Young gets after it early to top Solorio
Wimberly puts Dolphins back in Premier Division race
By John Wilkinson
CHICAGO -- Young’s Evan Wimberly was full of confidence as he cut onto his right foot more than 25 yards from goal in the 19th minute Wednesday at McKinley Park.
“Honestly, normally when we do warmups I take shots and I usually miss. But today I made a couple, and I was feeling pretty good going into the game,” Wimberly said. “So when I got a shot like we do in warmups it was just kind of natural, and it went in.”
The forward had already helped create the Dolphins’ opening goal. So after feeling it in the pregame, he found himself in the middle of the pitch with a bit of space to shoot. He picked out the top-left corner from distance and let it rip.
While it may generally be considered a low-percentage chance, Young coach Ian McCarthy said he didn’t have any concern when the senior hit it.
“No, because we’ve seen him do it,” said McCarthy of the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match. “We have actually worked quite a bit on finishing as of late. He spent the summer down in South America. I don’t know how much he played because he was with an academic trip, so we knew it was going to take him a while to get his touch back.
"But last year he put in some pretty important goals for us so it’s just a matter of time before he gets that feeling back and we trust him with that.
“He was our MVP last year, scored some goals that kind of saved our season, and honestly I trust him with that shot.”
After taking an early 2-0 lead and gaining a 3-1 halftime edge with a 40t-minute tally, the Dolphins held on to beat Solorio 3-2 in aChicago Public League Premier Division match.
“I just feel like we came out with a lot more energy than Solorio,” Young captain and game-winning goal scorer Josue Espinoza said. “We were pressuring, we wanted it more, and we just put them under a lot of pressure. They’re a good team, and I know they can pass the ball, but we weren’t allowing them to because of our high pressure.”
The Dolphins (6-4-2, 2-1-1) grabbed the lead in the sixth minute. Wimberly picked up the ball in the midfield, drove into Solorio territory from the right wing and lofted a serve toward the far post.
“I was going to cut outside and go around, but I saw the defender checking out. So I just cut in and found Jake on the corner,” Wimberly said.
Young’s Jake Gerenraich was there at the back post and even though his shot was saved, Aidan Chapman was on the spot to tap it in.
“His speed, once he gets going, it’s good and it puts defenses under pressure and opens up things for other players,” McCarthy said of Wimberly. “I think at some points I saw two guys kind of tracking him, and that says a lot about what the other team’s worried about.”
Wimberly’s long-distance strike made it 2-0 for the Dolphins in the 19th minute.
“Real happy with our offensive game coming around as of late,” McCarthy said. “We’ve been scoring goals, and it feels good to sometimes get some luck in there as well with a loose ball we can just jump on the end of. ...
“We tell the boys ‘trust your runs’ so even if it looks like the play is breaking down or you no longer have a chance, just stay faithful to it. We don’t mind our strikers taking an extra few steps. We’ve got eight players behind them to defend, and we’re not really worried about them taking a chance to defend from time to time. But when you get strikes like Evan’s, the upper-90 blast from 25 yards out, you know things are going to go your way.”
Solorio (6-5-3, 1-2-2) responded well to the second goal, getting on the board just three minutes later. In the 22nd minute, Sun Warriors freshman Misael Rodriguez received a ball from Ricardo Silva-Torres, danced past a couple defenders and finished calmly into the bottom left corner.
Young added its third in the final minute of the first half. Once again it ended with a runner in a good place for a rebound. This time it was senior Espinoza who tapped in a rebound from a powerful Elias Guzman free kick.
“I was just hoping that Elias could put it on frame, because I remember that he’s scored some really nice goals. And if the goalie blocked that, I knew he was going to fumble it,” Espinoza said. “… So I was just hoping he could fumble the ball, and I’d be right there -- right place, right time.”
The second half was largely a stalemate of half-chances and near misses. McCarthy praised Solorio’s back third, anchored by four saves from goalkeeper Bryan Rangel, as “one of the most organized defenses we’ve played against.”
