Northtown rains on Rochelle Zell's parade
Tigers drop 3-1 decision in Chicago Prep 3rd place game
By Michael Wojtychiw
CHICAGO -- Playing through crazy weather can be hard on any team. When the sky goes from cloudy to dropping a steady, hard rain-no rain-drizzle-harder rain, it makes for a tough 80 minutes on a soccer pitch.
The conditions late Thursday afternoon and early evening changed the way the teams played and made for sloppy soccer, literally.
Rochelle Zell and Northtown braved the elements in the third place match of the Chicago Prep Tournament at Harrison Park in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood.
After losing their semifinal games to the top two seeds, Cristo Rey and Hope, respectively, both teams sought to get back on the winning track as the season headed toward the state playoffs.
“We definitely think about the conditions,” Rochelle Zell’s Jesse Shapira said. “We know the ball is going to bounce, we know the wind going against us isn’t going to go the way we want it on the long ball. So, we just take that into account and keep it simple.”
Unlike when the teams met previously ithis season, a 5-4 win by Rochelle Zell and a 3-2 win by Northtown, this game wasn’t as action-packed.
In the end, Northtown took home the third place trophy with a 3-1 win. Still, Rochelle Zell manager David Martinez liked what he saw from his squad.
“We played a competitive team,” he said. “Credit to Northtown for finding our weaknesses. We bounced back as many times as we had to. We stuck with it. We moved the ball, definitely had our opportunities, it would have been nice to finish some more.
“The boys are resilient … I see it, their parents see it. As a coach, it’s awesome to see how much we improve with the skills we have.
“The rain hurt us, but what really hurt us is we just celebrated Yom Kippur, so we haven’t touched the ball since Monday."
Northtown, which has three managers running the show, were quite happy with the win.
“There were a lot of angle passes, good communication, things we really worked on,” Diana Salgado said.
“The passing was really good. There really was a lot of great teamwork,” Gustavo Velazquez added.
After a delayed start, Rochelle Zell looked prime to score early from the constant pressure the Tigers put on the Northtown defense.
However, Northtown turned the tables to take the lead when the Pumas first counterattack hit paydirt. Johan Trelles put his team up 1-0 12 minutes into the match.
The game stayed that way until Rochelle Zell junior forward Jesse Shapira broke toward the goal in the 26th minute.
“I saw the ball played from the middle,” he said. “Harrison, our center mid is a tall guy and was able to get a head on it. He sort of lightly flicked it over to me, and I just redirected it into the goal.”
Once the teams returned to the pitch from the halftime deadlock, each was able to get a bit more into their normal style play with a respite from the rain.
Crisper passes and deeper runs downfield allowed both teams to put pressure on the other’s keeper. Rochelle Zell goalie Jacob Weiss was especially impressive in net. He made a number of great saves that kept his squad in the game.
“We play best when the weather is good,” Shapira said. “We’re not always the most skilled team, so we know when it’s clear we have to take advantage of it. We know the ball’s not going to be slipping and sliding for the most part.
“At halftime, we said ‘We know it’s not going to stay like this, but we need to take advantage of it right now.’”
Despite the Tigers’ efforts, it was Northtown’s Brandon Merino who broke the tie with 18 minutes remaining when he blasted a laser past Weiss.
With just under 10 minutes remaining, Rochelle Zell (6-10-0) had its two best opportunities of the half. One point-blank shot was stopped by keeper Leandro Esquivel; the other went just wide.
Northtown’s Emilio Francisco finished the scoring with three minutes left.
After the game and before the championship match, which Hope won in a shootout, the Chicago Prep Conference presented its awards.
Shapira and Jeremy Budin received all-conference recognition.
Both teams now prepare for the state playoffs. Northtown is a19th-seed and will face Early College in a Class AA regional quarterfinal matchup Oct. 14.
“We’re working, working hard and after losing Monday, you saw the push to get it up to here,” Northtown’s Velazquez said. “Our goal is to keep fighting until the end.”
“We’re hoping to continue with the same strategy,” Salgado said. “Now until the end of the season, we only play better and better together, so we’re hoping to see that communication, those passes.”
