Morton holds off Streamwood for 1-0 win
Mustangs move on to semifinals of US Army Bracket
By Gary Larsen
BERWYN — When Morton and Streamwood met during a consolation pool match in the PepsiCo Showdown last fall, Morton trailed by a goal and rallied for a 4-3 win. So the Mustangs knew what they’d be getting from the Sabres in this year’s rematch, and they got it in a match that had much more riding on it.
Host Morton got a goal from German Tinoco at eight minutes and spent much of the next 72 minutes holding off a wicked Streamwood attack en route to a 1-0 victory in the quarterfinal round of the 16-team US Army Bracket on Tuesday in Berwyn.
A wild final 20 minutes saw Streamwood apply steady pressure, but Morton fought hard to keep the wolves outside the castle gate.
“We were lucky to hold on. They’re an excellent team, and they really started taking it to us in the last 20 minutes,” Morton coach Jim Bageanis said. “They were a step or two away, and it could have easily been a different result. They were right there on the doorstep.”
The Mustangs hero on the day was keeper Andruw Martinez, who cut off crosses and made every stop along the way to his third shutout this season. And on Streamwood’s best scoring chance, Martinez came up big.
Streamwood’s Alex Chavez found a prime opportunity at 47 minutes, locating a ball 10 yards out and firing sharply on net. With no time to think, Martinez did what all good keepers do well.
“I just reacted,” he said. “I didn’t really see the ball. My defender didn’t get there in time, and (Chavez) just turned and kicked it.”
Martinez’s kick-save took away Streamwood’s best scoring chance and his steady play throughout earned the senior keeper Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors.
“Great game,” Bageanis said. “He made a couple big saves, intercepted a nice cross that had good pace on it. He commanded the box.”
Defenders Israel Carranza and Saul Juarez were also key players in Martinez’s third shutout of the season.
“We knew most of (Streamwood’s) guys, and we know we were losing to them last year,” Carranza said. “We had to protect our middle because that’s why we were losing in that game last year. So we took more opportunities to defend that middle today. And we kept on working hard until the last minute. We defended good, we put on some pressure, and we defended hard at the end.”
Eighth-seeded Streamwood beat nine-seed Addison Trail 4-1 while top-seeded Morton beat no 16-seed Plainfield Central 1-0 to advance.
Morton (6-1-1) is ranked fourth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 and Streamwood (6-2-0) is ranked eighth. Chavez knew his Sabres could give Morton all it could handle.
“They have the same caliber players as last year, and we have an even better team,” Chavez said. “We knew they weren’t going to just sit down and let us win the match, but we came in here with confidence that we could beat these guys.
“We put in the work and tried to score in multiple ways. It was just one of those days.”
The win sent Morton to a tournament semifinal against 14th-seeded Washington, which upset a pair of higher seeds in no. 4 Lyons (3-0, opening round) and no. 12 Wheaton North (pk shootout).
Tinoco scored Tuesday’s lone goal in his typical fashion, finding the open space and scoring from six yards before the game was even 10 minutes old.
“German is one of those guys who gets those hustle goals for us,” Bageanis said. “He found that vacated spot, and he put it away.”
Streamwood coach Matt Polovin was left shaking his head.
“We made one mistake,” he said. “We left a guy open at the top of the six-yard box and he made a quick little turn and hits it off the inside of the post, goes across the goal, and it was in. One mistake.”
After Tinoco’s goal and for most of the rest of the first half, Morton’s offense mainly showed its teeth in the counterattack, with Tinoco, Jesus Perez, Adrian Barrera and others applying occasional pressure in transition.
Streamwood defenders Josh Taboda, Michael Rubio, Jose Ibarra, and Ethan Satsatin kept Morton from finding another truly dangerous shot on keeper Hector Alfaro.
Meanwhile, Streamwood’s attack gained steam, fueled by the hunt for a tying goal spearheaded by the likes of Chavez, Jesus Limon, and Bryan Mora. The game’s final 20 minutes saw Martinez and his backline scrape and claw their way to a shutout in the face of intense Streamwood pressure.
