Optimism abounds after
Waubonsie Valley, Marmion draw
PK from Waubonsie's Keller produces 1-1 nonconference result
By Dave Owen
AURORA – A 1-1 tie between Waubonsie Valley and host Marmion produced some level of satisfaction for both sides.
At least as much satisfaction as a draw can provide.
For the visiting Warriors (0-2-1), a resurgent second half offensive performance produced the squad’s first goal of the season.
“We had tough 2-0 losses to Oswego East and West Aurora,” Waubonsie Valley co-captain Callum Keller said. “And we just had no offensive chances (in those games). It was huge for us to finally score a goal and get one back.”
After being fouled in the box on a Zach Stanley free kick, it was Keller’s penalty kick put-away with 7:41 left in the match that produced that breakthrough.
The late goal denied victory for Marmion (1-1-1) but didn’t diminish a strong performance by the hosts.
“I thought we played really well,” Cadets coach Gerardo Alvarez said, “and played especially well in the first 20 minutes of the first half. I thought we had a lot of the play, created a lot of opportunities. Unfortunately, we didn’t score (in the first half)/ But as far as the play, that was some of the better soccer we’ve played so far this year.”
A sequence five minutes into the second half deserved similar accolades for Marmion, and produced a 1-0 lead on Matt Powell’s first goal of 2021.
“We had a guy coming up the right and trying to get a ball across,” Powell said. “It looked like it was going to Barry (O’Neill), but then the defender fell to the center so I saw an opportunity to win the ball. I got a tackle, and I was able to get in, pushed hard frame, and it went in.”
Powell’s 8-yard line drive goal off the loose ball win rewarded his extra effort on the play.
“Matt won it,” Alvarez said. “Just a great tackle, he won it in the box, stood up and made a great play. Exactly what we needed, guys to step up and make a play. And aside from the goal he played fantastic.”
The Cadets had a similar strong start to the match, beginning with defense.
On a left-side run three minutes into the match by the Waubonsie Valley’s Alan Sanchez, Marmion’s Mactzil Lopez made a nice 1-v-1 steal and clear.
Two Cadets shots on goal followed in the next two minutes, and a sequence of three offensive end throw-ins in succession in the 14th minute ended with Keller heading Diego Tellez’s toss from near the end line out of the crease.
Waubonsie Valley goalkeeper Jason Michalek hustled to diffuse two other early threats, beating Marmion attackers to sends to the box by Giovanni Magana and Ricardo Saucedo.
“Me and our other center back are hard-working in the air,” Keller said. “And our wing backs are able to step to anybody and have high-tempo defensive work. And our goalie Mich (Michalek) was in command telling us where we need to be and what to do. It was working pretty well.”
The Waubonsie Valley offense also showed some good signs midway through the first half, highlighted in the 18th minute by Anuj Buch winning a ball in the box and sending an end line cross that was blocked away by diving Marmion goalkeeper Danny Jankowski.
Then in the 32nd minute, Jankowski deftly batted away a long Kadin Feese free kick into the crowd in the box.
But the first half ended with Marmion again on the offensive: a Magana 22-yard free kick in the 33rd minute was headed away at the back post; then an end-to-end counterattack in the 36th minute, sparked by Lopez’s win of a throw-in and clear of the box, ended with a shot just over the net.
After the halftime break, Powell’s goal appeared to continue Marmion’s control of play. But that appearance was short lived.
With an energized performance off the bench by Stanley helping light a fire, Waubonsie Valley turned the 1-0 deficit into an inspired rally.
“I sat the first half, and my goal the second half was to come on and really make a difference,” said Stanley. “And I think I did that this game.”
Stanley certainly did, as he shared Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors with Marmion’s Powell.
“As a team I think the second half we flipped a switch,” Stanley said. “We started attacking and getting chances, which is new to us.
“We’re not a real attacking team, more defensive. To get more than a handful of chances in this game was big for us.”
The Warriors’ wave of scoring threats began with 20:40 to play. Feese’s well struck free kick from midfield found Stanley 15 yards out, and the resulting header went inches wide of the left post.
Stanley’s effectiveness on set pieces was just starting.
With 18:50 left, his 25-yard free kick line drive was denied and pushed wide by Jankowski’s diving deflection at the left post. Matthew Garcia’s ensuing corner kick was headed just wide by Stanley.
“We pushed more pressure up-top (in the second half),” Warriors coach Jose Garcia said. “We had a couple different subs out there, and I think it worked.
“We wanted to get a little higher: we didn’t get into their offensive third for the first half. In the second half we got up a lot more.”
