Torres tricks St. Patrick past Carmel
All-stater contributes hat-trick to Shamrocks 5-2 road win
By Mike Garofola
MUNDELEIN -- St. Patrick manager Kyle McClure saw his club enjoy another goal feast Monday afternoon as they cemented their first win in league play with a 5-2 win over host Carmel at Baker Stadium.
For the fifth time this fall the Shamrocks (11-0-2, 1-0-1), who moved from sixth to fourth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, scored five in a game.
On this day, a trio of tallies from talented junior and Chicagoland Soccer all-stater Joshua Torres, helped produce an impressive win.
"There were times today when we possessed the ball really well, attacked with a purpose and played some really good soccer on both sides of the ball," McClure said. "There were other times we didn't look ourselves either."
Four games in six days last week may have caught up to the reigning 2018 East Suburban Catholic Conference champions, who may equal that game total this coming week.
"We have two tough conference opponents this week, then we go to Kentucky (River Region Rumble), beginning Friday, and finish up playing Morton for a PepsiCo Showdown title on Sunday afternoon," said McClure.
"We might look to play just two games (instead of three) in Kentucky, but either way, it's another long week of soccer. This was a good way to start it all."
The players recognize the grind of the prep season.
"We looked and played a little tired today," said senior Angel Adame, who recorded helpers on St. Patrick's third and fourth goals of the game.
"For (us) it's all about playing as a team, and not as individuals. And when we don't, we struggle with our game.
"The chemistry is real good right now, so we're playing for each other. At times it showed, especially in the first half when we dominated."
At Carmel, it's been a mixed bag of results and play for manager Ray Krawzaks' boys. The Corsairs looked to be in trouble back on August 31 on the last day of the North Shore shootout at Lake Forest during a 3-1 third place game loss to currently ranked Zion-Benton.
"We've come a long way since ... that day," admitted Krawzak.
"We're playing with more confidence. We've sorted out things on both sides of the ball, and we're playing with a lot of heart, purpose and passion which we showed today, even when we went down a couple of goals."
The Corsairs (2-5-2, 1-2-1) tactical plan against the Shamrocks firepower was to concede possession, squeeze the middle of the park, and put a lot of pressure on the ball.
The strategy worked beautifully in the first 20 minutes.
As expected, the technically skilled Shamrocks enjoyed 85-90% of the possession, but in the final third they found themselves unable to put anything of danger on frame.
"I thought we did a pretty good job of defending as a team in the first part of the first half," said junior Avery Krautsack, who began the day as one of the Corsairs center backs, but was then deployed in the role of a defensive-midfielder just in front of the back four. "We kept their midfield under control, even though the had the ball most of the time."
A well-aimed long throw from St. Patrick senior Jonathan Rodriguez, another 2018 Chicagoland Soccer all-stater, saw Torres steer his effort wide of Corsairs keeper Camden Krautsack in the 16th minute.
Two minutes later, Adame won a tackle, fought off a pair of Corsairs and played the ball on the left to Torres.
The crafty forward tricked his way past a trio of would-be tacklers before firing wide with a left-footed smash.
"No. 21 (Torres) is incredible," said Krawzak. "When the ball is on his foot (he's) the guy everyone would like to have up-top because he creates, shoots, dribbles, and is dangerous everytime he has the ball."
That little sequence signaled some of the best quality of attacking soccer on the day for the visitors.
A wonderful early ball from Aaron Moreno-Lopez put Torres through. If not for a strong effort from Camden Krautsack, the Shamrocks would have found the opener.
Three minutes later, they did.
That's when Rodriguez came up with an interception and quickly looked left to find Moreno-Lopez. The four-year veteran made the first goal possible when his curling helper rached Torres, who finished his angle attempt with an accurate touch.
The Shamrocks breakthrough came in the 22nd minute. Carmel's Avery Krautsack and his backline mates Tim Milner, Will Nickles and Riley Pierson kept up the good fight.
"(They're) so technical, and they move and attack so quickly," Avery Krautsack said. "I thought we defended really well, and we made them work hard for what they got."
"I thought so also," said Krawzak. "Our biggest problem was no. 21 (Torres) and how he floated forward and through (us). When he did get the ball, that's when he was tough to stop."
The Torres/Moreno-Lopez connection was at it again in the 31st minute, with the duo adding another to the Shamrocks scoreline.
This time, Moreno-Lopez chipped a superb ball over the top. Torres pulled it down, touched away from pressure and unloaded his right-footed effort into the lower corner of the left-side of the net.
The Shamrocks maintained their momentum. They could have made it 3-0 before the break when Torres was left unmarked on the left side, but Camden Krautsack came up with a remarkable kick save.
