Rolling Meadows outdefends
Bartlett for Hampshire title
Mustangs squeak with 1-0 win to maintain perfect record
By Len Eisele
HAMPSHIRE -- Rolling Meadows completed its weekend sweep of the Hampshire Invitational tournament with a 1-0 victory over Bartlett on Saturday. The hard-fought win brought with it the tourney title.
“To come out with the win and go 3-0-0 on the weekend is more than satisfying,” Mustangs coach Brett Olson said. “Our program hasn’t had any kind of championship in some time, so it’s nice to have that.”
Rolling Meadows (7-0-0) rose from 18th to fifth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 after the wins.
The only goal of the game came in the 23rd minute of the first half. Gage Lockley found a streaking Brayan Botello, who rifled the ball into the back of the net on the ground from four yards. The ball just squeaked under Bartlett goalkeeper Miguel Sarmiento as he dived valiantly for the save.
“I had so many opportunities, but with that I opportunity I had right there,” Botello said. “I closed it. I felt it. As soon as I scored, I knew we were going to win it.”
After the goal, there weren’t many offensive chances for either team as the defenses clamped down.
“The defense was really solid,” Botello said. “Even though there weren’t many chances for the back, they were doing really great.”
The Rolling Meadows defense continued being the straw that stirs their victorious drink. The win featured their fifth shutout of the season, despite missing several key players. The Mustangs have only given up two goals this season.
“Our defense has been really, really good,” Olson said. “It’s been our strong point so far. We had a lot of guys rotating in and out. Some guys came off the bench, who haven’t been playing, came in and played really well. Alex Puciaty had a huge game in the back when he was in there.”
Bartlett (2-7-0) was also short-handed both on the field and on the sideline Saturday. The Hawks were forced to move up a group of younger players to the varsity. They were without head coach Vince Revak, who was unavailable due to a prior commitment.
Assistant coach Anthony Glorioso took charge of the team and liked what he saw in the second half of the game.
“The second half was a lot better overall, connecting passes and being on the attack,” Glorioso said. “It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t get a win.”
The Hawks started slow in the first half, prompting Glorioso to sub out almost every starter with a multi-player substitution switch early in the game.
“The first half was very, very unlike them,” Glorioso said. “I took the whole starting 11 off within the first 10 minutes of the game because I had to have a talk with them. I put the subs in, and the subs did very well.”
Bartlett’s best chance for the equalizer came late in the waning minutes of the second half. Senior defender Andrew Nava took the ball deep into Rolling Meadows territory, almost to the end line at the edge of the box, and crossed it to junior midfielder Joshua Taylor. Taylor made a jumping attempt on the header, but had the ball just skip off his head and out of bounds.
“They were coming at us.” Olson said. “They were playing really well in the midfield and connecting passes, and we got sloppy. They almost made us pay for it. Thankfully we got a lucky and it scraped wide on that one. It would have been a shame to not have that shutout.”
Neither goalkeeper saw too much action – both defenses kept the scoring chances to a minimum -- but each had strong saves when it counted.
Rolling Meadows goalkeeper freshman goalkeeper Marceli Okonski made two big stops late in the first half. He charged an incoming Hawks attack and made a diving stab that knocked the ball away; he quickly recovered to snag the rebound shot.
“We have a freshman goalie that got his second shutout in two starts this weekend,” Olson said. “He wasn’t really tested that much, maybe one shot at him. If our keeper is pitching a shutout and not getting tested, I think our defense is a pretty good job.”
Bartlett put only a few shots on goal.
“We look up, and we either don’t feel confident taking the shot or we want to be inside the six or closer inside the 18,” Glorioso said. “We’ve got to take every opportunity we can inside the 18 to take a shot.”
Rolling Meadows kept the pressure on all game but couldn’t put another ball into the net.
Late in the second half, Botello looked to have a breakaway opportunity as he followed a high-arcing pass behind the Hawks defense, but Bartlett senior defender Andy Perez recovered quickly. He caught Botello and knocked the ball away to keep the Hawks within striking distance.
“It’s tough,” Glorioso said. “After talking with the starting group and the bench group, they got their heads back on. Everyone played very well in the second half and at the end of the first half. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t put one in the back of the net.”
Starting lineups
Rolling Meadows
GK Miguel Sarmiento
FB Iliya Kachakov
FB Aiden O’Brien
FB Diego Tapia
FB Jesus Rodriguez
MF Brian Diaz
MF Joe Salemi
MF Gage Lockley
FW Wilson Espino
FW Brayan Botello
FW Andrew Flores
Bartlett
GK Anthony Mellace
FB Spencer Medendorp
FB Nathaniel Preissig
FB Andrew Nava
FB Trey Plunkett
MF Diego Rebollar-Cortez
MF Gianluca Traversa
MF Will Poulopoulos
FW Luis Leon
FW Agustin Chavez
FW Oscar Medina
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Brian Botello, sr., F, Rolling Meadows
Scoring Summary
First half
RM - Botello (Lockley) 23rd minute
Second half
No scoring
Bartlett for Hampshire title
Mustangs squeak with 1-0 win to maintain perfect record
By Len Eisele
HAMPSHIRE -- Rolling Meadows completed its weekend sweep of the Hampshire Invitational tournament with a 1-0 victory over Bartlett on Saturday. The hard-fought win brought with it the tourney title.
