GBS finds 2nd half groove, blanks Wheeling
Titans aim for final of own tournament after 2-0 win
By Dave Owen
GLENVIEW – Glenbrook South made a small switch, then made the proverbial flip of the switch to turn the lights out in its Jim Wolter Titan Invitational match Wednesday.
Locked in a scoreless tie with Wheeling midway through the second half, the Titans, ranked 22nd in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, turned two beautiful sends into point-blank putaways to produce a 2-0 win.
“We switched from a 4-3-3 (alignment) to a 4-4-2 (in the second half), but mostly it was just our mentality,” said Glenbrook South junior Justin Leszynski, who had a goal and an assist to share Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors.
“The whole team felt like we had been kind of underperforming, so it just really felt good for everyone to put together a good half. And we had a lot of good connections up-top.”
The other chunk of that Man of the Match honor went to Titans goalkeeper Christian Noordover, whose great extra effort save less than two minutes after GBS’ first goal was a huge momentum moment.
On a Wheeling send from midfield to the top of the box, the Wildcats’ Luis Aviles won a 50-50 ball from a Titans defender and had a great opportunity to tie the score.
Off his line and out to try to win the long send, Noordover was on the ground and seemingly in a tough spot to make the save. But extending all out to his right, Noordover smothered the 15-yard shot attempt and covered up to deny any rebound attempt.
“When he (Aviles) started going to his right,” Noordover said, “I just saw the ball.
“We work a lot in practice on technique on breakaways, and the second he took a little head move and touch to the net I was fortunate enough to get it. And thankfully I didn’t let it slip out of my hands.”
Titans coach Reggie Lara was just as thankful and appreciative.
“It was a great stop,” Lara said. “As a former goalkeeper myself, I think it was really well done in terms of breaking down that angle, coming out and timing his attack on that ball at just the right time.
“Christian’s a hard worker. Compared to some other players he’s not as physically imposing, but he plays big in big games.”
That big play was part of a huge 10-minute sequence for the Titans.
It began with 18:08 to go, when Sam Rogers lofted a perfect send from just beyond the box left side to Leszynski in front. The tall junior’s header putaway broke the ice for a 1-0 Glenbrook South lead.
“Obviously I’m taller than most players,” Leszynski said, “so that’s kind of my go-to, in the air. When I’m struggling that’s how I get it going.
“My touch was a little poor in the first half, but it worked out better in the second half.”
With top scorer Danny Sergiev sidelined by a quad injury, Leszynski became even more a focus of the Wheeling defense.
“It was a little slow in the first half,” Titans senior Zach Ochab said. “We couldn’t really get (shots) on target, especially because they were double marking our target man, Justin, number 11.
“It really sparked us when we switched the field nice and got it right to Justin’s head in the middle when he was clear. That really helped us get going.”
Adjusting to Sergiev’s absence wasn’t easy.
“Danny had scored goals in our first two games,” Lara said, “and had an assist yesterday (before suffering the quad injury).
“I’ve told the boys from the beginning that I think our team is really deep. A lot of guys on the bench in typical years would be starters. We’re lucky we have guys who can fill in. They really embrace that next-man-up mentality.”
Said Leszynski: “Everyone knew they had to step up with his shoes to fill. And I think everyone did a good job of that.”
The Titans’ literal ability to bounce back after being knocked down would produce an insurance goal with 9:16 to play.
Ochab had painfully just missed a chance with 10:45 to go after racing in to try to win a GBS send to the box. He was knocked down in a collision near the crease as Wheeling goalkeeper Elio Santana corralled the loose ball.
“Getting hit like that doesn’t feel good and doesn’t make you happy,” Ochab said. “But you just have to get back in there and get your head back in the game, and just show them what you can really do.”
Ochab did just that 90 seconds later.
He fearlessly made another run to the net on Leszynski’s send from 45 yards. This time, Ochab won the race, tipping it past a charging Santana and across the goal line just before a sliding Wheeling defender could reach it to make the lead 2-0 for Glenbrook South (2-0-2).
“One of the biggest things we take pride in is our resilency,” Noordover said. “Going into halftime we knew we had to elevate our game a little bit.
“We knew we weren’t playing as good as we could. So we came out in the second half, motivated ourselves and got ourselves two goals.”
Noordover and the Titans defense made the two-goal lead stand up, in the process earning the squad extra points in the Wolter Classic title chase by virtue of the shutout.
Off a Wheeling corner kick with 6:45 left, Noordover made a diving swat the left post of a Simon Stoyanov shot.
