History won't repeat for Glenbard East
Rams fall 3-2 to Providence in Windy City quarterfinal title bracket
By Mike Garofola
LOMBARD -- Glenbard East will not have the opportunity to defend its Windy City Ram Classic championship from a year ago.
A late second half fight-back from Providence (2-0-0) denied the Rams the chance and sent Kent Overbeys' club out of the winners' bracket following a 3-2 home defeat Thursday evening.
Glenbard East (1-1-0) continued in the 32-team event with a ninth place bracket match against Homewood-Flossmoor Saturday morning at home while the Celtics advanced into the quarterfinals to face Fenwick (2-0-0).
"It was a great game. (We) gave up two set piece goals and that was the difference, but it was still a great game, and nobody on my team should be hanging their heads after this result," said Overbey, who remained upbeat despite the loss.
"It's real early in the season, and we obviously are still sorting some things out and trying to learn on the fly. We will have little training because of our busy Windy City tournament schedule, but that's alright with me," added Overbey. Seniors Alyse Donato and Elizabeth Toledo agreed wholeheartedly with their manager.
"There's a lot of positive things to take from this game," began Toledo, who put her club ahead 2-1 after teammate Maddie Weltin drew the Rams back level 13 minutes after the intermission.
"We came back from being down at the half (then) took the lead, and really played a pretty good game against a team that did a good job of possessing and playing through (their) no. 12 (Karli Boyd) up-top."
Donato thought so too.
"We played well, but we also had some trouble with their four-man midfield (because) we were playing with three, so we'll have to do a better job of adjusting to those types of things later on," admitted Donato, whom Overbey sat a little deeper and in front of her back four.
The home side would enjoy most of the play during the early exchanges, recording a pair of corners in the first three minutes, with Celtics keeper Kayla Ambrose clearing an effort from Toledo initiated by Ali Liljestrand off of a Mattie Pusateri corner.
Donato's high work-rate from touchline-to-touchline helped keep the Rams in the Celtics end for the first 10 minutes. But when a terrific early ball from Claire Barrett put the aforementioned Boyd through on the right side, the visitors struck first when the talented senior forward drove her low drive just inside the far corner.
"It was good that we scored that first goal (especially) after defending so much at the start of the game. Karli's goal kind of woke us up a little bit. And afterwards, I thought we had a lot of the play for the rest of the first half," said Celtics manager, Dan Potempa, now in his tenth year in charge, and 17th in the program.
Potempa was correct in his assessment of an awakening for his club which now brimmed with confidence after taking the lead. The Celtics saw their midfield win a high percentage of first and second balls, while having its twin tower central defenders, Chase McCool and Regan Sauer, tighten things up along the back.
With the Rams struggling to get back on their front feet and their opponent looking to double its advantage, the home side was forced to defend with all its might in its own end. They hoped to spring a surprise going the other way before intermission.
Mimi Camacho, the goal-scoring hero of the Rams tournament-opening victory over Andrew, nearly did just that when her enterprising run up the left side -- beating two Celtics on the way in -- ended with Ambrose saving a Camacho drive at the near post.
"It was important for us to keep our lead going into the half, it helped with our confidence heading into the second half," suggested Potempa.
The Rams started the second half brightly enough when Liljestrand's one-timer off a Pusateri corner went wide. That was followed by a nicely played ball to the spot by Toledo which if brought under control in a crowd by Camacho could have led to an attempt on frame by the senior.
But the flurry signaled an impressive five-minute outburst by the home side that took them to the lead.
Weltin struck for her first varsity goal when she went up and over Ambrose from 18 yards. Then three minutes later, Toledo finished what Camacho started with a sublime touch the other way.
"We never gave up, and it showed when we came back to get those two goals to go ahead of them," said Toledo.
It nearly became 3-1 moments later when a Celtics defender redirected a Pusateri corner just wide of the far post.
Overbey credited Providence in his post-match interview for its mettle when the Celtics refused to give up the fight in the final 10 minutes of play.
Senior Chase McCool drove her free kick from just inside the mid-line into the box off the gloves of a diving Davies. That allowed an opportunistic Molly Houlihan to slot under the fallen Rams keeper to level this contest at 2-2 with nine minutes remaining.
With the wind in their sails and an attack full of vim and vigor, the Celtics threw numbers forward in its search for the go-ahead goal. They nearly were caught doing so, but Camacho, on the turn rattled the post, in what could have been a Glenbard East game-winner.
