley Conference title, and no. 7 West Aurora.
“I told them to go enjoy their night, go celebrate Homecoming, but come back ready to play because we’ve got two big games next week,” Robinson said.
Starting lineups
Plainfield East
GK Ryan Sidman
D Raj Soni
D Freddy Giron
D Ernesto Ruiz
D Dennis Becks
MF Tyler Pearson
MF Colin Nicoski
MF Mateusz Sak
MF Oscar Cruz
F Jacob Majovski
F Alan Saldivar
Metea Valley
GK Gandhi Cruz
D Spencer Collins
D Owen Anderson
D Anthony Sanchez
MF Matthew Berry
MF Andrew Wang
MF Evan Lang
F Shareef Amor
F James Lynch
F Matthew Dovalovsky
F Dominic Capezutto
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Shareef Amor, sr., F, Metea Valley
Scoring summary
Plainfield East 1 0 --- 1
Metea Valley 2 3 --- 5
First half
MV: Evan Lang (Dominic Capezutto)
PE: Colin Nicoski (Oscar Cruz)
MV: Shareef Amor (Matthew Berry), 39th minute
Second half
MV: Amor (James Lynch), 50th minute
MV: Lynch (Lang), 53rd minute
MV: Lynch (Colin Bastianoni), 79th minute
but misses title shot
Amor, Lynch each score twice; Warstang final canceled
By Paul LaTour
AURORA -- As happy as Metea Valley was to earn its 5-1 victory over Plainfield East on Saturday, the Mustangs faced some bad news following it. The spot they earned in the Warstang Invitational championship game would go unused -- the final was canceled due to poor field conditions at Waubonsie Valley.
“You always want to play in a final,” Mustangs coach Josh Robinson said. “The whole reason you play in tournaments is to go win them. So we’re disappointed we’re not playing the final. The kids were ready.”
The championship couldn’t be moved to Metea Valley’s stadium because the football team was scheduled to complete their game from Friday night that was postponed because of a storm.
In a way, the cancelation may have been a blessing in disguise for the Mustangs (12-4-2), who played two games and completed the postponement of another game earlier in the week. Unexpectedly having Saturday afternoon off also gave the players more time to get ready for Homecoming activities scheduled for the night.
“Every single kid said he was committed to coming to the game – knowing they might miss pictures, and they were going to scramble -- because they wanted to go play in a final. But now the kids can get some rest,” Robinson said.
The Mustangs earned their rest after dominating the Bengals in a game moved up an hour to make time for the final Warstang Green Division game to be squeezed in before football took over the field.
Shareef Amor earned Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors for his timely two-goal performance. Fellow senior James Lynch notched two goals and an assist. Evan Lang added a goal and an assist for the Mustangs (12-4-2), who increased their winning streak to nine games.
Amor broke a 1-1 tie late in the first half and then scored midway through the second half to help the Mustangs establish control. Lynch followed with a pair of insurance goals to insert the dagger.
Deadlocked at 1-1 in the 39th minute, Amor used his strength to break free from an aggressive defender to give the Mustangs their second lead of the day.
“I got played a ball diagonally (from Matthew Berry) and the guy was pulling my jersey, so I just wanted to keep my composure and get a shot on, and I did, and it went in. I was pretty happy about that,” Amor said.
“That kind of gave us momentum to begin the second half. Then I scored another goal, so we kept going and eventually got the win.”
That second goal came in the 50th minute when he outmuscled another Bengals player to score on a rebound. The ball rolled across the goal line before either the keeper or defender could recover.
“He just outwilled those kids on both goals, really. And so that’s fantastic,” Robinson said. “We like pretty goals, but they all count the same. We love ones like that where guys are just willing to outwork the other kid.”
Lynch made it 4-1 just under three minutes later when Evan Lang found him for an easy goal.
“Evan played a really good one in, and it just kind of bounced around,” said Lynch, who had a goal nullified by an offside call earlier in the half.
“It landed at my feet, so I just passed it in -- not the most difficult thing to do.”
The scores left Plainfield East (3-15-0) reeling.
“The timing of goals hurt,” Bengals coach Cosimo Patano said. “Lots of credit to Metea. They were really well organized, did well. They have some very good players, so kudos to them.”
Lynch completed the scoring with just over a minute remaining in the game after an assist from Colin Bastianoni.
In the first half, Lang opened the scoring for the Mustangs on an assist from Dominic Capezutto. But the Bengals used a rare Mustangs miscue to tie it 1-1 on a free kick that skipped off the wet turf and into the goal.
“We didn’t communicate well on a long free kick,” Robinson said. “We should have been able to clear it out.”
However, Robinson added he loved how his team responded to that hiccup, shutting down the Bengals the rest of the way while outscoring them 4-0.
“A lot of times we would just flounder there, but no, we just kept fighting away at it," he said. “That’s what we’ve been really proud of, and I'm happy with that. We’ve had that kind of consistency: continue to work; keep after it. Guys are staying positive with each other.”
The large lead allowed Robinson to continue substituting liberally as he’s done for a while this season.
“We’ve been able to have a nice rotation of guys where we’re keeping guys fresh, getting guys playing time, getting guys in the mix with different guys“," he said. “We’re playing a full 18, 19 guys right now, which is really nice.
“It shows in just how much they’re playing for each other now. They’re all engaged and involved, which is awesome.”
Robinson hopes that strategy pays off and that his team will be well rested for an upcoming week that features games against the sectional’s top two seeds. The Mustangs play top-ranked and undefeated Naperville North for the DuPage Valley Conference title, and no. 7 West Aurora.
“I told them to go enjoy their night, go celebrate Homecoming, but come back ready to play because we’ve got two big games next week,” Robinson said.
Starting lineups
Plainfield East
GK Ryan Sidman
D Raj Soni
D Freddy Giron
D Ernesto Ruiz
D Dennis Becks
MF Tyler Pearson
MF Colin Nicoski
MF Mateusz Sak
MF Oscar Cruz
F Jacob Majovski
F Alan Saldivar
Metea Valley
GK Gandhi Cruz
D Spencer Collins
D Owen Anderson
D Anthony Sanchez
MF Matthew Berry
MF Andrew Wang
MF Evan Lang
F Shareef Amor
F James Lynch
F Matthew Dovalovsky
F Dominic Capezutto
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Shareef Amor, sr., F, Metea Valley
Scoring summary
Plainfield East 1 0 --- 1
Metea Valley 2 3 --- 5
First half
MV: Evan Lang (Dominic Capezutto)
PE: Colin Nicoski (Oscar Cruz)
MV: Shareef Amor (Matthew Berry), 39th minute
Second half
MV: Amor (James Lynch), 50th minute
MV: Lynch (Lang), 53rd minute
MV: Lynch (Colin Bastianoni), 79th minute