Taft makes history with shutout of Jones
Eagles earn 2-0 win, takes share of Premier Division North crown
By Dave Owen
CHICAGO – Taft graduates have written hit musicals (Grease co-creator Jim Jacobs), sang million-selling songs (Terry Kath of the rock group Chicago) and built NBA championship teams (ex-Bulls general manager Jerry Krause).
Now the Taft boys soccer team can add their own major accomplishment to the school history books.
Monday night, a great defensive effort and goals by Denis Cehaic and Jairo Duarte powered the visiting Eagles (6-6-1, 5-1-0 in the CPL Premier Division) to a 2-0 win over Jones (6-5-2, 3-2-1).
Taft’s fifth win in its last six games also produced a bigger feat – the first Premier League title in program history.
“Everyone played smart, picked up their levels of intensity, and now we’re conference champions,” Cehaic said. “In Taft history this never happened before. It’s amazing.
“We beat Lane (2-1 on Sept. 11), and everything is positive. In four years nothing ever happened like this.
“We worked hard from our summer league and did amazing. When we went down a little bit, we picked ourselves up.
“And Coach (Jeff) Lucco talked to us and was an inspiration,” Cehaic added. “All of our coaches inspired us. We wanted to give them something back for what they did for us. I’m so happy I got to play for this team.”
After Taft had a 6-14-2 record last fall, Cehaic offered a quick and blunt response to how the turnaround happened.
“We woke up,” he said. “Last year we were one of the worst teams in the state. And now we’re winning conference championships. We never beat Lane in four years – or actually more like 20 years.”
Beating Jones was the task at hand Monday, and Cehaic played a big part in that in the 37th minute of play.
Off a pass from Motea Nasser, Cehaic scored his first goal of 2019 to put Taft up 1-0.
Then in the second half, one of the Eagles’ best defensive efforts of 2019 combined with a perfectly placed shot by forward Jairo Duarte sealed the win.
“They’re learning how to get grind out wins,” Lucco said. “This is only our second clean-sheet of the year, so we have not been good defensively. But we can score.”
When it mattered Monday, the Eagles defended very well.
Goalkeeper Pablo Rueda was one of the stalwarts, coming off his line with regularity to handle Jones' threats.
“Pablo has been awesome the whole year,” Lucco said. “I’ve been asking him to play off his line a little more, which he was really uncomfortable with earlier in the year.
“But you could see today he plays like a sweeper keeper almost. That really allows us more freedom to throw numbers up. There are scary moments, but he’s taken on the role. He’s embraced it. And I think it makes us a better team.
“It’s good to see him thrive,” Lucco added. “It’s his third year on varsity, and he really wanted to play better. He’s taken the jump.”
Two other longtime Taft defenders were also solid in the milestone win.
“Byron Abayay and Jakub Lapinski have both been four-year varsity players,” Lucco said. “Every game I expect a little more from them. If we don’t have to, we won’t take them off (the field). Byron’s been here starting since he was a freshman, and they’re tough. They win 50-50 balls.”
Having seen the team’s ups and downs the last few years, Abayay was savoring the rise to the top of the Premier Division.
“Overall it’s a great feeling,” he said, “knowing we’ve been trying to do this for four years. Finally seeing that we’re able to succeed, especially it being my last year here.
“Just natural team chemistry (has been the key). We’ve worked harder as a team on and off the field. We’ve become more responsible with everything, working hard.”
Defense-wise that work paid off with a shutout Monday.
“I feel like what Lucco has been telling us throughout the season – holding back, keeping tight as a defense, compact,” Abayay said. “And once we attack, to spread out and also maintain our mental awareness.”
Jones nearly tied the game eight minutes into the second half. With Rueda off his line to pursue a send to the box, a Jones 20-yard shot towards the vacant net rattled off the crossbar and over the net.
Then 17 minutes into the half, a combined effort by Abayay, Tomasz Mieczkowski and Sergio Diaz deflected a David Opoku-Ware chance in the box over the net. On the ensuing corner kick, Rueda made the catch of Jonathan Lang’s send.
Rueda’s save on Antonio Aguilera’s 36-yard free kick six minutes later would be followed by an impressive Taft finish for a 2-0 lead.
With 15 minutes left, Chris Reynoso won a 50-50 ball in the offensive end and angled a pass to Duarte racing in on left wing. Duarte did the rest, lasering a low shot just inside the right post for a 2-0 lead.
“My coach tells me always use your toe, and that’s what I did,” Duarte said. “I thought about it (the location of the shot), and it went in.
“We practiced hard during the summer, and we worked as a team. That’s how we did this (won the Premier Division). We played hard, we did our best and we won.”
Said Lucco: “Jairo has six goals and six assists. He’s lightning quick, and he can finish.”
Playing without injured standouts Will Conely and Charlie Tepper, Jones could not find the back of the net.
“We just can’t finish chances,” Jones coach Paul Zubb said. “That’s been our problem. Our guy who was hurt Will Conely has six goals as a center back (tying him with Opoku-Ware for the team lead).
