OPRF mounts epic comeback,
stuns St. Ignatius
McGuire’s 3 assists, disputed call lead Huskies to 4-3 win
By Patrick Z. McGavin
OAK PARK -- Soccer pessimists who insist the game is boring, uneventful and that nothing ever happens would have decisively lost that argument Tuesday night.
Six goals in a half, a remarkable comeback, a controversial ruling -- the game had it all. The air crackled and buzzed, and not just because of the electrical storm that preceded the start of the game. Everything felt alive and possible.
“This is the start of the season,” Oak Park and River Forest coach Jason Fried said. “This is high school soccer.”
The soccer gods delivered a game of touches, momentum swings and wild action in an open and loose-limbed game played with speed and exhilaration.
What began as a rout turned into a barnburner and ended as a remarkable study of hope and perseverance. St. Ignatius looked like world-beaters in scoring two goals in the first five minutes. The Huskies dug in.
“The way we came back was absolutely class,” senior midfielder James McGuire said.
McGuire administered three assists and collaborated with defender Blake Soto on a terrific service ball as the Huskies scored four times off set pieces in reversing a three-goal deficit to stun the Wolfpack 4-3 in nonconference play.
McGuire earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match prize for his superb play.
“I am usually the one in the box,” McGuire said. “Today it was different. Set pieces are what we focus on a lot in practice. We spend a lot of time with them in practice. It paid off today.”
Hanging over everything was a controversial ruling that St. Ignatius senior keeper Keenan Troy violated the handling rule by releasing the ball and then picking it up again. The play resulted in an indirect free kick in front of the Wolfpack goal the Huskies converted to forge the 3-3 tie at the break.
The Huskies (3-1-0) had many heroes, not the least of them McGuire, Soto with his two goals and forward Jaime Guillen, who got into the action with a goal and assist.
“Honestly, Fried took some kids out, switched it up a lot and kids came in and fired us up,” McGuire said. “We got the first goal and things changed.”
It was a game with its own lines of demarcation. The Wolfpack set the tone and established the early order. It was as one-sided as possible. St. Ignatius (1-1-0) played with grace and passion at the start, obviously eager to build off its season-opening win over Rock Canyon (Colorado) on Saturday.
The Wolfpack applied early pressure and jumped on the Huskies from the start. In the third minute, senior forward Matthew Griffin, a lanky and agile player, created a turnover. He pushed the ball down the right edge, made a instant turn and quickly switched to his off, left foot before blasting a ball from about 12 yards that curled sweetly inside the near post.
Advantage Wolfpack.
But St. Ignatius was just getting started. Two minutes later, sophomore Jaret Atuobi, a wisp of a player who’s nervy and athletic, controlled another ball deep in the Huskies’ scoring third and slotted a pass that senior forward Keith Bevans put away.
Oak Park and River Forest was stunned. The Huskies were coming off a disappointing performance on Saturday, when they lost 4-2 against Larkin in pool play of the Leyden Challenge Cup.
“We started the first two games really great,” Fried said. “We have a lot of younger guys we moved up this year, and we started to get hot. We struggled a lit bit on Saturday -- give all the credit to Larkin. We didn’t come out as focused as we needed to. There are ups and downs in the season. I thought we’d come out strong tonight.
“Instead the opposite happened, and we came out really slowly. You can’t afford to do that against a quality team like St. Ignatius, and they made us pay for it.”
St. Ignatius played with poise and pace, dictating the tempo and forcing Oak Park and River Forest to consistently react and respond rather than influence. Christian Telles, a lanky defender, shutdown the Huskies’ attack. The game settled down. St. Ignatius left little doubt who controlled the game.
The constant pressure and movement paid off in the 22nd minute as Atuobi got to the outside right corner and delivered an impressive cross that sophomore midfielder Aidan Hurst finished inside the box for a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 advantage.
Oak Park and River Forest was left pondering larger questions.
“We just wondered what kind of heart we have and how mentally tough we are,” Fried said. “I said to my coaches, it’s 3-0, but there is still a ton of time. We made some changes, gave guys some breathers. Some of the guys, I just wanted them to come to the sideline and just watch the game for a little bit.”
Oak Park and River Forest found a glimmer of hope in the 26th minute after Guillen played a free kick that Soto made a quick volley inside the near post for the Huskies’ opening goal. The Huskies got hot at the right time.
“As soon I saw the substitutes were in, and I put in the first goal, I knew immediately we were going to be a completely different team from the first 20 minutes when we allowed the three goals,” Soto said.
Off a corner from the left wing, McGuire delivered another sensational ball that senior forward Colin McKitrick blasted for the crucial second goal.
St. Ignatius had lost its momentum.
“I told the guys at the end of the game when we had the 3-0 lead, they wanted to get back into the game more than we wanted to win it,” St. Ignatius coach Ryan Kearns said. “We stopped possessing the ball. We started playing more direct. Then we started to panic when they started to possess and run at us. Oak Park has always known for its high-intensity game since I have been coaching against them, and we should have known it was coming.”
