Disputed goal leads to Young's 2 OT loss
Dolphins lose 3-1 to Argo in Windy City, season opener
By Dave Owen
SUMMIT – One play turned a solid season opener for Young into a 3-1 loss.
Tied 1-1 with host Argo in the second overtime of Tuesday’s first round of the Windy City Ram Classic, the Dolphins were hit for two counterattack goals in a span of 64 seconds and fell 3-1.
The tie-breaking goal with 2:49 left in the second OT was particularly agonizing. Argo’s Michal Balek took a pass upfield from Manuel Figueroa and, with two defenders in pursuit, lined a 12-yard shot inside the right post.
The origin of the breakaway was a subject of consternation for Young after the match.
“The blown offsides call obviously deflated us a little bit,” Young coach Ian McCarthy said. “The kid (Balek) is like five-yards off.
“Then after that (for the third goal) they just attacked right away.
“I think once we knew we weren’t going to get (the offside call), they (the two Young defenders) fought. But the kid had five yards on our last defender, and it was pretty easy pickings from there.”
Offside or not, Balek’s finish tipped the tight match into Argo’s favor and away from a looming penalty kick resolution.
“It was the assist. It was perfect, straight in front of me,” said Balek, whose deciding goal earned him Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors. “All I had to do was touch it in.
“We were all tired (in the second OT), but we just kept our heads up and tried to take it home.”
Argo sealed the deal with 1:45 left. Another long send sprung Michael Budz in on the right side. His low 18-yard shot found the lower left corner of the net for a 3-1 final.
“Emotionally you let in a goal that you don’t feel is justly given,” McCarthy said, “and sure enough a minute later they basically get the same play going.”
Beyond that one-minute sequence, it was a strong debut night for the Dolphins.
“Our possession was great,” McCarthy said. “I don’t know what the percentage is but I would guess we were somewhere in the 70 percent range.
“But they (Argo) have some strong players that know how to counter. So they kind of wait, wait, wait and then find their opportunities to attack the other way.”
That strategy worked not only on the two OT strikes, but for a 1-0 Argo halftime lead as well.
A foul in the 25th minute seemingly set up a Young scoring chance, a 23-yard free kick for Dolphins midfielder Jake Gerenreich.
But a block of Gerenreich’s kick by Argo defender Daniel Ratulowski was followed by Jose Villagrana’s long clear upfield. With a sudden 1-v.-1 chance on a Young defender, Argo’s Adrian Pituch drove in and powered home a 14-yard shot for a 1-0 lead.
That goal overshadowed a quality half for Young.
Defensively, goalkeeper Daniel Moderhack made a nice short hop save on a tough 20-yard skipping drive by Argo’s Sami Madoui four minutes in, and defender Alex Espino made a nice steal 25 yards out to deny a 1-v.-1 attack by Argo’s Budz.
Offensively, Gerenraich’s high 20-yard blast was blocked by Argo goalkeeper Antonio Ramirez in the ninth minute.
Five minutes later, a push initiated by Elias Guzman and Alan Gaytan was capped by an end line cross from Gabriel Regalado. That resulted in a Gerenraich header in front that was blocked and cleared.
While Young’s first half bids to finish were denied, the second half began in style.
Just 3:05 into the half, a nice diagonal cross from Jonathan Perez narrowly missed connection with Aidan Chapman’s header attempt at the back (left) post.
But a hustling Regalado corralled the loose ball and lined a shot just inside the left post to tie the game 1-1 with 31:55 left in regulation of the 70-minute match.
“I initially thought I was going to get the ball (on the cross),” Regalado said, “and then I saw that Aidan, our tall guy, was going to flick it. I thought he would have scored, but he missed (the header), and I was there for the rebound.
“We just had to fix the mentality, show no mercy,” Regalado added about the Dolphins’ push to tie the match. “Give everything we had and try to think of everything coach taught us.
