Glorioso-ous late goal lifts WV past York
Senior scores on counterattack with 11 seconds left for 1-0 win
By Matt Le Cren
AURORA – Waubonsie Valley striker Noah Glorioso saw his goalkeeper Bryan Grimaldo make a save and started yelling for the ball.
Grimaldo heard him and quickly threw the ball up the field to Milan Erastus-Obilo.
What followed was one of the fastest counterattacks you will ever see. Depending on your perspective, it was either thrilling or disheartening.
Erastus-Obilo settled the ball, took one touch and lobbed a long ball to Glorioso, who somehow had gotten loose on the right wing.
Glorioso dribbled to the edge of the York box before chipping the ball over charging goalkeeper James Sampson and inside the far post with 11 seconds remaining in regulation.
The goal, Glorioso’s second of the season, gave the host Warriors an improbable 1-0 victory over York on Wednesday night.
“That was just nuts,” Glorioso said. “I was telling Bryan to hurry up, hurry up, get the ball down the field.
“Luckily Milan was able to get a defender on his back, take a nice touch and loft that ball over. As the ball came up, their goalie came out and the ball was bouncing.
“So I just knew I had to put it over him and either it was going to go in, which it obviously did. But if not, Dan Morgan was there running in.”
Morgan’s services weren’t needed, for Glorioso’s shot was perfectly placed, nestling inside the side netting. The Warriors and their fans went wild as Waubonsie Valley coach Jose Garcia tried to banish his fear that something went awry.
“I was just worried that we would get called offsides,” Garcia said. “That was the first thought – hopefully it’s not offsides.”
It wasn’t, although Garcia can be forgiven for thinking such a dramatic ending was just a dream. The entertaining game appeared headed for a scoreless tie, but the Warriors weren’t ready to settle for that result when Grimaldo made the last of the five saves it took to record his first shutout of the season.
“I think we caught them in transition,” Garcia said. “We quickly played it up.
“We knew that we were running out of time, so we played it up there to our forwards.”
The incredible thing about the incredible finish was that the Dukes (4-4-0) got caught flat-footed and left Glorioso open after blanketing him for most of the match. Even Erastus-Obilo was surprised to see all the green grass surrounding him.
“Since I’d been up-top the whole game, our strategy was for me to hold it up and move it off to someone,” Erastus-Obilo said. “But since Noah was on the wing coming back in, I just took the ball. I looked up, and I saw Noah making the run. So I pinged him into space and then he just did the finish.”
“They were marking him the whole game and then this last play he didn’t have two guys on him. So I pinged him the ball, and the rest is history.”
A scoreless tie would have been a fair result for both teams, who combined to produce a lot of action without much to show for it.
For the visiting Dukes, it was their second disappointing defeat in 24 hours, coming one day after a 3-2 loss to Glenbard West in West Suburban Conference Silver Division action. All four of York’s losses have been by one goal, leaving York coach Lukasz Majewski to lament the ineffectiveness of his usually potent offense.
“It is all self-inflicted wounds,” Majewski said. “There’s not much to say besides it’s a broken record. If you can’t finish on one side, it’s always going to come back to even the game out.
“We had opportunity, opportunity, opportunity. We can’t finish, and that’s the way the game breaks down.”
Indeed, the Dukes created plenty of danger during a match that featured a lot of end-to-end action. But they couldn’t quite connect.
In the first half, Joe Meade intercepted a goal kick and got around a defender into the box, only to have Grimaldo make a diving save at the 23:30 mark.
Five minutes later, Ethan Oder, who stirred up trouble on a regular basis on the left wing, sent a diagonal ball into the middle of the box but it just missed the outstretched foot of Meade in front.
The Dukes came within inches of scoring with 5:25 left before intermission and a long ball from Oder again was the instigator. This serve found the head of Erwin Morales, whose header from 12 yards struck the crossbar before being cleared by the Warriors.
In the second half, York came up empty on four corner kicks, one of which was adroitly punched away by Grimaldo, who also made a leaping save on Jack Musial’s header with 27:42 to go.
“We are struggling, there’s no doubt about it,” Majewski said. “When you create chances, you have to put them away.
“There’s not too many things you want to hang your hat on and say this is positive because the results are what they are. So you can possess, you can outshoot, you can do all kinds of stuff. Bottom line is the score at the end.”
For all the angst on the York side, the bottom line also reflects that Waubonsie Valley is a much tougher team than it was last year and much better than its 2-3-1 record indicates. This is a side with a greatly improved defense, a rising goalie and a Division I prospect up-top in Glorioso.
