St. Patrick dominant, wins 1st sectional title
3-0 win over defending state champ Latin continues rapid rise
By Dave Owen
BENSENVILLE – Slow starts had been a postseason trend for St. Patrick.
But the Shamrocks figured no such luxury could be allowed Friday.
Facing defending Class AA state champion Latin in the Fenton Sectional finals, the Shamrocks overcame a goal called back by an illegal throw-in call five minutes in to come right back and grab a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute.
Two second half insurance goals and a great effort by the St. Patrick defense then sealed the deal on a 3-0 win. The Shamrocks’ 13th victory in a row produced the first sectional title in program history and sends St. Patrick (22-4-2) on to face Freeport in the St. Charles North Supersectional at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
That previous sentence would have seemed absurd or downright impossible in the fall of 2014.
“From two wins (that year) to sectional champs -- I could not see this coming,” St. Patrick senior and four-year varsity player Finn Elsmo said. “Coach (Kyle) McClure and coach (assistant Melchor) Castro have really turned this program around.
“He (McClure) made sure he got players in to build the program up. I was in the first group of freshmen coach brought in with Chris (Modrzejewski), Chris Troyke and Nate Anderson, and from that point on he just brought in more – Herbert (Carrera), Diego (Rivera), Luis (Saucedo) and it just kept going on and on. And now we’re here.”
The Shamrocks’ progress with each game continues. The squad showed a new level of purpose against the huge challenge of Latin (16-4-1).
“We came out with a lot of intensity,” McClure said. “Our first three playoff games we gave up the first goal, and we fought back the second half. So we really stressed the importance of the first goal (Friday).”
That early strike appeared to come with 34:59 left in the first half, when a Shamrocks throw-in deflected across the box to star striker Chris Modrzejewski, whose low liner found the back of the net.
But officials ruled an illegal throw-in, reversing the apparent goal.
“That’s the first time we’ve been called for an illegal throw all season,” McClure said. “But we responded well to it.”
Perfect would best describe Aaron Moreno-Lopez’s response.
After a left sideline foul with 29:08 left in the first half, Moreno launched a 20-yard free kick that curled just under the crossbar and above the reach of leaping Latin goalkeeper Michael Davis. The perfect strike was Moreno’s fourth goal of 2017 and came at a huge time.
“I’m used to taking a lot of free kicks for my team,” Moreno said. “I was just trying to whip it in so we could get an opportunity for a rebound too, because we had the wind in the first half.”
Moreno’s send was so perfect, no rebound was needed.
“He plays some really nice balls in there,” McClure said. “We made a little dummy run to the near post, and he curved it perfectly far post. He played really well today.
“I was really happy with our resiliency (after the early goal denial on the throw-in). We kept attacking and got the first goal, and pretty much every game this season, once we score one we kind of pour it on and get our confidence up.
“I thought as a team we played about as well as we can tonight,” McClure added. “They (Latin) are obviously a really good team, a really good defensive team, which was one of the reasons we wanted to score first. We knew if they scored first, they would pack it in, and they’re tough to score on.”
Not only did the Shamrocks go up 1-0 quickly, they seldom if ever relented control of the match.
Davis’ diving catch denied an end line shot by Chris Modrzejewski in the 20th minute. He followed with a diving block of Modrzejewski’s 18-yard shot off a Josh Torres pass in the 22nd minute, then another Modrzejewski header off a Jonathan Rodriguez cross went just wide in the 23rd minute.
Modrzejewski’s flurries of pressure on the Latin defense and one-goal (his 34th), one-assist performance earned him Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors.
“We were not nervous but came with confidence and a lot of courage,” Modrzejewski said. “We put our heads up and just kept fighting to the end.”
The offensive push continued to the last ticks of the first half clock. Just 10 seconds before the break, Modrzejewski’s 10-yard left-foot shot off a Saucedo pass was denied by another Davis diving catch.
“They (St. Patrick) have a lot of firepower, and we knew that coming in,” Latin coach Tom Bower said. “My hats off to them -- they played well. They had a couple of guys up front who ended up being too much for us.”
Latin’s Jonah Schenk was a handful as well, sending a corner kick that goalkeeper Troyke denied with a high catch at the near post 55 seconds into the second half.
A Schenk end line play came inches from tying things with 34:15 left. His pass to the front of the net resulted in an apparent Roberto Borghans goal, but officials ruled the ball had crossed the end line out of bounds before the pass.
