Cha, Glenbrook South savor
tie vs. St. Patrick
Midfielder scores sweet goal to avoid defeat in 7th place match
By Bill McLean
GLENVIEW — Let him eat cake.
Cookie cake, that is.
Glenbrook South senior midfielder Daniel Cha earned a cookie cake Saturday morning when he scored his first varsity goal — the equalizer in the 62nd minute of the Titans’ 2-2 tie with visiting St. Patrick in the seventh place match at the 36th-annual Jim Wolter Titan Invitational.
Former Titans defender Jason Fink, a 2022 graduate and freshman business major at Indiana University, started the yummy tradition last fall.
He’d purchase the treat for each Titan who netted such a milestone goal.
“Jason might be the finest human being I know,” Glenbrook South coach Reggie Lara said after Saturday’s 70-minute match, which started at 8 a.m. “He didn’t just do the cookie-cake thing; he’d also wash the team’s pinnies after wins.”
St. Patrick appeared poised to exit John Davis Stadium with a clean shutout victory after the Shamrocks secured a 2-0 lead on second half goals from junior midfielder Rafael Rios and junior forward James Gustafson.
But Glenbrook South (2-3-3), ranked no. 22 in Chicagoland Soccer’s Top 25 poll, refused to wilt on a pleasant morning against what has to be the best winless club (0-3-3) in the state, hands — and feet — down.
The Chicago school owned the run of the play for most of the first half and the early portion of the second with its slick passing, relentless pressure at both ends of the pitch and Nicolas Leon’s ever-dangerous left leg.
The hosts cut St. Patrick’s advantage in half only a minute after the visitors netted their second tally. St. Patrick freshman goalkeeper Michael Ceron tilted to his right to get a mitt on a hard shot from Titans junior midfielder Jacob Cramer.
An alert John Economy, a senior back, then controlled the deflection and blasted an eight-yarder past Ceron.
Cha came up big with his breakthrough goal eight minutes later. Glenbrook South senior defender and co-captain Chris Sanchez —who played at an all-state level all morning and shared Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors with Leon — booted a lengthy, pinpoint service to a sprinting Cha, who saw nothing but green field turf and Ceron.
Cha made it look easy from there.
“First goal!” a Titan yelled as he popped off the bench. “That was his first goal!”
“Sixty yards,” Cha said of how far Sanchez’s assist traveled. “I had to dribble it for only about 20 yards.”
The evaporation of a seemingly comfy Shamrocks advantage was an all-too-familiar sequence to St. Patrick co-coach Kyle McClure.
“This is where we’re at right now,” McClure, a 1997 Stevenson graduate, said. “We dominated possession today, dominated play, but came up short. Our mental toughness isn’t where it should be. We let up after taking a two-goal lead; you could tell. GBS worked hard after falling behind, and we didn’t work hard enough to maintain our lead.”
His Shamrocks got on the board first following a 50-50 ball in the box. Rios won it versus Titans senior keeper Yash Ghai (five saves) in the 38th minute and connected on a shot from about 10 yards.
“Their keeper hesitated; I went for it,” said Rios, one of four captains.
St. Patrick’s second goal was part gorgeous, part dynamic. Leon swung his left leg from a corner-kick patch and curled the delivery to a charging, airborne Gustafson. The upper inside of Gustafson’s left foot redirected the ball from close range and increased Netville’s population behind Ghai from 1 to 2 in the 53rd minute.
“Beautiful cross,” Gustafson said, adding he wasn’t marked.
Glenbrook South, last weekend’s runner-up to Zion-Benton at the Lake Forest invitational, displayed its resiliency and determination shortly thereafter.
“We bounced back,” Cha said after the stalemate that felt more like a win to the hosts.
“Maybe we’re not the most skilled team around, but we’re very good technical team,” Sanchez said. “When we were down 2-0, a lot of us were thinking, ‘We’re better than this. Let’s show them.’ We have to do a better job of building off each
other, and we have to give 100 percent from start to finish.”
Lara had been warned about St. Patrick’s danger quotient by other coaches — coaches of teams that had played the Shamrocks in early Wolter Invite action.
“I was told, ‘Don’t be fooled by St. Patrick’s losses,’” Lara said. “That’s a much better team than the results would indicate. Most of the score lines at this tournament, not just St. Patrick’s, were deceptive scores.”
What was illuminating to Lara Saturday morning? His crew’s resolve.
“I was very proud of our play in the second half,” he said. “My players did not hang their heads after trailing 2-0.”
Leon and Glenbrook South senior forward Kevin Perez were named to the Jim Wolter Titan Invitational All-Tournament Team.
Stevenson edged Speer 1-0 for the Wolter Invite title Saturday afternoon. Patriots junior midfielder Alex Xie collected Tournament MVP honors.