“We were running around and leaving some guys open here and there, and they were almost finding them,” Bageanis said. “Limon and Chavez were causing havoc, and those are two high-level players. We did our best to keep them under control. Any time you can keep a team like that to no goals that’s something, because we thought we’d need three goals to win this game.”
Martinez made saves in the 64th, 65th, 70th, 72nd, and 75th minutes, and he elevated at the far post to pick a Streamwood cross high out of the air in the game’s waning moments.
“They’re a good team, and they brought it today,” Martinez said. “They had their opportunities and I’m glad our team stuck around and fought back.”
Polovin applauded his boys’ effort in the loss.
“We did everything we could except put the ball in the back of the net,” Polovin said. “We don’t ever want to sit back, ever, and we didn’t. We wanted to attack, attack, attack.
“We needed to go at them and open up some gaps and go. We kept going at them, but we just didn’t have that killer instinct today to have someone drive their foot through the ball inside the box.”
Chavez rejected any notion that Tuesday’s loss might stand as a moral victory and bemoaned Morton’s early goal.
“The only thing this will give us confidence for is to move on in the season,” Chavez said.
“And the second 20 minutes of each half we usually go as hard as we can, but we need to keep that energy the whole game.”
Starting lineups
Streamwood
GK: Hector Alfaro
D: Jose Ibarra
D: Michael Rubio
D: Josh Taboda
D: Ethan Satsatin
MF: Bryan Mora
MF: Rolando Martinez
MF: Leo Magana
MF: Alex Chavez
F: Jesus Limon
F: Edwin Peralta
Morton
GK: Andruw Martinez
D: Jonathan Perez
D: Saul Juarez
D: Israel Carranza
D: Anarbol Barajas
MF: Yobany Esparza
MF: Cristian Perez
MF: Andre Olvera
MF: Adrian Barrera
F: Jesus Perez
F: German Tinoco
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Andruw Martinez, sr., GK, Morton
Scoring summary
First half
Morton: Tinoco (Perez) 8th minute
Second half
None
Mustangs move on to semifinals of US Army Bracket
By Gary Larsen
BERWYN — When Morton and Streamwood met during a consolation pool match in the PepsiCo Showdown last fall, Morton trailed by a goal and rallied for a 4-3 win. So the Mustangs knew what they’d be getting from the Sabres in this year’s rematch, and they got it in a match that had much more riding on it.
Host Morton got a goal from German Tinoco at eight minutes and spent much of the next 72 minutes holding off a wicked Streamwood attack en route to a 1-0 victory in the quarterfinal round of the 16-team US Army Bracket on Tuesday in Berwyn.
A wild final 20 minutes saw Streamwood apply steady pressure, but Morton fought hard to keep the wolves outside the castle gate.
“We were lucky to hold on. They’re an excellent team, and they really started taking it to us in the last 20 minutes,” Morton coach Jim Bageanis said. “They were a step or two away, and it could have easily been a different result. They were right there on the doorstep.”
The Mustangs hero on the day was keeper Andruw Martinez, who cut off crosses and made every stop along the way to his third shutout this season. And on Streamwood’s best scoring chance, Martinez came up big.
Streamwood’s Alex Chavez found a prime opportunity at 47 minutes, locating a ball 10 yards out and firing sharply on net. With no time to think, Martinez did what all good keepers do well.
“I just reacted,” he said. “I didn’t really see the ball. My defender didn’t get there in time, and (Chavez) just turned and kicked it.”
Martinez’s kick-save took away Streamwood’s best scoring chance and his steady play throughout earned the senior keeper Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors.
“Great game,” Bageanis said. “He made a couple big saves, intercepted a nice cross that had good pace on it. He commanded the box.”
Defenders Israel Carranza and Saul Juarez were also key players in Martinez’s third shutout of the season.
“We knew most of (Streamwood’s) guys, and we know we were losing to them last year,” Carranza said. “We had to protect our middle because that’s why we were losing in that game last year. So we took more opportunities to defend that middle today. And we kept on working hard until the last minute. We defended good, we put on some pressure, and we defended hard at the end.”