Rochelle Zell is the fourth seed in Sub-sectional B of the Cristo Rey St. Martin Sectional in Class A.
If it seems like Rochelle Zell and North Shore Country Day consistently play in the same regional, it’s because they have. For the last three state tournaments, Rochelle Zell has been eliminated by North Shore Country Day in the Raiders’ regional.
The Tigers hope to change that this year, but first they will need to beat seventh-seeded Sullivan.
“I think we have a chip on our shoulder,” Shapira said. “Obviously we wanted this game to go a different way, but we have something to prove now. We’re going to show everyone that our best is still to come.”
Rochelle Zell will have to overcome Sullivan and at least one other major factor for to get a shot of revenge against North Shore Country Day.
“I’m not going to see the guys until Wednesday (Oct. 12), and that’s the day of our state tournament game,” manager Martinez said. “So there’s no soccer for 6-7 days. Every other team is practicing but us.
“Everything is against us, but we always seem to make it work. We’ve been to the regional championship multiple times recently, and we’re hoping to get there again.”
Starting lineups
Northtown
GK: Leandro Esquivel
D: Francisco Galicia
D: Carlos Galvez
D: Bryan Peralta
D: Joseph Ramirez
MF: Maaouya Saed
MF: Johan Trelles
MF: Diego Gonzalez
MF: Brandon Merino
F: Emilio Francisco
F: Juliano Korotkov
Rochelle Zell
GK: Jacob Weiss
D: Ari Schwab
D: Gabe Hirsch
D: Coby Halpern
D: Jeremy Budin
MF: Ben Rosenfeld
MF: Oren Nochimowski
MF: Harrison Harkavy
MF: Nitai Gorlin
F: Jesse Shapira
F: Simon Levitan
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Brandon Merino, jr., midfielder, Northtown
Scoring summary
First half
Northtown - Johan Trelles, 12th minute
Rochelle Zelle - Jesse Shapira, 25th minute
Second half
Northtown - Brandon Merino, 62nd minute
Northtown - Emilio Francisco, 77th minute
Tigers drop 3-1 decision in Chicago Prep 3rd place game
By Michael Wojtychiw
CHICAGO -- Playing through crazy weather can be hard on any team. When the sky goes from cloudy to dropping a steady, hard rain-no rain-drizzle-harder rain, it makes for a tough 80 minutes on a soccer pitch.
The conditions late Thursday afternoon and early evening changed the way the teams played and made for sloppy soccer, literally.
Rochelle Zell and Northtown braved the elements in the third place match of the Chicago Prep Tournament at Harrison Park in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood.
After losing their semifinal games to the top two seeds, Cristo Rey and Hope, respectively, both teams sought to get back on the winning track as the season headed toward the state playoffs.
“We definitely think about the conditions,” Rochelle Zell’s Jesse Shapira said. “We know the ball is going to bounce, we know the wind going against us isn’t going to go the way we want it on the long ball. So, we just take that into account and keep it simple.”
Unlike when the teams met previously ithis season, a 5-4 win by Rochelle Zell and a 3-2 win by Northtown, this game wasn’t as action-packed.
In the end, Northtown took home the third place trophy with a 3-1 win. Still, Rochelle Zell manager David Martinez liked what he saw from his squad.
“We played a competitive team,” he said. “Credit to Northtown for finding our weaknesses. We bounced back as many times as we had to. We stuck with it. We moved the ball, definitely had our opportunities, it would have been nice to finish some more.
“The boys are resilient … I see it, their parents see it. As a coach, it’s awesome to see how much we improve with the skills we have.
“The rain hurt us, but what really hurt us is we just celebrated Yom Kippur, so we haven’t touched the ball since Monday."
Northtown, which has three managers running the show, were quite happy with the win.
“There were a lot of angle passes, good communication, things we really worked on,” Diana Salgado said.
“The passing was really good. There really was a lot of great teamwork,” Gustavo Velazquez added.
After a delayed start, Rochelle Zell looked prime to score early from the constant pressure the Tigers put on the Northtown defense.
