Garcia hat-trick leads Warren past LFA
Blue Devils D continues shutout streak in 3-0 win
By A.J. Schmitz
LAKE FOREST - Miguel Garcia’s hat-trick Wednesday afternoon was accomplished with cold-blooded efficiency.
Warren’s sophomore took care of Warren’s offense all by himself, scoring on each of his shots, in a 3-0 road victory over Lake Forest Academy (2-1-1).
He started things with a perfectly placed header off a textbook cross from senior defender Alex Senko in only the 2nd minute,
It would not be until the 73rd minute when Garcia would get his next shot on goal.
An uncontested run through the midfield by senior midfielder Ishaan Shah ended when he found his target Garcia by splitting the defense with a brilliant pass that landed directly at the goal-scorer’s feet. All Garcia had to do was slot it far-post, which he promptly did, earning the second goal for himself and his team.
Garcia’s last attempt came in the 76th minute off a strikingly similar play. The forward found himself with only the keeper to beat, once again fed off a through-ball from Shah. Needless to say, he converted.
Three chances, three goals over a span of 74 minutes. Garcia, the only sophomore on the Blue Devils’ roster, demonstrated his quality.
“I usually do it in club more,” he said of his hat-trick. “It feels good to do it in high school too."
Warren (7-0-0), ranked third in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, maintained its impressive momentum this season.
“Overall, I’m pleased with what I saw. We’ve been doing a good job of keeping clean-sheets this year, and it continues today,” said Warren head coach Jason Ahonen.
This is despite Warren having lost two goalkeepers to injuries, including senior Alexis Diaz who ruptured his achilles in practice and will begin his career at Concordia University Chicago on the sidelines.
“Yeah, it sucks,” Diaz said, though in good spirits while manning the camera for his team. “I’m out until February.”
The game was marked by an impressive performance from Warren’s current man in the net, senior Nicholas Diana, who was forced to make a number of saves against Caxys midfielder Stefan Momcilovic, particularly in the second half.
Momcilovic fought desperately to give his team the equalizer through the first 32 minutes of the more competitive second half, but he was unable to find his way around Diana.
“First half we started off slow, but I don’t really feel like the score represents how we played throughout the game,” Momcilovic stated. “We kind of fell apart in the last 15 minutes. We came out strong in the second half, but we just didn’t finish our chances. It’s how it goes sometimes.”
Lake Forest Academy head coach Paul Makovec agreed.
“Warren is a good team. They’re well-coached; they’ve always been well-coached under Jason. We knew they were going to come and play soccer the right way, and that’s good for us,” he said.
“I was proud of the way our boys played. It was new to them to defend the way we had to defend. They were a little scared in the first 20 minutes, but once we shook those nerves out, I think we played a pretty good brand of soccer, especially for the pretty young guys we got on this squad.”
The game was hardly a walk in the park for the still undefeated Blue Devils, admitted Ahonen.
“This is the best team we’ve seen all year. They really moved the ball well, especially early in the second half. They were very dangerous with the wind; we were fortunate they hit the crossbar on that one,” said Ahonen, who referenced a hard-line drive taken in the 46th minute by Caxys defender Lazar Matic, who proved dangerous on the attack.
The Blue Devils coach expressed anxiety about his team’s performance at the start of the second half.
“It was like the longest 20 minutes. It felt like the whole half had gone by because we just couldn’t get in a rhythm,” he said. “They put it to us. That’s the first time this year that a team put it to us for a spell that long.
“It just seemed like all of a sudden something switched; and then we got possession back, and we got two late goals to make the score look a little different than what the score actually was. I mean, it was 1-0 until the 73rd minute.”
“I think Warren probably took us for granted a little bit at that point, since we didn’t show much in the first half,” Makovec said. “We had a couple opportunities there. It would’ve been a different ball game if we put some of those away.”
Though Warren’s defensive integrity was tested, it was never shaken. Senko and Bradley Strauss looked just as comfortable making a tackle as they were bringing the ball up field to open up a scoring opportunity. Junior Cael Harris acted as a brick wall throughout the night, commanding the backfield by reading passes and stepping on every bad touch.
