Hampered Hampshire falls to Romeoville
Whip-Purs help injury relief is on the way, fall 5-0 in tourney finale
By Len Eisele
HAMPSHIRE - Depleted host Hampshire was no match for Romeoville in the teams’ final game in the four-team Hampshire Invitation on Saturday.
The Spartans rolled 5-0 as injury woes increased for Hampshire (3-7-2).
Romeoville unleashed a scoring barrage early, netting two goals in less than a minute.
The Spartans got their first goal off a rebound that hit off the goal post before it was knocked in by sophomore forward Isaiah Pina from five yards on the right side in the eighth minute.
“You’ve got to score when you get the chance,” Spartans coach Nick Cirrincione said. “It’s high school soccer, so if you don’t score, bad thing happens, right? We scored a lot today. It’s exciting.”
The Spartans followed that up with another smash into the net less than a minute later, this time by senior John Renteria from 15 yards.
The Whip-Purs held strong for a stretch before Josef Duarte sliced the ball across the net from the right side all the way into the left side of the goal from 12 yards for a 3-0 Romeoville lead with 3:39 left in the half.
Duarte finished the game with three assists to go along with his goal.
Hard-luck Hampshire was down four starters entering the game and saw three more go down to injury in-game. As the sun beat down on both teams, only Romeoville was able to reload with fresh players.
“We know going into this game, we’re going into a tough situation with a lot of players missing today for various reasons and then a lot of injuries,” Hampshire coach Chayanne Martinez said. “There was tough competition, but that’s what we need to get better.”
Romeoville added two more goals in the second half as Hampshire faded due to exhaustion from the lack of manpower.
“It’s really hard, I’m not going to lie,” Hampshire senior forward Kyan Dulaca said. “I was really suffering out there. My chest is hurting, but I’m out here and giving it my best. The end result wasn’t what we wanted, but we had to come out here and play.”
Romeoville struck early again in the second half with Adrian Lechuga taking a pass from Julian Arreguian and smashing his shot past the outstretched arms of Hampshire goalkeeper Kyle Schultz.
Schultz, under pressure all afternoon, made some spectacular diving saves to try and give his team a chance to come back. Schultz’s best save came with 22 minutes left in the game, when he dove to knock away a Spartans header attempt from eight yards.
Shortly after that save, the Whip-Purs lost another player to injury when sophomore forward Juan Martinez left the game and didn’t return.
Less than three minutes later Isaiah Pina put in the final goal for the Romeoville from 15 yards.
Hampshire hopes to get healthy and break back to their winning ways once they get their players back on the field.
“I’m expecting us to finish the conference strong,” Martinez said. “I think we have a lot of fight in us once we get focused more into those games. I think we have a very good team defensively when we’re all fully healthy.”
The schedule has not been kind to the ailing Whip-Purs. They lost their three tournament games, played on consecutive days, by a 10-0 total. In a jam-packed opening three weeks of the season, they have played 13 matches. In stark contract, Hampshire plays 10 games in the final five weeks of the regular season.
“These are games that grind out,” Martinez said. “Unfortunately, the schedule isn’t favorable to players.
“It’s very unruly to play four, five, and six games a week, even if some of them are tournaments. That’s part of the schedule. and we have to rotate players in.”
The players who competed Saturday made an impression on their coach.
“I ask for them, no matter, to give me their hearts,” Martinez said. “This is their pride. This is what they want to do. It got a little hot today, and we weren’t subbing in and out because of being low on subs. It made it hard to go full forward for 80 minutes.”
The players are ready to get the roster back to full strength and get the season back on track.
“We just need to work hard for the next game,” Dulaca said. “We’ll see what happens from here. I hope our players will be back for our next game, and we’ll just see what happens.”
Game notes
The referee hit both teams with some quick yellow cards. The Whip-Purs had three players carded and the Spartans had one to the shock of both coaches.
The yellow cards put the Whip-Purs in an even tougher spot.
“Unfortunately, there was a lot of yellow cards today, and there’s been a lot of yellow cards the last few games,” Martinez said. “They’re very quick to it and I can understand that if you’re not going for the ball, you’re being reckless.
“There were a lot of occasions where that couldn’t have been called, but we have to make sure we temper ourselves. Some of those are tough situations, but they make the final calls, and you have to respect it.”
Romeoville junior goalkeeper Lucas Ortiz recorded his eighth shutout on the season Saturday. That tied the school record for both a season and a career.
Starting lineups
Romeoville
GK - Lucas Ortiz
D - Josh Silvar
D - Imanol Cassilas
D - Christian Lechuga
M - Ryan Budz
M - Julian Arreguian
M - Christian Agyekum
F - Josef Duarte
F - John Renteria
F - Adrian Lechuga
F - Isaiah Pina
Hampshire
G - Kyle Schultz
D - Adrian Mikiewicz
D - Axel Munos
D - Samuel Beer
D - Niklas Kaistinen
M - Gerardo Marquez
M - Chase Anderson
M - John Serra
F - Juan Martinez
F - Juan Alva
F - Charlie Terriquez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Josef Duarte, jr., F, Romeoville
Scoring summary
First half
Romeoville - Pina (Duarte) 17th minute
Romeoville - Renteria (Duarte) 18th minute
Romeoville - Duarte (Agyekum) 36th minute
Second half
Romeoville - A. Lechuga (Duarte) 41st minute
Romeoville - Pina (C. Lechuga) 63rd minute
Whip-Purs help injury relief is on the way, fall 5-0 in tourney finale
By Len Eisele
HAMPSHIRE - Depleted host Hampshire was no match for Romeoville in the teams’ final game in the four-team Hampshire Invitation on Saturday.
