Prairie Ridge, tired legs,
heat hand Warren first loss
Blue Devils fall, lose chance for Knight Invite title
By Tom Hamilton II
GRAYSLAKE -- Playing back-to-back matches can be a huge physical test for even the fittest of soccer players. But playing back-to-back-to-back matches in the midst of a brutal heatwave? That borders on the impossible.
Yet, after weather conditions forced some last-minute improvisation with the Grayslake North Knight Invite tournament schedule, Warren found itself playing Prairie Ridge on Saturday morning in their third match within the span of 38 hours.
The Blue Devils did well to earn victories in the first two matches of the tournament, but the physical demands proved too much in their tournament finale. Despite creating several chances and battling bravely in the humidity, the Blue Devils fell 1-0 to a second half strike on the counter from Prairie Ridge striker Cade Collins.
Warren head coach Jason Ahonen noted that “obviously tired legs” made a big difference against well-rested Prairie Ridge. The Wolves were able to space their three tournament matches out over the course of six days, whereas Warren’s congested early schedule forced them to cram all three of their matches into three days.
“I applaud the boys for grinding it out, because the human body is not meant to play three games in three days in this weather,” said Ahonen in praise of his players.
Despite the sweltering heat and humidity, the Blue Devils produced a superhuman effort in the early stages of the match.
Just four minutes in, Warren’s junior forward Ryan Stanciak met a cross at the back post after quick build-up play, but his effort smacked off the upright. Five minutes later, Warren’s Miguel Rodriguez, a slick-passing senior midfielder, unleashed a powerful strike from 30 yards. With the ball sailing towards the bottom corner, Prairie Ridge’s senior goalkeeper Daniel Llanquiman (five saves) dove at full stretch to parry what would have been a spectacular opener.
The Blue Devils continued pinning the Wolves back with high pressure, and it nearly paid off in the 11th minute. The lively Stanciak stripped a Wolves defender of possession just outside the Prairie Ridge 18-yard box, cut inside, and rifled a shot on frame. Llanquiman parried the shot only as far as Warren senior forward Alexis Medina, but his follow-up effort was saved by Llanquiman.
“We didn’t finish early in the game,” reflected Ahonen. “We had some chances, hit the bar. Maybe we get the first one, we get a little boost and then kind of roll off of that.”
That moment of danger seemed to wake the Wolves out of their sluggish start. Prairie Riddge worked a quick counterattack in the 12th minute, and a ball over the top of Warren’s high backline found Collins in space. Collins spotted Warren’s senior goalkeeper George McAtee (10 saves) coming far off his line to snuff out the danger and attempted an audacious chip shot. With McAtee beat, Blue Devils senior center back Cael Harris -- who anchored the Warren backline with class and composure -- sprinted back to cover for his keeper. Luckily for the Blue Devils, Harris only had to watch as the ball drifted just past the back post for a goal kick.
After a water break midway through the first half, the Blue Devils redoubled their efforts and nearly produced a moment of magic. After the ball went out for a Warren throw-in just outside the Prairie Ridge 18-yard box in the 23rd minute, senior defender Ben Conley hurled a long throw into the box. The ball sailed just behind Warren’s junior forward Emilio Mancera, who adjusted on the fly with an acrobatic overhead kick. The effort nearly beat Llanquiman, but the keeper’s quick reflexes allowed him to parry the ball off the crossbar and out for a corner kick.
The ensuing cross found Warren’s towering junior center back Tyler Hughes at the back post, but his first-time effort sailed over the crossbar and out for a Prairie Ridge goal kick.
From there, play evened out between the two sides. Prairie Ridge’s energetic strike duo of Collins and freshman Henry Knoll worked tirelessly to challenge the Warren defenders and find space behind them.
Blue Devils Harris, Hughes, and senior center back Jaris Salinas continued to stifle the Wolves before their attacks could lead to chances, while the Prairie Ridge defense and Llanquiman made sure Warren couldn’t muster any further chances.
