Riverside-Brookfield fires at will,
finally connects against St. Edward
Bulldogs remain unbeaten in Metro Blue with 6-1 win
By Matt Le Cren
RIVERSIDE – Manny Tovar is Riverside-Brookfield’s man in the middle.
The senior midfielder is a wizard with the ball at his feet, the maestro directing the Bulldogs’ offense and a calm presence when things aren’t going so well.
All three of those traits were on display Thursday against St. Edward.
Tovar assisted on his team’s first goal, scored its second and spent much of the Metro Suburban Conference Blue Division match creating havoc for St. Edward’s overworked and ultimately overwhelmed defenders.
The 6-1 victory was the third straight for Riverside-Brookfield (6-6-0, 4-0-x), which controls its own destiny in the conference race with big games coming up next week against rivals Timothy (5-5-0, 3-1-x) and Wheaton Academy (6-2-2, 3-0-x).
“Coming off some tough losses that we think we should have won, it was definitely about getting that hunger and desire in those games that we should win,” Tovar said. “It’s rubbed off in conference.
“We want to win conference. I haven’t won a conference personally so far in my high school experience, and that’s one of my goals this year. I’m looking forward to winning those tough games.”
This game wasn’t tough, though it took longer for the Bulldogs to put it away. St. Edward (4-9-0, 0-4-x) was outshot 44-1, but the game was tied at halftime and the result in doubt until the final 15 minutes.
St. Edward goalkeeper Morgan Satjar was a big reason why the Green Wave managed to hang in for so long despite rarely having possession for more than a few seconds at a time. The senior made 15 saves to frustrate the Bulldogs, who also missed more than a dozen other solid chances.
“The keeper made some amazing saves today,” Tovar said. “We had a lot of chances, winning the end line and getting crosses in. We just were unlucky finishing around the net today.”
The game didn’t start out that way. Tovar, the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, helped the Bulldogs grab a 1-0 lead just 72 seconds after kickoff when his lead pass sprung senior forward Hunter Ferguson for a breakaway goal.
It was the first of two goals for Ferguson, who now has a team-leading 14 on the season. He said eight of them have been assisted by Tovar.
“He’s the reason why I score,” Ferguson said. “When he’s got the ball in the middle, he shifts everyone around. I’m just making the run, and he plays me through.”
Riverside-Brookfield coach Ivek Halik said Tovar is one of the best players he has coached during his tenure.
“He’s a big asset for us – facilitating offense, facilitating defense, just organizing everything in the middle,” Halik said. “I tell everybody this – he’s very special in how he plays, his knowledge of the game and just his leadership on the field and off the field. Just a unique player.”
The Bulldogs found themselves in unique circumstances against the Green Wave. The midfield of Tovar, Diego Villegas, Dante Moscosa, Liam Kaiser and Noah Berndt was utterly dominant and furnished several dozen quality chances for themselves as well as Ferguson, the team’s lone forward.
But most went for naught, especially in the first half. Ferguson missed wide on three open shots, Satjar made six saves and a defender cleared another shot off the line.
Incredibly, the visitors tied the game just seven minutes after Ferguson’s first goal. Sajtar made a diving save to deny Ferguson on a breakaway, and the Green Wave counterattacked up the middle.
Brandon Kloeckner’s long ball over the top caught the Riverside-Brookfield back line off-guard, and Ben Zielinski ran onto the end of it and nodded it past charging goalkeeper Aidan Hernandez. The ball then rolled into the net before a defender could get to it.
That was St. Edward’s only shot and one of the few times the Green Wave managed to visit the attacking third of the field.
But the game remained tied for 34 minutes.
“It was one of those days when the ball just didn’t go in the back of the net,” Ferguson said. “We were inside their 20 or 30 for most of the game.
“We’ve just got to put it in the back of the net. Against better teams than this, we’ve got to put those chances away, because we’re not going to get as many as we did.”
Indeed, the Bulldogs will not be able to afford such an inefficient attack against the likes of Timothy or Wheaton Academy. Those are the next two opponents on the schedule for Riverside-Brookfield. They host Timothy on Tuesday and travel to Wheaton Academy three days later.
But Halik was pleased with how his team handled the frustration.
“That’s what we were kind of stressing at halftime – don’t get frustrated, don’t force the ball, just keep our composure,” Halik said. “We’re possessing it well enough to create chances. We just had to focus on that final detail in the final third.”
Fittingly, it was Tovar who did the best job of that and bagged the eventual game-winner just 2:04 after intermission, scoring his eighth goal of the season on a shot from the right wing.
“My role on this team is to organize the midfield and distribute the ball, keep the ball moving and flowing,” Tovar said. “If the ball gets stuck in our feet it’s going to cause problems; we’re not going to create chances like we did today.