“To come out with the win and go 3-0-0 on the weekend is more than satisfying,” Mustangs coach Brett Olson said. “Our program hasn’t had any kind of championship in some time, so it’s nice to have that.”
Rolling Meadows (7-0-0) rose from 18th to fifth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 after the wins.
The only goal of the game came in the 23rd minute of the first half. Gage Lockley found a streaking Brayan Botello, who rifled the ball into the back of the net on the ground from four yards. The ball just squeaked under Bartlett goalkeeper Miguel Sarmiento as he dived valiantly for the save.
“I had so many opportunities, but with that I opportunity I had right there,” Botello said. “I closed it. I felt it. As soon as I scored, I knew we were going to win it.”
After the goal, there weren’t many offensive chances for either team as the defenses clamped down.
“The defense was really solid,” Botello said. “Even though there weren’t many chances for the back, they were doing really great.”
The Rolling Meadows defense continued being the straw that stirs their victorious drink. The win featured their fifth shutout of the season, despite missing several key players. The Mustangs have only given up two goals this season.
“Our defense has been really, really good,” Olson said. “It’s been our strong point so far. We had a lot of guys rotating in and out. Some guys came off the bench, who haven’t been playing, came in and played really well. Alex Puciaty had a huge game in the back when he was in there.”
Bartlett (2-7-0) was also short-handed both on the field and on the sideline Saturday. The Hawks were forced to move up a group of younger players to the varsity. They were without head coach Vince Revak, who was unavailable due to a prior commitment.
Assistant coach Anthony Glorioso took charge of the team and liked what he saw in the second half of the game.
“The second half was a lot better overall, connecting passes and being on the attack,” Glorioso said. “It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t get a win.”
The Hawks started slow in the first half, prompting Glorioso to sub out almost every starter with a multi-player substitution switch early in the game.
“The first half was very, very unlike them,” Glorioso said. “I took the whole starting 11 off within the first 10 minutes of the game because I had to have a talk with them. I put the subs in, and the subs did very well.”
Bartlett’s best chance for the equalizer came late in the waning minutes of the second half. Senior defender Andrew Nava took the ball deep into Rolling Meadows territory, almost to the end line at the edge of the box, and crossed it to junior midfielder Joshua Taylor. Taylor made a jumping attempt on the header, but had the ball just skip off his head and out of bounds.
“They were coming at us.” Olson said. “They were playing really well in the midfield and connecting passes, and we got sloppy. They almost made us pay for it. Thankfully we got a lucky and it scraped wide on that one. It would have been a shame to not have that shutout.”
Neither goalkeeper saw too much action – both defenses kept the scoring chances to a minimum -- but each had strong saves when it counted.
Rolling Meadows goalkeeper freshman goalkeeper Marceli Okonski made two big stops late in the first half. He charged an incoming Hawks attack and made a diving stab that knocked the ball away; he quickly recovered to snag the rebound shot.
“We have a freshman goalie that got his second shutout in two starts this weekend,” Olson said. “He wasn’t really tested that much, maybe one shot at him. If our keeper is pitching a shutout and not getting tested, I think our defense is a pretty good job.”
Bartlett put only a few shots on goal.
“We look up, and we either don’t feel confident taking the shot or we want to be inside the six or closer inside the 18,” Glorioso said. “We’ve got to take every opportunity we can inside the 18 to take a shot.”
Rolling Meadows kept the pressure on all game but couldn’t put another ball into the net.
Late in the second half, Botello looked to have a breakaway opportunity as he followed a high-arcing pass behind the Hawks defense, but Bartlett senior defender Andy Perez recovered quickly. He caught Botello and knocked the ball away to keep the Hawks within striking distance.
“It’s tough,” Glorioso said. “After talking with the starting group and the bench group, they got their heads back on. Everyone played very well in the second half and at the end of the first half. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t put one in the back of the net.”
Starting lineups
Rolling Meadows
GK Miguel Sarmiento
FB Iliya Kachakov
FB Aiden O’Brien
FB Diego Tapia
FB Jesus Rodriguez
MF Brian Diaz
MF Joe Salemi
MF Gage Lockley
FW Wilson Espino
FW Brayan Botello
FW Andrew Flores
Bartlett
GK Anthony Mellace
FB Spencer Medendorp
FB Nathaniel Preissig
FB Andrew Nava
FB Trey Plunkett
MF Diego Rebollar-Cortez
MF Gianluca Traversa
MF Will Poulopoulos
FW Luis Leon
FW Agustin Chavez
FW Oscar Medina
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Brian Botello, sr., F, Rolling Meadows
Scoring Summary
First half
RM - Botello (Lockley) 23rd minute
Second half
No scoring