"We played our best soccer tonight in the first half, especially in the last 10-15 minutes," said Torres. "We moved the ball quickly, connected passes and created some good chances. (We) just didn't keep it up after the half."
The home side pulled one of Torres' first half goals back just three minutes into the second period when Aidan Harrison did all the work to set Matt Grzesiak free for his close-range strike.
When Harrison's attempt spilled off St. Patrick keeper Jorge Cebrero, the opportunistic Grzesiak seized his chance and poked his return shot under and past Cebrero.
"That was a big goal for us, and it came after a lot of hustle and hard work," said a pleased Krawzak.
With new life, and plenty of wind in its sails after drawing one goal closer to its opponents, the Corsairs began to play with more confidence.
Matt Duffy, who scored the brace in the Corsairs 2-1 victory over Marist on Saturday, went wide in the 47th minute. Two corners created by the home side, and a long free kick from Milner capped a solid 10 minutes of play.
However, when Adame sent a looping ball into the six-yard box, and it was met by Rodriguez and Corsairs second half keeper Tim Harvey. The ball spilled free to an awaiting Torres who netted his 17th on the year.
"That one was a tough one to give up, because we halved the lead," Krawzak said.
It soon became 4-1 after the Corsairs failed to clear an Adame corner out of the area.
Adam Przytula, who came up from his position as center back, stepped into a loose ball and one-timed his left-footed 12-yard cracker the other way.
Although, now on its back foot, Carmel did not fold up the tent, much to the delight of its manager.
"Other teams might have gone away, but this group is resilient," he said. "They didn't hang their heads and played out the final 20 minutes."
The Corsairs revved their engines and attacked. They nearly found their second goal when Duffy redirected a header on a free kick from the midline from Ben LaMora.
Ryan Cawley would convert his spot-kick in the 60th minute to make it 4-2. Next Grzesiak went wide with his effort.
The Corsairs were caught throwing extra numbers forward on a well-executed counter by the visitors. Rodriguez and Torres connected with teammate LuisAngel Saucedo who ended the scoring in the 64th minute.
"We've improved at all levels since a couple of weeks ago," said Avery Krautsack. "We played well against one of the better teams in the state and showed we're capable of being even better in the last weeks of the season."
Added Krawzak: "In our last three games I've seen things come together for us. We still have a lot of things to improve on (like) putting more shots on frame, but I like where we're at and where we are going."
The Corsairs continue the conference schedule when they travel to the far north suburb of Woodstock to play Marian Central (6-6-0, 1-3-0) at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
McClure would have liked his lads to finish a few more chances Monday.
"We have this crazy, busy week ahead of us, so to get another goal or two would have allowed us to bring more of our starters out to rest," he said. "Maybe we'll do that when we go to Kentucky in order to be ready for Morton next Sunday."
Torres, whose 16 goals and 7 assists lead the club, wanted this ESCC contest to erase the 1-1 draw against Marist from memory.
"We had a bad stretch against Marist when we didn't mark up, and they put the first one in on us," recounts Torres.
"The parked the bus on us, putting everyone behind the ball, until we finally got back even with them.
"We wanted to come in here and take control as early as we could, and that's what we'll want to do against Notre Dame on Wednesday, because these conference games are very important to us."
Shamrocks welcome their closest and fiercest rival Notre Dame (5-4-3, 1-3-1) Wednesday in St. Patrick's first home conference contest at Dunning Park on the Northwest Side.
Starting lineups
St. Patrick (3-5-2)
G- Jorge Cebrero
D- Narcizo Ibarra
D- Adam Przytula
D- Collin Krueger
M- Jonathan Rodriguez
M- Aaron Moreno-Lopez
M- Sebastian Modrzejewski
M- LuisAngel Saucedo
M- Angel Adame
F- Jaden Buelvas
F- Joshua Torres
Carmel (4-4-2)
G- Camden Krautsack
D- Riley Pierson
D- Avery Krautsack
D- Tim Milner
D- Will Nickles
M- Erik Miller
M- Ryan Cawley
M- Ian McKernan
M- Matt Grzesiak
F- Matt Duffy
F- Aidan Harrison
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Joshua Torres, jr., F/MF, St. Patrick
Referee: Jay Weis
Scoring summary
First half
St. Patrick: Torres (Moreno-Lopez) 22'
St. Patrick: Torres (Moreno-Lopez) 31'
Second half
Carmel: Grzesiak (Harrison) 43'
St. Patrick: Torres (Rodriguez, Adame) 52'
St. Patrick: Przytula (Adame) 56'
Carmel: Cawley (PK) 60'
St. Patrick: Saucedo (Torres, Rodriguez) 64'
All-stater contributes hat-trick to Shamrocks 5-2 road win
By Mike Garofola
MUNDELEIN -- St. Patrick manager Kyle McClure saw his club enjoy another goal feast Monday afternoon as they cemented their first win in league play with a 5-2 win over host Carmel at Baker Stadium.