“However, today was a good day for us. We moved the ball around. I was able to move the ball around and find the open man.”
Often that man was Ferguson, who uncorked 14 shots, including a 27-yard rocket into the lower right corner of the net that boosted the lead to 3-1 with 16:43 remaining.
“Hunter is very important,” Tovar said. “He’s our target man, so we’re always looking for him.
“He can turn against the goal, and he can also lay it back, be a hold-up to wait for our wings to push up higher, creating more chances in general. That’s very helpful, especially with his big build, to be able to attack in the air and on the floor.”
The Bulldogs attacked from everywhere throughout the game, and it finally wore down St. Edward’s tired defenders. Villegas, Eric Ruiz and Xavier Salamanca all scored during a 3:20 span in the final nine minutes to blow the game open.
“It was frustrating not being able to break them down and score,” Tovar said. “But we just stayed composed the entire game and luckily at the end we broke through.”
The Bulldogs did with a mindset they will need in the upcoming big conference showdowns.
“We just kept the momentum going,” Ferguson said. “We aren’t going to put our head down.
“We just keep on going. If we miss a shot, we’ve got to get another one. We don’t take our foot off the gas.”
Starting lineups
St. Edward
GK: Morgan Satjar
D: Joshua Pottorf
D: Joshua Schelonka
D: Michael O’Brien
D: Robert Sommer
M: Matthew Kapetan
M: Andrew Kapetan
M: Gael Gonzalez
M: Brandon Kloeckner
F: Ben Zielinski
F: Alex Valdez
Riverside-Brookfield
GK: Aidan Hernandez
D: Sam Royer
D: Mak Scheuermann
D: Massimo Francechina
M: Noah Berndt
M: Liam Kaiser
M: David Carillo
M: Manny Tovar
M: Diego Villegas
M: Dante Moscosa
F: Hunter Ferguson
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Manny Tovar, sr., MF, Riverside-Brookfield.
Scoring summary
First half
Riverside-Brookfield – Hunter Ferguson (Manny Tovar) 38:48 remaining
St. Edward – Ben Zielinski (Brandon Kloeckner) 31:54 remaining
Second half
Riverside-Brookfield – Tovar 37:56 remaining
Riverside-Brookfield – Ferguson 16:45 remaining
Riverside-Brookfield – Diego Villegas 8:37 remaining
Riverside-Brookfield – Eric Ruiz 7:43 remaining
Riverside-Brookfield – Xavier Salamanca 5:17 remaining
finally connects against St. Edward
Bulldogs remain unbeaten in Metro Blue with 6-1 win
By Matt Le Cren
RIVERSIDE – Manny Tovar is Riverside-Brookfield’s man in the middle.
The senior midfielder is a wizard with the ball at his feet, the maestro directing the Bulldogs’ offense and a calm presence when things aren’t going so well.
All three of those traits were on display Thursday against St. Edward.
Tovar assisted on his team’s first goal, scored its second and spent much of the Metro Suburban Conference Blue Division match creating havoc for St. Edward’s overworked and ultimately overwhelmed defenders.
The 6-1 victory was the third straight for Riverside-Brookfield (6-6-0, 4-0-x), which controls its own destiny in the conference race with big games coming up next week against rivals Timothy (5-5-0, 3-1-x) and Wheaton Academy (6-2-2, 3-0-x).
“Coming off some tough losses that we think we should have won, it was definitely about getting that hunger and desire in those games that we should win,” Tovar said. “It’s rubbed off in conference.
“We want to win conference. I haven’t won a conference personally so far in my high school experience, and that’s one of my goals this year. I’m looking forward to winning those tough games.”
This game wasn’t tough, though it took longer for the Bulldogs to put it away. St. Edward (4-9-0, 0-4-x) was outshot 44-1, but the game was tied at halftime and the result in doubt until the final 15 minutes.
St. Edward goalkeeper Morgan Satjar was a big reason why the Green Wave managed to hang in for so long despite rarely having possession for more than a few seconds at a time. The senior made 15 saves to frustrate the Bulldogs, who also missed more than a dozen other solid chances.
“The keeper made some amazing saves today,” Tovar said. “We had a lot of chances, winning the end line and getting crosses in. We just were unlucky finishing around the net today.”
The game didn’t start out that way. Tovar, the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, helped the Bulldogs grab a 1-0 lead just 72 seconds after kickoff when his lead pass sprung senior forward Hunter Ferguson for a breakaway goal.
It was the first of two goals for Ferguson, who now has a team-leading 14 on the season. He said eight of them have been assisted by Tovar.
“He’s the reason why I score,” Ferguson said. “When he’s got the ball in the middle, he shifts everyone around. I’m just making the run, and he plays me through.”
Riverside-Brookfield coach Ivek Halik said Tovar is one of the best players he has coached during his tenure.