Two minutes later, defenders Jose Santos-DeSoto and Luke Jacob combined on a steal from a Wheeling attacker 10 yards from the net. The Titans then successfully defended a corner kick with 40 seconds left to clinch the 2-0 final.
Lara had high praise for his team’s defensive effort.
“Drew Maytum played well throughout the game,” Lara said, “David Sohn is battling some injuries at the left back position but he played well, and I’m proud of Jose Santos-DeSoto. He came in at center back, and he’s been playing center mid the whole season.
“Because of injuries to some of our defenders he had to step in at center back next to Drew, and he did a good job as well.”
Ryan Batka’s 1-v.-1 steal on a Wheeling left-side offensive attack 19 minutes into the first half was an early defensive highlight for GBS.
Good depth and an all-for-one, defensive approach helped produce the shutout.
“The defenders like to joke that we’re a big wall,” Noordover said. “I think our communication and our chemistry is really good.
“I’ve been playing together with a lot of these guys for awhile. I know what they’re going to do ahead of time, and we always know there’s somebody behind us that’s there to help us if we get beat. Just knowing that helps boost our confidence.”
Even in defeat, Wheeling found reasons to build up its own confidence.
“We really struggled yesterday (a 4-2 loss to Speer), and were disappointed yesterday with our effort,” Wheeling coach Kevin Lennon said. “Today we challenged them to come out and compete, and did a much better job of competing. Our seniors Jason Rivas and Pablo Herrera stepped up and showed some leadership.
“It’s disappointing when you lose, but I think they (the Titans) are a good team, and there are some positives we can take out of it.
“I think we wore down in the second half a bit,” Lennon added. “But I think we’ll keep getting better and better, and that’s our message to the guys. Just keep working, keep improving and keep staying together. It’s disappointing, but at least there’s some positives. I feel much better today than yesterday.”
In the first 35-minute half, Wheeling’s defense stood tall in denying Titans chances.
Those GBS threats included a nice block at the wall of an Ochab free kick (16th minute); Maytum’s back-post header wide off a Jhovanny Guadarrana corner kick (23rd minute); and a Rogers cross to the front that just missed connection with a sprinting Jeffrey Keating (29th minute).
Julian Issar capped the half by lining a 30-yard free kick just over frame three minutes before halftime.
Wheeling produced increased threats early in the second half, including a cross to the crease with 28:30 to go that was denied on a nice block and clear by David Sohn.
Leszynski’s clear of the box with 22:20 left denied an Aviles corner kick send, then Noordover showed great hustle on an Angel Escobido 25-yard free kick with 20:10 to play.
After coming out to punch away the initial drive, Noordover raced back to the net to make a high catch of Gabriel Schiovani’s long rebound shot.
Glenbrook South answered 25 seconds later at the other end with Ochab’s low shot just wide of the post off a Leszynski pass. The two Titans goals would soon follow.
“I tried to change our formation a little,” Lara said, “to hopefully generate some more attack and get some more shots. It took awhile, but eventually we started to break them down a little.
“I thought there were great plays from our players on the outside, getting the ball across. Just gritty plays, and guys being in the right spot to put it in the back of the net.”
Leszynski and Ochab both netted their first goals of 2019, as the Titans closed strong.
“I feel like we’re not even close to what our potential is,” Leszynski said. “We were playing without Danny Sergiev, who’s probably our top player, and we had good results. So I just think as we play together more and get a little better chemistry, we could definitely make something happen this year.”
Ochab has similar confidence.
“We started slow (this season),” he said, “but we’re developing. We have a couple ties in games that we should have won, if not for a couple mistakes.
“But the team is forming good, and especially after this win I think we’re going to get it going.”
The Titans have the lead in the Navy Division by one point over Mundelein. A win versus Speer in their pool play final Thursday may be enough to push them into the final Saturday morning against likely Gold Division leader St. Patrick.
Starting lineups
Wheeling
GK: Elio Santana
D: Joshua Martinez
D: Leo Tule
D: James Sotelo
D: Pablo Herrera
M: Gabriel Schiavoni
M: Jason Rivas
M: Ricardo Rosales
M: Angel Escobedo
F: Luis Aviles
F: Simon Stoyanov
Glenbrook South
GK: Christian Noordover
D: Ryan Batka
D: Michael Zenzola
D: Drew Maytum
M: Julian Issar
M: Blake Schechtman
M: Arturo Moyo
M: David Sohn
M: Jhovanny Guadarrama
F: Justin Leszynski
F: Zach Ochab
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match: Justin Leszynski, jr. F, Glenbrook South
Christian Noordover, sr. GK, Glenrook South
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
GBS- Justin Leszynski (Sam Rogers), 52nd min
GBS- Zach Ochab (Leszynski), 61st min
Titans aim for final of own tournament after 2-0 win
By Dave Owen
GLENVIEW – Glenbrook South made a small switch, then made the proverbial flip of the switch to turn the lights out in its Jim Wolter Titan Invitational match Wednesday.
