Fremd-Barrington showdown plays
out in a different light
By Mike Garofola
It has been a rather strange first half of the season in the Mid-Suburban League. Most expected 2021 Class 3A state runnerup Fremd to be a force again and longtime league rival Barrington, despite plenty of inexperience, to be close to the top of the table.
The Broncos (5-4-3, 1-2-2) appeared on course after a terrific 100-minute performance against no. 10 Conant in its own tournament final on Labor Day weekend, but has since slipped on the proverbial banana peel. Fremd has had trouble getting its feet underneath it since that same holiday weekend.
We are officially at the halfway point of the 2022 campaign, and it's safe to say the Broncos, in advance of Saturday's 5 p.m. home contest are looking to hop, skip or jump into the MSL West race with six games remaining in league play.
"We had a good start to the season, but mistakes have led to big goals from our opponents," said Broncos keeper Iker Villagomez. “It’s had a negative impact on us, so we've got to turn that negative energy around to make it all positive if we want to finish strong.”
The keeper experienced a once in a lifetime moment when he scored as close as you can come to a buzzer-beater that eventually forced overtime and an eventual 1-1 final on Palatine’s Senior Night.
"Our coaches told me to go up for a corner with 30 seconds left in the game, but the first, and second corner produced nothing," began the senior.
"The third corner with five seconds left, Jack Peterson puts the ball at the second post. Mat Klujian gets to it, puts it back into the mix and back to me, and I head the ball in with just one second left on the clock.
"Everyone went crazy, and for me, at that moment, I was in shock because I had scored my first goal ever in my career as a keeper."
The Broncos currently trail division leader Conant 12-5.
"We are so young for a varsity team, and we've had trouble scoring goals,” Villagomez said. “Our backline has been real steady, and it's about to get even better with the return of Mattie Vitale, whose been out with an injury all season.
"We’ve been playing with four in the back with Klujian, who's a great defender, along with Logan Cidulka, Paco Hernandez and Adam Walocha, but the addition of Mattie will be big for us."
Villagomez had been doing a great in his day job. His goals against average sits at 0.93 to go along with four clean-sheets. He recorded 4.75 a year ago while sharing time with teammate Alex Hackney.
Vitale, who was a member of the Libertyville 74s national championship team last summer, should slide in as one of the Broncos center backs.
"This team has the ability to be so much better," offered Villagomez. “We have good depth, and we play a good style of soccer. From here on out, we've got to give 110 percent each every time we train and play.”
While neither manager, Villagomez or Fremd senior Ronan Allord will use inexperience as an excuse for a less than sparkling first half of the season, there's no denying both clubs saw their 2021 starting 11s slashed to pieces.
Between the two clubs, 15 of 22 starters graduated.
"Both teams got hit really hard from graduation. We lost all of an unbelievable backline that I doubt the program will have anything close to in the near future," said Allord, who saw spot time behind those first-class players.
"(We) also lost nearly all of our midfield as well, and three all-state players (defender Beck Smolak, midfielder Demitri Vlahos and forward Eli Schoffstall). With that said, we've kept it all in perspective, and we know there's plenty of talent still on our roster to get ourselves back in the division race and make a strong postseason run."
After a 2-0-2 start to the season, the Vikings, lost five of their next six matches. Since, they have worked their way back to even at 5-5-2 and are 3-2-0 in the league following its 5-1 away victory over Wheeling on Thursday night. Kosta Alex led the way to victory with a double.
"We need to clean things up, be more efficient on both sides of the ball, limit silly mistakes, because they have cost us in our own end," said Allord, who plays his club soccer at Schwaben AC.
"We have a lot of skill on this team, so if we can bring it all together, there's no doubt in my mind that we can have a great second half of the season."
In his spare time, the midfielder is working on his private pilot's license and recently applied to the Naval Academy and hopes to fly jets some day.
"You’re required to have 30-50 hours to earn a private pilot's license, and right now I have 13 hours under my belt," said Allord, who will play with a soft cast on a broken wrist sustained in the Vikings 1-0 loss to Conant.
