Oak Forest GK Cabrera
saves draw versus Reavis
Bengals soph makes early big stops in 0-0 deadlock
By Steve Millar
OAK FOREST – For both Oak Forest and Reavis, Monday’s game was a display of the progress they have made on the defensive side.
The Rams’ inexperienced backline – an apparent weakness early in the season – has developed into a major strength and was again Monday.
Oak Forest was also solid defensively and got a gem of a bounce-back performance from sophomore goalkeeper Giovanni Cabrera.
The result was a 0-0 tie in the South Suburban Conference match. It marked the second-straight tie between the foes, who played to a 1-1 draw last season.
“We are very happy with this result,” Oak Forest coach Kieran Byrne said. “Reavis is a high-quality team. We had a tie last Monday (2-2 against Tinley Park) that felt more like a loss because we let a 2-0 lead slip away. This tie feels more like a win.”
Cabrera, Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match, made six saves – including five in the first half – and earned high praise from his coach.
“He was absolutely fantastic,” Byrne said. “I told him it was great to see him back. He had a tough goal he gave up against Tinley and another one against Bremen that floated over him, but that kid showed the resilience that he has.
“He’s a proper soccer player. He forgot about the last one, bounced back straight into this one.”
Reavis (4-2-2, 4-2-2) could have easily had the Bengals (2-3-2, 2-3-2) in an early hole if not for Cabrera.
The Rams were on the attack early and often. Cabrera stopped a Diego Porras shot from 25 yards in the fourth minute and denied Porras again for his biggest moment in the 19th minute.
That’s when Porras got free down the left side of the field off a pass from Pedro Guzman and unleashed a hard shot that Cabrera knocked away. Reavis tried to pounce on the rebound, but Oak Forest defender Cody Evans cleared it away.
Cabrera built momentum with his early success.
“If they take the first shot and I make a decent save that helps boost my confidence a bit and gets me into the game more,” he said.
Reavis tested Cabrera three more times in the first half, with Moises Gutierrez putting a couple shots on frame from distance.
Porras had another dangerous shot on a free kick from 35 yards in the 35th minute. He sent a low liner that bent around the Oak Forest wall and found its way on goal. Cabrera dove to the ground to cover the shot up.
Cabrera said his teammates helped him stay confident after his tough recent games.
“I had to keep my head up,” he said. “A bunch of my teammates kept telling me everything was fine and that none of the goals were my fault. They kept backing me up. I felt good today.”
Evans, Michael Speaker and Gavin Collery had big efforts on defense in front of Cabrera.
“Our backline did really good,” Cabrera said. “They weren’t letting anybody do anything, really.”
Reavis, meanwhile, was left frustrated.
“We were in one on zero with the keeper a couple times,” Reavis coach Mark Gniadek said. “He made a couple good saves. Those are chances we expect to finish, though.”
The Rams were also shorthanded. Leading scorer Julian Ochoa started the match but departed for good early in the first half.
“He didn’t practice all week,” Gniadek said. “He has a groin injury. He tried to go and just couldn’t do it. You see what happens to our offense when he’s out.”
On the positive side for Reavis, its defense came up huge. The Rams limited Oak Forest to three shots on keeper Kamil Staszel.
The Bengals did not have a shot on goal in the first half, but they quickly picked things up offensively at the start of the second half.
Dorian Perez Bacilio put a high, looping shot on goal off a Mohammad Deifallah corner kick just over two minutes into the second half.
Deifallah and Diego Damien followed with shots that sailed just high.
“I just talked to them at halftime about having courage,” Byrne said. “There are ways to wins; and there are ways to lose but to me there is only one to play and that is just to go and play.
“If you have shots, take them. The worst that can happen is you miss. We have to take some risks. We have to mature a bit in that regard, as far as learning that it’s a risk-reward game. If we don’t take opportunities and we don’t take chances, we’re not going to have any. So, we went out there in the second half and took some shots.”
Seeing an opponent surge at the start of the second half was a familiar theme for Reavis.
“We talk a lot about the first 10 minutes of the second half, because that’s where we’ve gotten hurt in past games,” Reavis senior defender Jakub Paluch said. “We just tried to stay on their touch and not give them space to turn.”
Another senior defender, Alex Froylan, came through with a huge play for Reavis in the 62nd minute. Deifallah came up with a steal for Oak Forest and briefly appeared to have a clean look at goal, but Froylan slid in to knock the ball away.