Despite the Warriors push, Marmion nearly made its lead 2-0 with 15:30 to go. Alvaro Alanis’ 22-yard free kick took a deflection wide by goalkeeper Michalek to keep his team within one goal.
Then as the clock faded under 10 minutes left, Stanley capped his excellent half in style.
After drawing a foul on a strong run to the right end line, Stanley ensuing free kick from just to the right of the box had perfect placement – and an ideal tall target.
“We have our center back Callum (Keller): he’s kind of our go-to-guy on headers,” Stanley said. “I picked him out at the back post, found his head. Unfortunately, he was dragged down, but fortunately for us we got the PK.”
Fouled near the left post, Keller powered the ensuing penalty kick into the upper left corner of the net to tie the game 1-1.
“Just look at the ball, drown out the crowd and everything else,” Keller said of his PK strategy. “Just listen to your heartbeat pretty much, and it was beating pretty loud so it wasn’t that hard to drown everything out. Then you just pick your place (in the net) and don’t worry where the goalie is looking.
“It definitely gives us motivation, to be able to score,” Keller added. “We had opportunities, plenty: it was just the penalty that decided it obviously. But we just need to keep up the offensive tempo, and we’ll score more goals.”
Outside of the PK, it was a strong effort by the Marmion defense to withstand the heat.
“I thought we dealt with it pretty well,” said Marmion senior defender Nate Sowers, an all-sectional player as a junior.
“I thought we controlled the second half. Just one bad moment, one unlucky moment, and they scored the goal. But overall. I thought we were the better of the two teams and unlucky not to get the result today.”
While that was true for the first 50-plus minutes, the end of the match continued to swing Waubonsie Valley’s way.
With 3:15 to go, Jankowski narrowly beat a Warriors player to Stanley’s nice send to the box. After Jankowski’s kick away from imminent trouble, he made the save moments later on Gean Scarpell’s 18-yard shot.
The match was eventful down to the final tick of the clock.
Jankowski again was on the spot with 20 seconds left, making a left post save on Lachlan Ladd’s 16-yard shot.
Then in the final 9.5 seconds, Waubonsie Valley had to withstand two blows. First on a foul near midfield, Feese was helped off the field with a leg injury. On the ensuing free kick by Marmion’s Magana, Keller headed the send away from danger as time expired.
“It was a good second half,” Garcia said. “It was hard fought. It got a little feisty on both ends (including a hard collision between Marmion’s Harley Karner and Waubonsie’s Amiel Nichani and several yellow cards) but that’s what I love about this game. You feel that passion for it, and I think both teams felt it. Both were pushing hard.”
The Warriors’ late push produced a goal, and reasons for rising confidence going forward.
“I think attacking-wise we can really make a dent in some other teams coming up,” Stanley said. “With this new found confidence we’ll definitely be in good shape.”
Marmion had plenty of its own reasons to feel good.
“Matt Powell had a stellar game,” Alvarez said, “Alvaro played really well for us on defense: he helped us keep the ball and had a great game. And Diego plays right back, and he had a great game as well. Those are the guys that stand out.
“It’s still early. We’re still not satisfied, but there were some good things I saw on the field today that I hadn’t seen the first two games. I think we’re heading in the right direction, but we still have a long way to go.”
Said Powell: “Some stuff didn’t go our way, which was really frustrating. But I think we played well as a team. We had a good attitude in the second half, which really helped. I’m happy we performed well, but I wish we could have won.”
With a season-opening shutout win over Geneva and another strong effort Thursday, the Cadets’ defense has its own reason for optimism.
“We’re pretty good at building out of the back,” Sowers said, “and I think we’re a good defensive team when we can hold our line and play as a unit. That’s really when it works for us.
“We’re a really young team (two freshman starters). We’re still learning. We have a lot of guys that are just starting to play varsity, and I think we’re only going to get better from here. We have a lot of guys with a lot of passion that want to win games. I think we have a good future ahead of us.”
Starting lineups
Waubonsie Valley
GK Jason Michalek
D Joe Haddad
D Kadin Feese
D Callum Keller
D Cade Valek
M Lachlan Ladd
M Stephen Thomas
M Yahir Rodriguez
M Anuj Bach
F Alan Sanchez
F Gean Riberio Scarpell
Marmion
GK Danny Jankowski
D Lucas Brummel
D Nate Sowers
D Mactzil Lopez
D Diego Tellez
M Barry O’Neill
M Alvaro Alanis
M Giovanni Magana
M Matt Powell
F Ricardo Saucedo
F Sam Seykora
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match:
Zach Stanley, sr. F, Waubonsie Valley;
Matt Powell, jr. M, Marmion
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
M- Matt Powell (unassisted), 45’
WV- Callum Keller (PK), 73’
Waubonsie Valley, Marmion draw
PK from Waubonsie's Keller produces 1-1 nonconference result
By Dave Owen
AURORA – A 1-1 tie between Waubonsie Valley and host Marmion produced some level of satisfaction for both sides.