Eighth-seeded Streamwood beat nine-seed Addison Trail 4-1 while top-seeded Morton beat no 16-seed Plainfield Central 1-0 to advance.
Morton (6-1-1) is ranked fourth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 and Streamwood (6-2-0) is ranked eighth. Chavez knew his Sabres could give Morton all it could handle.
“They have the same caliber players as last year, and we have an even better team,” Chavez said. “We knew they weren’t going to just sit down and let us win the match, but we came in here with confidence that we could beat these guys.
“We put in the work and tried to score in multiple ways. It was just one of those days.”
The win sent Morton to a tournament semifinal against 14th-seeded Washington, which upset a pair of higher seeds in no. 4 Lyons (3-0, opening round) and no. 12 Wheaton North (pk shootout).
Tinoco scored Tuesday’s lone goal in his typical fashion, finding the open space and scoring from six yards before the game was even 10 minutes old.
“German is one of those guys who gets those hustle goals for us,” Bageanis said. “He found that vacated spot, and he put it away.”
Streamwood coach Matt Polovin was left shaking his head.
“We made one mistake,” he said. “We left a guy open at the top of the six-yard box and he made a quick little turn and hits it off the inside of the post, goes across the goal, and it was in. One mistake.”
After Tinoco’s goal and for most of the rest of the first half, Morton’s offense mainly showed its teeth in the counterattack, with Tinoco, Jesus Perez, Adrian Barrera and others applying occasional pressure in transition.
Streamwood defenders Josh Taboda, Michael Rubio, Jose Ibarra, and Ethan Satsatin kept Morton from finding another truly dangerous shot on keeper Hector Alfaro.
Meanwhile, Streamwood’s attack gained steam, fueled by the hunt for a tying goal spearheaded by the likes of Chavez, Jesus Limon, and Bryan Mora. The game’s final 20 minutes saw Martinez and his backline scrape and claw their way to a shutout in the face of intense Streamwood pressure.
“We were running around and leaving some guys open here and there, and they were almost finding them,” Bageanis said. “Limon and Chavez were causing havoc, and those are two high-level players. We did our best to keep them under control. Any time you can keep a team like that to no goals that’s something, because we thought we’d need three goals to win this game.”
Martinez made saves in the 64th, 65th, 70th, 72nd, and 75th minutes, and he elevated at the far post to pick a Streamwood cross high out of the air in the game’s waning moments.
“They’re a good team, and they brought it today,” Martinez said. “They had their opportunities and I’m glad our team stuck around and fought back.”
Polovin applauded his boys’ effort in the loss.
“We did everything we could except put the ball in the back of the net,” Polovin said. “We don’t ever want to sit back, ever, and we didn’t. We wanted to attack, attack, attack.
“We needed to go at them and open up some gaps and go. We kept going at them, but we just didn’t have that killer instinct today to have someone drive their foot through the ball inside the box.”
Chavez rejected any notion that Tuesday’s loss might stand as a moral victory and bemoaned Morton’s early goal.
“The only thing this will give us confidence for is to move on in the season,” Chavez said.
“And the second 20 minutes of each half we usually go as hard as we can, but we need to keep that energy the whole game.”
Starting lineups
Streamwood
GK: Hector Alfaro
D: Jose Ibarra
D: Michael Rubio
D: Josh Taboda
D: Ethan Satsatin
MF: Bryan Mora
MF: Rolando Martinez
MF: Leo Magana
MF: Alex Chavez
F: Jesus Limon
F: Edwin Peralta
Morton
GK: Andruw Martinez
D: Jonathan Perez
D: Saul Juarez
D: Israel Carranza
D: Anarbol Barajas
MF: Yobany Esparza
MF: Cristian Perez
MF: Andre Olvera
MF: Adrian Barrera
F: Jesus Perez
F: German Tinoco
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Andruw Martinez, sr., GK, Morton
Scoring summary
First half
Morton: Tinoco (Perez) 8th minute
Second half
None