Paluch, Froylan, David Meza and Paul Terlecki have been huge recently as Reavis which has allowed just two total goals in its last five games. That defense has translated to a 4-0-1 unbeaten string.
“At the beginning of the season, we were conceding on a lot of set pieces,” Paluch said. “We learned we really had to stick on our man and mark up and toughen up on those set pieces. Doing that has really been the key for us.”
Deifallah, a freshman, was one of the biggest igniters of the Oak Forest surge in the second half. Fellow freshmen Alex Stacy and Brandan Stacy also played big minutes in the second half. Alex came up with a steal and had a good look at goal in the 70th minute, firing high from 30 yards.
“That’s one of the things I was able to say to my team,” Byrne said. “I said, ‘How come I have three freshmen who are out here working harder, making better runs and wanting the ball more than my sophomores, juniors and seniors? It should be the other way around.’ That’s why it’s great to have these kids come in. They give the other guys, give our starters, a little kick.”
Reavis had limited scoring opportunities in the second half but did have a golden chance when Gutierrez got behind the defense in the 59th minute. Cabrera came up with another big save, blocking the shot with his body.
The lack of finishing gave Gniadek something to focus on moving forward.
“We got there, we turned the corner on the end line a couple times, and it always seems like there’s only one guy in the box,” he said. “I tell them that it’s the most exciting part of the game when you make that hard run into the box and get a chance to score. I’d love to see three or four guys making runs into the box and being there to poke it in. That’s something we’ll work on at our next practice.”
Starting lineups
Reavis:
GK – Kamil Staszel
D – David Meza
D – Alex Froylan
D – Jakub Paluch
D – Paul Terlecki
MF – Pedro Guzman
MF – Diego Porras
MF – Diego Rodriguez
MF – Julian Menchaca
F – Julian Ochoa
F – Moises Gutierrez
Oak Forest
GK – Giovanni Cabrera
D – Michael Speaker
D – Gavin Collery
D – Cody Evans
MF – Declan Collery
MF – Dorian Perez Bacilio
MF – Issa Deifallah
MF – Diego Damien
MF – Omar Plancarte
F – Ian Plancarte
F – Cirilo Guiza
Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match: Giovanni Cabrera, so., GK, Oak Forest
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
No scoring
saves draw versus Reavis
Bengals soph makes early big stops in 0-0 deadlock
By Steve Millar
OAK FOREST – For both Oak Forest and Reavis, Monday’s game was a display of the progress they have made on the defensive side.
The Rams’ inexperienced backline – an apparent weakness early in the season – has developed into a major strength and was again Monday.
Oak Forest was also solid defensively and got a gem of a bounce-back performance from sophomore goalkeeper Giovanni Cabrera.
The result was a 0-0 tie in the South Suburban Conference match. It marked the second-straight tie between the foes, who played to a 1-1 draw last season.
“We are very happy with this result,” Oak Forest coach Kieran Byrne said. “Reavis is a high-quality team. We had a tie last Monday (2-2 against Tinley Park) that felt more like a loss because we let a 2-0 lead slip away. This tie feels more like a win.”
Cabrera, Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match, made six saves – including five in the first half – and earned high praise from his coach.
“He was absolutely fantastic,” Byrne said. “I told him it was great to see him back. He had a tough goal he gave up against Tinley and another one against Bremen that floated over him, but that kid showed the resilience that he has.
“He’s a proper soccer player. He forgot about the last one, bounced back straight into this one.”
Reavis (4-2-2, 4-2-2) could have easily had the Bengals (2-3-2, 2-3-2) in an early hole if not for Cabrera.
The Rams were on the attack early and often. Cabrera stopped a Diego Porras shot from 25 yards in the fourth minute and denied Porras again for his biggest moment in the 19th minute.
That’s when Porras got free down the left side of the field off a pass from Pedro Guzman and unleashed a hard shot that Cabrera knocked away. Reavis tried to pounce on the rebound, but Oak Forest defender Cody Evans cleared it away.
Cabrera built momentum with his early success.
“If they take the first shot and I make a decent save that helps boost my confidence a bit and gets me into the game more,” he said.
Reavis tested Cabrera three more times in the first half, with Moises Gutierrez putting a couple shots on frame from distance.
Porras had another dangerous shot on a free kick from 35 yards in the 35th minute. He sent a low liner that bent around the Oak Forest wall and found its way on goal. Cabrera dove to the ground to cover the shot up.