In the dying moments of the first half, Prairie Ridge came close. Collins managed to find space in the Warren 18-yard box and fired a shot from 15 yards, but McAtee produced brilliant saves on the first effort and subsequent rebound to keep the game scoreless entering halftime.
Warren still had enough energy to start the second half with some promising pushes. Stanciak, Rodriguez, and junior center midfielder Michael Galvan repeatedly switched the point of attack with quick, clever passing, but the Blue Devils couldn’t quite solve the organized Wolves backline.
Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, their legs clearly began to drag and their pace of play began to drop off after paying the toll for too many match minutes with too little recovery time.
The first clear sign came in the 49th minute, when Prairie Ridge’s freshman forward Gabriel Porter hustled to nip the ball off a Warren defender to launch a fastbreak. McAtee was able to parry Porter’s subsequent effort and junior Jake Pinkerton’s free kick shortly after that, but the Blue Devils were clearly running on fumes heading into the hydration break in the 60th minute.
Just seconds after the resumption of play, Prairie Ridge produced what proved to be the decisive moment of the match.
After collecting the ball in his box, Llanquiman sent a long punt upfield towards Collins, who had pestered the Warren backline with physical play and persistent pressure all game long.
This time, his pressure forced the Warren defender to mishit the attempted clearance, allowing Collins to burst through for a breakaway. McAtee, who had produced several fine saves earlier, sprawled out bravely to deny space, but Collins took a tight turn around the keeper and slotted in with cool composure to give the Wolves the lead.
“It was from our keeper, Daniel [Llanquiman],” explained Collins -- Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match -- when recalling the buildup to the goal. “He has a good leg, so I knew he’d get it to me. I just got lucky it hit off the [Warren defender’s] head, and I just dribbled around the keeper.”
The goal gave the Wolves a visible energy boost from there. Warren continued to place faith in their possession-based style, yet the Wolves closed down space in the middle to frustrate the Blue Devils.
Warren continued to pass the ball patiently within the Prairie Ridge half of the field for much of the last 11 minutes of play, and they came close to tying the match in the 69th minute.
Facing intense pressure from a Warren attacker, a Wolves defender passed the ball back to Llanquiman, who thought the Blue Devils attacker had deflected it.
Llanquiman picked up the ball, giving the Blue Devils an indirect kick just 17 yards from goal. However, the Wolves packed the box with defenders, blocking the ensuing shot for a corner kick. Warren’s Alexis Medina, a technically gifted and creative senior, whipped in the corner, but his teammate could only poke the ball wide of the back post, allowing the Wolves to see out the rest of the game with gritty defending.
“We had a good game plan, and they listened,” said Prairie Ridge head coach Justin Brown while explaining how his Wolves pulled off the upset. “They executed it, and we had enough goal-scoring opportunities that we finally got one in there. I thought we were organized at the back and in the midfield most of the time. They just executed what we laid out there for them.”
Despite ending the tournament on a sour note, Warren’s Coach Ahonen viewed it as a learning experience for his young squad.
“The one thing that these guys need to realize and learn, and what we’re trying to figure out after all the guys we lost from last year, is that everyone we play is going to give us their best game, because of who we are, what we’ve done, and what we’ve created here,” said Ahonen. “Hats off to Prairie Ridge. They found a way to win today, and they should be celebrating. They should be happy as can be.
“Yesterday we learned a little bit, and today we learned a little bit. We’ll move on, and the boys get another 50-plus hours to move on from soccer and rest and rehydrate and get some therapy, and then we’ll come back on Monday and try to get better.”
Warren seniors Harris and McAtee echoed their coach’s sentiments about the valuable lessons learned from the loss.
“We know that it’s up from here,” said McAtee. “We know that there’s lots of room to improve, and we knew that ever since Thursday. We knew it wouldn’t be a cakewalk. If we think that we’re going to be invincible and just walk through every team, we need a reality check. And this is one of them.”