Then came the game-affecting ruling in the 38th minute. The ball was placed at the goal-line nearest the infraction, six yards from the Wolfpack goal. McGuire made a quick touch and Guillen blasted it in for the 3-3 score.
“The official thought when Keenan Troy, our keeper, got the ball his momentum brought him down to the ground,” Kearns said. “In the process of standing up, he kept the ball but released it, but it never left the ground. According to the understanding I have of the rule, that is fine. If he had picked up, put it back down and then picked it up, that’s bad.
“We had to keep our heads, stay level, possess the ball and take them out of their game, and we did not do that. We had the lead, and we let it slip. Honestly, I think the final result was fair. The score probably should have been 3-3, because that third goal should never have happened. I think that was an incorrect call.”
Oak Park and River Forest completed the remarkable close as McGuire again found Soto off a free kick in the 49th minute.
“I was probably the target man, because I was able to get everywhere in front of the box,” Soto said. “I tried to make a near post run. I pushed my body into the defender, and it deflected off me and him and into the net. It was the perfect play from James.”
Momentum drives all sports. Sometimes the hardest part is getting it back.
“I like the intensity with which we start games,” Kearns said. “The flip side to that is the intensity by which we drop off. We just fall off a cliff. We run straight at that cliff and then we fall off. We can’t seem to recover from that. We have the tools and the fitness to do it. We are trying to figure out what the reason is why we collapse once we take leads.”
Starting lineups
St. Ignatius
GK: Keenan Troy
D: Ethan Belnap
D: Christian Telles
D: Jack Galante
MF: Max Hanlon
MF: Daniel Fernandez
MF: Ronan Sullivan
MF: Ryan Fitzpatrick
MF: Jared Atuobi
F: Matthew Griffin
F: Keith Bevans
Oak Park and River Forest
GK: Sam Pacenka
D: Bram Lebovitz
D: Dylan Whitney
D: Blake Soto
D: Zeke Rivera
MF: Matt Hawthorne
MF: Mateja Tadie
MF: James McGuire
MF: Ryan Stutz
F: Brody Bliss
F: Colin McKitrick
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the match: James McGuire, sr., MF, Oak Park and River Forest
Scoring summary
First half
St. Ignatius—Matthew Griffin (unassisted), third minute
St. Ignatius—Keith Bevans (Jaden Rice), fifth minute
St. Ignatius—Aidan Hurst (Jared Atuobi), 22nd minute
OPRF—Blake Soto (Jaime Guillen), 26th minute
OPRF—Colin McKitrick (James McGuire), 31st minute
OPRF—Guillen (McGuire), 38th minute
Second half
OPRF—Soto (McGuire), 49th minute
stuns St. Ignatius
McGuire’s 3 assists, disputed call lead Huskies to 4-3 win
By Patrick Z. McGavin
OAK PARK -- Soccer pessimists who insist the game is boring, uneventful and that nothing ever happens would have decisively lost that argument Tuesday night.
Six goals in a half, a remarkable comeback, a controversial ruling -- the game had it all. The air crackled and buzzed, and not just because of the electrical storm that preceded the start of the game. Everything felt alive and possible.
“This is the start of the season,” Oak Park and River Forest coach Jason Fried said. “This is high school soccer.”
The soccer gods delivered a game of touches, momentum swings and wild action in an open and loose-limbed game played with speed and exhilaration.
What began as a rout turned into a barnburner and ended as a remarkable study of hope and perseverance. St. Ignatius looked like world-beaters in scoring two goals in the first five minutes. The Huskies dug in.
“The way we came back was absolutely class,” senior midfielder James McGuire said.
McGuire administered three assists and collaborated with defender Blake Soto on a terrific service ball as the Huskies scored four times off set pieces in reversing a three-goal deficit to stun the Wolfpack 4-3 in nonconference play.
McGuire earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match prize for his superb play.
“I am usually the one in the box,” McGuire said. “Today it was different. Set pieces are what we focus on a lot in practice. We spend a lot of time with them in practice. It paid off today.”
Hanging over everything was a controversial ruling that St. Ignatius senior keeper Keenan Troy violated the handling rule by releasing the ball and then picking it up again. The play resulted in an indirect free kick in front of the Wolfpack goal the Huskies converted to forge the 3-3 tie at the break.
The Huskies (3-1-0) had many heroes, not the least of them McGuire, Soto with his two goals and forward Jaime Guillen, who got into the action with a goal and assist.
“Honestly, Fried took some kids out, switched it up a lot and kids came in and fired us up,” McGuire said. “We got the first goal and things changed.”
It was a game with its own lines of demarcation. The Wolfpack set the tone and established the early order. It was as one-sided as possible. St. Ignatius (1-1-0) played with grace and passion at the start, obviously eager to build off its season-opening win over Rock Canyon (Colorado) on Saturday.
The Wolfpack applied early pressure and jumped on the Huskies from the start. In the third minute, senior forward Matthew Griffin, a lanky and agile player, created a turnover. He pushed the ball down the right edge, made a instant turn and quickly switched to his off, left foot before blasting a ball from about 12 yards that curled sweetly inside the near post.
Advantage Wolfpack.