With Solorio pitching a second half shutout and its offense pressing, the Sun Warriors were able to pull a goal back.
In the 72nd minute, Rodriguez got through the Young defense again, this time on the end of a David Gamez pass, and dinked a finish past Dolphins goalkeeper Dixon O'Banion.
“We were hustling. Obviously we were hustling more (in the second half),” senior Silva-Torres said. “We were actually playing our game, the way we play, and we were actually defending.”
Despite drawing within one and pressing for the equalizer over the final eight minutes, the Sun Warriors couldn’t crack O'Banion, who had two saves in the win.
The loss was Solorio’s second-consecutive conference defeat. Young, in contrast, has now won two straight in division play and six of its last seven overall. The Dolphins have scored 19 goals in that seven-game stretch.
“We were struggling in the beginning to score goals but we switched the formation and now it’s paying off. And it’s guys just wanting it more and scoring more goals,” Wimberly said.
Starting lineups
Solorio
GK: Bryan Rangel
D: Jonathan Vasquez
D: Omar Salgado
D: Oscar Ramirez
D: Eduardo Franco
MF: David Gamez
MF: Jose Solis
MF: Luis Batalla
MF: David Diaz
MF: Ricardo Silva-Torres
F: Alex Sanchez
Young
GK: Dixon O'Banion
D: Esme McCarthy
D: Christion Rice
D: Alex Espino
D: Jonathan Perez
MF: Jake Gerenraich
MF: Josue Espinoza
MF: Francisco Rojas
MF: Elias Guzman
F: Evan Wimberly
F: Aidan Chapman
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Evan Wimberly, sr., F, Young
Scoring summary
First half
Y – Aidan Chapman (Jake Gerenraich and Evan Wimberly), 6’
Y – Evan Wimberly (unassisted), 19’
S – Misael Rodriguez (Ricardo Silva-Torres), 22’
Y – Josue Espinoza (Elias Guzman), 40’
Second half
S – Misael Rodriguez (David Gamez), 72’
Wimberly puts Dolphins back in Premier Division race
By John Wilkinson
CHICAGO -- Young’s Evan Wimberly was full of confidence as he cut onto his right foot more than 25 yards from goal in the 19th minute Wednesday at McKinley Park.
“Honestly, normally when we do warmups I take shots and I usually miss. But today I made a couple, and I was feeling pretty good going into the game,” Wimberly said. “So when I got a shot like we do in warmups it was just kind of natural, and it went in.”
The forward had already helped create the Dolphins’ opening goal. So after feeling it in the pregame, he found himself in the middle of the pitch with a bit of space to shoot. He picked out the top-left corner from distance and let it rip.
While it may generally be considered a low-percentage chance, Young coach Ian McCarthy said he didn’t have any concern when the senior hit it.
“No, because we’ve seen him do it,” said McCarthy of the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match. “We have actually worked quite a bit on finishing as of late. He spent the summer down in South America. I don’t know how much he played because he was with an academic trip, so we knew it was going to take him a while to get his touch back.
"But last year he put in some pretty important goals for us so it’s just a matter of time before he gets that feeling back and we trust him with that.
“He was our MVP last year, scored some goals that kind of saved our season, and honestly I trust him with that shot.”
After taking an early 2-0 lead and gaining a 3-1 halftime edge with a 40t-minute tally, the Dolphins held on to beat Solorio 3-2 in aChicago Public League Premier Division match.
“I just feel like we came out with a lot more energy than Solorio,” Young captain and game-winning goal scorer Josue Espinoza said. “We were pressuring, we wanted it more, and we just put them under a lot of pressure. They’re a good team, and I know they can pass the ball, but we weren’t allowing them to because of our high pressure.”
The Dolphins (6-4-2, 2-1-1) grabbed the lead in the sixth minute. Wimberly picked up the ball in the midfield, drove into Solorio territory from the right wing and lofted a serve toward the far post.