For Argo, the tying goal marked a turning point in defensive execution.
“We were off on our marks and were chasing instead of switching,” Argonauts coach John Gaytan said. “When we started switching we were able to pick it up a little more later in the second half.
“In the first (half) they were criss-crossing, and we weren’t picking it up. They were taking us apart with that.”
Five minutes after the tying goal, Moderhack came up big to preserve the draw. With Balek in on goal, the Young goalkeeper raced out to snuff the shot attempt at the top of the box and dive on the loose ball.
Young’s offense would answer with two of its own chances – an Owen Anderson 28-yard one-timer just over the net with 21:10 left, then a nicely executed set piece from distance with 13 minutes to go in regulation.
Anderson’s 42-yard free kick set up a back-to-the goal 8-yard header attempt by Chapman, but Argo goalkeeper Ramirez made the catch save.
“I thought our midfield played really well,” McCarthy said. “Gabriel Regalado was the goal scorer and played really well, and Jake Gerenraich played really well. And so did Aidan Chapman.
“I think it’s just a matter of, we play a formation that really is contingent on moving balls into certain areas, and we just have to trust that strategy and find those passes a little more regularly than trying to put everything up the middle.”
After Moderhack made two saves on shots from 20 yards in a 30-second span of play with 11:10 left, the two teams each just missed winning finishes in the final 7:15 of regulation.
First, a cross off a corner kick by Young’s Guzman just missed a Chapman flick attempt at the back post. Then with 5:30 to go, a low 22-yard drive by Argo’s Budz went just wide of the left post and a diving Moderhack.
Young closed regulation with a flurry of set pieces – four corner kicks (two sequences of back-to-back corners) and a 55-yard free kick in the final four minutes. But a Gerenraich shot try in front blocked out of bounds with 30 seconds left was the lone decent scoring bid.
Then after a quiet first five-minute overtime with just one Argo shot wide of frame, Young endured the heartbreaking second OT.
“I would have been content going to PKs, because we have experience doing that with this returning group,” McCarthy said. “But Argo did it in the second half of the overtime and made us pay.”
Said Argo coach Gaytan: “We noticed on the counter they weren’t getting back fast, so we felt we had a chance there. At the end we made some adjustments on the counter, and that really helped.”
But one game into the season, the tough loss is no cause for panic on the Young side.
“As a team we need to focus on teamwork and just keep relentlessly working hard,” co-captain Regalado said. “It doesn’t matter if we win or lose as long as we work hard, but we should have a good season if that happens.
“We learn from our mistakes. We should fix things immediately in practice tomorrow so we can hopefully progress from the next game on. We’ll hopefully get a ‘W’ (Thursday) and keep running from there.”
McCarthy is confident of just that.
“We have a large returning group,” McCarthy said. “Obviously we graduated a couple of quote-unquote stars, but ultimately we only graduated four or five starters. So we have a good core coming back.
“It’s just a matter of developing chemistry with the new guys that came up from JV. But we’ll be good. I like kind of being under the radar right now. And as we go we’ll get a lot better.”
Starting lineups
Young
GK Daniel Moderhack
D Alex Espino
D Esme McCarthy
D Jonathan Perez
D Jake Davidson
M Alan Gaytan
M Rodney Bejabeng
M Gabe Regalado
M Jake Gerenraich
F Elias Guzman
F Aidan Chapman
Argo
GK Antonio Ramirez
D Jose Villagrana
D Daniel Ratulowski
D Patrick Swiatkowski
D Reynaldo Acosta
M Sami Madoui
M Adrian Pituch
M Marco Martinez
M Angel Flores
F Michal Balek
F Michael Budz
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Michal Balek, jr., F, Argo
Scoring summary
First half
Argo – Adrian Pituch
Second half
Young – Gabe Regalado (Jonathan Perez assist)
First overtime
None
Second overtime
Argo – Michal Balek (Manuel Figueroa assist)
Argo – Michael Budz
Dolphins lose 3-1 to Argo in Windy City, season opener
By Dave Owen
SUMMIT – One play turned a solid season opener for Young into a 3-1 loss.