For the fifth time this fall the Shamrocks (11-0-2, 1-0-1), who moved from sixth to fourth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, scored five in a game.
On this day, a trio of tallies from talented junior and Chicagoland Soccer all-stater Joshua Torres, helped produce an impressive win.
"There were times today when we possessed the ball really well, attacked with a purpose and played some really good soccer on both sides of the ball," McClure said. "There were other times we didn't look ourselves either."
Four games in six days last week may have caught up to the reigning 2018 East Suburban Catholic Conference champions, who may equal that game total this coming week.
"We have two tough conference opponents this week, then we go to Kentucky (River Region Rumble), beginning Friday, and finish up playing Morton for a PepsiCo Showdown title on Sunday afternoon," said McClure.
"We might look to play just two games (instead of three) in Kentucky, but either way, it's another long week of soccer. This was a good way to start it all."
The players recognize the grind of the prep season.
"We looked and played a little tired today," said senior Angel Adame, who recorded helpers on St. Patrick's third and fourth goals of the game.
"For (us) it's all about playing as a team, and not as individuals. And when we don't, we struggle with our game.
"The chemistry is real good right now, so we're playing for each other. At times it showed, especially in the first half when we dominated."
At Carmel, it's been a mixed bag of results and play for manager Ray Krawzaks' boys. The Corsairs looked to be in trouble back on August 31 on the last day of the North Shore shootout at Lake Forest during a 3-1 third place game loss to currently ranked Zion-Benton.
"We've come a long way since ... that day," admitted Krawzak.
"We're playing with more confidence. We've sorted out things on both sides of the ball, and we're playing with a lot of heart, purpose and passion which we showed today, even when we went down a couple of goals."
The Corsairs (2-5-2, 1-2-1) tactical plan against the Shamrocks firepower was to concede possession, squeeze the middle of the park, and put a lot of pressure on the ball.
The strategy worked beautifully in the first 20 minutes.
As expected, the technically skilled Shamrocks enjoyed 85-90% of the possession, but in the final third they found themselves unable to put anything of danger on frame.
"I thought we did a pretty good job of defending as a team in the first part of the first half," said junior Avery Krautsack, who began the day as one of the Corsairs center backs, but was then deployed in the role of a defensive-midfielder just in front of the back four. "We kept their midfield under control, even though the had the ball most of the time."
A well-aimed long throw from St. Patrick senior Jonathan Rodriguez, another 2018 Chicagoland Soccer all-stater, saw Torres steer his effort wide of Corsairs keeper Camden Krautsack in the 16th minute.
Two minutes later, Adame won a tackle, fought off a pair of Corsairs and played the ball on the left to Torres.
The crafty forward tricked his way past a trio of would-be tacklers before firing wide with a left-footed smash.
"No. 21 (Torres) is incredible," said Krawzak. "When the ball is on his foot (he's) the guy everyone would like to have up-top because he creates, shoots, dribbles, and is dangerous everytime he has the ball."
That little sequence signaled some of the best quality of attacking soccer on the day for the visitors.
A wonderful early ball from Aaron Moreno-Lopez put Torres through. If not for a strong effort from Camden Krautsack, the Shamrocks would have found the opener.
Three minutes later, they did.
That's when Rodriguez came up with an interception and quickly looked left to find Moreno-Lopez. The four-year veteran made the first goal possible when his curling helper rached Torres, who finished his angle attempt with an accurate touch.
The Shamrocks breakthrough came in the 22nd minute. Carmel's Avery Krautsack and his backline mates Tim Milner, Will Nickles and Riley Pierson kept up the good fight.
"(They're) so technical, and they move and attack so quickly," Avery Krautsack said. "I thought we defended really well, and we made them work hard for what they got."
"I thought so also," said Krawzak. "Our biggest problem was no. 21 (Torres) and how he floated forward and through (us). When he did get the ball, that's when he was tough to stop."
The Torres/Moreno-Lopez connection was at it again in the 31st minute, with the duo adding another to the Shamrocks scoreline.
This time, Moreno-Lopez chipped a superb ball over the top. Torres pulled it down, touched away from pressure and unloaded his right-footed effort into the lower corner of the left-side of the net.
The Shamrocks maintained their momentum. They could have made it 3-0 before the break when Torres was left unmarked on the left side, but Camden Krautsack came up with a remarkable kick save.
