Solorio blazes path past rival Lane
Andy Salgado's half-field FK begins Sun Warriors’ 3-0 city title win
By Patrick Z. McGavin
CHICAGO — Andy Salgado is that rare kind of player who has a refined aura about him. He has a flair for the momentous, an outsized talent who creates a particular awe
He is sturdy and solid as a lockdown defender at Solorio. The senior has been a fixture during his three years at the Southwest side power.
He is more immovable than quick or fast. He knows how to get to his spot. He is impossible to dislodge once he is there.
In short, Salgado is a powerful presence who helped the Sun Warriors post seven shutouts this season. His value is almost impossible to fully measure. Plus he has a powerful leg that feels almost illegal.
“How many players at the high school level can play a ball 65 or 70 yards diagonally across the field the way he can?” asked Solorio coach Adrian Calleros.
“When you have a player like that, as technical as we are, when we play short, teams are going to tighten the field on us and that opens the opposite side.”
Before most of the crowd even entered through the gates, Salgado had made the defining play of the revamped city title game.
His thundering kick from about 60 yards took a hyper-weird bounce the Lane backfield could not handle and resulted in a stunning early goal.
Solorio went on to complete an undefeated season with the 3-0 victory over rival Lane in the city championship Saturday night at Lane Stadium.
Salgado’s opening thrust immediately changed the tenor with that rare goal in the opening moments.
It reverberated throughout.
“This is just a habit I have been developing for a long time,” he said. “I have been ready for this moment, ready to get my teammates involved in the game with a nice long ball.
“One of those long shots just happened to go in.”
Solorio (10-0-0) never looked back, and Lane wondered what hit them.
“We weren’t ready to play at the start,” Lane coach Andrew Ricks said. “Solorio’s talent and skill level puts in that situation.
“It is hard to recover from the hole that you dig for yourself.”
On the same field in October, 2019, Lane deprived the Sun Warriors of a repeat city championship with a stunning 1-0 upset.
Solorio was trying to match Amundsen as the only programs to win consecutive city championships.
“Coming out against Solorio, it made me reflect a lot about last year and the last time we played here, in front of a full stadium, a normal city title game, and we won a really hard-fought game,” Ricks said.
Days after that iconic game, the Chicago Teachers Union staged a nearly three-week work stoppage. The city schools were forced to forfeit the state playoffs.
Solorio captured its second city title in the last three seasons. Still, for the second-consecutive year, the Sun Warriors are locked out of a state title race.
The win over Lane was soothing — to a point.
“Last season we had a tragic end to our season,” senior forward Donovan Dorantes said.
“We lost against Lane and then the state playoffs were canceled. That just motivated us for when we came back this spring to pick up the pace, work as a team and just motivate each other.”
Salgado earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match distinction for his outstanding two-way play.
Typically the city championship has two components: round robin pool play and a quarterfinal bracket.
The best city teams, like Lane and Solorio, make up the North and South divisions of the Premier Division—the city’s crown jewel of a league.
In this truncated spring season, the city adopted a geographical pod format.
Lane (6-1-2) defeated Steinmetz and Taft in its bracket. Solorio beat Washington and Hancock.
These two programs are fixtures. Lane was playing its third city title game of the last four years. Solorio reached its third-consecutive city final.
In the fall of 2017, defending city champion Lane beat Solorio 2-0 in the semifinal round,
Lane was upset by Washington in the city final. Solorio went on a magical run to the Class AA state title.
Having some vestige of a city title had significant meaning.
“People might not be happy with the tournament we had,” Calleros said. “At least these kids got something.”
Solorio had six starters back from that 2019 city final game.
“It was a big motivation, especially facing Lane again,” Solorio keeper Joel Estrada said.
“We wanted to come back here and get our city title back. We wanted to get them on their own field and their own stadium.”
The game took a dominant shift during an incident-packed stretch of the late stages of the first half.
Lane recovered from the early shock of the Solorio goal to mount some decent chances, especially from set pieces and free kicks.
Estrada was brilliant with nine saves. He is the last personal link to the state championship team. He was a freshman that season, a backup, who sought his own opportunity.
Ricks calls Solorio the “Morton of the city,” a quick and explosive squad that plays with great concentration and gorgeous passing.
With Estrada shutting down the Lane attack, Solorio expanded its lead in the 29th minute.
Developing pressure led to a hard tackle inside that box that was called a foul. Midfielder Jared Villasenor drilled the penalty kick for the 2-0 lead.
The real turning point came a few minutes later. Lane finally got untracked and generated its most sustained pressure of the first half.
A rocket ball by Miles Gansho was repelled by Estrada. The deflection hit off the hand of a Solorio defender, resulting in a Lane PK attempt.
Estrada came up huge by smothering the conversion attempt by midfielder Grant Nagle.
“All of last season and this season, I was struggling with penalties,” Estrada said. “I was confident in trying to improve there.
“Today it worked out.”
Estrada was just finding himself when he took over the keeper position as a raw sophomore.
“I think he’s arguably the best in the state,” Calleros said. “People are like, ‘Who’s your new goalie?’