“We’ve been four games now without conceding a goal. [We have] one goal conceded in seven games,” Harris noted of his team’s stellar defensive performance. “[We can] keep the ball, get it out, whatever gets the job done. We did it today.”
After a 7-0 victory at Waukegan on Tuesday afternoon, Warren is 4-0-0 in the North Suburban conference. Ahonen credited the sizable margin of that victory to the fact that many players on Waukegan’s roster were absent.
“We have four games, and we have four wins, That’s all I can speak on,” Ahonen said. “We are doing what we need to do.”
“At 4-0-0, we just look to do well in the next three games coming up,” Harris said, focusing on one game at a time.
Garcia expressed optimism.
“I think we are going to be on top,” he said. “We have a solid team. Everyone on this team has a lot of talent.”
Warren will take on nonconference opponents Carmel on Saturday and top-ranked New Trier on Monday (April 5). Their conference run continues the next day when they host host Mundelein.
Lake Forest Academy hosts Waukegan at 4:30 Thursday (April 1).
Starting lineups
Warren
GK: Nicholas Diana
D: Bradley Strauss
D: Alex Senko
D: Cael Harris
D: Edward Luna
M: Max Floriani
M: Sebastian Rodriguez
M: Ishaan Shah
M: Noe Martinez
M: Chris Aldazaba
F: Miguel Garcia
Lake Forest Academy
GK: Matthew Kupczyk
D: Stefano Maida
D: Jose Onofre
D: Pierce Chasely
D: Lazar Matic
D: Brooks Osborne
M: Nicholas Lubaev
M: Ryoto Nambara
M: Stefan Momcilovic
M: Antonio Ferraiolo Galvao Costa
F: Enrique Rocha
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Miguel Garcia, so., F, Warren
Scoring Summary
First half
Garcia (Senko) 2nd minute
Second half
Garcia (Shah) 73rd minute
Garcia (Shah) 76th minute
Blue Devils D continues shutout streak in 3-0 win
By A.J. Schmitz
LAKE FOREST - Miguel Garcia’s hat-trick Wednesday afternoon was accomplished with cold-blooded efficiency.
Warren’s sophomore took care of Warren’s offense all by himself, scoring on each of his shots, in a 3-0 road victory over Lake Forest Academy (2-1-1).
He started things with a perfectly placed header off a textbook cross from senior defender Alex Senko in only the 2nd minute,
It would not be until the 73rd minute when Garcia would get his next shot on goal.
An uncontested run through the midfield by senior midfielder Ishaan Shah ended when he found his target Garcia by splitting the defense with a brilliant pass that landed directly at the goal-scorer’s feet. All Garcia had to do was slot it far-post, which he promptly did, earning the second goal for himself and his team.
Garcia’s last attempt came in the 76th minute off a strikingly similar play. The forward found himself with only the keeper to beat, once again fed off a through-ball from Shah. Needless to say, he converted.
Three chances, three goals over a span of 74 minutes. Garcia, the only sophomore on the Blue Devils’ roster, demonstrated his quality.
“I usually do it in club more,” he said of his hat-trick. “It feels good to do it in high school too."
Warren (7-0-0), ranked third in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, maintained its impressive momentum this season.
“Overall, I’m pleased with what I saw. We’ve been doing a good job of keeping clean-sheets this year, and it continues today,” said Warren head coach Jason Ahonen.
This is despite Warren having lost two goalkeepers to injuries, including senior Alexis Diaz who ruptured his achilles in practice and will begin his career at Concordia University Chicago on the sidelines.
“Yeah, it sucks,” Diaz said, though in good spirits while manning the camera for his team. “I’m out until February.”
The game was marked by an impressive performance from Warren’s current man in the net, senior Nicholas Diana, who was forced to make a number of saves against Caxys midfielder Stefan Momcilovic, particularly in the second half.