“The deal with Latin is that they’re very composed. They have really good spacing and whatnot,” Elsmo said. “They’re just a really composed team -- if we played just as composed and pressured, then they might have a little bit of a hard time.”
Barely two minutes after surviving that Romans threat, St. Patrick pressure gave the Latin defense a very hard time and produced a huge insurance goal.
Adam Przytula’s send upfield sprung Chris Modrzejewski on left wing. His 12-yard shot was deflected by second half Latin keeper Ian Cahr, but Saucedo was there for the right post rebound putaway and a 2-0 lead with 31:55 to play.
“The one thing I worried about is that we’re a young team, over half underclassmen,” McClure said. “And we’re playing a team that’s been here before. I wasn’t sure how we’d respond from a psychological standpoint. Obviously we responded well.”
The St. Patrick defense also responded brilliantly to Latin’s bid to answer.
The biggest response came with 20:50 to play, when a long send upfield by the Romans deflected through the Shamrocks defense to Schenk for a breakaway chance. But Troyke came off his line and made a sliding foot save of Schenk’s low 12-yard drive, preserving the 2-0 lead and momentum.
“I thought that was probably the best our defense played all season,” McClure said. “Those four guys in the back (defenders Elsmo, Sebastian Modrzejewski, Jonathan Rodriguez and Nate Anderson), and then Chris Troyke made a really important save in the second half when it was still only 2-0.”
Besides that huge and dramatic save, the Shamrocks backline steadily kept Latin threats near the goal to a minimum.
“I thought Finn Elsmo at right back, that’s the best I’ve seen him play,” McClure said. “Nate Anderson, one of our senior captains, was actually out for two weeks with a foot injury, and his first game back was the semifinal game (Tuesday’s 4-1 win over Northside). So he’s just getting back in there, and he played really well.”
Rodriguez nicely headed a Schenk corner kick away from danger with 14:15 left, one of his exceptional plays either defensively or on restarts.
Elsmo’s big plays included heading away a dangerous high cross to the back post 27 minutes into the match.
And while the Shamrocks defense excelled, the offense never let up.
A potential goal with 21:45 left was denied, when Chris Modrzejewski was ruled just offside on a pass from Moreno.
After Przytula’s effort in front of a Saucedo cross with 15:30 to go was deflected wide by Cahr, the Shamrocks’ explosive offense finished things with 8:53 left.
On a Torres send up the right side, Chris Modrzejewski raced in on a long dash and drove a low 10-yard shot into the net for a 3-0 lead.
“This is our style once we get up,” McClure said. “A lot of teams will drop back, play defensively. We just keep attacking, and hopefully keep scoring.
“They (Latin) almost scored on a counter (denied by Troyke’s kick save) but we want to win or lose playing our style, and we did that. Everything just went according to plan.”
When Latin goalkeeper Cahr's 60-yard free kick was headed on goal and fielded by Troyke with five seconds left, the latest chapter in St. Patrick’s amazing turnaround was written. A win over the defending state champs, and a spot in the Elite Eight of Class AA.
“Three years ago we had two wins,” McClure said. “What makes this really special is our five seniors were freshmen when I came in. To go from two wins to now 22 wins and running, there’s no team that’s improved more than us in the last three years.”
Said Moreno: “It’s amazing. We left it all on the field today. I feel just playing with our hearts (was the key).”
Said Chris Modrzejewski: “I’m just happy, excited. Everything we’ve done throughout the four years has been worthwhile. It all goes to coach for sure, all the hard work he put in.”
And the Shamrocks feel the best is yet to come.
“I don’t think we’re done yet,” Elsmo said. “We have so much passion as a group, and I feel like through the regional rounds we didn’t have that passion. Then we really found it this game. Latin’s a great program. This win is huge.
“If we keep this energy and positivity toward the games that we go into, we’ll definitely have a shot. And if we win state, I don’t know what I’ll do honestly.”
Latin savored that feeling last year, but ran into a buzzsaw Friday in its bid to repeat.
“This was a fantastic group,” Bower said. “About half of them were on the team last year.
“I thought we had really a great year. It was a lot of fun; it was a great group of guys. Being the team that follows a state championship team is a big challenge. There was a bullseye on their back the whole season -- everybody wanted to knock us off. But we only had a few losses.”
The Shamrocks seemed to dig especially deep to vanquish Latin.
