Fremd holds off St. Charles East
Vikings post 2-0 road win in no. 2 vs. no. 3 battle
By Gary Larsen
ST. CHARLES — During Fremd’s 2-0 win at St. Charles East Thursday, the goalmouth at the south end of the Saints’ home field gave Fremd’s Beck Smolak a place to shine.
Twice.
First, a Fremd corner kick in the first half ultimately fell to his feet and the defender hammered it home at the goal line to give the Vikings a 1-0 halftime lead.
“I just knew we had to put one away against a great team like this,” Smolak said. “We had to put away our chances, and that was definitely a big chance.”
After an own-goal by the Saints put Fremd up 2-0 early in the second half, Smolak’s second big moment arrived and called for the guts of a cat burglar.
With his goalkeeper Robby Remian off his line and a ball slowly bouncing toward an open net, Smolak retreated to nearly the same spot on the same goal line where he scored.
With a crowd closing in on the ball, he passed it across the goalmouth to teammate Caden Statz, whose goal line clear helped to preserve the shutout.
“I kind of headed it twice, and then I was like ‘Caden, take it!’” Smolak said. “After their own goal I did not want to risk it.”
For his crucial and timely play in Fremd's 10th-straight win, Smolak earned Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match honor.
Fremd, ranked second in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, improved to 12-1-1 with the nonconference win over third-ranked St. Charles East, which fell to 13-2-0.
The Saints have averaged more than four goals per game this season as one of Illinois’ top teams. Thursday’s game marked the first time this fall that a team held St. Charles East scoreless. The last time the Fighting Saints had been blanked was 19 games ago in a 1-0 loss to no. 6 Naperville North last spring.
“That’s really good. I didn’t realize that,” Fremd coach Steve Keller said. “But they could have had a couple tonight, and we were fortunate. I’m pleased overall; the effort was great. But we’ve got to shore things up, because they had some dangerous chances.”
On Tuesday, St. Charles East won 4-0 over St. Charles North in a typically emotional crosstown rivalry game. Saints coach Vince DiNuzzo applauded Fremd’s play Thursday but didn’t see the edge he would have liked to see from his side in the loss.
“It was kind of an underwhelming performance,” DiNuzzo said. “We came off a night where we were kind of on a high, and I thought we just kind of went through the motions tonight. We really weren’t ourselves, and I hopefully we learn from this.”
Fremd opened up the evenings slate of scoring chances with a Statz header that flew just high in the third minute. Fremd keeper Remian smothered a ball on the foot of St. Charles East’s Sebastian Carranza two minutes later. In the seventh minute, Fremd’s Brandon Wozniak took a ball to the end line on the right side and crossed it, but teammate Eli Schoffstall couldn’t quite get a foot on it.
Smolak cleared a dangerous through-ball with Carranza bearing down on him in the eighth minute, and Remian saved a Carranza header from 10 yards in the 17th minute.
Chicagoland Soccer all-stater Carranza has scored 27 of St. Charles East’s 60 goals this season. The Saints’ senior striker nearly capitalized on a Fremd defensive miscue in the 28th minute, but Vikings defender Braden Roos tracked back and cleaned Carranza’s shot from the goalmouth.
“We have to tighten things up in back,” Smolak said. “They definitely could have scored a couple goals tonight. We got lucky.”
Fremd’s Will Mayer broke in alone on net in the 19th minute but Saints keeper Jordan Rolon came out to make a fine sliding stop. The sophomore saved an Amar Patel shot at the post in the 23rd minute.
Rolon punched away a cross in the 35th minute from Fremd’s Kenan Mesic before the game saw its first goal three minutes later.
“It was a corner from Ryan Sapiente,” Smolak said. “He whipped it in, it bounced, and Caden Statz was back-post. He headed it into the middle, it dropped, and all I had to do was (finish).”
The Saints’ own-goal came in the 51st minute, when they misplayed a serve from deep on the right side by Fremd’s Leo Akashi.
“Credit to (Fremd), they’re very well-rounded,” DiNuzzo said. “But we just didn’t have it tonight. We needed that first goal to get going, and then that own-goal was kind of the dagger. So the two goals we gave up were just not great from us.”
Remian saved a Joshua Ruiz shot in the 52nd minute, and Rolon made a fine save at the post on a blistered shot off the foot of Fremd’s Joey Rodino in the 57th.
Smolak’s defensive goal-line play came next. Fremd made a bid for a third goal, but Rolon made another good save in the 59th minute on an Akashi shot from 10 yards.
The save of the day came from Remian after the Saints’ Mason Brockmeyer hit a screamer from 16 yards in the 70th minute. The keeper dived to his left and swatted the shot past the post and over the end line.
The dramatic stop stood as an exclamation point on Fremd’s shutout.
“We defend as a whole team, from our forwards all the way to our defense, and our goalie made some great saves,” Smolak said.“I liked how we competed. The final 15 minutes was getting really scrappy, and I liked how physical we kept playing.”
St. Charles East, which saw its eight-game win streak end, were left to ponder the what ifs, almosts, and just abouts that took place in the loss.
“We created enough chances, had a breakaway in the second half, a ball served in that we missed,” DiNuzzo said. “So we had some good chances. But we didn’t play how we wanted to tonight. Some of that’s what (Fremd) did, but most of it is our kids just not being up for it tonight. We were flat. Hopefully it’s a learning experience.”
