Streamwood defense corrals SCN
Jimenez, Taboada strikes send Sabres past North Stars
By Gary Larsen
ST. CHARLES — After Streamwood took a 1-0 lead on St. Charles North at 62 minutes on Saturday, that still left the North Stars 18 minutes to find an equalizing goal.
But in a game of very few truly dangerous scoring chances, getting a goal against a Streamwood backline led by four-year varsity defender Jose Ibarra was a tall order.
“It feels like (Ibarra) has been playing for Streamwood for about 15 years,” North coach Eric Willson said. “He’s just fantastic. He keeps that backline so well-organized. Getting behind on them is always a tough, uphill battle, especially with the backline they have.”
Just four minutes after the Sabres’ Aldo Jimenez buried a penalty kick, teammate Gonzalo Taboada made the hill nearly insurmountable for the North Stars. Taboada located a ball just beyond the top of the penalty area and fired a menacing strike to that most difficult of spots for a goalkeeper to reach.
“That was a banger of a shot, knuckled to the upper corner. That was phenomenal,” Streamwood coach Matt Polovin said.
The 2-0 lead held up and Streamwood (2-0-0), ranked 26th in the Chicagoland Soccer First 50 state-wide preseason poll had its second shutout of the season. The Sabres opened the year with a 2-0 win over Waubonsie Valley.
Starting defenders Ibarra, Marcos Gutierrez, E.J. Satsatin, and Ethan Satsatin have played lights-out soccer in front of keeper Harvey Partida. Freshman Bryan Huerta also shined defensively off the bench on Saturday.
As always, a Streamwood attack annually built on quick touches and technical savvy was on full display, arguably even more so than in recent seasons.
“It’s the way we’re touching the ball. I didn’t expect for us to pass the ball like this,” Ibarra said. “We’ve always touched the ball well but not like this.”
Neither Partida nor North keeper Vince Miteff were forced to make many difficult saves through 40 minutes. North’s Samuel Strader fired a shot at the near post from 14 yards that Partida saved at 16 minutes, and Streamwood’s Hugo Marquez hammered a good look just wide at 35 minutes.
Beyond that, both teams had to settle largely for free kicks, a few corner kicks, and a handful of shots from distance in the first half. The Sabres’ technical skill was on display for much of the first 40, before no. 35 St. Charles North (2-1-0) flipped the script during the first 15 or 20 minutes of the second half.
The North Stars slowed the Sabres and nearly netted the game’s first goal at 46 minutes. That’s when North forward Liam Kelly got behind the Sabres’ defense and ran down a ball sent over the top and got off a clean, head shot with Partida charging out.
Partida made the stop at point-blank range to keep his shutout intact and earn his second clean-sheet of the young season.
“They obviously have a real technical strength, so we came out flying in the second half and had a different approach,” St. Charles North senior Jared Sinnaeve said. “We wanted them to come to us instead of constantly pressing.”
Willson was pleased with his side's second half response.
“I thought in the first half there was a little bit left to be desired,” Willson said. “At the start of the second half we were much better. We had some modifications made, and some guys were doing some different things. It almost felt like we were knocking on the door for a while there.”
Polovin knew that Willson likely had something up his sleeve after intermission.
“I said at halftime that we had a good, strong first half but we had to keep it going,” Polovin said, “because (North) was going to come out different. We knew they were going to be physical and fast in the second half. We had to play our game but step it up to another level. After a while we were able to do that, and we played well from there.
“Aldo has played well, Jose Banuelos has played well, and our whole backline, whoever we put out there, has gotten the job done,” Polovin said.
Asked if he’s been surprised by any of his teammates through two games, Ibarra applauded the work being done by a large group of underclassmen playing for this year’s Sabres -- particularly a pair of freshman.
“The young guys have handled things well,” Ibarra said. “Marcos (Gutierrez) has been great. He’s young, but he’s playing like he’s been playing for us for years. And Bryan Huerta — it’s the way the game comes to him. He’s calm, he knows how to play, and he knows how to move.”
Jimenez was fouled in the box to earn his penalty kick, Taboada’s strike came next, and Streamwood boarded the bus home with its second win in two tries.
“It’s only two games in, but we’ll take it,” Polovin said. “Whenever we play St. Charles North we have to be ready for a very well-coached game from a team with great speed, great skill and a physical style of play. We just have to play faster, keep the ball moving, and keep them chasing.”