At least as much satisfaction as a draw can provide.
For the visiting Warriors (0-2-1), a resurgent second half offensive performance produced the squad’s first goal of the season.
“We had tough 2-0 losses to Oswego East and West Aurora,” Waubonsie Valley co-captain Callum Keller said. “And we just had no offensive chances (in those games). It was huge for us to finally score a goal and get one back.”
After being fouled in the box on a Zach Stanley free kick, it was Keller’s penalty kick put-away with 7:41 left in the match that produced that breakthrough.
The late goal denied victory for Marmion (1-1-1) but didn’t diminish a strong performance by the hosts.
“I thought we played really well,” Cadets coach Gerardo Alvarez said, “and played especially well in the first 20 minutes of the first half. I thought we had a lot of the play, created a lot of opportunities. Unfortunately, we didn’t score (in the first half)/ But as far as the play, that was some of the better soccer we’ve played so far this year.”
A sequence five minutes into the second half deserved similar accolades for Marmion, and produced a 1-0 lead on Matt Powell’s first goal of 2021.
“We had a guy coming up the right and trying to get a ball across,” Powell said. “It looked like it was going to Barry (O’Neill), but then the defender fell to the center so I saw an opportunity to win the ball. I got a tackle, and I was able to get in, pushed hard frame, and it went in.”
Powell’s 8-yard line drive goal off the loose ball win rewarded his extra effort on the play.
“Matt won it,” Alvarez said. “Just a great tackle, he won it in the box, stood up and made a great play. Exactly what we needed, guys to step up and make a play. And aside from the goal he played fantastic.”
The Cadets had a similar strong start to the match, beginning with defense.
On a left-side run three minutes into the match by the Waubonsie Valley’s Alan Sanchez, Marmion’s Mactzil Lopez made a nice 1-v-1 steal and clear.
Two Cadets shots on goal followed in the next two minutes, and a sequence of three offensive end throw-ins in succession in the 14th minute ended with Keller heading Diego Tellez’s toss from near the end line out of the crease.
Waubonsie Valley goalkeeper Jason Michalek hustled to diffuse two other early threats, beating Marmion attackers to sends to the box by Giovanni Magana and Ricardo Saucedo.
“Me and our other center back are hard-working in the air,” Keller said. “And our wing backs are able to step to anybody and have high-tempo defensive work. And our goalie Mich (Michalek) was in command telling us where we need to be and what to do. It was working pretty well.”
The Waubonsie Valley offense also showed some good signs midway through the first half, highlighted in the 18th minute by Anuj Buch winning a ball in the box and sending an end line cross that was blocked away by diving Marmion goalkeeper Danny Jankowski.
Then in the 32nd minute, Jankowski deftly batted away a long Kadin Feese free kick into the crowd in the box.
But the first half ended with Marmion again on the offensive: a Magana 22-yard free kick in the 33rd minute was headed away at the back post; then an end-to-end counterattack in the 36th minute, sparked by Lopez’s win of a throw-in and clear of the box, ended with a shot just over the net.
After the halftime break, Powell’s goal appeared to continue Marmion’s control of play. But that appearance was short lived.
With an energized performance off the bench by Stanley helping light a fire, Waubonsie Valley turned the 1-0 deficit into an inspired rally.
“I sat the first half, and my goal the second half was to come on and really make a difference,” said Stanley. “And I think I did that this game.”
Stanley certainly did, as he shared Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors with Marmion’s Powell.
“As a team I think the second half we flipped a switch,” Stanley said. “We started attacking and getting chances, which is new to us.
“We’re not a real attacking team, more defensive. To get more than a handful of chances in this game was big for us.”
The Warriors’ wave of scoring threats began with 20:40 to play. Feese’s well struck free kick from midfield found Stanley 15 yards out, and the resulting header went inches wide of the left post.
Stanley’s effectiveness on set pieces was just starting.
With 18:50 left, his 25-yard free kick line drive was denied and pushed wide by Jankowski’s diving deflection at the left post. Matthew Garcia’s ensuing corner kick was headed just wide by Stanley.
“We pushed more pressure up-top (in the second half),” Warriors coach Jose Garcia said. “We had a couple different subs out there, and I think it worked.
“We wanted to get a little higher: we didn’t get into their offensive third for the first half. In the second half we got up a lot more.”