“It’s good for us,” Harris concurred. “It’s really good for us. Obviously every team wants to go undefeated. It won’t happen this year, but like George [McAtee] said it can only go up from here. [We’re] looking forward to the future.”
Ahonen also saw positives in the play from his young backline and new role players.
“When you have a good keeper -- we have a few of them right now -- you give yourself a chance every game,” said Ahonen. “George kept us in the game today, obviously, by making some plays and holding onto some balls.
“For the backline, Cael comes back, Tyler [Hughes] provides good size, and starting-wise we’ve got two underclassmen on the outside, [who] are both growing into their roles,” Ahonen continued. “And they’ve done well, and so has our bench. Our bench came off and provided energy. I like our depth. We had some studs last year, and we’ve just got to be hard-working grinders this year and [play] team soccer and try to create chances. We created some, we just didn’t find the ball in the back of the net. And we’ll try to work on that.”
Prairie Ridge (3-0-0) now sits in pole position in the Knight Invite heading into their final match of the tourney against the host Knights on Tuesday. Warren (2-1-0) gets some much-needed rest before traveling to Highland Park on Tuesday.
Starting lineups
Warren (4-3-3)
G - George McAtee
D - Lucas Ahonen
D - Cael Harris
D - Tyler Hughes
D - Chris Crowson
M - Michael Galvan
M - Miguel Rodriguez
M - Matt Hegge
F - Ryan Stanciak
F - Alexis Medina
F - Tommy DeSanto
Prairie Ridge (5-3-2)
G - Daniel Llanquiman
D - Brogan Amherdt
D - Seth Matson
D - Zion Smeja
D - Chase Vrba
D - Brady Rogers
M - Jacob Pinkerton
M - Chase Santucci
M - Nathan O’Hanian
F - Henry Knoll
F - Cade Collins
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Cade Collins, jr., F, Prairie Ridge,
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Prairie Ridge -- Cade Collins (unassisted), 60th minute
heat hand Warren first loss
Blue Devils fall, lose chance for Knight Invite title
By Tom Hamilton II
GRAYSLAKE -- Playing back-to-back matches can be a huge physical test for even the fittest of soccer players. But playing back-to-back-to-back matches in the midst of a brutal heatwave? That borders on the impossible.
Yet, after weather conditions forced some last-minute improvisation with the Grayslake North Knight Invite tournament schedule, Warren found itself playing Prairie Ridge on Saturday morning in their third match within the span of 38 hours.
The Blue Devils did well to earn victories in the first two matches of the tournament, but the physical demands proved too much in their tournament finale. Despite creating several chances and battling bravely in the humidity, the Blue Devils fell 1-0 to a second half strike on the counter from Prairie Ridge striker Cade Collins.
Warren head coach Jason Ahonen noted that “obviously tired legs” made a big difference against well-rested Prairie Ridge. The Wolves were able to space their three tournament matches out over the course of six days, whereas Warren’s congested early schedule forced them to cram all three of their matches into three days.
“I applaud the boys for grinding it out, because the human body is not meant to play three games in three days in this weather,” said Ahonen in praise of his players.
Despite the sweltering heat and humidity, the Blue Devils produced a superhuman effort in the early stages of the match.
Just four minutes in, Warren’s junior forward Ryan Stanciak met a cross at the back post after quick build-up play, but his effort smacked off the upright. Five minutes later, Warren’s Miguel Rodriguez, a slick-passing senior midfielder, unleashed a powerful strike from 30 yards. With the ball sailing towards the bottom corner, Prairie Ridge’s senior goalkeeper Daniel Llanquiman (five saves) dove at full stretch to parry what would have been a spectacular opener.
The Blue Devils continued pinning the Wolves back with high pressure, and it nearly paid off in the 11th minute. The lively Stanciak stripped a Wolves defender of possession just outside the Prairie Ridge 18-yard box, cut inside, and rifled a shot on frame. Llanquiman parried the shot only as far as Warren senior forward Alexis Medina, but his follow-up effort was saved by Llanquiman.