“From the time he was a sophomore, Joel lost 25 pounds, leaned out and got muscular and really put in the time.”
If Lane were going to duplicate its last upset, Ricks knew his team could not squander those opportunities.
“You can’t win a championship with those errors,” Ricks said. “We missed a penalty kick. We gave up a really bad goal early on. That game could have been 1-1, and it wasn’t.
“Last season was our night, and they were just better than us this season. You want to lose to a good team, and they were the best team we played this year.”
Lane had some quality chances in the second half, showing speed and a strong build-up through infielder Sebastian Sobolewski and Kamil Pluta.
Ricks experimented with different formations to give a different look and try to juice up the attack.
The improved play resulted in some intriguing set pieces, a couple of corner kicks and some free kicks just outside the box.
But Lane could not solve Estrada.
With Lane pushing numbers forward, Solorio put the perfect bookend to the night with a 79th-minute goal by Dorantes.
“I can’t remember the last time we lost to another city team 3-0,” Ricks said. “The Solorio goalie was a rock for them.”
Like Estrada, Lane’s Nagle represented a particular throwback. He played in three city title games.
“I think we tried to look at the upside and not get down after the early goal,” Nagle said. “There is only so much you can do out there.
“The guys showed a lot of heart, and it was a pleasure to be out there with them. Credit to Solorio, because they played a great game.”
Solorio ended up just one of four teams in the state (Warren, West Aurora and Althoff) that finished unbeaten and untied.
While the Sun Warriors are again deprived of a chance of the larger platform of the state finals, at least they got some form of atonement.
“Looking at this field again brought up some bad memories,” Dorantes said. “We just said we had to go out and pick up our game.
“Let’s take it home.”
Starting lineups
Solorio
GK: Joel Estrada
D: Andy Salgado
D: Ivan Lopez
D: Brian Puga
MF: Hector Salto
MF: Eduardo Franco
MF: Angel Nevarez
MF: Christopher Cruz
MF: Jared Villasenor
F: Yamir Gallegos
F: Donovan Dorantes
Lane
GK: Kacper Chronowski
D: Jose Villanueva
D: Luis Colorado
D: Ryan Cattan
MF: Sebastian Sobolewski
MF: Grant Nagle
MF: Ryan Hardgrove
MF: Kamil Pluta
MF: Max Dopp
MF: Charlie Turner
F: Miles Gansho
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Andy Salgado, sr., D, Solorio
Scoring summary
First half
Solorio—Andy Salgado (unassisted), 1st minute
Solorio—Jared Villasenor (PK), 29th minute
Second half
Solorio—Donovan Dorantes (Christopher Cruz), 79th minute
Andy Salgado's half-field FK begins Sun Warriors’ 3-0 city title win
By Patrick Z. McGavin
CHICAGO — Andy Salgado is that rare kind of player who has a refined aura about him. He has a flair for the momentous, an outsized talent who creates a particular awe
He is sturdy and solid as a lockdown defender at Solorio. The senior has been a fixture during his three years at the Southwest side power.
He is more immovable than quick or fast. He knows how to get to his spot. He is impossible to dislodge once he is there.
In short, Salgado is a powerful presence who helped the Sun Warriors post seven shutouts this season. His value is almost impossible to fully measure. Plus he has a powerful leg that feels almost illegal.
“How many players at the high school level can play a ball 65 or 70 yards diagonally across the field the way he can?” asked Solorio coach Adrian Calleros.
“When you have a player like that, as technical as we are, when we play short, teams are going to tighten the field on us and that opens the opposite side.”
Before most of the crowd even entered through the gates, Salgado had made the defining play of the revamped city title game.
His thundering kick from about 60 yards took a hyper-weird bounce the Lane backfield could not handle and resulted in a stunning early goal.
Solorio went on to complete an undefeated season with the 3-0 victory over rival Lane in the city championship Saturday night at Lane Stadium.
Salgado’s opening thrust immediately changed the tenor with that rare goal in the opening moments.
It reverberated throughout.
“This is just a habit I have been developing for a long time,” he said. “I have been ready for this moment, ready to get my teammates involved in the game with a nice long ball.
“One of those long shots just happened to go in.”
Solorio (10-0-0) never looked back, and Lane wondered what hit them.
“We weren’t ready to play at the start,” Lane coach Andrew Ricks said. “Solorio’s talent and skill level puts in that situation.
“It is hard to recover from the hole that you dig for yourself.”
On the same field in October, 2019, Lane deprived the Sun Warriors of a repeat city championship with a stunning 1-0 upset.
Solorio was trying to match Amundsen as the only programs to win consecutive city championships.
“Coming out against Solorio, it made me reflect a lot about last year and the last time we played here, in front of a full stadium, a normal city title game, and we won a really hard-fought game,” Ricks said.
Days after that iconic game, the Chicago Teachers Union staged a nearly three-week work stoppage. The city schools were forced to forfeit the state playoffs.
Solorio captured its second city title in the last three seasons. Still, for the second-consecutive year, the Sun Warriors are locked out of a state title race.
The win over Lane was soothing — to a point.
“Last season we had a tragic end to our season,” senior forward Donovan Dorantes said.