Last year, Barrington prevented the Vikings from making a perfect run through conference with a 1-0 overtime win in the final league game. Fremd avenged the defeat with an impressive 4-0 win in the Palatine Sectional final.
out in a different light
By Mike Garofola
It has been a rather strange first half of the season in the Mid-Suburban League. Most expected 2021 Class 3A state runnerup Fremd to be a force again and longtime league rival Barrington, despite plenty of inexperience, to be close to the top of the table.
The Broncos (5-4-3, 1-2-2) appeared on course after a terrific 100-minute performance against no. 10 Conant in its own tournament final on Labor Day weekend, but has since slipped on the proverbial banana peel. Fremd has had trouble getting its feet underneath it since that same holiday weekend.
We are officially at the halfway point of the 2022 campaign, and it's safe to say the Broncos, in advance of Saturday's 5 p.m. home contest are looking to hop, skip or jump into the MSL West race with six games remaining in league play.
"We had a good start to the season, but mistakes have led to big goals from our opponents," said Broncos keeper Iker Villagomez. “It’s had a negative impact on us, so we've got to turn that negative energy around to make it all positive if we want to finish strong.”
The keeper experienced a once in a lifetime moment when he scored as close as you can come to a buzzer-beater that eventually forced overtime and an eventual 1-1 final on Palatine’s Senior Night.
"Our coaches told me to go up for a corner with 30 seconds left in the game, but the first, and second corner produced nothing," began the senior.
"The third corner with five seconds left, Jack Peterson puts the ball at the second post. Mat Klujian gets to it, puts it back into the mix and back to me, and I head the ball in with just one second left on the clock.
"Everyone went crazy, and for me, at that moment, I was in shock because I had scored my first goal ever in my career as a keeper."
The Broncos currently trail division leader Conant 12-5.
"We are so young for a varsity team, and we've had trouble scoring goals,” Villagomez said. “Our backline has been real steady, and it's about to get even better with the return of Mattie Vitale, whose been out with an injury all season.
"We’ve been playing with four in the back with Klujian, who's a great defender, along with Logan Cidulka, Paco Hernandez and Adam Walocha, but the addition of Mattie will be big for us."
Villagomez had been doing a great in his day job. His goals against average sits at 0.93 to go along with four clean-sheets. He recorded 4.75 a year ago while sharing time with teammate Alex Hackney.
Vitale, who was a member of the Libertyville 74s national championship team last summer, should slide in as one of the Broncos center backs.
"This team has the ability to be so much better," offered Villagomez. “We have good depth, and we play a good style of soccer. From here on out, we've got to give 110 percent each every time we train and play.”
While neither manager, Villagomez or Fremd senior Ronan Allord will use inexperience as an excuse for a less than sparkling first half of the season, there's no denying both clubs saw their 2021 starting 11s slashed to pieces.
Between the two clubs, 15 of 22 starters graduated.
"Both teams got hit really hard from graduation. We lost all of an unbelievable backline that I doubt the program will have anything close to in the near future," said Allord, who saw spot time behind those first-class players.
"(We) also lost nearly all of our midfield as well, and three all-state players (defender Beck Smolak, midfielder Demitri Vlahos and forward Eli Schoffstall). With that said, we've kept it all in perspective, and we know there's plenty of talent still on our roster to get ourselves back in the division race and make a strong postseason run."
After a 2-0-2 start to the season, the Vikings, lost five of their next six matches. Since, they have worked their way back to even at 5-5-2 and are 3-2-0 in the league following its 5-1 away victory over Wheeling on Thursday night. Kosta Alex led the way to victory with a double.
"We need to clean things up, be more efficient on both sides of the ball, limit silly mistakes, because they have cost us in our own end," said Allord, who plays his club soccer at Schwaben AC.
"We have a lot of skill on this team, so if we can bring it all together, there's no doubt in my mind that we can have a great second half of the season."
In his spare time, the midfielder is working on his private pilot's license and recently applied to the Naval Academy and hopes to fly jets some day.
"You’re required to have 30-50 hours to earn a private pilot's license, and right now I have 13 hours under my belt," said Allord, who will play with a soft cast on a broken wrist sustained in the Vikings 1-0 loss to Conant.
Last year, Barrington prevented the Vikings from making a perfect run through conference with a 1-0 overtime win in the final league game. Fremd avenged the defeat with an impressive 4-0 win in the Palatine Sectional final.