Glenbrook South visits Deerfield (2-3-0), winners of two straight, Tuesday at 7 p.m. in a Central Suburban League crossover; St. Patrick hosts Carmel on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Footnotes
Second-year Glenbrook South Athletic Director Tom Mietus watched Saturday morning’s GBS-St. Patrick match from a spot in between the benches. He wrestled and played football and baseball at Maine West. The Gurnee resident treated the media “throng” of one nicely, offering free fare at the concession stand. … St. Patrick co-coach and alumnus Melchor Castro (Class of 2005) battled as a midfielder for the men’s soccer
program at St. Xavier University in Chicago. Co-coach McClure was a center back at Knox College in Galesburg. … St. Patrick’s boys soccer program was one of the first, if not the first, in Illinois to use social media platforms spotlight its strengths. McClure even posted one of the Shamrocks’ practice sessions. Castro noted the program’s number of Instagram followers is at, and this is not a typo, 20,000. … Glenbrook South’s Sanchez heard his alarm clock blare at 6:30 a.m. for Saturday’s 8 a.m. kickoff vs. St. Patrick. “But I stayed in bed until 6:50 a.m.,” he said afterward. “Had to be here at 7.” … McClure, on his team’s 0-3-3 start. “Close games against tough teams. We like going up against tough teams, especially early.” The Shamrocks opened their 2022 season with a 2-1 loss at York, the reigning Class 3A state champion. … A smiling Lara, after being asked if his team is a morning team moments before Saturday’s 8 a.m. start said: “We’re about to find out.”
Starting lineups
St. Patrick
GK Michael Ceron
D Daniel Carrera
D Gael Quinonez
D Rafael Ramirez
D Nathan Davila
MF Christian Medina
MF Sergio Barron
MF Jorge Parra
MF Christian Correa
F Rafael Rios
F Nicolas Leon
Glenbrook South
GK Yash Ghai
D Chris Sanchez
D Jimmy Aglikin
D Anthony Kifarkis
D John Economy
D Alec Grenolds
MF Ben Baczewski
MF Daniel Cha
F Conor Beach
F Adrian Potoniec
F Kevin Perez
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match:
Chris Sanchez, sr., D, Glenbrook South;
Nicolas Leon, sr., F, St. Patrick
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
St. Patrick — Rios (unassisted), 38’
St. Patrick — James Gustafson (Leon), 53’
Glenbrook South — Economy (Jacob Cramer), 54’
Glenbrook South — Cha (Sanchez), 62’
tie vs. St. Patrick
Midfielder scores sweet goal to avoid defeat in 7th place match
By Bill McLean
GLENVIEW — Let him eat cake.
Cookie cake, that is.
Glenbrook South senior midfielder Daniel Cha earned a cookie cake Saturday morning when he scored his first varsity goal — the equalizer in the 62nd minute of the Titans’ 2-2 tie with visiting St. Patrick in the seventh place match at the 36th-annual Jim Wolter Titan Invitational.
Former Titans defender Jason Fink, a 2022 graduate and freshman business major at Indiana University, started the yummy tradition last fall.
He’d purchase the treat for each Titan who netted such a milestone goal.
“Jason might be the finest human being I know,” Glenbrook South coach Reggie Lara said after Saturday’s 70-minute match, which started at 8 a.m. “He didn’t just do the cookie-cake thing; he’d also wash the team’s pinnies after wins.”
St. Patrick appeared poised to exit John Davis Stadium with a clean shutout victory after the Shamrocks secured a 2-0 lead on second half goals from junior midfielder Rafael Rios and junior forward James Gustafson.
But Glenbrook South (2-3-3), ranked no. 22 in Chicagoland Soccer’s Top 25 poll, refused to wilt on a pleasant morning against what has to be the best winless club (0-3-3) in the state, hands — and feet — down.
The Chicago school owned the run of the play for most of the first half and the early portion of the second with its slick passing, relentless pressure at both ends of the pitch and Nicolas Leon’s ever-dangerous left leg.
The hosts cut St. Patrick’s advantage in half only a minute after the visitors netted their second tally. St. Patrick freshman goalkeeper Michael Ceron tilted to his right to get a mitt on a hard shot from Titans junior midfielder Jacob Cramer.
An alert John Economy, a senior back, then controlled the deflection and blasted an eight-yarder past Ceron.
Cha came up big with his breakthrough goal eight minutes later. Glenbrook South senior defender and co-captain Chris Sanchez —who played at an all-state level all morning and shared Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors with Leon — booted a lengthy, pinpoint service to a sprinting Cha, who saw nothing but green field turf and Ceron.
Cha made it look easy from there.
“First goal!” a Titan yelled as he popped off the bench. “That was his first goal!”
“Sixty yards,” Cha said of how far Sanchez’s assist traveled. “I had to dribble it for only about 20 yards.”