“This was a game that was really important,” Elsmo said. “The last game, Northside is a really good program as well. But we didn’t come out with intensity. We went down 1-0.
“This game we came out with intensity, went up 1-0 twice (on the throw-in reversal, then Moreno free kick), so it’s really exciting. We just kept it going. That setback (the goal called back), typically teams would be disappointed and morale would switch. The fact that we kept pushing I think is very telling, and will be important in the next few games of our season.”
While the playoffs hold no guarantees, the Shamrocks have plenty of factors in their favor.
“We have a lot of momentum going, a lot of confidence,” McClure said. “We feel if we play the way we’re capable of playing, we can beat anybody. Certainly anybody we’ll be facing in AA. We just need to keep playing our style.
“This is, I think, our 13th win in a row, and we’ve won every game by more than one goal. And the last three games we gave up the first goal. Even tonight we had two goals called back. That’s going to happen in a playoff game, and it’s how you respond to not getting a call one way or the other. We were resilient.”
Next up is Freeport, which won the second sectional title in its history (and first since 2009) with a victory by penalty kicks over Lakes on Friday.
“If we play like this, we have a great chance,” McClure said. “We’re feeling confident going into Tuesday.
“And this was actually the first time the whole season that we were close to 100 percent healthy. So we’re playing our best soccer at the right time and healthy at the right time. This is seeming to all fall into place.”
Starting lineups
Latin
GK Michael Davis
D Cole Fuller
D Matt Hurley
D Will Slater
D Joe Kennedy
M Freddie Baldwin
M Colin Campbell
M Ben Krambeck
M Jonah Schenk
M David Hynes
F Chase Kaplan
St. Patrick
GK Chris Troyke
D Nate Anderson
D Sebastian Modrzejewski
D Finn Elsmo
D Jonathan Rodriguez
M Herbert Carrera
M Aaron Moreno-Lopez
M Joshua Torres
M Angel Adame
F Chris Modrzejewski
F Luis Saucedo
Chciagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Chris Modrzejewski, sr. F, St. Patrick
Scoring summary
1st HALF
St. Patrick – Moreno (unassisted), 10:52.
2nd HALF
St. Patrick – Saucedo (C. Modrzejewski), 48:05
St. Patrick – C. Modrzejewski (J. Torres), 71:07
3-0 win over defending state champ Latin continues rapid rise
By Dave Owen
BENSENVILLE – Slow starts had been a postseason trend for St. Patrick.
But the Shamrocks figured no such luxury could be allowed Friday.
Facing defending Class AA state champion Latin in the Fenton Sectional finals, the Shamrocks overcame a goal called back by an illegal throw-in call five minutes in to come right back and grab a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute.
Two second half insurance goals and a great effort by the St. Patrick defense then sealed the deal on a 3-0 win. The Shamrocks’ 13th victory in a row produced the first sectional title in program history and sends St. Patrick (22-4-2) on to face Freeport in the St. Charles North Supersectional at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
That previous sentence would have seemed absurd or downright impossible in the fall of 2014.
“From two wins (that year) to sectional champs -- I could not see this coming,” St. Patrick senior and four-year varsity player Finn Elsmo said. “Coach (Kyle) McClure and coach (assistant Melchor) Castro have really turned this program around.
“He (McClure) made sure he got players in to build the program up. I was in the first group of freshmen coach brought in with Chris (Modrzejewski), Chris Troyke and Nate Anderson, and from that point on he just brought in more – Herbert (Carrera), Diego (Rivera), Luis (Saucedo) and it just kept going on and on. And now we’re here.”
The Shamrocks’ progress with each game continues. The squad showed a new level of purpose against the huge challenge of Latin (16-4-1).
“We came out with a lot of intensity,” McClure said. “Our first three playoff games we gave up the first goal, and we fought back the second half. So we really stressed the importance of the first goal (Friday).”
That early strike appeared to come with 34:59 left in the first half, when a Shamrocks throw-in deflected across the box to star striker Chris Modrzejewski, whose low liner found the back of the net.
But officials ruled an illegal throw-in, reversing the apparent goal.
“That’s the first time we’ve been called for an illegal throw all season,” McClure said. “But we responded well to it.”
Perfect would best describe Aaron Moreno-Lopez’s response.
After a left sideline foul with 29:08 left in the first half, Moreno launched a 20-yard free kick that curled just under the crossbar and above the reach of leaping Latin goalkeeper Michael Davis. The perfect strike was Moreno’s fourth goal of 2017 and came at a huge time.
