Saint Ignatius, Young share
spoils in riveting 2-2 draw
Quinn-Pasin brace cancelled out
by slick play from Young midfielders
By Nick Rucco
CHICAGO -- A back-and-forth affair on Thursday afternoon between Saint Ignatius and Young ended in a 2-2 draw. It was a game with its fair share of exciting moments and even a little bit of controversy toward the end.
Young (7-5-1) commanded the game early. Forwards Colin Moran and Cesar Lopez found themselves clean through on goal on separate occasions, but the excitement instantly died when the offside flag went up. Cesar Lopez finally got a chance to strike in the 10th minute off a great feed from forward Nikhil Bapat, but his effort was cleared off the line by the Saint Ignatius defense.
Despite Young's early dominance, it was Saint Ignatius (4-3-5) that got on the score sheet first. In the 29th minute, the Wolfpack brought it down the left wing before switching the field quickly to midfielder Dillon Craft, who carried the ball to the end line before cutting it back.
Waiting in the middle of the box was forward Oscar Quinn-Pasin, who curled the ball into the top right corner of the net to give Saint Ignatius a 1-0 lead.
“We talked a lot about finishing in our previous training, and I just thought, ‘Where is the corner?’ and I placed it in the top,” said Quinn-Pasin, a sophomore forward on a team predominantly made up of seniors.
The visitors had a few chances immediately after the goal to double their lead, but efforts by midfielders Tyler Masseur and Colin Chough were well wide. The momentum shifted back to Young, and the Dolphins’ forwards began peppering Saint Ignatius goalkeeper Liam McConnell with shots.
Young found its breakthrough in the 38th minute. A clean through-ball from midfielder Gabe Lopez split the defense and found Cesar Lopez, who rounded McConnell and slotted home from a tight angle to make it 1-1 near the stroke of halftime.
“I just had to stay composed, not overthink it, and finish it,” Cesar Lopez said.
When play resumed in the second half, both teams made it clear that they weren’t satisfied with a draw. Saint Ignatius had the first crack at it, with a succession of crosses and corner kicks which were pulled wide.
Eventually, in the 47th minute, Quinn-Pasin skilled past a Young defender, who brought him down for a penalty kick. Quinn-Pasin stepped up and calmly struck the ball past Young goalkeeper Jackson Sprenger, establishing Saint Ignatius’ second lead of the day at 2-1.
“As a striker, you go through moments where you have droughts,” said David Abidor, assistant coach of Saint Ignatius. “(Quinn-Pasin) experienced a little bit of that at the beginning of the year, but now he’s had a couple goals in the last four of five games. It’s great to see him on the score sheet.”
For the next 15 minutes, Young commanded most of the possession. The Dolphins found themselves with a great opportunity on a free kick at the edge of the penalty box in the 52nd minute, but Moran’s effort was pulled wide of goal.
The pressure that Young put on the Saint Ignatius backline reached a boiling point in the 62nd minute.
Bapat found forward Cole Hockman, who dribbled up the right wing before crossing to Moran, who finished to knot the score at 2-2.
“Colin is what makes us go,” said Nick Maksa, assistant coach of Young. “When he starts chasing the ball around, that moves everyone forward. He makes stuff happen by himself.”
Young had a great chance to take the lead in the 67th minute courtesy of Cesar Lopez, but a sliding McConnell was able to clear the ball before it reached his box.
With four minutes to go, Saint Ignatius’ resolve was further tested, as an errant back pass from the defense was scooped up by McConnell outside of the 18. He was shown given a yellow card for the infraction, but it quickly was switched to a red.
The Wolfpack brought on goalkeeper Andrew Krayer, who subsequently was not tested from the indirect kick that was promptly cleared on an attempted short pass.
Saint Ignatius was able to force a few good saves from Sprenger late, but neither team was able to break the deadlock. Young came the closest, but their final move was called for offside as time expired, closing the books on a thrilling 2-2 draw.
The stalemate extended the Saint Ignatius unbeaten streak to six games and evened their road record to 3-3-3 on the season.
“I thought we did some good things, and we managed to hit the back of the net twice,” Abidor said. “I was a bit frustrated with the red card at the end, but that’s the nature of the game. Sometimes things will go your way, and sometimes they won’t.”
Saint Ignatius players were less than content with the draw. They felt they could have gotten a better result, particularly given how impressive Quinn-Pasin looked up-top.
“I would say that we’re not happy about it,” said midfielder Christian Rodriguez. “We had a lot of chances out of the gate that we should have finished, and I felt like we were the stronger team today.”