“We lost against Lane and then the state playoffs were canceled. That just motivated us for when we came back this spring to pick up the pace, work as a team and just motivate each other.”
Salgado earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match distinction for his outstanding two-way play.
Typically the city championship has two components: round robin pool play and a quarterfinal bracket.
The best city teams, like Lane and Solorio, make up the North and South divisions of the Premier Division—the city’s crown jewel of a league.
In this truncated spring season, the city adopted a geographical pod format.
Lane (6-1-2) defeated Steinmetz and Taft in its bracket. Solorio beat Washington and Hancock.
These two programs are fixtures. Lane was playing its third city title game of the last four years. Solorio reached its third-consecutive city final.
In the fall of 2017, defending city champion Lane beat Solorio 2-0 in the semifinal round,
Lane was upset by Washington in the city final. Solorio went on a magical run to the Class AA state title.
Having some vestige of a city title had significant meaning.
“People might not be happy with the tournament we had,” Calleros said. “At least these kids got something.”
Solorio had six starters back from that 2019 city final game.
“It was a big motivation, especially facing Lane again,” Solorio keeper Joel Estrada said.
“We wanted to come back here and get our city title back. We wanted to get them on their own field and their own stadium.”
The game took a dominant shift during an incident-packed stretch of the late stages of the first half.
Lane recovered from the early shock of the Solorio goal to mount some decent chances, especially from set pieces and free kicks.
Estrada was brilliant with nine saves. He is the last personal link to the state championship team. He was a freshman that season, a backup, who sought his own opportunity.
Ricks calls Solorio the “Morton of the city,” a quick and explosive squad that plays with great concentration and gorgeous passing.
With Estrada shutting down the Lane attack, Solorio expanded its lead in the 29th minute.
Developing pressure led to a hard tackle inside that box that was called a foul. Midfielder Jared Villasenor drilled the penalty kick for the 2-0 lead.
The real turning point came a few minutes later. Lane finally got untracked and generated its most sustained pressure of the first half.
A rocket ball by Miles Gansho was repelled by Estrada. The deflection hit off the hand of a Solorio defender, resulting in a Lane PK attempt.
Estrada came up huge by smothering the conversion attempt by midfielder Grant Nagle.
“All of last season and this season, I was struggling with penalties,” Estrada said. “I was confident in trying to improve there.
“Today it worked out.”
Estrada was just finding himself when he took over the keeper position as a raw sophomore.
“I think he’s arguably the best in the state,” Calleros said. “People are like, ‘Who’s your new goalie?’
“From the time he was a sophomore, Joel lost 25 pounds, leaned out and got muscular and really put in the time.”
If Lane were going to duplicate its last upset, Ricks knew his team could not squander those opportunities.
“You can’t win a championship with those errors,” Ricks said. “We missed a penalty kick. We gave up a really bad goal early on. That game could have been 1-1, and it wasn’t.
“Last season was our night, and they were just better than us this season. You want to lose to a good team, and they were the best team we played this year.”
Lane had some quality chances in the second half, showing speed and a strong build-up through infielder Sebastian Sobolewski and Kamil Pluta.
Ricks experimented with different formations to give a different look and try to juice up the attack.
The improved play resulted in some intriguing set pieces, a couple of corner kicks and some free kicks just outside the box.
But Lane could not solve Estrada.
With Lane pushing numbers forward, Solorio put the perfect bookend to the night with a 79th-minute goal by Dorantes.
“I can’t remember the last time we lost to another city team 3-0,” Ricks said. “The Solorio goalie was a rock for them.”
Like Estrada, Lane’s Nagle represented a particular throwback. He played in three city title games.
“I think we tried to look at the upside and not get down after the early goal,” Nagle said. “There is only so much you can do out there.
“The guys showed a lot of heart, and it was a pleasure to be out there with them. Credit to Solorio, because they played a great game.”
Solorio ended up just one of four teams in the state (Warren, West Aurora and Althoff) that finished unbeaten and untied.
While the Sun Warriors are again deprived of a chance of the larger platform of the state finals, at least they got some form of atonement.
“Looking at this field again brought up some bad memories,” Dorantes said. “We just said we had to go out and pick up our game.
“Let’s take it home.”
Starting lineups
Solorio
GK: Joel Estrada
D: Andy Salgado
D: Ivan Lopez
D: Brian Puga
MF: Hector Salto
MF: Eduardo Franco
MF: Angel Nevarez
MF: Christopher Cruz
MF: Jared Villasenor
F: Yamir Gallegos
F: Donovan Dorantes
Lane
GK: Kacper Chronowski
D: Jose Villanueva
D: Luis Colorado
D: Ryan Cattan
MF: Sebastian Sobolewski
MF: Grant Nagle
MF: Ryan Hardgrove
MF: Kamil Pluta
MF: Max Dopp
MF: Charlie Turner
F: Miles Gansho
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Andy Salgado, sr., D, Solorio
Scoring summary
First half
Solorio—Andy Salgado (unassisted), 1st minute
Solorio—Jared Villasenor (PK), 29th minute
Second half
Solorio—Donovan Dorantes (Christopher Cruz), 79th minute