“I’m used to taking a lot of free kicks for my team,” Moreno said. “I was just trying to whip it in so we could get an opportunity for a rebound too, because we had the wind in the first half.”
Moreno’s send was so perfect, no rebound was needed.
“He plays some really nice balls in there,” McClure said. “We made a little dummy run to the near post, and he curved it perfectly far post. He played really well today.
“I was really happy with our resiliency (after the early goal denial on the throw-in). We kept attacking and got the first goal, and pretty much every game this season, once we score one we kind of pour it on and get our confidence up.
“I thought as a team we played about as well as we can tonight,” McClure added. “They (Latin) are obviously a really good team, a really good defensive team, which was one of the reasons we wanted to score first. We knew if they scored first, they would pack it in, and they’re tough to score on.”
Not only did the Shamrocks go up 1-0 quickly, they seldom if ever relented control of the match.
Davis’ diving catch denied an end line shot by Chris Modrzejewski in the 20th minute. He followed with a diving block of Modrzejewski’s 18-yard shot off a Josh Torres pass in the 22nd minute, then another Modrzejewski header off a Jonathan Rodriguez cross went just wide in the 23rd minute.
Modrzejewski’s flurries of pressure on the Latin defense and one-goal (his 34th), one-assist performance earned him Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors.
“We were not nervous but came with confidence and a lot of courage,” Modrzejewski said. “We put our heads up and just kept fighting to the end.”
The offensive push continued to the last ticks of the first half clock. Just 10 seconds before the break, Modrzejewski’s 10-yard left-foot shot off a Saucedo pass was denied by another Davis diving catch.
“They (St. Patrick) have a lot of firepower, and we knew that coming in,” Latin coach Tom Bower said. “My hats off to them -- they played well. They had a couple of guys up front who ended up being too much for us.”
Latin’s Jonah Schenk was a handful as well, sending a corner kick that goalkeeper Troyke denied with a high catch at the near post 55 seconds into the second half.
A Schenk end line play came inches from tying things with 34:15 left. His pass to the front of the net resulted in an apparent Roberto Borghans goal, but officials ruled the ball had crossed the end line out of bounds before the pass.
“The deal with Latin is that they’re very composed. They have really good spacing and whatnot,” Elsmo said. “They’re just a really composed team -- if we played just as composed and pressured, then they might have a little bit of a hard time.”
Barely two minutes after surviving that Romans threat, St. Patrick pressure gave the Latin defense a very hard time and produced a huge insurance goal.
Adam Przytula’s send upfield sprung Chris Modrzejewski on left wing. His 12-yard shot was deflected by second half Latin keeper Ian Cahr, but Saucedo was there for the right post rebound putaway and a 2-0 lead with 31:55 to play.
“The one thing I worried about is that we’re a young team, over half underclassmen,” McClure said. “And we’re playing a team that’s been here before. I wasn’t sure how we’d respond from a psychological standpoint. Obviously we responded well.”
The St. Patrick defense also responded brilliantly to Latin’s bid to answer.
The biggest response came with 20:50 to play, when a long send upfield by the Romans deflected through the Shamrocks defense to Schenk for a breakaway chance. But Troyke came off his line and made a sliding foot save of Schenk’s low 12-yard drive, preserving the 2-0 lead and momentum.
“I thought that was probably the best our defense played all season,” McClure said. “Those four guys in the back (defenders Elsmo, Sebastian Modrzejewski, Jonathan Rodriguez and Nate Anderson), and then Chris Troyke made a really important save in the second half when it was still only 2-0.”
Besides that huge and dramatic save, the Shamrocks backline steadily kept Latin threats near the goal to a minimum.
“I thought Finn Elsmo at right back, that’s the best I’ve seen him play,” McClure said. “Nate Anderson, one of our senior captains, was actually out for two weeks with a foot injury, and his first game back was the semifinal game (Tuesday’s 4-1 win over Northside). So he’s just getting back in there, and he played really well.”
Rodriguez nicely headed a Schenk corner kick away from danger with 14:15 left, one of his exceptional plays either defensively or on restarts.
Elsmo’s big plays included heading away a dangerous high cross to the back post 27 minutes into the match.
And while the Shamrocks defense excelled, the offense never let up.
A potential goal with 21:45 left was denied, when Chris Modrzejewski was ruled just offside on a pass from Moreno.