Saint Ignatius has four more games to go this season, starting with Glenbrook North on Saturday.
“I think the gears are really starting to turn at a good time,” Abidor said. “We have a good core of players. We have a strong backline, and we’re finally figuring out how to score goals.”
Meanwhile, Young recorded its first draw of the season and closed out its regular-season schedule unbeaten in its final seven games.
“It shows us that we are capable of doing what we know we can do, and that practice is paying off,” said Cesar Lopez.
The standout performer for the Dolphins was Gabe Davis, who anchored a commanding midfield and set up Young’s first goal with a beautiful through pass beyond Saint Ignatius’ back line.
“Gabe is our rock,” Maksa said. “It’s really nice to have a guy out there that you don’t have to correct very often ... he’s everything for us in the midfield.”
Young will now turn its attention to the city playoffs. The Dolphins travel to Northside on Monday afternoon before playing at home against Von Steuben on Thursday. The team is bolstered by the resilience they showed Thursday afternoon. It's a far cry from the early season when they started 0-4-0.
“I think that if we had dropped the game today, we would have hung our heads a little bit and headed in on a funky note,” Maksa said. “Being able to climb back into this game was everything. We couldn’t be more proud of the way they turned this season around after what could have been a truly poor season for us.”
Starting lineups
Saint Ignatius
GK Liam McConnell
D Jaxson Hanlon
D Lucas Hanna
D Billy Thompson
MF Jack Regan
MF Tyler Masseur
MF Jack Lowe
MF Dillon Craft
MF Christian Rodriguez
F Oscar Quinn-Pasin
F Christian Carr
Young
GK Jackson Sprenger
D Nathaniel Chmielowicz
D Diego Delgado
D Sascha Frias-Kaehler
MF Garen Petrulis
MF Reese Kruschke
MF Gabriel Lopez
MF Cesar Lopez
F Nikhil Bapat
F Colin Moran
F Brandon Baarsma
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Oscar Quinn-Pasin, so., F, Saint Ignatius
Scoring summary
First half
Saint Ignatius – Quinn-Pasin (Craft) 29th minute
Young – C. Lopez (G. Lopez) 38th minute
Second half
Saint Ignatius – Quinn-Pasin (PK) 47th minute
Young – Moran (Hockman) 62nd minute
spoils in riveting 2-2 draw
Quinn-Pasin brace cancelled out
by slick play from Young midfielders
By Nick Rucco
CHICAGO -- A back-and-forth affair on Thursday afternoon between Saint Ignatius and Young ended in a 2-2 draw. It was a game with its fair share of exciting moments and even a little bit of controversy toward the end.
Young (7-5-1) commanded the game early. Forwards Colin Moran and Cesar Lopez found themselves clean through on goal on separate occasions, but the excitement instantly died when the offside flag went up. Cesar Lopez finally got a chance to strike in the 10th minute off a great feed from forward Nikhil Bapat, but his effort was cleared off the line by the Saint Ignatius defense.
Despite Young's early dominance, it was Saint Ignatius (4-3-5) that got on the score sheet first. In the 29th minute, the Wolfpack brought it down the left wing before switching the field quickly to midfielder Dillon Craft, who carried the ball to the end line before cutting it back.
Waiting in the middle of the box was forward Oscar Quinn-Pasin, who curled the ball into the top right corner of the net to give Saint Ignatius a 1-0 lead.
“We talked a lot about finishing in our previous training, and I just thought, ‘Where is the corner?’ and I placed it in the top,” said Quinn-Pasin, a sophomore forward on a team predominantly made up of seniors.
The visitors had a few chances immediately after the goal to double their lead, but efforts by midfielders Tyler Masseur and Colin Chough were well wide. The momentum shifted back to Young, and the Dolphins’ forwards began peppering Saint Ignatius goalkeeper Liam McConnell with shots.
Young found its breakthrough in the 38th minute. A clean through-ball from midfielder Gabe Lopez split the defense and found Cesar Lopez, who rounded McConnell and slotted home from a tight angle to make it 1-1 near the stroke of halftime.
“I just had to stay composed, not overthink it, and finish it,” Cesar Lopez said.
When play resumed in the second half, both teams made it clear that they weren’t satisfied with a draw. Saint Ignatius had the first crack at it, with a succession of crosses and corner kicks which were pulled wide.
Eventually, in the 47th minute, Quinn-Pasin skilled past a Young defender, who brought him down for a penalty kick. Quinn-Pasin stepped up and calmly struck the ball past Young goalkeeper Jackson Sprenger, establishing Saint Ignatius’ second lead of the day at 2-1.