But St. Ignatius was just getting started. Two minutes later, sophomore Jaret Atuobi, a wisp of a player who’s nervy and athletic, controlled another ball deep in the Huskies’ scoring third and slotted a pass that senior forward Keith Bevans put away.
Oak Park and River Forest was stunned. The Huskies were coming off a disappointing performance on Saturday, when they lost 4-2 against Larkin in pool play of the Leyden Challenge Cup.
“We started the first two games really great,” Fried said. “We have a lot of younger guys we moved up this year, and we started to get hot. We struggled a lit bit on Saturday -- give all the credit to Larkin. We didn’t come out as focused as we needed to. There are ups and downs in the season. I thought we’d come out strong tonight.
“Instead the opposite happened, and we came out really slowly. You can’t afford to do that against a quality team like St. Ignatius, and they made us pay for it.”
St. Ignatius played with poise and pace, dictating the tempo and forcing Oak Park and River Forest to consistently react and respond rather than influence. Christian Telles, a lanky defender, shutdown the Huskies’ attack. The game settled down. St. Ignatius left little doubt who controlled the game.
The constant pressure and movement paid off in the 22nd minute as Atuobi got to the outside right corner and delivered an impressive cross that sophomore midfielder Aidan Hurst finished inside the box for a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 advantage.
Oak Park and River Forest was left pondering larger questions.
“We just wondered what kind of heart we have and how mentally tough we are,” Fried said. “I said to my coaches, it’s 3-0, but there is still a ton of time. We made some changes, gave guys some breathers. Some of the guys, I just wanted them to come to the sideline and just watch the game for a little bit.”
Oak Park and River Forest found a glimmer of hope in the 26th minute after Guillen played a free kick that Soto made a quick volley inside the near post for the Huskies’ opening goal. The Huskies got hot at the right time.
“As soon I saw the substitutes were in, and I put in the first goal, I knew immediately we were going to be a completely different team from the first 20 minutes when we allowed the three goals,” Soto said.
Off a corner from the left wing, McGuire delivered another sensational ball that senior forward Colin McKitrick blasted for the crucial second goal.
St. Ignatius had lost its momentum.
“I told the guys at the end of the game when we had the 3-0 lead, they wanted to get back into the game more than we wanted to win it,” St. Ignatius coach Ryan Kearns said. “We stopped possessing the ball. We started playing more direct. Then we started to panic when they started to possess and run at us. Oak Park has always known for its high-intensity game since I have been coaching against them, and we should have known it was coming.”
Then came the game-affecting ruling in the 38th minute. The ball was placed at the goal-line nearest the infraction, six yards from the Wolfpack goal. McGuire made a quick touch and Guillen blasted it in for the 3-3 score.
“The official thought when Keenan Troy, our keeper, got the ball his momentum brought him down to the ground,” Kearns said. “In the process of standing up, he kept the ball but released it, but it never left the ground. According to the understanding I have of the rule, that is fine. If he had picked up, put it back down and then picked it up, that’s bad.
“We had to keep our heads, stay level, possess the ball and take them out of their game, and we did not do that. We had the lead, and we let it slip. Honestly, I think the final result was fair. The score probably should have been 3-3, because that third goal should never have happened. I think that was an incorrect call.”
Oak Park and River Forest completed the remarkable close as McGuire again found Soto off a free kick in the 49th minute.
“I was probably the target man, because I was able to get everywhere in front of the box,” Soto said. “I tried to make a near post run. I pushed my body into the defender, and it deflected off me and him and into the net. It was the perfect play from James.”
Momentum drives all sports. Sometimes the hardest part is getting it back.
“I like the intensity with which we start games,” Kearns said. “The flip side to that is the intensity by which we drop off. We just fall off a cliff. We run straight at that cliff and then we fall off. We can’t seem to recover from that. We have the tools and the fitness to do it. We are trying to figure out what the reason is why we collapse once we take leads.”
Starting lineups
St. Ignatius
GK: Keenan Troy
D: Ethan Belnap
D: Christian Telles
D: Jack Galante
MF: Max Hanlon
MF: Daniel Fernandez
MF: Ronan Sullivan
MF: Ryan Fitzpatrick
MF: Jared Atuobi
F: Matthew Griffin
F: Keith Bevans
Oak Park and River Forest
GK: Sam Pacenka
D: Bram Lebovitz
D: Dylan Whitney
D: Blake Soto
D: Zeke Rivera
MF: Matt Hawthorne
MF: Mateja Tadie
MF: James McGuire
MF: Ryan Stutz
F: Brody Bliss
F: Colin McKitrick
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the match: James McGuire, sr., MF, Oak Park and River Forest
Scoring summary
First half
St. Ignatius—Matthew Griffin (unassisted), third minute
St. Ignatius—Keith Bevans (Jaden Rice), fifth minute
St. Ignatius—Aidan Hurst (Jared Atuobi), 22nd minute
OPRF—Blake Soto (Jaime Guillen), 26th minute
OPRF—Colin McKitrick (James McGuire), 31st minute
OPRF—Guillen (McGuire), 38th minute
Second half
OPRF—Soto (McGuire), 49th minute