The near-miss would be fatal when moments later another dead-ball chance for the visitors had disasterous results.
After Glenbard East failed to clear a Regan Sauer corner out of the box, Providence's Claire Barrett flashed her poaching skills by picking up the loose ball and steering in from eight yards to stun the home crowd and book the Celtics spot in the quarterfinals.
"We showed a lot of good stuff out there tonight, but we looked a little fatigued in those last 10-15 minutes. (We) may have run out of gas, which can be expected after playing two tough opponents in less than 24 hours," began Overbey.
"That's not an excuse, and certainly not to take anything away from Providence. They were a very good opponent who gave us trouble from time-to-time, especially their no. 12 (Boyd) who was dangerous nearly every time she had the ball."
For her efforts, Boyd earned Chicagoland Soccer's MVP of the Match honor.
"But as I said, it's early in the season, and we're still finding our way,"Over bey said. "And as I reminded the girls, two years ago we lost our opener, then came to earn out first state trophy in program history."
Nine of Overbey's first 11 in this contest were on that 2016 state team, so you can bet each of them will remind and reinforce their younger mates of what Overbey will say in the coming days as the club goes forward.
Starting lineups
Providence
GK- Kayla Ambrose
D- Catherine Slade
D- Chase McCool
D- Regan Sauer
D- Maeve Houlihan
M- Brianna Geary
M- Lindsay Graham
M- Cameron Korhorn
M- Maria Spesia
F- Claire Barrett
F- Karli Boyd
Glenbard East
GK- Faith Davies
D- Sam Johnson
D- Mattie Pusateri
D- Katie Hansen
D- Summer Garcia
M- Ali Liljestrand
M- Alyse Donato
M- Amy Chiero
F- Lindsey Novak
F- Mimi Camacho
F- Elizabeth Toledo
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Karli Boyd, sr. F, Providence
Referee: Dave Holgren
Game summary
Scoring
Providence
Boyd (Barrett) 13'
Houlihan (U/A) 54'
Barrett (U/A) 68'
Glenbard East
Weltin (Garcia) 48'
Toledo (Camacho) 51'
Yellow Cards
Providence
Korhorn (tackle) 9'
Spesia (unsporting) 50'
Glenbard East
Pusateri (unsporting) 23'
Hansen (tackle) 68'
Rams fall 3-2 to Providence in Windy City quarterfinal title bracket
By Mike Garofola
LOMBARD -- Glenbard East will not have the opportunity to defend its Windy City Ram Classic championship from a year ago.
A late second half fight-back from Providence (2-0-0) denied the Rams the chance and sent Kent Overbeys' club out of the winners' bracket following a 3-2 home defeat Thursday evening.
Glenbard East (1-1-0) continued in the 32-team event with a ninth place bracket match against Homewood-Flossmoor Saturday morning at home while the Celtics advanced into the quarterfinals to face Fenwick (2-0-0).
"It was a great game. (We) gave up two set piece goals and that was the difference, but it was still a great game, and nobody on my team should be hanging their heads after this result," said Overbey, who remained upbeat despite the loss.
"It's real early in the season, and we obviously are still sorting some things out and trying to learn on the fly. We will have little training because of our busy Windy City tournament schedule, but that's alright with me," added Overbey. Seniors Alyse Donato and Elizabeth Toledo agreed wholeheartedly with their manager.
"There's a lot of positive things to take from this game," began Toledo, who put her club ahead 2-1 after teammate Maddie Weltin drew the Rams back level 13 minutes after the intermission.
"We came back from being down at the half (then) took the lead, and really played a pretty good game against a team that did a good job of possessing and playing through (their) no. 12 (Karli Boyd) up-top."
Donato thought so too.
"We played well, but we also had some trouble with their four-man midfield (because) we were playing with three, so we'll have to do a better job of adjusting to those types of things later on," admitted Donato, whom Overbey sat a little deeper and in front of her back four.
The home side would enjoy most of the play during the early exchanges, recording a pair of corners in the first three minutes, with Celtics keeper Kayla Ambrose clearing an effort from Toledo initiated by Ali Liljestrand off of a Mattie Pusateri corner.
Donato's high work-rate from touchline-to-touchline helped keep the Rams in the Celtics end for the first 10 minutes. But when a terrific early ball from Claire Barrett put the aforementioned Boyd through on the right side, the visitors struck first when the talented senior forward drove her low drive just inside the far corner.