“I would love to play them again with a healthy team. But no excuses – we have to finish.”
Taft’s defense continued to stand tall until the end.
Cehaic blocked a shot from 35 yards with nine minutes left, then Nasser followed with a block and clear to midfield two minutes later.
“The defense did amazing,” Cehaic said. “Even though we made some sloppy mistakes, it doesn’t matter. We picked it up and worked harder.”
In the last three minutes of play, long clears by Lapinski, Abayay and Matt Davila (off a Jones free kick from midfield) diffused offensive end chances for the hosts.
Then in the final seconds, Abayay launched a two-hop send on goal from midfield to set off a conference title postgame celebration.
“It’s our number one goal every year,” Lucco said, “but we’ve never won Premier (Division) in school soccer history. It is diluted now with two conferences so it’s not the top eight (in the Public League), but the conference is still super competitive.
“We talked about it in the summer. We wanted to win conference, the city (championship tournament) and then a regional. So we’ve got one of three, and on Friday we can start towards winning city.”
Lucco has seen a difference in the 2019 Eagles. They set higher standards early.
“They’re really confident in each other and themselves,” Lucco said. “They take what we have to say. They want us to be hard on them, which is different.
“I tried this year to be super positive, and they liked that. But they also really want to be challenged. They took the challenge – and the Lane game was huge. Because we hold Lane in such high regard, beating them meant we could beat anybody.”
With wins continuing to come in bunches and hardware won on Monday, the Eagles are trying to stay grounded.
“This is just pushing us up,” Abayay said. “But as a team we have to stay humble and not get too cocky. There are things we have to keep in mind, because this is just the first part of the season.”
Starting lineups
Taft
GK Pablo Rueda
D Byron Abayay
D Tomasz Mieczkowski
D Jakub Lapinski
D Edwin Alanis
M Motea Nasser
M Jonathan Salgado
M Brandon Tovar
F Dominick Burda
F Jairo Duarte
F Chris Reynoso
Jones
GK Daniel Castro
D Antonio Aguilera
D Jake Underwood
D Jonathan Lang
M Max Weldon
M Ben Cole
M Calvin Dons
M Sebastian Stark
M Stephen Pavkovic
F David Opoku-Ware
F Eric Jaimes
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Jairo Duarte, jr. F, Taft
Scoring summary
First half
Taft- Dennis Cehaic (Motea Nasser assist), 35’
Second half
Taft- Jairo Duarte (Chris Reynoso assist), 65’
Eagles earn 2-0 win, takes share of Premier Division North crown
By Dave Owen
CHICAGO – Taft graduates have written hit musicals (Grease co-creator Jim Jacobs), sang million-selling songs (Terry Kath of the rock group Chicago) and built NBA championship teams (ex-Bulls general manager Jerry Krause).
Now the Taft boys soccer team can add their own major accomplishment to the school history books.
Monday night, a great defensive effort and goals by Denis Cehaic and Jairo Duarte powered the visiting Eagles (6-6-1, 5-1-0 in the CPL Premier Division) to a 2-0 win over Jones (6-5-2, 3-2-1).
Taft’s fifth win in its last six games also produced a bigger feat – the first Premier League title in program history.
“Everyone played smart, picked up their levels of intensity, and now we’re conference champions,” Cehaic said. “In Taft history this never happened before. It’s amazing.
“We beat Lane (2-1 on Sept. 11), and everything is positive. In four years nothing ever happened like this.
“We worked hard from our summer league and did amazing. When we went down a little bit, we picked ourselves up.
“And Coach (Jeff) Lucco talked to us and was an inspiration,” Cehaic added. “All of our coaches inspired us. We wanted to give them something back for what they did for us. I’m so happy I got to play for this team.”
After Taft had a 6-14-2 record last fall, Cehaic offered a quick and blunt response to how the turnaround happened.
“We woke up,” he said. “Last year we were one of the worst teams in the state. And now we’re winning conference championships. We never beat Lane in four years – or actually more like 20 years.”
Beating Jones was the task at hand Monday, and Cehaic played a big part in that in the 37th minute of play.
Off a pass from Motea Nasser, Cehaic scored his first goal of 2019 to put Taft up 1-0.
Then in the second half, one of the Eagles’ best defensive efforts of 2019 combined with a perfectly placed shot by forward Jairo Duarte sealed the win.
“They’re learning how to get grind out wins,” Lucco said. “This is only our second clean-sheet of the year, so we have not been good defensively. But we can score.”
When it mattered Monday, the Eagles defended very well.
Goalkeeper Pablo Rueda was one of the stalwarts, coming off his line with regularity to handle Jones' threats.
“Pablo has been awesome the whole year,” Lucco said. “I’ve been asking him to play off his line a little more, which he was really uncomfortable with earlier in the year.
“But you could see today he plays like a sweeper keeper almost. That really allows us more freedom to throw numbers up. There are scary moments, but he’s taken on the role. He’s embraced it. And I think it makes us a better team.