Locked in a scoreless tie with Wheeling midway through the second half, the Titans, ranked 22nd in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, turned two beautiful sends into point-blank putaways to produce a 2-0 win.
“We switched from a 4-3-3 (alignment) to a 4-4-2 (in the second half), but mostly it was just our mentality,” said Glenbrook South junior Justin Leszynski, who had a goal and an assist to share Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors.
“The whole team felt like we had been kind of underperforming, so it just really felt good for everyone to put together a good half. And we had a lot of good connections up-top.”
The other chunk of that Man of the Match honor went to Titans goalkeeper Christian Noordover, whose great extra effort save less than two minutes after GBS’ first goal was a huge momentum moment.
On a Wheeling send from midfield to the top of the box, the Wildcats’ Luis Aviles won a 50-50 ball from a Titans defender and had a great opportunity to tie the score.
Off his line and out to try to win the long send, Noordover was on the ground and seemingly in a tough spot to make the save. But extending all out to his right, Noordover smothered the 15-yard shot attempt and covered up to deny any rebound attempt.
“When he (Aviles) started going to his right,” Noordover said, “I just saw the ball.
“We work a lot in practice on technique on breakaways, and the second he took a little head move and touch to the net I was fortunate enough to get it. And thankfully I didn’t let it slip out of my hands.”
Titans coach Reggie Lara was just as thankful and appreciative.
“It was a great stop,” Lara said. “As a former goalkeeper myself, I think it was really well done in terms of breaking down that angle, coming out and timing his attack on that ball at just the right time.
“Christian’s a hard worker. Compared to some other players he’s not as physically imposing, but he plays big in big games.”
That big play was part of a huge 10-minute sequence for the Titans.
It began with 18:08 to go, when Sam Rogers lofted a perfect send from just beyond the box left side to Leszynski in front. The tall junior’s header putaway broke the ice for a 1-0 Glenbrook South lead.
“Obviously I’m taller than most players,” Leszynski said, “so that’s kind of my go-to, in the air. When I’m struggling that’s how I get it going.
“My touch was a little poor in the first half, but it worked out better in the second half.”
With top scorer Danny Sergiev sidelined by a quad injury, Leszynski became even more a focus of the Wheeling defense.
“It was a little slow in the first half,” Titans senior Zach Ochab said. “We couldn’t really get (shots) on target, especially because they were double marking our target man, Justin, number 11.
“It really sparked us when we switched the field nice and got it right to Justin’s head in the middle when he was clear. That really helped us get going.”
Adjusting to Sergiev’s absence wasn’t easy.
“Danny had scored goals in our first two games,” Lara said, “and had an assist yesterday (before suffering the quad injury).
“I’ve told the boys from the beginning that I think our team is really deep. A lot of guys on the bench in typical years would be starters. We’re lucky we have guys who can fill in. They really embrace that next-man-up mentality.”
Said Leszynski: “Everyone knew they had to step up with his shoes to fill. And I think everyone did a good job of that.”
The Titans’ literal ability to bounce back after being knocked down would produce an insurance goal with 9:16 to play.
Ochab had painfully just missed a chance with 10:45 to go after racing in to try to win a GBS send to the box. He was knocked down in a collision near the crease as Wheeling goalkeeper Elio Santana corralled the loose ball.
“Getting hit like that doesn’t feel good and doesn’t make you happy,” Ochab said. “But you just have to get back in there and get your head back in the game, and just show them what you can really do.”
Ochab did just that 90 seconds later.
He fearlessly made another run to the net on Leszynski’s send from 45 yards. This time, Ochab won the race, tipping it past a charging Santana and across the goal line just before a sliding Wheeling defender could reach it to make the lead 2-0 for Glenbrook South (2-0-2).
“One of the biggest things we take pride in is our resilency,” Noordover said. “Going into halftime we knew we had to elevate our game a little bit.
“We knew we weren’t playing as good as we could. So we came out in the second half, motivated ourselves and got ourselves two goals.”
Noordover and the Titans defense made the two-goal lead stand up, in the process earning the squad extra points in the Wolter Classic title chase by virtue of the shutout.
Off a Wheeling corner kick with 6:45 left, Noordover made a diving swat the left post of a Simon Stoyanov shot.
Two minutes later, defenders Jose Santos-DeSoto and Luke Jacob combined on a steal from a Wheeling attacker 10 yards from the net. The Titans then successfully defended a corner kick with 40 seconds left to clinch the 2-0 final.