Despite the Warriors push, Marmion nearly made its lead 2-0 with 15:30 to go. Alvaro Alanis’ 22-yard free kick took a deflection wide by goalkeeper Michalek to keep his team within one goal.
Then as the clock faded under 10 minutes left, Stanley capped his excellent half in style.
After drawing a foul on a strong run to the right end line, Stanley ensuing free kick from just to the right of the box had perfect placement – and an ideal tall target.
“We have our center back Callum (Keller): he’s kind of our go-to-guy on headers,” Stanley said. “I picked him out at the back post, found his head. Unfortunately, he was dragged down, but fortunately for us we got the PK.”
Fouled near the left post, Keller powered the ensuing penalty kick into the upper left corner of the net to tie the game 1-1.
“Just look at the ball, drown out the crowd and everything else,” Keller said of his PK strategy. “Just listen to your heartbeat pretty much, and it was beating pretty loud so it wasn’t that hard to drown everything out. Then you just pick your place (in the net) and don’t worry where the goalie is looking.
“It definitely gives us motivation, to be able to score,” Keller added. “We had opportunities, plenty: it was just the penalty that decided it obviously. But we just need to keep up the offensive tempo, and we’ll score more goals.”
Outside of the PK, it was a strong effort by the Marmion defense to withstand the heat.
“I thought we dealt with it pretty well,” said Marmion senior defender Nate Sowers, an all-sectional player as a junior.
“I thought we controlled the second half. Just one bad moment, one unlucky moment, and they scored the goal. But overall. I thought we were the better of the two teams and unlucky not to get the result today.”
While that was true for the first 50-plus minutes, the end of the match continued to swing Waubonsie Valley’s way.
With 3:15 to go, Jankowski narrowly beat a Warriors player to Stanley’s nice send to the box. After Jankowski’s kick away from imminent trouble, he made the save moments later on Gean Scarpell’s 18-yard shot.
The match was eventful down to the final tick of the clock.
Jankowski again was on the spot with 20 seconds left, making a left post save on Lachlan Ladd’s 16-yard shot.
Then in the final 9.5 seconds, Waubonsie Valley had to withstand two blows. First on a foul near midfield, Feese was helped off the field with a leg injury. On the ensuing free kick by Marmion’s Magana, Keller headed the send away from danger as time expired.
“It was a good second half,” Garcia said. “It was hard fought. It got a little feisty on both ends (including a hard collision between Marmion’s Harley Karner and Waubonsie’s Amiel Nichani and several yellow cards) but that’s what I love about this game. You feel that passion for it, and I think both teams felt it. Both were pushing hard.”
The Warriors’ late push produced a goal, and reasons for rising confidence going forward.
“I think attacking-wise we can really make a dent in some other teams coming up,” Stanley said. “With this new found confidence we’ll definitely be in good shape.”
Marmion had plenty of its own reasons to feel good.
“Matt Powell had a stellar game,” Alvarez said, “Alvaro played really well for us on defense: he helped us keep the ball and had a great game. And Diego plays right back, and he had a great game as well. Those are the guys that stand out.
“It’s still early. We’re still not satisfied, but there were some good things I saw on the field today that I hadn’t seen the first two games. I think we’re heading in the right direction, but we still have a long way to go.”
Said Powell: “Some stuff didn’t go our way, which was really frustrating. But I think we played well as a team. We had a good attitude in the second half, which really helped. I’m happy we performed well, but I wish we could have won.”
With a season-opening shutout win over Geneva and another strong effort Thursday, the Cadets’ defense has its own reason for optimism.
“We’re pretty good at building out of the back,” Sowers said, “and I think we’re a good defensive team when we can hold our line and play as a unit. That’s really when it works for us.
“We’re a really young team (two freshman starters). We’re still learning. We have a lot of guys that are just starting to play varsity, and I think we’re only going to get better from here. We have a lot of guys with a lot of passion that want to win games. I think we have a good future ahead of us.”
Starting lineups
Waubonsie Valley
GK Jason Michalek
D Joe Haddad
D Kadin Feese
D Callum Keller
D Cade Valek
M Lachlan Ladd
M Stephen Thomas
M Yahir Rodriguez
M Anuj Bach
F Alan Sanchez
F Gean Riberio Scarpell
Marmion
GK Danny Jankowski
D Lucas Brummel
D Nate Sowers
D Mactzil Lopez
D Diego Tellez
M Barry O’Neill
M Alvaro Alanis
M Giovanni Magana
M Matt Powell
F Ricardo Saucedo
F Sam Seykora
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match:
Zach Stanley, sr. F, Waubonsie Valley;
Matt Powell, jr. M, Marmion
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
M- Matt Powell (unassisted), 45’
WV- Callum Keller (PK), 73’