Villegas finds touch,
leads Mundelein past Prospect
Assist, goal push Mustangs to win in Wolter/Titan opener
By Patrick Z. McGavin
GLENVIEW — Ivan Villegas never allowed an early missed chance to linger. There was too much time to play and new opportunities ahead of him.
The Mundelein midfielder got loose in the back against Prospect and had a direct shot.
The stage was set for him to be the early star of the game.
Except his touch proved a bit awkward, and he could not get off a clean shot. Whether early nerves or just an unfortunate bounce, the ball pushed wide.
“I fumbled it,” he said.
The beauty and terror of soccer is never knowing whether another chance is going to be made available in the course of the game. Villegas is the nerve center of his team with excellent possession skills, explosive quickness and nice shot creativity.
Time was on his side.
Villegas delivered by recording an assist on the tying goal and scoring the game-winner in a 2-1 comeback victory in Gold Division pool play of the Jim Wolter Titan Invitational on Tuesday.
He smashed home a sharp volley from the left edge in the 52nd minute for the Mustangs (2-0-1). Midfielder Alex Hidrogo created the assist, finding a seam in the Knights’ back.
“I was waiting to score the whole game,” Villegas said.
During pool play, the tournament format is two 35-minute halves and no overtimes. Points are awarded for victories and goals scored. Glenbard West and Speer are the other teams in the pool.
The Villegas score punctuated a flurry of activity. That early play he failed to connect on symbolized the run of the play in the first half.
The opening stanza featured some intriguing pieces and solid actions on each side that nonetheless came up empty.
Both teams are remaking themselves on the fly. Prospect graduated almost a while roster of seniors from the spring.
After directing the boys and girls programs at Dundee-Crown, Mundelein coach Sebastian Falinski watched his planned debut last fall shift to the spring.
“I thought the spring was something of a blessing, because I had an opportunity to work with some of the younger players,”Falinski said.
“Building those relationships has really helped us progress. It’s a good group to be around. We’re enjoying it right now. We are taking it game by game. They like being around each other, and we like being around them.”
With the heavy turnover, Prospect coach Mike Andrews has effectively created a clean slate. He has a large and deep roster. The Knights (1-1-0) opened the year with a 1-0 victory over Glenbrook South in a game shortened due to extreme heat Saturday.
“We have a lot of different attacking options offensively,” Andrews said. “Right now, this is a brand new team. We graduated 17 seniors. We are experimenting and trying guys out in different spots and different combinations and good preparation for the tough season ahead.”
He had five different starters to begin the second half. Senior forward Khalid Farah, who scored in the 39th minute, did not play in the first half.
“You have to be ready whenever they call you,” Farrah said.
With defenders Ari Kamperas and Lucas Wardynski, the Knights feature some imposing size and length. Mundelein countered with quickness and cohesion in the middle of the field.
The back and forth nature of the first half was replicated at the start of the second. Prospect midfielder Steven Lopez created an open lane and slotted a ball through the middle to the streaking Farrah.
He punched the ball home inside the far post for the Knights’ lone goal.
“It was nice to be able to connect through the middle and be able to finish,”Farrah said. “I wish it ended up being the winning goal, but we will come back tomorrow and hopefully have a better outcome.
“We had some good chances after they scored. We just have to do a better job of finishing our chances.”
Falinski also has seen a different mentality emerge at the start of the season.The experience and connections the team went through the abbreviated spring have now more forcefully taken shape.
“That has been something that has been pretty amazing about these guys so far,” he said. “Our last game, we gave up a goal. Our response last season might have been to just stop playing.
“These guys continued to play. In that game, we came back and scored 30 seconds later.”
A similar dynamic played out. The pressure and speed of the Mustangs caught the Knights off-guard. The Prospect lead turned out to be a temporary one.
In the 52nd minute, Villegas wove through the back and found midfielder Adrian Rosiles alone on the left wing. He moved the ball quickly to the other side.
Rosiles made a quick side move and drilled the ball inside the near post in the 44th minute for the equalizer.
“After they got the first goal, that just pushed us harder to want to come back and score,” Rosiles said. “After we scored the first one, that helped us a lot.
“It was a game of different runs. Once I scored, that motivated us to push harder.”
The Mustangs played a single forward, Matt Daniel, at the of their formation. Their power is the quickness, agility and combinations developed out of the middle.