“He’s a big asset for us – facilitating offense, facilitating defense, just organizing everything in the middle,” Halik said. “I tell everybody this – he’s very special in how he plays, his knowledge of the game and just his leadership on the field and off the field. Just a unique player.”
The Bulldogs found themselves in unique circumstances against the Green Wave. The midfield of Tovar, Diego Villegas, Dante Moscosa, Liam Kaiser and Noah Berndt was utterly dominant and furnished several dozen quality chances for themselves as well as Ferguson, the team’s lone forward.
But most went for naught, especially in the first half. Ferguson missed wide on three open shots, Satjar made six saves and a defender cleared another shot off the line.
Incredibly, the visitors tied the game just seven minutes after Ferguson’s first goal. Sajtar made a diving save to deny Ferguson on a breakaway, and the Green Wave counterattacked up the middle.
Brandon Kloeckner’s long ball over the top caught the Riverside-Brookfield back line off-guard, and Ben Zielinski ran onto the end of it and nodded it past charging goalkeeper Aidan Hernandez. The ball then rolled into the net before a defender could get to it.
That was St. Edward’s only shot and one of the few times the Green Wave managed to visit the attacking third of the field.
But the game remained tied for 34 minutes.
“It was one of those days when the ball just didn’t go in the back of the net,” Ferguson said. “We were inside their 20 or 30 for most of the game.
“We’ve just got to put it in the back of the net. Against better teams than this, we’ve got to put those chances away, because we’re not going to get as many as we did.”
Indeed, the Bulldogs will not be able to afford such an inefficient attack against the likes of Timothy or Wheaton Academy. Those are the next two opponents on the schedule for Riverside-Brookfield. They host Timothy on Tuesday and travel to Wheaton Academy three days later.
But Halik was pleased with how his team handled the frustration.
“That’s what we were kind of stressing at halftime – don’t get frustrated, don’t force the ball, just keep our composure,” Halik said. “We’re possessing it well enough to create chances. We just had to focus on that final detail in the final third.”
Fittingly, it was Tovar who did the best job of that and bagged the eventual game-winner just 2:04 after intermission, scoring his eighth goal of the season on a shot from the right wing.
“My role on this team is to organize the midfield and distribute the ball, keep the ball moving and flowing,” Tovar said. “If the ball gets stuck in our feet it’s going to cause problems; we’re not going to create chances like we did today.
“However, today was a good day for us. We moved the ball around. I was able to move the ball around and find the open man.”
Often that man was Ferguson, who uncorked 14 shots, including a 27-yard rocket into the lower right corner of the net that boosted the lead to 3-1 with 16:43 remaining.
“Hunter is very important,” Tovar said. “He’s our target man, so we’re always looking for him.
“He can turn against the goal, and he can also lay it back, be a hold-up to wait for our wings to push up higher, creating more chances in general. That’s very helpful, especially with his big build, to be able to attack in the air and on the floor.”
The Bulldogs attacked from everywhere throughout the game, and it finally wore down St. Edward’s tired defenders. Villegas, Eric Ruiz and Xavier Salamanca all scored during a 3:20 span in the final nine minutes to blow the game open.
“It was frustrating not being able to break them down and score,” Tovar said. “But we just stayed composed the entire game and luckily at the end we broke through.”
The Bulldogs did with a mindset they will need in the upcoming big conference showdowns.
“We just kept the momentum going,” Ferguson said. “We aren’t going to put our head down.
“We just keep on going. If we miss a shot, we’ve got to get another one. We don’t take our foot off the gas.”
Starting lineups
St. Edward
GK: Morgan Satjar
D: Joshua Pottorf
D: Joshua Schelonka
D: Michael O’Brien
D: Robert Sommer
M: Matthew Kapetan
M: Andrew Kapetan
M: Gael Gonzalez
M: Brandon Kloeckner
F: Ben Zielinski
F: Alex Valdez
Riverside-Brookfield
GK: Aidan Hernandez
D: Sam Royer
D: Mak Scheuermann
D: Massimo Francechina
M: Noah Berndt
M: Liam Kaiser
M: David Carillo
M: Manny Tovar
M: Diego Villegas
M: Dante Moscosa
F: Hunter Ferguson
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Manny Tovar, sr., MF, Riverside-Brookfield.
Scoring summary
First half
Riverside-Brookfield – Hunter Ferguson (Manny Tovar) 38:48 remaining
St. Edward – Ben Zielinski (Brandon Kloeckner) 31:54 remaining
Second half
Riverside-Brookfield – Tovar 37:56 remaining
Riverside-Brookfield – Ferguson 16:45 remaining
Riverside-Brookfield – Diego Villegas 8:37 remaining
Riverside-Brookfield – Eric Ruiz 7:43 remaining
Riverside-Brookfield – Xavier Salamanca 5:17 remaining