St. Charles North opened the season with a 5-2 win over Wheaton Warrenville South and a 2-0 win over Wheaton North.
“Our middles have played well,” Willson said. “In terms of today specifically, a guy like Jimmy Kucaba came in off the bench and helped us where we really needed it. Liam Kelly came off the bench up-front and gave us a real spark and high energy, and he almost scored a header in that second half. That’s what you need from your bench, is for them to give you a lift, and those two guys were awesome today.”
St. Charles North will need every available body to chip in with an 18-game schedule that features three games per week until the season’s end.
“We’ve got a 24-man roster, and I think we’ll use 24 to take on the task of our schedule, for sure,” Willson said. “We’ve used everybody so far, and everybody has been really good for us so far.”
Streamwood takes on defending 3A state champion West Chicago in a key Upstate Eight Conference match Wednesday, while St. Charles North plays league foes Geneva and Lake Park, and then West Chicago in the coming week.
“This is a season we didn’t know we weren’t going to have, so we just want to make it worthwhile, come out with a lot of energy, and get going and show what we’ve got,” Sinnaeve said. “I’m just happy to be out here, every single day.
“I like seeing that our chemistry is improving, and we’re getting more comfortable on the pitch. Technically, we’re keeping the ball more, every single game, and that’s just going to come with comfortability and getting settled in.”
Starting lineups
Streamwood
GK: Harvey Partida
D: Marcos Gutierrez
D: Jose Ibarra
D: Ethan Satsatin
D: E.J. Satsatin
M: Fernando Mancera
M: Joel Sandoval
M: Michael Garcia
M: Jose Banuelos
F: Aldo Jimenez
F: Gonzalo Taboada
St. Charles North
GK: Vincent Miteff
D: Drew Balster
D: Michael DePasquale
D: Zach Curtis
D: Nathan Hanselman
M: Branden Collins
M: Jared Sinnaeve
M: John Kirby
M: Walter Delapaz
F: Samuel Strader
F: Jack Brucato
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Aldo Jimenez, so., F, Streamwood
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Streamwood — Jimenez (PK) 62 minutes
Streamwood — Taboada (UA) 66 minutes
Jimenez, Taboada strikes send Sabres past North Stars
By Gary Larsen
ST. CHARLES — After Streamwood took a 1-0 lead on St. Charles North at 62 minutes on Saturday, that still left the North Stars 18 minutes to find an equalizing goal.
But in a game of very few truly dangerous scoring chances, getting a goal against a Streamwood backline led by four-year varsity defender Jose Ibarra was a tall order.
“It feels like (Ibarra) has been playing for Streamwood for about 15 years,” North coach Eric Willson said. “He’s just fantastic. He keeps that backline so well-organized. Getting behind on them is always a tough, uphill battle, especially with the backline they have.”
Just four minutes after the Sabres’ Aldo Jimenez buried a penalty kick, teammate Gonzalo Taboada made the hill nearly insurmountable for the North Stars. Taboada located a ball just beyond the top of the penalty area and fired a menacing strike to that most difficult of spots for a goalkeeper to reach.
“That was a banger of a shot, knuckled to the upper corner. That was phenomenal,” Streamwood coach Matt Polovin said.
The 2-0 lead held up and Streamwood (2-0-0), ranked 26th in the Chicagoland Soccer First 50 state-wide preseason poll had its second shutout of the season. The Sabres opened the year with a 2-0 win over Waubonsie Valley.
Starting defenders Ibarra, Marcos Gutierrez, E.J. Satsatin, and Ethan Satsatin have played lights-out soccer in front of keeper Harvey Partida. Freshman Bryan Huerta also shined defensively off the bench on Saturday.
As always, a Streamwood attack annually built on quick touches and technical savvy was on full display, arguably even more so than in recent seasons.
“It’s the way we’re touching the ball. I didn’t expect for us to pass the ball like this,” Ibarra said. “We’ve always touched the ball well but not like this.”
Neither Partida nor North keeper Vince Miteff were forced to make many difficult saves through 40 minutes. North’s Samuel Strader fired a shot at the near post from 14 yards that Partida saved at 16 minutes, and Streamwood’s Hugo Marquez hammered a good look just wide at 35 minutes.