Energized by their first goal, the Mustangs continued to push numbers and create havoc in the Knights’ final third.
“We have been practicing a lot, and that has helped the chemistry,” Villegas said. “After we got down, we thought we just had to keep fighting back hard and win the game.
“I wanted to step up.”
Villegas’ performance earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match distinction.
“I received the ball, and I just went for it,” he said. “We have been training very hard with the idea of really competing this year and scoring a lot of goals.”
Prospect mounted some decent opportunities in the final 18 minutes.The Knights generated a couple of corner kicks.
Midfielder Michael Casaletto broke through the back and yielded a cross that forward Marcin Jacek nearly converted.
“We had a couple of lapses where we made some sloppy passes, and they scored against us,” Andrews said. “I don’t think we fell apart organizationally or anything like that. We just had a couple of lapses, and they were able to jam it down our throats when we made those mistakes.”
The coach is highly encouraged by his team’s start. The next stage of their evolution is just finding the right pieces to unlock the offense.
“The score didn’t go our way, but overall it was a pretty even game,” he said. “Early on in the season, we are going to take the positives for what they are and use these games to learn and get sharper.
“I’m excited by the possibilities. No matter how I start, there is going to be a lot of depth, and I hope to use that to wear teams down.”
Starting lineups
Prospect
GK: Alejandro Rider-Leiner
D: Ari Kemperas
D: Nicholas Casaletto
D: David Marshall
D: Lucas Wardynski
MF: Massimo Mho
MF: Luis De Santiago
MF: Daniel Barbaric
MF: Shea Morris
F: Steven Lopez
F: Marcin Jacek
Mundelein
GK: Angelo Gallardo
D: Anthony Feather
D: Gil Aguilera
D: Carson Kowalski
D: Luis Bolonos
MF: Bryan Morales
MF: Ivan Villegas
MF: John Chambers
MF: Frankie Jimenez
MF: Omar Mangato
F: Matt Daniel
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ivan Villegas, jr., MF, Mundelein
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Prospect—Khalid Farah (Steven Lopez), 39th minute
Mundelein—Adrian Rosiles (Ivan Villegas), 44th minute
Mundelein—Villegas (Alex Hidrogo), 52nd minute
leads Mundelein past Prospect
Assist, goal push Mustangs to win in Wolter/Titan opener
By Patrick Z. McGavin
GLENVIEW — Ivan Villegas never allowed an early missed chance to linger. There was too much time to play and new opportunities ahead of him.
The Mundelein midfielder got loose in the back against Prospect and had a direct shot.
The stage was set for him to be the early star of the game.
Except his touch proved a bit awkward, and he could not get off a clean shot. Whether early nerves or just an unfortunate bounce, the ball pushed wide.
“I fumbled it,” he said.
The beauty and terror of soccer is never knowing whether another chance is going to be made available in the course of the game. Villegas is the nerve center of his team with excellent possession skills, explosive quickness and nice shot creativity.
Time was on his side.
Villegas delivered by recording an assist on the tying goal and scoring the game-winner in a 2-1 comeback victory in Gold Division pool play of the Jim Wolter Titan Invitational on Tuesday.
He smashed home a sharp volley from the left edge in the 52nd minute for the Mustangs (2-0-1). Midfielder Alex Hidrogo created the assist, finding a seam in the Knights’ back.
“I was waiting to score the whole game,” Villegas said.
During pool play, the tournament format is two 35-minute halves and no overtimes. Points are awarded for victories and goals scored. Glenbard West and Speer are the other teams in the pool.
The Villegas score punctuated a flurry of activity. That early play he failed to connect on symbolized the run of the play in the first half.
The opening stanza featured some intriguing pieces and solid actions on each side that nonetheless came up empty.
Both teams are remaking themselves on the fly. Prospect graduated almost a while roster of seniors from the spring.
After directing the boys and girls programs at Dundee-Crown, Mundelein coach Sebastian Falinski watched his planned debut last fall shift to the spring.
“I thought the spring was something of a blessing, because I had an opportunity to work with some of the younger players,”Falinski said.
“Building those relationships has really helped us progress. It’s a good group to be around. We’re enjoying it right now. We are taking it game by game. They like being around each other, and we like being around them.”
With the heavy turnover, Prospect coach Mike Andrews has effectively created a clean slate. He has a large and deep roster. The Knights (1-1-0) opened the year with a 1-0 victory over Glenbrook South in a game shortened due to extreme heat Saturday.