“We didn’t finish early in the game,” reflected Ahonen. “We had some chances, hit the bar. Maybe we get the first one, we get a little boost and then kind of roll off of that.”
That moment of danger seemed to wake the Wolves out of their sluggish start. Prairie Riddge worked a quick counterattack in the 12th minute, and a ball over the top of Warren’s high backline found Collins in space. Collins spotted Warren’s senior goalkeeper George McAtee (10 saves) coming far off his line to snuff out the danger and attempted an audacious chip shot. With McAtee beat, Blue Devils senior center back Cael Harris -- who anchored the Warren backline with class and composure -- sprinted back to cover for his keeper. Luckily for the Blue Devils, Harris only had to watch as the ball drifted just past the back post for a goal kick.
After a water break midway through the first half, the Blue Devils redoubled their efforts and nearly produced a moment of magic. After the ball went out for a Warren throw-in just outside the Prairie Ridge 18-yard box in the 23rd minute, senior defender Ben Conley hurled a long throw into the box. The ball sailed just behind Warren’s junior forward Emilio Mancera, who adjusted on the fly with an acrobatic overhead kick. The effort nearly beat Llanquiman, but the keeper’s quick reflexes allowed him to parry the ball off the crossbar and out for a corner kick.
The ensuing cross found Warren’s towering junior center back Tyler Hughes at the back post, but his first-time effort sailed over the crossbar and out for a Prairie Ridge goal kick.
From there, play evened out between the two sides. Prairie Ridge’s energetic strike duo of Collins and freshman Henry Knoll worked tirelessly to challenge the Warren defenders and find space behind them.
Blue Devils Harris, Hughes, and senior center back Jaris Salinas continued to stifle the Wolves before their attacks could lead to chances, while the Prairie Ridge defense and Llanquiman made sure Warren couldn’t muster any further chances.
In the dying moments of the first half, Prairie Ridge came close. Collins managed to find space in the Warren 18-yard box and fired a shot from 15 yards, but McAtee produced brilliant saves on the first effort and subsequent rebound to keep the game scoreless entering halftime.
Warren still had enough energy to start the second half with some promising pushes. Stanciak, Rodriguez, and junior center midfielder Michael Galvan repeatedly switched the point of attack with quick, clever passing, but the Blue Devils couldn’t quite solve the organized Wolves backline.
Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, their legs clearly began to drag and their pace of play began to drop off after paying the toll for too many match minutes with too little recovery time.
The first clear sign came in the 49th minute, when Prairie Ridge’s freshman forward Gabriel Porter hustled to nip the ball off a Warren defender to launch a fastbreak. McAtee was able to parry Porter’s subsequent effort and junior Jake Pinkerton’s free kick shortly after that, but the Blue Devils were clearly running on fumes heading into the hydration break in the 60th minute.
Just seconds after the resumption of play, Prairie Ridge produced what proved to be the decisive moment of the match.
After collecting the ball in his box, Llanquiman sent a long punt upfield towards Collins, who had pestered the Warren backline with physical play and persistent pressure all game long.
This time, his pressure forced the Warren defender to mishit the attempted clearance, allowing Collins to burst through for a breakaway. McAtee, who had produced several fine saves earlier, sprawled out bravely to deny space, but Collins took a tight turn around the keeper and slotted in with cool composure to give the Wolves the lead.
“It was from our keeper, Daniel [Llanquiman],” explained Collins -- Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match -- when recalling the buildup to the goal. “He has a good leg, so I knew he’d get it to me. I just got lucky it hit off the [Warren defender’s] head, and I just dribbled around the keeper.”
The goal gave the Wolves a visible energy boost from there. Warren continued to place faith in their possession-based style, yet the Wolves closed down space in the middle to frustrate the Blue Devils.