“I was going to cut outside and go around, but I saw the defender checking out. So I just cut in and found Jake on the corner,” Wimberly said.
Young’s Jake Gerenraich was there at the back post and even though his shot was saved, Aidan Chapman was on the spot to tap it in.
“His speed, once he gets going, it’s good and it puts defenses under pressure and opens up things for other players,” McCarthy said of Wimberly. “I think at some points I saw two guys kind of tracking him, and that says a lot about what the other team’s worried about.”
Wimberly’s long-distance strike made it 2-0 for the Dolphins in the 19th minute.
“Real happy with our offensive game coming around as of late,” McCarthy said. “We’ve been scoring goals, and it feels good to sometimes get some luck in there as well with a loose ball we can just jump on the end of. ...
“We tell the boys ‘trust your runs’ so even if it looks like the play is breaking down or you no longer have a chance, just stay faithful to it. We don’t mind our strikers taking an extra few steps. We’ve got eight players behind them to defend, and we’re not really worried about them taking a chance to defend from time to time. But when you get strikes like Evan’s, the upper-90 blast from 25 yards out, you know things are going to go your way.”
Solorio (6-5-3, 1-2-2) responded well to the second goal, getting on the board just three minutes later. In the 22nd minute, Sun Warriors freshman Misael Rodriguez received a ball from Ricardo Silva-Torres, danced past a couple defenders and finished calmly into the bottom left corner.
Young added its third in the final minute of the first half. Once again it ended with a runner in a good place for a rebound. This time it was senior Espinoza who tapped in a rebound from a powerful Elias Guzman free kick.
“I was just hoping that Elias could put it on frame, because I remember that he’s scored some really nice goals. And if the goalie blocked that, I knew he was going to fumble it,” Espinoza said. “… So I was just hoping he could fumble the ball, and I’d be right there -- right place, right time.”
The second half was largely a stalemate of half-chances and near misses. McCarthy praised Solorio’s back third, anchored by four saves from goalkeeper Bryan Rangel, as “one of the most organized defenses we’ve played against.”
With Solorio pitching a second half shutout and its offense pressing, the Sun Warriors were able to pull a goal back.
In the 72nd minute, Rodriguez got through the Young defense again, this time on the end of a David Gamez pass, and dinked a finish past Dolphins goalkeeper Dixon O'Banion.
“We were hustling. Obviously we were hustling more (in the second half),” senior Silva-Torres said. “We were actually playing our game, the way we play, and we were actually defending.”
Despite drawing within one and pressing for the equalizer over the final eight minutes, the Sun Warriors couldn’t crack O'Banion, who had two saves in the win.
The loss was Solorio’s second-consecutive conference defeat. Young, in contrast, has now won two straight in division play and six of its last seven overall. The Dolphins have scored 19 goals in that seven-game stretch.
“We were struggling in the beginning to score goals but we switched the formation and now it’s paying off. And it’s guys just wanting it more and scoring more goals,” Wimberly said.
Starting lineups
Solorio
GK: Bryan Rangel
D: Jonathan Vasquez
D: Omar Salgado
D: Oscar Ramirez
D: Eduardo Franco
MF: David Gamez
MF: Jose Solis
MF: Luis Batalla
MF: David Diaz
MF: Ricardo Silva-Torres
F: Alex Sanchez
Young
GK: Dixon O'Banion
D: Esme McCarthy
D: Christion Rice
D: Alex Espino
D: Jonathan Perez
MF: Jake Gerenraich
MF: Josue Espinoza
MF: Francisco Rojas
MF: Elias Guzman
F: Evan Wimberly
F: Aidan Chapman
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Evan Wimberly, sr., F, Young
Scoring summary
First half
Y – Aidan Chapman (Jake Gerenraich and Evan Wimberly), 6’
Y – Evan Wimberly (unassisted), 19’
S – Misael Rodriguez (Ricardo Silva-Torres), 22’
Y – Josue Espinoza (Elias Guzman), 40’
Second half
S – Misael Rodriguez (David Gamez), 72’