Beyond that, both teams had to settle largely for free kicks, a few corner kicks, and a handful of shots from distance in the first half. The Sabres’ technical skill was on display for much of the first 40, before no. 35 St. Charles North (2-1-0) flipped the script during the first 15 or 20 minutes of the second half.
The North Stars slowed the Sabres and nearly netted the game’s first goal at 46 minutes. That’s when North forward Liam Kelly got behind the Sabres’ defense and ran down a ball sent over the top and got off a clean, head shot with Partida charging out.
Partida made the stop at point-blank range to keep his shutout intact and earn his second clean-sheet of the young season.
“They obviously have a real technical strength, so we came out flying in the second half and had a different approach,” St. Charles North senior Jared Sinnaeve said. “We wanted them to come to us instead of constantly pressing.”
Willson was pleased with his side's second half response.
“I thought in the first half there was a little bit left to be desired,” Willson said. “At the start of the second half we were much better. We had some modifications made, and some guys were doing some different things. It almost felt like we were knocking on the door for a while there.”
Polovin knew that Willson likely had something up his sleeve after intermission.
“I said at halftime that we had a good, strong first half but we had to keep it going,” Polovin said, “because (North) was going to come out different. We knew they were going to be physical and fast in the second half. We had to play our game but step it up to another level. After a while we were able to do that, and we played well from there.
“Aldo has played well, Jose Banuelos has played well, and our whole backline, whoever we put out there, has gotten the job done,” Polovin said.
Asked if he’s been surprised by any of his teammates through two games, Ibarra applauded the work being done by a large group of underclassmen playing for this year’s Sabres -- particularly a pair of freshman.
“The young guys have handled things well,” Ibarra said. “Marcos (Gutierrez) has been great. He’s young, but he’s playing like he’s been playing for us for years. And Bryan Huerta — it’s the way the game comes to him. He’s calm, he knows how to play, and he knows how to move.”
Jimenez was fouled in the box to earn his penalty kick, Taboada’s strike came next, and Streamwood boarded the bus home with its second win in two tries.
“It’s only two games in, but we’ll take it,” Polovin said. “Whenever we play St. Charles North we have to be ready for a very well-coached game from a team with great speed, great skill and a physical style of play. We just have to play faster, keep the ball moving, and keep them chasing.”
St. Charles North opened the season with a 5-2 win over Wheaton Warrenville South and a 2-0 win over Wheaton North.
“Our middles have played well,” Willson said. “In terms of today specifically, a guy like Jimmy Kucaba came in off the bench and helped us where we really needed it. Liam Kelly came off the bench up-front and gave us a real spark and high energy, and he almost scored a header in that second half. That’s what you need from your bench, is for them to give you a lift, and those two guys were awesome today.”
St. Charles North will need every available body to chip in with an 18-game schedule that features three games per week until the season’s end.
“We’ve got a 24-man roster, and I think we’ll use 24 to take on the task of our schedule, for sure,” Willson said. “We’ve used everybody so far, and everybody has been really good for us so far.”
Streamwood takes on defending 3A state champion West Chicago in a key Upstate Eight Conference match Wednesday, while St. Charles North plays league foes Geneva and Lake Park, and then West Chicago in the coming week.
“This is a season we didn’t know we weren’t going to have, so we just want to make it worthwhile, come out with a lot of energy, and get going and show what we’ve got,” Sinnaeve said. “I’m just happy to be out here, every single day.
“I like seeing that our chemistry is improving, and we’re getting more comfortable on the pitch. Technically, we’re keeping the ball more, every single game, and that’s just going to come with comfortability and getting settled in.”
Starting lineups
Streamwood
GK: Harvey Partida
D: Marcos Gutierrez
D: Jose Ibarra
D: Ethan Satsatin
D: E.J. Satsatin
M: Fernando Mancera
M: Joel Sandoval
M: Michael Garcia
M: Jose Banuelos
F: Aldo Jimenez
F: Gonzalo Taboada
St. Charles North
GK: Vincent Miteff
D: Drew Balster
D: Michael DePasquale
D: Zach Curtis
D: Nathan Hanselman
M: Branden Collins
M: Jared Sinnaeve
M: John Kirby
M: Walter Delapaz
F: Samuel Strader
F: Jack Brucato
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Aldo Jimenez, so., F, Streamwood
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Streamwood — Jimenez (PK) 62 minutes
Streamwood — Taboada (UA) 66 minutes