Lara had high praise for his team’s defensive effort.
“Drew Maytum played well throughout the game,” Lara said, “David Sohn is battling some injuries at the left back position but he played well, and I’m proud of Jose Santos-DeSoto. He came in at center back, and he’s been playing center mid the whole season.
“Because of injuries to some of our defenders he had to step in at center back next to Drew, and he did a good job as well.”
Ryan Batka’s 1-v.-1 steal on a Wheeling left-side offensive attack 19 minutes into the first half was an early defensive highlight for GBS.
Good depth and an all-for-one, defensive approach helped produce the shutout.
“The defenders like to joke that we’re a big wall,” Noordover said. “I think our communication and our chemistry is really good.
“I’ve been playing together with a lot of these guys for awhile. I know what they’re going to do ahead of time, and we always know there’s somebody behind us that’s there to help us if we get beat. Just knowing that helps boost our confidence.”
Even in defeat, Wheeling found reasons to build up its own confidence.
“We really struggled yesterday (a 4-2 loss to Speer), and were disappointed yesterday with our effort,” Wheeling coach Kevin Lennon said. “Today we challenged them to come out and compete, and did a much better job of competing. Our seniors Jason Rivas and Pablo Herrera stepped up and showed some leadership.
“It’s disappointing when you lose, but I think they (the Titans) are a good team, and there are some positives we can take out of it.
“I think we wore down in the second half a bit,” Lennon added. “But I think we’ll keep getting better and better, and that’s our message to the guys. Just keep working, keep improving and keep staying together. It’s disappointing, but at least there’s some positives. I feel much better today than yesterday.”
In the first 35-minute half, Wheeling’s defense stood tall in denying Titans chances.
Those GBS threats included a nice block at the wall of an Ochab free kick (16th minute); Maytum’s back-post header wide off a Jhovanny Guadarrana corner kick (23rd minute); and a Rogers cross to the front that just missed connection with a sprinting Jeffrey Keating (29th minute).
Julian Issar capped the half by lining a 30-yard free kick just over frame three minutes before halftime.
Wheeling produced increased threats early in the second half, including a cross to the crease with 28:30 to go that was denied on a nice block and clear by David Sohn.
Leszynski’s clear of the box with 22:20 left denied an Aviles corner kick send, then Noordover showed great hustle on an Angel Escobido 25-yard free kick with 20:10 to play.
After coming out to punch away the initial drive, Noordover raced back to the net to make a high catch of Gabriel Schiovani’s long rebound shot.
Glenbrook South answered 25 seconds later at the other end with Ochab’s low shot just wide of the post off a Leszynski pass. The two Titans goals would soon follow.
“I tried to change our formation a little,” Lara said, “to hopefully generate some more attack and get some more shots. It took awhile, but eventually we started to break them down a little.
“I thought there were great plays from our players on the outside, getting the ball across. Just gritty plays, and guys being in the right spot to put it in the back of the net.”
Leszynski and Ochab both netted their first goals of 2019, as the Titans closed strong.
“I feel like we’re not even close to what our potential is,” Leszynski said. “We were playing without Danny Sergiev, who’s probably our top player, and we had good results. So I just think as we play together more and get a little better chemistry, we could definitely make something happen this year.”
Ochab has similar confidence.
“We started slow (this season),” he said, “but we’re developing. We have a couple ties in games that we should have won, if not for a couple mistakes.
“But the team is forming good, and especially after this win I think we’re going to get it going.”
The Titans have the lead in the Navy Division by one point over Mundelein. A win versus Speer in their pool play final Thursday may be enough to push them into the final Saturday morning against likely Gold Division leader St. Patrick.
Starting lineups
Wheeling
GK: Elio Santana
D: Joshua Martinez
D: Leo Tule
D: James Sotelo
D: Pablo Herrera
M: Gabriel Schiavoni
M: Jason Rivas
M: Ricardo Rosales
M: Angel Escobedo
F: Luis Aviles
F: Simon Stoyanov
Glenbrook South
GK: Christian Noordover
D: Ryan Batka
D: Michael Zenzola
D: Drew Maytum
M: Julian Issar
M: Blake Schechtman
M: Arturo Moyo
M: David Sohn
M: Jhovanny Guadarrama
F: Justin Leszynski
F: Zach Ochab
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match: Justin Leszynski, jr. F, Glenbrook South
Christian Noordover, sr. GK, Glenrook South
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
GBS- Justin Leszynski (Sam Rogers), 52nd min
GBS- Zach Ochab (Leszynski), 61st min