"We played our best soccer tonight in the first half, especially in the last 10-15 minutes," said Torres. "We moved the ball quickly, connected passes and created some good chances. (We) just didn't keep it up after the half."
The home side pulled one of Torres' first half goals back just three minutes into the second period when Aidan Harrison did all the work to set Matt Grzesiak free for his close-range strike.
When Harrison's attempt spilled off St. Patrick keeper Jorge Cebrero, the opportunistic Grzesiak seized his chance and poked his return shot under and past Cebrero.
"That was a big goal for us, and it came after a lot of hustle and hard work," said a pleased Krawzak.
With new life, and plenty of wind in its sails after drawing one goal closer to its opponents, the Corsairs began to play with more confidence.
Matt Duffy, who scored the brace in the Corsairs 2-1 victory over Marist on Saturday, went wide in the 47th minute. Two corners created by the home side, and a long free kick from Milner capped a solid 10 minutes of play.
However, when Adame sent a looping ball into the six-yard box, and it was met by Rodriguez and Corsairs second half keeper Tim Harvey. The ball spilled free to an awaiting Torres who netted his 17th on the year.
"That one was a tough one to give up, because we halved the lead," Krawzak said.
It soon became 4-1 after the Corsairs failed to clear an Adame corner out of the area.
Adam Przytula, who came up from his position as center back, stepped into a loose ball and one-timed his left-footed 12-yard cracker the other way.
Although, now on its back foot, Carmel did not fold up the tent, much to the delight of its manager.
"Other teams might have gone away, but this group is resilient," he said. "They didn't hang their heads and played out the final 20 minutes."
The Corsairs revved their engines and attacked. They nearly found their second goal when Duffy redirected a header on a free kick from the midline from Ben LaMora.
Ryan Cawley would convert his spot-kick in the 60th minute to make it 4-2. Next Grzesiak went wide with his effort.
The Corsairs were caught throwing extra numbers forward on a well-executed counter by the visitors. Rodriguez and Torres connected with teammate LuisAngel Saucedo who ended the scoring in the 64th minute.
"We've improved at all levels since a couple of weeks ago," said Avery Krautsack. "We played well against one of the better teams in the state and showed we're capable of being even better in the last weeks of the season."
Added Krawzak: "In our last three games I've seen things come together for us. We still have a lot of things to improve on (like) putting more shots on frame, but I like where we're at and where we are going."
The Corsairs continue the conference schedule when they travel to the far north suburb of Woodstock to play Marian Central (6-6-0, 1-3-0) at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
McClure would have liked his lads to finish a few more chances Monday.
"We have this crazy, busy week ahead of us, so to get another goal or two would have allowed us to bring more of our starters out to rest," he said. "Maybe we'll do that when we go to Kentucky in order to be ready for Morton next Sunday."
Torres, whose 16 goals and 7 assists lead the club, wanted this ESCC contest to erase the 1-1 draw against Marist from memory.
"We had a bad stretch against Marist when we didn't mark up, and they put the first one in on us," recounts Torres.
"The parked the bus on us, putting everyone behind the ball, until we finally got back even with them.
"We wanted to come in here and take control as early as we could, and that's what we'll want to do against Notre Dame on Wednesday, because these conference games are very important to us."
Shamrocks welcome their closest and fiercest rival Notre Dame (5-4-3, 1-3-1) Wednesday in St. Patrick's first home conference contest at Dunning Park on the Northwest Side.
Starting lineups
St. Patrick (3-5-2)
G- Jorge Cebrero
D- Narcizo Ibarra
D- Adam Przytula
D- Collin Krueger
M- Jonathan Rodriguez
M- Aaron Moreno-Lopez
M- Sebastian Modrzejewski
M- LuisAngel Saucedo
M- Angel Adame
F- Jaden Buelvas
F- Joshua Torres
Carmel (4-4-2)
G- Camden Krautsack
D- Riley Pierson
D- Avery Krautsack
D- Tim Milner
D- Will Nickles
M- Erik Miller
M- Ryan Cawley
M- Ian McKernan
M- Matt Grzesiak
F- Matt Duffy
F- Aidan Harrison
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Joshua Torres, jr., F/MF, St. Patrick
Referee: Jay Weis
Scoring summary
First half
St. Patrick: Torres (Moreno-Lopez) 22'
St. Patrick: Torres (Moreno-Lopez) 31'
Second half
Carmel: Grzesiak (Harrison) 43'
St. Patrick: Torres (Rodriguez, Adame) 52'
St. Patrick: Przytula (Adame) 56'
Carmel: Cawley (PK) 60'
St. Patrick: Saucedo (Torres, Rodriguez) 64'