The evaporation of a seemingly comfy Shamrocks advantage was an all-too-familiar sequence to St. Patrick co-coach Kyle McClure.
“This is where we’re at right now,” McClure, a 1997 Stevenson graduate, said. “We dominated possession today, dominated play, but came up short. Our mental toughness isn’t where it should be. We let up after taking a two-goal lead; you could tell. GBS worked hard after falling behind, and we didn’t work hard enough to maintain our lead.”
His Shamrocks got on the board first following a 50-50 ball in the box. Rios won it versus Titans senior keeper Yash Ghai (five saves) in the 38th minute and connected on a shot from about 10 yards.
“Their keeper hesitated; I went for it,” said Rios, one of four captains.
St. Patrick’s second goal was part gorgeous, part dynamic. Leon swung his left leg from a corner-kick patch and curled the delivery to a charging, airborne Gustafson. The upper inside of Gustafson’s left foot redirected the ball from close range and increased Netville’s population behind Ghai from 1 to 2 in the 53rd minute.
“Beautiful cross,” Gustafson said, adding he wasn’t marked.
Glenbrook South, last weekend’s runner-up to Zion-Benton at the Lake Forest invitational, displayed its resiliency and determination shortly thereafter.
“We bounced back,” Cha said after the stalemate that felt more like a win to the hosts.
“Maybe we’re not the most skilled team around, but we’re very good technical team,” Sanchez said. “When we were down 2-0, a lot of us were thinking, ‘We’re better than this. Let’s show them.’ We have to do a better job of building off each
other, and we have to give 100 percent from start to finish.”
Lara had been warned about St. Patrick’s danger quotient by other coaches — coaches of teams that had played the Shamrocks in early Wolter Invite action.
“I was told, ‘Don’t be fooled by St. Patrick’s losses,’” Lara said. “That’s a much better team than the results would indicate. Most of the score lines at this tournament, not just St. Patrick’s, were deceptive scores.”
What was illuminating to Lara Saturday morning? His crew’s resolve.
“I was very proud of our play in the second half,” he said. “My players did not hang their heads after trailing 2-0.”
Leon and Glenbrook South senior forward Kevin Perez were named to the Jim Wolter Titan Invitational All-Tournament Team.
Stevenson edged Speer 1-0 for the Wolter Invite title Saturday afternoon. Patriots junior midfielder Alex Xie collected Tournament MVP honors.
Glenbrook South visits Deerfield (2-3-0), winners of two straight, Tuesday at 7 p.m. in a Central Suburban League crossover; St. Patrick hosts Carmel on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Footnotes
Second-year Glenbrook South Athletic Director Tom Mietus watched Saturday morning’s GBS-St. Patrick match from a spot in between the benches. He wrestled and played football and baseball at Maine West. The Gurnee resident treated the media “throng” of one nicely, offering free fare at the concession stand. … St. Patrick co-coach and alumnus Melchor Castro (Class of 2005) battled as a midfielder for the men’s soccer
program at St. Xavier University in Chicago. Co-coach McClure was a center back at Knox College in Galesburg. … St. Patrick’s boys soccer program was one of the first, if not the first, in Illinois to use social media platforms spotlight its strengths. McClure even posted one of the Shamrocks’ practice sessions. Castro noted the program’s number of Instagram followers is at, and this is not a typo, 20,000. … Glenbrook South’s Sanchez heard his alarm clock blare at 6:30 a.m. for Saturday’s 8 a.m. kickoff vs. St. Patrick. “But I stayed in bed until 6:50 a.m.,” he said afterward. “Had to be here at 7.” … McClure, on his team’s 0-3-3 start. “Close games against tough teams. We like going up against tough teams, especially early.” The Shamrocks opened their 2022 season with a 2-1 loss at York, the reigning Class 3A state champion. … A smiling Lara, after being asked if his team is a morning team moments before Saturday’s 8 a.m. start said: “We’re about to find out.”
Starting lineups
St. Patrick
GK Michael Ceron
D Daniel Carrera
D Gael Quinonez
D Rafael Ramirez
D Nathan Davila
MF Christian Medina
MF Sergio Barron
MF Jorge Parra
MF Christian Correa
F Rafael Rios
F Nicolas Leon
Glenbrook South
GK Yash Ghai
D Chris Sanchez
D Jimmy Aglikin
D Anthony Kifarkis
D John Economy
D Alec Grenolds
MF Ben Baczewski
MF Daniel Cha
F Conor Beach
F Adrian Potoniec
F Kevin Perez
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match:
Chris Sanchez, sr., D, Glenbrook South;
Nicolas Leon, sr., F, St. Patrick
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
St. Patrick — Rios (unassisted), 38’
St. Patrick — James Gustafson (Leon), 53’
Glenbrook South — Economy (Jacob Cramer), 54’
Glenbrook South — Cha (Sanchez), 62’