“As a striker, you go through moments where you have droughts,” said David Abidor, assistant coach of Saint Ignatius. “(Quinn-Pasin) experienced a little bit of that at the beginning of the year, but now he’s had a couple goals in the last four of five games. It’s great to see him on the score sheet.”
For the next 15 minutes, Young commanded most of the possession. The Dolphins found themselves with a great opportunity on a free kick at the edge of the penalty box in the 52nd minute, but Moran’s effort was pulled wide of goal.
The pressure that Young put on the Saint Ignatius backline reached a boiling point in the 62nd minute.
Bapat found forward Cole Hockman, who dribbled up the right wing before crossing to Moran, who finished to knot the score at 2-2.
“Colin is what makes us go,” said Nick Maksa, assistant coach of Young. “When he starts chasing the ball around, that moves everyone forward. He makes stuff happen by himself.”
Young had a great chance to take the lead in the 67th minute courtesy of Cesar Lopez, but a sliding McConnell was able to clear the ball before it reached his box.
With four minutes to go, Saint Ignatius’ resolve was further tested, as an errant back pass from the defense was scooped up by McConnell outside of the 18. He was shown given a yellow card for the infraction, but it quickly was switched to a red.
The Wolfpack brought on goalkeeper Andrew Krayer, who subsequently was not tested from the indirect kick that was promptly cleared on an attempted short pass.
Saint Ignatius was able to force a few good saves from Sprenger late, but neither team was able to break the deadlock. Young came the closest, but their final move was called for offside as time expired, closing the books on a thrilling 2-2 draw.
The stalemate extended the Saint Ignatius unbeaten streak to six games and evened their road record to 3-3-3 on the season.
“I thought we did some good things, and we managed to hit the back of the net twice,” Abidor said. “I was a bit frustrated with the red card at the end, but that’s the nature of the game. Sometimes things will go your way, and sometimes they won’t.”
Saint Ignatius players were less than content with the draw. They felt they could have gotten a better result, particularly given how impressive Quinn-Pasin looked up-top.
“I would say that we’re not happy about it,” said midfielder Christian Rodriguez. “We had a lot of chances out of the gate that we should have finished, and I felt like we were the stronger team today.”
Saint Ignatius has four more games to go this season, starting with Glenbrook North on Saturday.
“I think the gears are really starting to turn at a good time,” Abidor said. “We have a good core of players. We have a strong backline, and we’re finally figuring out how to score goals.”
Meanwhile, Young recorded its first draw of the season and closed out its regular-season schedule unbeaten in its final seven games.
“It shows us that we are capable of doing what we know we can do, and that practice is paying off,” said Cesar Lopez.
The standout performer for the Dolphins was Gabe Davis, who anchored a commanding midfield and set up Young’s first goal with a beautiful through pass beyond Saint Ignatius’ back line.
“Gabe is our rock,” Maksa said. “It’s really nice to have a guy out there that you don’t have to correct very often ... he’s everything for us in the midfield.”
Young will now turn its attention to the city playoffs. The Dolphins travel to Northside on Monday afternoon before playing at home against Von Steuben on Thursday. The team is bolstered by the resilience they showed Thursday afternoon. It's a far cry from the early season when they started 0-4-0.
“I think that if we had dropped the game today, we would have hung our heads a little bit and headed in on a funky note,” Maksa said. “Being able to climb back into this game was everything. We couldn’t be more proud of the way they turned this season around after what could have been a truly poor season for us.”
Starting lineups
Saint Ignatius
GK Liam McConnell
D Jaxson Hanlon
D Lucas Hanna
D Billy Thompson
MF Jack Regan
MF Tyler Masseur
MF Jack Lowe
MF Dillon Craft
MF Christian Rodriguez
F Oscar Quinn-Pasin
F Christian Carr
Young
GK Jackson Sprenger
D Nathaniel Chmielowicz
D Diego Delgado
D Sascha Frias-Kaehler
MF Garen Petrulis
MF Reese Kruschke
MF Gabriel Lopez
MF Cesar Lopez
F Nikhil Bapat
F Colin Moran
F Brandon Baarsma
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Oscar Quinn-Pasin, so., F, Saint Ignatius
Scoring summary
First half
Saint Ignatius – Quinn-Pasin (Craft) 29th minute
Young – C. Lopez (G. Lopez) 38th minute
Second half
Saint Ignatius – Quinn-Pasin (PK) 47th minute
Young – Moran (Hockman) 62nd minute