However, Northtown turned the tables to take the lead when the Pumas first counterattack hit paydirt. Johan Trelles put his team up 1-0 12 minutes into the match.
The game stayed that way until Rochelle Zell junior forward Jesse Shapira broke toward the goal in the 26th minute.
“I saw the ball played from the middle,” he said. “Harrison, our center mid is a tall guy and was able to get a head on it. He sort of lightly flicked it over to me, and I just redirected it into the goal.”
Once the teams returned to the pitch from the halftime deadlock, each was able to get a bit more into their normal style play with a respite from the rain.
Crisper passes and deeper runs downfield allowed both teams to put pressure on the other’s keeper. Rochelle Zell goalie Jacob Weiss was especially impressive in net. He made a number of great saves that kept his squad in the game.
“We play best when the weather is good,” Shapira said. “We’re not always the most skilled team, so we know when it’s clear we have to take advantage of it. We know the ball’s not going to be slipping and sliding for the most part.
“At halftime, we said ‘We know it’s not going to stay like this, but we need to take advantage of it right now.’”
Despite the Tigers’ efforts, it was Northtown’s Brandon Merino who broke the tie with 18 minutes remaining when he blasted a laser past Weiss.
With just under 10 minutes remaining, Rochelle Zell (6-10-0) had its two best opportunities of the half. One point-blank shot was stopped by keeper Leandro Esquivel; the other went just wide.
Northtown’s Emilio Francisco finished the scoring with three minutes left.
After the game and before the championship match, which Hope won in a shootout, the Chicago Prep Conference presented its awards.
Shapira and Jeremy Budin received all-conference recognition.
Both teams now prepare for the state playoffs. Northtown is a19th-seed and will face Early College in a Class AA regional quarterfinal matchup Oct. 14.
“We’re working, working hard and after losing Monday, you saw the push to get it up to here,” Northtown’s Velazquez said. “Our goal is to keep fighting until the end.”
“We’re hoping to continue with the same strategy,” Salgado said. “Now until the end of the season, we only play better and better together, so we’re hoping to see that communication, those passes.”
Rochelle Zell is the fourth seed in Sub-sectional B of the Cristo Rey St. Martin Sectional in Class A.
If it seems like Rochelle Zell and North Shore Country Day consistently play in the same regional, it’s because they have. For the last three state tournaments, Rochelle Zell has been eliminated by North Shore Country Day in the Raiders’ regional.
The Tigers hope to change that this year, but first they will need to beat seventh-seeded Sullivan.
“I think we have a chip on our shoulder,” Shapira said. “Obviously we wanted this game to go a different way, but we have something to prove now. We’re going to show everyone that our best is still to come.”
Rochelle Zell will have to overcome Sullivan and at least one other major factor for to get a shot of revenge against North Shore Country Day.
“I’m not going to see the guys until Wednesday (Oct. 12), and that’s the day of our state tournament game,” manager Martinez said. “So there’s no soccer for 6-7 days. Every other team is practicing but us.
“Everything is against us, but we always seem to make it work. We’ve been to the regional championship multiple times recently, and we’re hoping to get there again.”
Starting lineups
Northtown
GK: Leandro Esquivel
D: Francisco Galicia
D: Carlos Galvez
D: Bryan Peralta
D: Joseph Ramirez
MF: Maaouya Saed
MF: Johan Trelles
MF: Diego Gonzalez
MF: Brandon Merino
F: Emilio Francisco
F: Juliano Korotkov
Rochelle Zell
GK: Jacob Weiss
D: Ari Schwab
D: Gabe Hirsch
D: Coby Halpern
D: Jeremy Budin
MF: Ben Rosenfeld
MF: Oren Nochimowski
MF: Harrison Harkavy
MF: Nitai Gorlin
F: Jesse Shapira
F: Simon Levitan
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Brandon Merino, jr., midfielder, Northtown
Scoring summary
First half
Northtown - Johan Trelles, 12th minute
Rochelle Zelle - Jesse Shapira, 25th minute
Second half
Northtown - Brandon Merino, 62nd minute
Northtown - Emilio Francisco, 77th minute