“I think we did a great job, and these guys deserve it,” Garcia said. “It was a much-needed win, especially against such a quality team.
“They’re a hard-working team, and I’ve got to give York credit. They work their butts off.”
The Warriors hang their hat on defense, at least so far, so this game was an interesting matchup of Waubonsie’s defense against York’s powerful offense.
“Defensively, I think we’re playing extremely well, and we were trying to hold them back,” Garcia said. “That first half was back-and-forth.
“We got that last play, and the guys earned it.”
Indeed, the play was tilting the Warriors’ way in the final 15 minutes. Sophomore defender Javy Gonzalez rifled a 25-yard shot over the right post with 12:50 left and had a 21-yard free kick stopped by Sampson with 8:40 to go.
Gonzalez had another chance two minutes later when his 15-yard shot from the middle of the box went off the hands of Sampson, who recovered to push the ball wide of the left post.
Glorioso was carted off the field shortly after that with leg cramps, but returned a few minutes later to help secure what the Warriors hope is a season-changing win.
“They’re a great team,” Glorioso said. “Going up against them, they’re a quality team. And that’s just a momentum shift because we have a good group of guys here, a lot better than last year.
“Getting that win helps us to keep going forward and hopefully we can keep this going.”
Erastus-Obilo is optimistic.
“I think we needed the momentum shift because we’re a good team, and we haven’t been getting the results we wanted,” he said. “But we’re playing well, so to get a win like this in that fashion shifts the momentum for our upcoming games.”
Starting lineups
York
GK James Sampson
D Kalvin Glodz
D Sebastian Benavides
D Paolo Favuzzi
D Parker Gawne
M Jack Musial
M Ethan Oder
M Chase McNeil
M Kol Rollins
F Ryan Woolfe
F Joe Meade
Waubonsie Valley
GK Bryan Grimaldo
D Adrien Mehra
D Teague Stotler
D Javy Gonzalez
D Dan Morgan
M Diego Carillo
M Milan Erastus-Obilo
M Zach Stanley
M Jerry Perez
M Daniel Fritz
F Noah Glorioso
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Noah Glorioso, sr., F, Waubonsie Valley
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Waubonsie Valley: Noah Glorioso (Milan Erastus-Obilo, Bryan Grimaldo) :11
Senior scores on counterattack with 11 seconds left for 1-0 win
By Matt Le Cren
AURORA – Waubonsie Valley striker Noah Glorioso saw his goalkeeper Bryan Grimaldo make a save and started yelling for the ball.
Grimaldo heard him and quickly threw the ball up the field to Milan Erastus-Obilo.
What followed was one of the fastest counterattacks you will ever see. Depending on your perspective, it was either thrilling or disheartening.
Erastus-Obilo settled the ball, took one touch and lobbed a long ball to Glorioso, who somehow had gotten loose on the right wing.
Glorioso dribbled to the edge of the York box before chipping the ball over charging goalkeeper James Sampson and inside the far post with 11 seconds remaining in regulation.
The goal, Glorioso’s second of the season, gave the host Warriors an improbable 1-0 victory over York on Wednesday night.
“That was just nuts,” Glorioso said. “I was telling Bryan to hurry up, hurry up, get the ball down the field.
“Luckily Milan was able to get a defender on his back, take a nice touch and loft that ball over. As the ball came up, their goalie came out and the ball was bouncing.
“So I just knew I had to put it over him and either it was going to go in, which it obviously did. But if not, Dan Morgan was there running in.”
Morgan’s services weren’t needed, for Glorioso’s shot was perfectly placed, nestling inside the side netting. The Warriors and their fans went wild as Waubonsie Valley coach Jose Garcia tried to banish his fear that something went awry.
“I was just worried that we would get called offsides,” Garcia said. “That was the first thought – hopefully it’s not offsides.”
It wasn’t, although Garcia can be forgiven for thinking such a dramatic ending was just a dream. The entertaining game appeared headed for a scoreless tie, but the Warriors weren’t ready to settle for that result when Grimaldo made the last of the five saves it took to record his first shutout of the season.
“I think we caught them in transition,” Garcia said. “We quickly played it up.
“We knew that we were running out of time, so we played it up there to our forwards.”
The incredible thing about the incredible finish was that the Dukes (4-4-0) got caught flat-footed and left Glorioso open after blanketing him for most of the match. Even Erastus-Obilo was surprised to see all the green grass surrounding him.