“We have a lot of different attacking options offensively,” Andrews said. “Right now, this is a brand new team. We graduated 17 seniors. We are experimenting and trying guys out in different spots and different combinations and good preparation for the tough season ahead.”
He had five different starters to begin the second half. Senior forward Khalid Farah, who scored in the 39th minute, did not play in the first half.
“You have to be ready whenever they call you,” Farrah said.
With defenders Ari Kamperas and Lucas Wardynski, the Knights feature some imposing size and length. Mundelein countered with quickness and cohesion in the middle of the field.
The back and forth nature of the first half was replicated at the start of the second. Prospect midfielder Steven Lopez created an open lane and slotted a ball through the middle to the streaking Farrah.
He punched the ball home inside the far post for the Knights’ lone goal.
“It was nice to be able to connect through the middle and be able to finish,”Farrah said. “I wish it ended up being the winning goal, but we will come back tomorrow and hopefully have a better outcome.
“We had some good chances after they scored. We just have to do a better job of finishing our chances.”
Falinski also has seen a different mentality emerge at the start of the season.The experience and connections the team went through the abbreviated spring have now more forcefully taken shape.
“That has been something that has been pretty amazing about these guys so far,” he said. “Our last game, we gave up a goal. Our response last season might have been to just stop playing.
“These guys continued to play. In that game, we came back and scored 30 seconds later.”
A similar dynamic played out. The pressure and speed of the Mustangs caught the Knights off-guard. The Prospect lead turned out to be a temporary one.
In the 52nd minute, Villegas wove through the back and found midfielder Adrian Rosiles alone on the left wing. He moved the ball quickly to the other side.
Rosiles made a quick side move and drilled the ball inside the near post in the 44th minute for the equalizer.
“After they got the first goal, that just pushed us harder to want to come back and score,” Rosiles said. “After we scored the first one, that helped us a lot.
“It was a game of different runs. Once I scored, that motivated us to push harder.”
The Mustangs played a single forward, Matt Daniel, at the of their formation. Their power is the quickness, agility and combinations developed out of the middle.
Energized by their first goal, the Mustangs continued to push numbers and create havoc in the Knights’ final third.
“We have been practicing a lot, and that has helped the chemistry,” Villegas said. “After we got down, we thought we just had to keep fighting back hard and win the game.
“I wanted to step up.”
Villegas’ performance earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match distinction.
“I received the ball, and I just went for it,” he said. “We have been training very hard with the idea of really competing this year and scoring a lot of goals.”
Prospect mounted some decent opportunities in the final 18 minutes.The Knights generated a couple of corner kicks.
Midfielder Michael Casaletto broke through the back and yielded a cross that forward Marcin Jacek nearly converted.
“We had a couple of lapses where we made some sloppy passes, and they scored against us,” Andrews said. “I don’t think we fell apart organizationally or anything like that. We just had a couple of lapses, and they were able to jam it down our throats when we made those mistakes.”
The coach is highly encouraged by his team’s start. The next stage of their evolution is just finding the right pieces to unlock the offense.
“The score didn’t go our way, but overall it was a pretty even game,” he said. “Early on in the season, we are going to take the positives for what they are and use these games to learn and get sharper.
“I’m excited by the possibilities. No matter how I start, there is going to be a lot of depth, and I hope to use that to wear teams down.”
Starting lineups
Prospect
GK: Alejandro Rider-Leiner
D: Ari Kemperas
D: Nicholas Casaletto
D: David Marshall
D: Lucas Wardynski
MF: Massimo Mho
MF: Luis De Santiago
MF: Daniel Barbaric
MF: Shea Morris
F: Steven Lopez
F: Marcin Jacek
Mundelein
GK: Angelo Gallardo
D: Anthony Feather
D: Gil Aguilera
D: Carson Kowalski
D: Luis Bolonos
MF: Bryan Morales
MF: Ivan Villegas
MF: John Chambers
MF: Frankie Jimenez
MF: Omar Mangato
F: Matt Daniel
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ivan Villegas, jr., MF, Mundelein
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Prospect—Khalid Farah (Steven Lopez), 39th minute
Mundelein—Adrian Rosiles (Ivan Villegas), 44th minute
Mundelein—Villegas (Alex Hidrogo), 52nd minute