Warren continued to pass the ball patiently within the Prairie Ridge half of the field for much of the last 11 minutes of play, and they came close to tying the match in the 69th minute.
Facing intense pressure from a Warren attacker, a Wolves defender passed the ball back to Llanquiman, who thought the Blue Devils attacker had deflected it.
Llanquiman picked up the ball, giving the Blue Devils an indirect kick just 17 yards from goal. However, the Wolves packed the box with defenders, blocking the ensuing shot for a corner kick. Warren’s Alexis Medina, a technically gifted and creative senior, whipped in the corner, but his teammate could only poke the ball wide of the back post, allowing the Wolves to see out the rest of the game with gritty defending.
“We had a good game plan, and they listened,” said Prairie Ridge head coach Justin Brown while explaining how his Wolves pulled off the upset. “They executed it, and we had enough goal-scoring opportunities that we finally got one in there. I thought we were organized at the back and in the midfield most of the time. They just executed what we laid out there for them.”
Despite ending the tournament on a sour note, Warren’s Coach Ahonen viewed it as a learning experience for his young squad.
“The one thing that these guys need to realize and learn, and what we’re trying to figure out after all the guys we lost from last year, is that everyone we play is going to give us their best game, because of who we are, what we’ve done, and what we’ve created here,” said Ahonen. “Hats off to Prairie Ridge. They found a way to win today, and they should be celebrating. They should be happy as can be.
“Yesterday we learned a little bit, and today we learned a little bit. We’ll move on, and the boys get another 50-plus hours to move on from soccer and rest and rehydrate and get some therapy, and then we’ll come back on Monday and try to get better.”
Warren seniors Harris and McAtee echoed their coach’s sentiments about the valuable lessons learned from the loss.
“We know that it’s up from here,” said McAtee. “We know that there’s lots of room to improve, and we knew that ever since Thursday. We knew it wouldn’t be a cakewalk. If we think that we’re going to be invincible and just walk through every team, we need a reality check. And this is one of them.”
“It’s good for us,” Harris concurred. “It’s really good for us. Obviously every team wants to go undefeated. It won’t happen this year, but like George [McAtee] said it can only go up from here. [We’re] looking forward to the future.”
Ahonen also saw positives in the play from his young backline and new role players.
“When you have a good keeper -- we have a few of them right now -- you give yourself a chance every game,” said Ahonen. “George kept us in the game today, obviously, by making some plays and holding onto some balls.
“For the backline, Cael comes back, Tyler [Hughes] provides good size, and starting-wise we’ve got two underclassmen on the outside, [who] are both growing into their roles,” Ahonen continued. “And they’ve done well, and so has our bench. Our bench came off and provided energy. I like our depth. We had some studs last year, and we’ve just got to be hard-working grinders this year and [play] team soccer and try to create chances. We created some, we just didn’t find the ball in the back of the net. And we’ll try to work on that.”
Prairie Ridge (3-0-0) now sits in pole position in the Knight Invite heading into their final match of the tourney against the host Knights on Tuesday. Warren (2-1-0) gets some much-needed rest before traveling to Highland Park on Tuesday.
Starting lineups
Warren (4-3-3)
G - George McAtee
D - Lucas Ahonen
D - Cael Harris
D - Tyler Hughes
D - Chris Crowson
M - Michael Galvan
M - Miguel Rodriguez
M - Matt Hegge
F - Ryan Stanciak
F - Alexis Medina
F - Tommy DeSanto
Prairie Ridge (5-3-2)
G - Daniel Llanquiman
D - Brogan Amherdt
D - Seth Matson
D - Zion Smeja
D - Chase Vrba
D - Brady Rogers
M - Jacob Pinkerton
M - Chase Santucci
M - Nathan O’Hanian
F - Henry Knoll
F - Cade Collins
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Cade Collins, jr., F, Prairie Ridge,
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Prairie Ridge -- Cade Collins (unassisted), 60th minute