“Since I’d been up-top the whole game, our strategy was for me to hold it up and move it off to someone,” Erastus-Obilo said. “But since Noah was on the wing coming back in, I just took the ball. I looked up, and I saw Noah making the run. So I pinged him into space and then he just did the finish.”
“They were marking him the whole game and then this last play he didn’t have two guys on him. So I pinged him the ball, and the rest is history.”
A scoreless tie would have been a fair result for both teams, who combined to produce a lot of action without much to show for it.
For the visiting Dukes, it was their second disappointing defeat in 24 hours, coming one day after a 3-2 loss to Glenbard West in West Suburban Conference Silver Division action. All four of York’s losses have been by one goal, leaving York coach Lukasz Majewski to lament the ineffectiveness of his usually potent offense.
“It is all self-inflicted wounds,” Majewski said. “There’s not much to say besides it’s a broken record. If you can’t finish on one side, it’s always going to come back to even the game out.
“We had opportunity, opportunity, opportunity. We can’t finish, and that’s the way the game breaks down.”
Indeed, the Dukes created plenty of danger during a match that featured a lot of end-to-end action. But they couldn’t quite connect.
In the first half, Joe Meade intercepted a goal kick and got around a defender into the box, only to have Grimaldo make a diving save at the 23:30 mark.
Five minutes later, Ethan Oder, who stirred up trouble on a regular basis on the left wing, sent a diagonal ball into the middle of the box but it just missed the outstretched foot of Meade in front.
The Dukes came within inches of scoring with 5:25 left before intermission and a long ball from Oder again was the instigator. This serve found the head of Erwin Morales, whose header from 12 yards struck the crossbar before being cleared by the Warriors.
In the second half, York came up empty on four corner kicks, one of which was adroitly punched away by Grimaldo, who also made a leaping save on Jack Musial’s header with 27:42 to go.
“We are struggling, there’s no doubt about it,” Majewski said. “When you create chances, you have to put them away.
“There’s not too many things you want to hang your hat on and say this is positive because the results are what they are. So you can possess, you can outshoot, you can do all kinds of stuff. Bottom line is the score at the end.”
For all the angst on the York side, the bottom line also reflects that Waubonsie Valley is a much tougher team than it was last year and much better than its 2-3-1 record indicates. This is a side with a greatly improved defense, a rising goalie and a Division I prospect up-top in Glorioso.
“I think we did a great job, and these guys deserve it,” Garcia said. “It was a much-needed win, especially against such a quality team.
“They’re a hard-working team, and I’ve got to give York credit. They work their butts off.”
The Warriors hang their hat on defense, at least so far, so this game was an interesting matchup of Waubonsie’s defense against York’s powerful offense.
“Defensively, I think we’re playing extremely well, and we were trying to hold them back,” Garcia said. “That first half was back-and-forth.
“We got that last play, and the guys earned it.”
Indeed, the play was tilting the Warriors’ way in the final 15 minutes. Sophomore defender Javy Gonzalez rifled a 25-yard shot over the right post with 12:50 left and had a 21-yard free kick stopped by Sampson with 8:40 to go.
Gonzalez had another chance two minutes later when his 15-yard shot from the middle of the box went off the hands of Sampson, who recovered to push the ball wide of the left post.
Glorioso was carted off the field shortly after that with leg cramps, but returned a few minutes later to help secure what the Warriors hope is a season-changing win.
“They’re a great team,” Glorioso said. “Going up against them, they’re a quality team. And that’s just a momentum shift because we have a good group of guys here, a lot better than last year.
“Getting that win helps us to keep going forward and hopefully we can keep this going.”
Erastus-Obilo is optimistic.
“I think we needed the momentum shift because we’re a good team, and we haven’t been getting the results we wanted,” he said. “But we’re playing well, so to get a win like this in that fashion shifts the momentum for our upcoming games.”
Starting lineups
York
GK James Sampson
D Kalvin Glodz
D Sebastian Benavides
D Paolo Favuzzi
D Parker Gawne
M Jack Musial
M Ethan Oder
M Chase McNeil
M Kol Rollins
F Ryan Woolfe
F Joe Meade
Waubonsie Valley
GK Bryan Grimaldo
D Adrien Mehra
D Teague Stotler
D Javy Gonzalez
D Dan Morgan
M Diego Carillo
M Milan Erastus-Obilo
M Zach Stanley
M Jerry Perez
M Daniel Fritz
F Noah Glorioso
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Noah Glorioso, sr., F, Waubonsie Valley
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
Waubonsie Valley: Noah Glorioso (Milan Erastus-Obilo, Bryan Grimaldo) :11