The Spartans rolled 5-0 as injury woes increased for Hampshire (3-7-2).
Romeoville unleashed a scoring barrage early, netting two goals in less than a minute.
The Spartans got their first goal off a rebound that hit off the goal post before it was knocked in by sophomore forward Isaiah Pina from five yards on the right side in the eighth minute.
“You’ve got to score when you get the chance,” Spartans coach Nick Cirrincione said. “It’s high school soccer, so if you don’t score, bad thing happens, right? We scored a lot today. It’s exciting.”
The Spartans followed that up with another smash into the net less than a minute later, this time by senior John Renteria from 15 yards.
The Whip-Purs held strong for a stretch before Josef Duarte sliced the ball across the net from the right side all the way into the left side of the goal from 12 yards for a 3-0 Romeoville lead with 3:39 left in the half.
Duarte finished the game with three assists to go along with his goal.
Hard-luck Hampshire was down four starters entering the game and saw three more go down to injury in-game. As the sun beat down on both teams, only Romeoville was able to reload with fresh players.
“We know going into this game, we’re going into a tough situation with a lot of players missing today for various reasons and then a lot of injuries,” Hampshire coach Chayanne Martinez said. “There was tough competition, but that’s what we need to get better.”
Romeoville added two more goals in the second half as Hampshire faded due to exhaustion from the lack of manpower.
“It’s really hard, I’m not going to lie,” Hampshire senior forward Kyan Dulaca said. “I was really suffering out there. My chest is hurting, but I’m out here and giving it my best. The end result wasn’t what we wanted, but we had to come out here and play.”
Romeoville struck early again in the second half with Adrian Lechuga taking a pass from Julian Arreguian and smashing his shot past the outstretched arms of Hampshire goalkeeper Kyle Schultz.
Schultz, under pressure all afternoon, made some spectacular diving saves to try and give his team a chance to come back. Schultz’s best save came with 22 minutes left in the game, when he dove to knock away a Spartans header attempt from eight yards.
Shortly after that save, the Whip-Purs lost another player to injury when sophomore forward Juan Martinez left the game and didn’t return.
Less than three minutes later Isaiah Pina put in the final goal for the Romeoville from 15 yards.
Hampshire hopes to get healthy and break back to their winning ways once they get their players back on the field.
“I’m expecting us to finish the conference strong,” Martinez said. “I think we have a lot of fight in us once we get focused more into those games. I think we have a very good team defensively when we’re all fully healthy.”
The schedule has not been kind to the ailing Whip-Purs. They lost their three tournament games, played on consecutive days, by a 10-0 total. In a jam-packed opening three weeks of the season, they have played 13 matches. In stark contract, Hampshire plays 10 games in the final five weeks of the regular season.
“These are games that grind out,” Martinez said. “Unfortunately, the schedule isn’t favorable to players.
“It’s very unruly to play four, five, and six games a week, even if some of them are tournaments. That’s part of the schedule. and we have to rotate players in.”
The players who competed Saturday made an impression on their coach.
“I ask for them, no matter, to give me their hearts,” Martinez said. “This is their pride. This is what they want to do. It got a little hot today, and we weren’t subbing in and out because of being low on subs. It made it hard to go full forward for 80 minutes.”
The players are ready to get the roster back to full strength and get the season back on track.
“We just need to work hard for the next game,” Dulaca said. “We’ll see what happens from here. I hope our players will be back for our next game, and we’ll just see what happens.”
Game notes
The referee hit both teams with some quick yellow cards. The Whip-Purs had three players carded and the Spartans had one to the shock of both coaches.
The yellow cards put the Whip-Purs in an even tougher spot.
“Unfortunately, there was a lot of yellow cards today, and there’s been a lot of yellow cards the last few games,” Martinez said. “They’re very quick to it and I can understand that if you’re not going for the ball, you’re being reckless.
“There were a lot of occasions where that couldn’t have been called, but we have to make sure we temper ourselves. Some of those are tough situations, but they make the final calls, and you have to respect it.”
Romeoville junior goalkeeper Lucas Ortiz recorded his eighth shutout on the season Saturday. That tied the school record for both a season and a career.
Starting lineups
Romeoville
GK - Lucas Ortiz
D - Josh Silvar
D - Imanol Cassilas
D - Christian Lechuga
M - Ryan Budz
M - Julian Arreguian
M - Christian Agyekum
F - Josef Duarte
F - John Renteria
F - Adrian Lechuga
F - Isaiah Pina
Hampshire
G - Kyle Schultz
D - Adrian Mikiewicz
D - Axel Munos
D - Samuel Beer
D - Niklas Kaistinen
M - Gerardo Marquez
M - Chase Anderson
M - John Serra
F - Juan Martinez
F - Juan Alva
F - Charlie Terriquez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Josef Duarte, jr., F, Romeoville
Scoring summary
First half
Romeoville - Pina (Duarte) 17th minute
Romeoville - Renteria (Duarte) 18th minute
Romeoville - Duarte (Agyekum) 36th minute
Second half
Romeoville - A. Lechuga (Duarte) 41st minute
Romeoville - Pina (C. Lechuga) 63rd minute