“It’s good to see him thrive,” Lucco added. “It’s his third year on varsity, and he really wanted to play better. He’s taken the jump.”
Two other longtime Taft defenders were also solid in the milestone win.
“Byron Abayay and Jakub Lapinski have both been four-year varsity players,” Lucco said. “Every game I expect a little more from them. If we don’t have to, we won’t take them off (the field). Byron’s been here starting since he was a freshman, and they’re tough. They win 50-50 balls.”
Having seen the team’s ups and downs the last few years, Abayay was savoring the rise to the top of the Premier Division.
“Overall it’s a great feeling,” he said, “knowing we’ve been trying to do this for four years. Finally seeing that we’re able to succeed, especially it being my last year here.
“Just natural team chemistry (has been the key). We’ve worked harder as a team on and off the field. We’ve become more responsible with everything, working hard.”
Defense-wise that work paid off with a shutout Monday.
“I feel like what Lucco has been telling us throughout the season – holding back, keeping tight as a defense, compact,” Abayay said. “And once we attack, to spread out and also maintain our mental awareness.”
Jones nearly tied the game eight minutes into the second half. With Rueda off his line to pursue a send to the box, a Jones 20-yard shot towards the vacant net rattled off the crossbar and over the net.
Then 17 minutes into the half, a combined effort by Abayay, Tomasz Mieczkowski and Sergio Diaz deflected a David Opoku-Ware chance in the box over the net. On the ensuing corner kick, Rueda made the catch of Jonathan Lang’s send.
Rueda’s save on Antonio Aguilera’s 36-yard free kick six minutes later would be followed by an impressive Taft finish for a 2-0 lead.
With 15 minutes left, Chris Reynoso won a 50-50 ball in the offensive end and angled a pass to Duarte racing in on left wing. Duarte did the rest, lasering a low shot just inside the right post for a 2-0 lead.
“My coach tells me always use your toe, and that’s what I did,” Duarte said. “I thought about it (the location of the shot), and it went in.
“We practiced hard during the summer, and we worked as a team. That’s how we did this (won the Premier Division). We played hard, we did our best and we won.”
Said Lucco: “Jairo has six goals and six assists. He’s lightning quick, and he can finish.”
Playing without injured standouts Will Conely and Charlie Tepper, Jones could not find the back of the net.
“We just can’t finish chances,” Jones coach Paul Zubb said. “That’s been our problem. Our guy who was hurt Will Conely has six goals as a center back (tying him with Opoku-Ware for the team lead).
“I would love to play them again with a healthy team. But no excuses – we have to finish.”
Taft’s defense continued to stand tall until the end.
Cehaic blocked a shot from 35 yards with nine minutes left, then Nasser followed with a block and clear to midfield two minutes later.
“The defense did amazing,” Cehaic said. “Even though we made some sloppy mistakes, it doesn’t matter. We picked it up and worked harder.”
In the last three minutes of play, long clears by Lapinski, Abayay and Matt Davila (off a Jones free kick from midfield) diffused offensive end chances for the hosts.
Then in the final seconds, Abayay launched a two-hop send on goal from midfield to set off a conference title postgame celebration.
“It’s our number one goal every year,” Lucco said, “but we’ve never won Premier (Division) in school soccer history. It is diluted now with two conferences so it’s not the top eight (in the Public League), but the conference is still super competitive.
“We talked about it in the summer. We wanted to win conference, the city (championship tournament) and then a regional. So we’ve got one of three, and on Friday we can start towards winning city.”
Lucco has seen a difference in the 2019 Eagles. They set higher standards early.
“They’re really confident in each other and themselves,” Lucco said. “They take what we have to say. They want us to be hard on them, which is different.
“I tried this year to be super positive, and they liked that. But they also really want to be challenged. They took the challenge – and the Lane game was huge. Because we hold Lane in such high regard, beating them meant we could beat anybody.”
With wins continuing to come in bunches and hardware won on Monday, the Eagles are trying to stay grounded.
“This is just pushing us up,” Abayay said. “But as a team we have to stay humble and not get too cocky. There are things we have to keep in mind, because this is just the first part of the season.”
Starting lineups
Taft
GK Pablo Rueda
D Byron Abayay
D Tomasz Mieczkowski
D Jakub Lapinski
D Edwin Alanis
M Motea Nasser
M Jonathan Salgado
M Brandon Tovar
F Dominick Burda
F Jairo Duarte
F Chris Reynoso
Jones
GK Daniel Castro
D Antonio Aguilera
D Jake Underwood
D Jonathan Lang
M Max Weldon
M Ben Cole
M Calvin Dons
M Sebastian Stark
M Stephen Pavkovic
F David Opoku-Ware
F Eric Jaimes
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Jairo Duarte, jr. F, Taft
Scoring summary
First half
Taft- Dennis Cehaic (Motea Nasser assist), 35’
Second half
Taft- Jairo Duarte (Chris Reynoso assist), 65’