Cabrera said his teammates helped him stay confident after his tough recent games.
“I had to keep my head up,” he said. “A bunch of my teammates kept telling me everything was fine and that none of the goals were my fault. They kept backing me up. I felt good today.”
Evans, Michael Speaker and Gavin Collery had big efforts on defense in front of Cabrera.
“Our backline did really good,” Cabrera said. “They weren’t letting anybody do anything, really.”
Reavis, meanwhile, was left frustrated.
“We were in one on zero with the keeper a couple times,” Reavis coach Mark Gniadek said. “He made a couple good saves. Those are chances we expect to finish, though.”
The Rams were also shorthanded. Leading scorer Julian Ochoa started the match but departed for good early in the first half.
“He didn’t practice all week,” Gniadek said. “He has a groin injury. He tried to go and just couldn’t do it. You see what happens to our offense when he’s out.”
On the positive side for Reavis, its defense came up huge. The Rams limited Oak Forest to three shots on keeper Kamil Staszel.
The Bengals did not have a shot on goal in the first half, but they quickly picked things up offensively at the start of the second half.
Dorian Perez Bacilio put a high, looping shot on goal off a Mohammad Deifallah corner kick just over two minutes into the second half.
Deifallah and Diego Damien followed with shots that sailed just high.
“I just talked to them at halftime about having courage,” Byrne said. “There are ways to wins; and there are ways to lose but to me there is only one to play and that is just to go and play.
“If you have shots, take them. The worst that can happen is you miss. We have to take some risks. We have to mature a bit in that regard, as far as learning that it’s a risk-reward game. If we don’t take opportunities and we don’t take chances, we’re not going to have any. So, we went out there in the second half and took some shots.”
Seeing an opponent surge at the start of the second half was a familiar theme for Reavis.
“We talk a lot about the first 10 minutes of the second half, because that’s where we’ve gotten hurt in past games,” Reavis senior defender Jakub Paluch said. “We just tried to stay on their touch and not give them space to turn.”
Another senior defender, Alex Froylan, came through with a huge play for Reavis in the 62nd minute. Deifallah came up with a steal for Oak Forest and briefly appeared to have a clean look at goal, but Froylan slid in to knock the ball away.
Paluch, Froylan, David Meza and Paul Terlecki have been huge recently as Reavis which has allowed just two total goals in its last five games. That defense has translated to a 4-0-1 unbeaten string.
“At the beginning of the season, we were conceding on a lot of set pieces,” Paluch said. “We learned we really had to stick on our man and mark up and toughen up on those set pieces. Doing that has really been the key for us.”
Deifallah, a freshman, was one of the biggest igniters of the Oak Forest surge in the second half. Fellow freshmen Alex Stacy and Brandan Stacy also played big minutes in the second half. Alex came up with a steal and had a good look at goal in the 70th minute, firing high from 30 yards.
“That’s one of the things I was able to say to my team,” Byrne said. “I said, ‘How come I have three freshmen who are out here working harder, making better runs and wanting the ball more than my sophomores, juniors and seniors? It should be the other way around.’ That’s why it’s great to have these kids come in. They give the other guys, give our starters, a little kick.”
Reavis had limited scoring opportunities in the second half but did have a golden chance when Gutierrez got behind the defense in the 59th minute. Cabrera came up with another big save, blocking the shot with his body.
The lack of finishing gave Gniadek something to focus on moving forward.
“We got there, we turned the corner on the end line a couple times, and it always seems like there’s only one guy in the box,” he said. “I tell them that it’s the most exciting part of the game when you make that hard run into the box and get a chance to score. I’d love to see three or four guys making runs into the box and being there to poke it in. That’s something we’ll work on at our next practice.”
Starting lineups
Reavis:
GK – Kamil Staszel
D – David Meza
D – Alex Froylan
D – Jakub Paluch
D – Paul Terlecki
MF – Pedro Guzman
MF – Diego Porras
MF – Diego Rodriguez
MF – Julian Menchaca
F – Julian Ochoa
F – Moises Gutierrez
Oak Forest
GK – Giovanni Cabrera
D – Michael Speaker
D – Gavin Collery
D – Cody Evans
MF – Declan Collery
MF – Dorian Perez Bacilio
MF – Issa Deifallah
MF – Diego Damien
MF – Omar Plancarte
F – Ian Plancarte
F – Cirilo Guiza
Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match: Giovanni Cabrera, so., GK, Oak Forest
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
No scoring