Tied 1-1 with host Argo in the second overtime of Tuesday’s first round of the Windy City Ram Classic, the Dolphins were hit for two counterattack goals in a span of 64 seconds and fell 3-1.
The tie-breaking goal with 2:49 left in the second OT was particularly agonizing. Argo’s Michal Balek took a pass upfield from Manuel Figueroa and, with two defenders in pursuit, lined a 12-yard shot inside the right post.
The origin of the breakaway was a subject of consternation for Young after the match.
“The blown offsides call obviously deflated us a little bit,” Young coach Ian McCarthy said. “The kid (Balek) is like five-yards off.
“Then after that (for the third goal) they just attacked right away.
“I think once we knew we weren’t going to get (the offside call), they (the two Young defenders) fought. But the kid had five yards on our last defender, and it was pretty easy pickings from there.”
Offside or not, Balek’s finish tipped the tight match into Argo’s favor and away from a looming penalty kick resolution.
“It was the assist. It was perfect, straight in front of me,” said Balek, whose deciding goal earned him Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors. “All I had to do was touch it in.
“We were all tired (in the second OT), but we just kept our heads up and tried to take it home.”
Argo sealed the deal with 1:45 left. Another long send sprung Michael Budz in on the right side. His low 18-yard shot found the lower left corner of the net for a 3-1 final.
“Emotionally you let in a goal that you don’t feel is justly given,” McCarthy said, “and sure enough a minute later they basically get the same play going.”
Beyond that one-minute sequence, it was a strong debut night for the Dolphins.
“Our possession was great,” McCarthy said. “I don’t know what the percentage is but I would guess we were somewhere in the 70 percent range.
“But they (Argo) have some strong players that know how to counter. So they kind of wait, wait, wait and then find their opportunities to attack the other way.”
That strategy worked not only on the two OT strikes, but for a 1-0 Argo halftime lead as well.
A foul in the 25th minute seemingly set up a Young scoring chance, a 23-yard free kick for Dolphins midfielder Jake Gerenreich.
But a block of Gerenreich’s kick by Argo defender Daniel Ratulowski was followed by Jose Villagrana’s long clear upfield. With a sudden 1-v.-1 chance on a Young defender, Argo’s Adrian Pituch drove in and powered home a 14-yard shot for a 1-0 lead.
That goal overshadowed a quality half for Young.
Defensively, goalkeeper Daniel Moderhack made a nice short hop save on a tough 20-yard skipping drive by Argo’s Sami Madoui four minutes in, and defender Alex Espino made a nice steal 25 yards out to deny a 1-v.-1 attack by Argo’s Budz.
Offensively, Gerenraich’s high 20-yard blast was blocked by Argo goalkeeper Antonio Ramirez in the ninth minute.
Five minutes later, a push initiated by Elias Guzman and Alan Gaytan was capped by an end line cross from Gabriel Regalado. That resulted in a Gerenraich header in front that was blocked and cleared.
While Young’s first half bids to finish were denied, the second half began in style.
Just 3:05 into the half, a nice diagonal cross from Jonathan Perez narrowly missed connection with Aidan Chapman’s header attempt at the back (left) post.
But a hustling Regalado corralled the loose ball and lined a shot just inside the left post to tie the game 1-1 with 31:55 left in regulation of the 70-minute match.
“I initially thought I was going to get the ball (on the cross),” Regalado said, “and then I saw that Aidan, our tall guy, was going to flick it. I thought he would have scored, but he missed (the header), and I was there for the rebound.
“We just had to fix the mentality, show no mercy,” Regalado added about the Dolphins’ push to tie the match. “Give everything we had and try to think of everything coach taught us.
For Argo, the tying goal marked a turning point in defensive execution.