Momcilovic fought desperately to give his team the equalizer through the first 32 minutes of the more competitive second half, but he was unable to find his way around Diana.
“First half we started off slow, but I don’t really feel like the score represents how we played throughout the game,” Momcilovic stated. “We kind of fell apart in the last 15 minutes. We came out strong in the second half, but we just didn’t finish our chances. It’s how it goes sometimes.”
Lake Forest Academy head coach Paul Makovec agreed.
“Warren is a good team. They’re well-coached; they’ve always been well-coached under Jason. We knew they were going to come and play soccer the right way, and that’s good for us,” he said.
“I was proud of the way our boys played. It was new to them to defend the way we had to defend. They were a little scared in the first 20 minutes, but once we shook those nerves out, I think we played a pretty good brand of soccer, especially for the pretty young guys we got on this squad.”
The game was hardly a walk in the park for the still undefeated Blue Devils, admitted Ahonen.
“This is the best team we’ve seen all year. They really moved the ball well, especially early in the second half. They were very dangerous with the wind; we were fortunate they hit the crossbar on that one,” said Ahonen, who referenced a hard-line drive taken in the 46th minute by Caxys defender Lazar Matic, who proved dangerous on the attack.
The Blue Devils coach expressed anxiety about his team’s performance at the start of the second half.
“It was like the longest 20 minutes. It felt like the whole half had gone by because we just couldn’t get in a rhythm,” he said. “They put it to us. That’s the first time this year that a team put it to us for a spell that long.
“It just seemed like all of a sudden something switched; and then we got possession back, and we got two late goals to make the score look a little different than what the score actually was. I mean, it was 1-0 until the 73rd minute.”
“I think Warren probably took us for granted a little bit at that point, since we didn’t show much in the first half,” Makovec said. “We had a couple opportunities there. It would’ve been a different ball game if we put some of those away.”
Though Warren’s defensive integrity was tested, it was never shaken. Senko and Bradley Strauss looked just as comfortable making a tackle as they were bringing the ball up field to open up a scoring opportunity. Junior Cael Harris acted as a brick wall throughout the night, commanding the backfield by reading passes and stepping on every bad touch.
“We’ve been four games now without conceding a goal. [We have] one goal conceded in seven games,” Harris noted of his team’s stellar defensive performance. “[We can] keep the ball, get it out, whatever gets the job done. We did it today.”
After a 7-0 victory at Waukegan on Tuesday afternoon, Warren is 4-0-0 in the North Suburban conference. Ahonen credited the sizable margin of that victory to the fact that many players on Waukegan’s roster were absent.
“We have four games, and we have four wins, That’s all I can speak on,” Ahonen said. “We are doing what we need to do.”
“At 4-0-0, we just look to do well in the next three games coming up,” Harris said, focusing on one game at a time.
Garcia expressed optimism.
“I think we are going to be on top,” he said. “We have a solid team. Everyone on this team has a lot of talent.”
Warren will take on nonconference opponents Carmel on Saturday and top-ranked New Trier on Monday (April 5). Their conference run continues the next day when they host host Mundelein.
Lake Forest Academy hosts Waukegan at 4:30 Thursday (April 1).
Starting lineups
Warren
GK: Nicholas Diana
D: Bradley Strauss
D: Alex Senko
D: Cael Harris
D: Edward Luna
M: Max Floriani
M: Sebastian Rodriguez
M: Ishaan Shah
M: Noe Martinez
M: Chris Aldazaba
F: Miguel Garcia
Lake Forest Academy
GK: Matthew Kupczyk
D: Stefano Maida
D: Jose Onofre
D: Pierce Chasely
D: Lazar Matic
D: Brooks Osborne
M: Nicholas Lubaev
M: Ryoto Nambara
M: Stefan Momcilovic
M: Antonio Ferraiolo Galvao Costa
F: Enrique Rocha
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Miguel Garcia, so., F, Warren
Scoring Summary
First half
Garcia (Senko) 2nd minute
Second half
Garcia (Shah) 73rd minute
Garcia (Shah) 76th minute