After Przytula’s effort in front of a Saucedo cross with 15:30 to go was deflected wide by Cahr, the Shamrocks’ explosive offense finished things with 8:53 left.
On a Torres send up the right side, Chris Modrzejewski raced in on a long dash and drove a low 10-yard shot into the net for a 3-0 lead.
“This is our style once we get up,” McClure said. “A lot of teams will drop back, play defensively. We just keep attacking, and hopefully keep scoring.
“They (Latin) almost scored on a counter (denied by Troyke’s kick save) but we want to win or lose playing our style, and we did that. Everything just went according to plan.”
When Latin goalkeeper Cahr's 60-yard free kick was headed on goal and fielded by Troyke with five seconds left, the latest chapter in St. Patrick’s amazing turnaround was written. A win over the defending state champs, and a spot in the Elite Eight of Class AA.
“Three years ago we had two wins,” McClure said. “What makes this really special is our five seniors were freshmen when I came in. To go from two wins to now 22 wins and running, there’s no team that’s improved more than us in the last three years.”
Said Moreno: “It’s amazing. We left it all on the field today. I feel just playing with our hearts (was the key).”
Said Chris Modrzejewski: “I’m just happy, excited. Everything we’ve done throughout the four years has been worthwhile. It all goes to coach for sure, all the hard work he put in.”
And the Shamrocks feel the best is yet to come.
“I don’t think we’re done yet,” Elsmo said. “We have so much passion as a group, and I feel like through the regional rounds we didn’t have that passion. Then we really found it this game. Latin’s a great program. This win is huge.
“If we keep this energy and positivity toward the games that we go into, we’ll definitely have a shot. And if we win state, I don’t know what I’ll do honestly.”
Latin savored that feeling last year, but ran into a buzzsaw Friday in its bid to repeat.
“This was a fantastic group,” Bower said. “About half of them were on the team last year.
“I thought we had really a great year. It was a lot of fun; it was a great group of guys. Being the team that follows a state championship team is a big challenge. There was a bullseye on their back the whole season -- everybody wanted to knock us off. But we only had a few losses.”
The Shamrocks seemed to dig especially deep to vanquish Latin.
“This was a game that was really important,” Elsmo said. “The last game, Northside is a really good program as well. But we didn’t come out with intensity. We went down 1-0.
“This game we came out with intensity, went up 1-0 twice (on the throw-in reversal, then Moreno free kick), so it’s really exciting. We just kept it going. That setback (the goal called back), typically teams would be disappointed and morale would switch. The fact that we kept pushing I think is very telling, and will be important in the next few games of our season.”
While the playoffs hold no guarantees, the Shamrocks have plenty of factors in their favor.
“We have a lot of momentum going, a lot of confidence,” McClure said. “We feel if we play the way we’re capable of playing, we can beat anybody. Certainly anybody we’ll be facing in AA. We just need to keep playing our style.
“This is, I think, our 13th win in a row, and we’ve won every game by more than one goal. And the last three games we gave up the first goal. Even tonight we had two goals called back. That’s going to happen in a playoff game, and it’s how you respond to not getting a call one way or the other. We were resilient.”
Next up is Freeport, which won the second sectional title in its history (and first since 2009) with a victory by penalty kicks over Lakes on Friday.
“If we play like this, we have a great chance,” McClure said. “We’re feeling confident going into Tuesday.
“And this was actually the first time the whole season that we were close to 100 percent healthy. So we’re playing our best soccer at the right time and healthy at the right time. This is seeming to all fall into place.”
Starting lineups
Latin
GK Michael Davis
D Cole Fuller
D Matt Hurley
D Will Slater
D Joe Kennedy
M Freddie Baldwin
M Colin Campbell
M Ben Krambeck
M Jonah Schenk
M David Hynes
F Chase Kaplan
St. Patrick
GK Chris Troyke
D Nate Anderson
D Sebastian Modrzejewski
D Finn Elsmo
D Jonathan Rodriguez
M Herbert Carrera
M Aaron Moreno-Lopez
M Joshua Torres
M Angel Adame
F Chris Modrzejewski
F Luis Saucedo
Chciagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Chris Modrzejewski, sr. F, St. Patrick
Scoring summary
1st HALF
St. Patrick – Moreno (unassisted), 10:52.
2nd HALF
St. Patrick – Saucedo (C. Modrzejewski), 48:05
St. Patrick – C. Modrzejewski (J. Torres), 71:07