"It was good that we scored that first goal (especially) after defending so much at the start of the game. Karli's goal kind of woke us up a little bit. And afterwards, I thought we had a lot of the play for the rest of the first half," said Celtics manager, Dan Potempa, now in his tenth year in charge, and 17th in the program.
Potempa was correct in his assessment of an awakening for his club which now brimmed with confidence after taking the lead. The Celtics saw their midfield win a high percentage of first and second balls, while having its twin tower central defenders, Chase McCool and Regan Sauer, tighten things up along the back.
With the Rams struggling to get back on their front feet and their opponent looking to double its advantage, the home side was forced to defend with all its might in its own end. They hoped to spring a surprise going the other way before intermission.
Mimi Camacho, the goal-scoring hero of the Rams tournament-opening victory over Andrew, nearly did just that when her enterprising run up the left side -- beating two Celtics on the way in -- ended with Ambrose saving a Camacho drive at the near post.
"It was important for us to keep our lead going into the half, it helped with our confidence heading into the second half," suggested Potempa.
The Rams started the second half brightly enough when Liljestrand's one-timer off a Pusateri corner went wide. That was followed by a nicely played ball to the spot by Toledo which if brought under control in a crowd by Camacho could have led to an attempt on frame by the senior.
But the flurry signaled an impressive five-minute outburst by the home side that took them to the lead.
Weltin struck for her first varsity goal when she went up and over Ambrose from 18 yards. Then three minutes later, Toledo finished what Camacho started with a sublime touch the other way.
"We never gave up, and it showed when we came back to get those two goals to go ahead of them," said Toledo.
It nearly became 3-1 moments later when a Celtics defender redirected a Pusateri corner just wide of the far post.
Overbey credited Providence in his post-match interview for its mettle when the Celtics refused to give up the fight in the final 10 minutes of play.
Senior Chase McCool drove her free kick from just inside the mid-line into the box off the gloves of a diving Davies. That allowed an opportunistic Molly Houlihan to slot under the fallen Rams keeper to level this contest at 2-2 with nine minutes remaining.
With the wind in their sails and an attack full of vim and vigor, the Celtics threw numbers forward in its search for the go-ahead goal. They nearly were caught doing so, but Camacho, on the turn rattled the post, in what could have been a Glenbard East game-winner.
The near-miss would be fatal when moments later another dead-ball chance for the visitors had disasterous results.
After Glenbard East failed to clear a Regan Sauer corner out of the box, Providence's Claire Barrett flashed her poaching skills by picking up the loose ball and steering in from eight yards to stun the home crowd and book the Celtics spot in the quarterfinals.
"We showed a lot of good stuff out there tonight, but we looked a little fatigued in those last 10-15 minutes. (We) may have run out of gas, which can be expected after playing two tough opponents in less than 24 hours," began Overbey.
"That's not an excuse, and certainly not to take anything away from Providence. They were a very good opponent who gave us trouble from time-to-time, especially their no. 12 (Boyd) who was dangerous nearly every time she had the ball."
For her efforts, Boyd earned Chicagoland Soccer's MVP of the Match honor.
"But as I said, it's early in the season, and we're still finding our way,"Over bey said. "And as I reminded the girls, two years ago we lost our opener, then came to earn out first state trophy in program history."
Nine of Overbey's first 11 in this contest were on that 2016 state team, so you can bet each of them will remind and reinforce their younger mates of what Overbey will say in the coming days as the club goes forward.
Starting lineups
Providence
GK- Kayla Ambrose
D- Catherine Slade
D- Chase McCool
D- Regan Sauer
D- Maeve Houlihan
M- Brianna Geary
M- Lindsay Graham
M- Cameron Korhorn
M- Maria Spesia
F- Claire Barrett
F- Karli Boyd
Glenbard East
GK- Faith Davies
D- Sam Johnson
D- Mattie Pusateri
D- Katie Hansen
D- Summer Garcia
M- Ali Liljestrand
M- Alyse Donato
M- Amy Chiero
F- Lindsey Novak
F- Mimi Camacho
F- Elizabeth Toledo
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Karli Boyd, sr. F, Providence
Referee: Dave Holgren
Game summary
Scoring
Providence
Boyd (Barrett) 13'
Houlihan (U/A) 54'
Barrett (U/A) 68'
Glenbard East
Weltin (Garcia) 48'
Toledo (Camacho) 51'
Yellow Cards
Providence
Korhorn (tackle) 9'
Spesia (unsporting) 50'
Glenbard East
Pusateri (unsporting) 23'
Hansen (tackle) 68'