“We were off on our marks and were chasing instead of switching,” Argonauts coach John Gaytan said. “When we started switching we were able to pick it up a little more later in the second half.
“In the first (half) they were criss-crossing, and we weren’t picking it up. They were taking us apart with that.”
Five minutes after the tying goal, Moderhack came up big to preserve the draw. With Balek in on goal, the Young goalkeeper raced out to snuff the shot attempt at the top of the box and dive on the loose ball.
Young’s offense would answer with two of its own chances – an Owen Anderson 28-yard one-timer just over the net with 21:10 left, then a nicely executed set piece from distance with 13 minutes to go in regulation.
Anderson’s 42-yard free kick set up a back-to-the goal 8-yard header attempt by Chapman, but Argo goalkeeper Ramirez made the catch save.
“I thought our midfield played really well,” McCarthy said. “Gabriel Regalado was the goal scorer and played really well, and Jake Gerenraich played really well. And so did Aidan Chapman.
“I think it’s just a matter of, we play a formation that really is contingent on moving balls into certain areas, and we just have to trust that strategy and find those passes a little more regularly than trying to put everything up the middle.”
After Moderhack made two saves on shots from 20 yards in a 30-second span of play with 11:10 left, the two teams each just missed winning finishes in the final 7:15 of regulation.
First, a cross off a corner kick by Young’s Guzman just missed a Chapman flick attempt at the back post. Then with 5:30 to go, a low 22-yard drive by Argo’s Budz went just wide of the left post and a diving Moderhack.
Young closed regulation with a flurry of set pieces – four corner kicks (two sequences of back-to-back corners) and a 55-yard free kick in the final four minutes. But a Gerenraich shot try in front blocked out of bounds with 30 seconds left was the lone decent scoring bid.
Then after a quiet first five-minute overtime with just one Argo shot wide of frame, Young endured the heartbreaking second OT.
“I would have been content going to PKs, because we have experience doing that with this returning group,” McCarthy said. “But Argo did it in the second half of the overtime and made us pay.”
Said Argo coach Gaytan: “We noticed on the counter they weren’t getting back fast, so we felt we had a chance there. At the end we made some adjustments on the counter, and that really helped.”
But one game into the season, the tough loss is no cause for panic on the Young side.
“As a team we need to focus on teamwork and just keep relentlessly working hard,” co-captain Regalado said. “It doesn’t matter if we win or lose as long as we work hard, but we should have a good season if that happens.
“We learn from our mistakes. We should fix things immediately in practice tomorrow so we can hopefully progress from the next game on. We’ll hopefully get a ‘W’ (Thursday) and keep running from there.”
McCarthy is confident of just that.
“We have a large returning group,” McCarthy said. “Obviously we graduated a couple of quote-unquote stars, but ultimately we only graduated four or five starters. So we have a good core coming back.
“It’s just a matter of developing chemistry with the new guys that came up from JV. But we’ll be good. I like kind of being under the radar right now. And as we go we’ll get a lot better.”
Starting lineups
Young
GK Daniel Moderhack
D Alex Espino
D Esme McCarthy
D Jonathan Perez
D Jake Davidson
M Alan Gaytan
M Rodney Bejabeng
M Gabe Regalado
M Jake Gerenraich
F Elias Guzman
F Aidan Chapman
Argo
GK Antonio Ramirez
D Jose Villagrana
D Daniel Ratulowski
D Patrick Swiatkowski
D Reynaldo Acosta
M Sami Madoui
M Adrian Pituch
M Marco Martinez
M Angel Flores
F Michal Balek
F Michael Budz
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Michal Balek, jr., F, Argo
Scoring summary
First half
Argo – Adrian Pituch
Second half
Young – Gabe Regalado (Jonathan Perez assist)
First overtime
None
Second overtime
Argo – Michal Balek (Manuel Figueroa assist)
Argo – Michael Budz