DiNuzzo applauded the play of defender Connor Brown, while Keller liked what he got from defenders Roos, Smolak, and Statz among others.
“I thought (midfielder) Dimitri Vlahos played a very solid game, and he always does,” Keller said. “Brandon Wozniak and Joey Rodino in the midfield, and Eli (Schoffstall) played different roles for us tonight as the attacker and then at midfield, where he kind of calmed everything down for us.”
St. Charles East aims to bounce back from only their second loss of the season.
“I think we’re headed in the right direction, and we probably needed a game like this,” DiNuzzo said. “Now we’ve got one against no. 6 Naperville North (on Oct. 7), so hopefully these games get us prepared for the playoff push we’ll need.”
Starting lineups
Fremd
GK Robby Remian
D Beck Smolak
D Braden Roos
D Caden Statz
MF Dimitri Vlahos
MF Ryan Sapiente
MF Will Mayer
MF Joey Rodino
MF Brandon Wozniak
F Eli Schoffstall
F Christian Tirado
St. Charles East
GK Jordan Rolon
D Connor King
D Aaron Frost
D Jake Walker
MF Phil Anton
MF Luca Avendano
MF Mason Blenner
MF Joshua Ruiz
MF Jack Harrington
F Sebastian Carranza
F Will Orloff
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Beck Smolak, sr., D, Fremd
Scoring summary
First half
Fremd — Smolak (Statz) 38th minute
Second half
Fremd — Own-goal (Akashi send) 51st minute
Vikings post 2-0 road win in no. 2 vs. no. 3 battle
By Gary Larsen
ST. CHARLES — During Fremd’s 2-0 win at St. Charles East Thursday, the goalmouth at the south end of the Saints’ home field gave Fremd’s Beck Smolak a place to shine.
Twice.
First, a Fremd corner kick in the first half ultimately fell to his feet and the defender hammered it home at the goal line to give the Vikings a 1-0 halftime lead.
“I just knew we had to put one away against a great team like this,” Smolak said. “We had to put away our chances, and that was definitely a big chance.”
After an own-goal by the Saints put Fremd up 2-0 early in the second half, Smolak’s second big moment arrived and called for the guts of a cat burglar.
With his goalkeeper Robby Remian off his line and a ball slowly bouncing toward an open net, Smolak retreated to nearly the same spot on the same goal line where he scored.
With a crowd closing in on the ball, he passed it across the goalmouth to teammate Caden Statz, whose goal line clear helped to preserve the shutout.
“I kind of headed it twice, and then I was like ‘Caden, take it!’” Smolak said. “After their own goal I did not want to risk it.”
For his crucial and timely play in Fremd's 10th-straight win, Smolak earned Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match honor.
Fremd, ranked second in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, improved to 12-1-1 with the nonconference win over third-ranked St. Charles East, which fell to 13-2-0.
The Saints have averaged more than four goals per game this season as one of Illinois’ top teams. Thursday’s game marked the first time this fall that a team held St. Charles East scoreless. The last time the Fighting Saints had been blanked was 19 games ago in a 1-0 loss to no. 6 Naperville North last spring.
“That’s really good. I didn’t realize that,” Fremd coach Steve Keller said. “But they could have had a couple tonight, and we were fortunate. I’m pleased overall; the effort was great. But we’ve got to shore things up, because they had some dangerous chances.”
On Tuesday, St. Charles East won 4-0 over St. Charles North in a typically emotional crosstown rivalry game. Saints coach Vince DiNuzzo applauded Fremd’s play Thursday but didn’t see the edge he would have liked to see from his side in the loss.
“It was kind of an underwhelming performance,” DiNuzzo said. “We came off a night where we were kind of on a high, and I thought we just kind of went through the motions tonight. We really weren’t ourselves, and I hopefully we learn from this.”
Fremd opened up the evenings slate of scoring chances with a Statz header that flew just high in the third minute. Fremd keeper Remian smothered a ball on the foot of St. Charles East’s Sebastian Carranza two minutes later. In the seventh minute, Fremd’s Brandon Wozniak took a ball to the end line on the right side and crossed it, but teammate Eli Schoffstall couldn’t quite get a foot on it.
Smolak cleared a dangerous through-ball with Carranza bearing down on him in the eighth minute, and Remian saved a Carranza header from 10 yards in the 17th minute.
Chicagoland Soccer all-stater Carranza has scored 27 of St. Charles East’s 60 goals this season. The Saints’ senior striker nearly capitalized on a Fremd defensive miscue in the 28th minute, but Vikings defender Braden Roos tracked back and cleaned Carranza’s shot from the goalmouth.
“We have to tighten things up in back,” Smolak said. “They definitely could have scored a couple goals tonight. We got lucky.”
Fremd’s Will Mayer broke in alone on net in the 19th minute but Saints keeper Jordan Rolon came out to make a fine sliding stop. The sophomore saved an Amar Patel shot at the post in the 23rd minute.
Rolon punched away a cross in the 35th minute from Fremd’s Kenan Mesic before the game saw its first goal three minutes later.
“It was a corner from Ryan Sapiente,” Smolak said. “He whipped it in, it bounced, and Caden Statz was back-post. He headed it into the middle, it dropped, and all I had to do was (finish).”
The Saints’ own-goal came in the 51st minute, when they misplayed a serve from deep on the right side by Fremd’s Leo Akashi.
“Credit to (Fremd), they’re very well-rounded,” DiNuzzo said. “But we just didn’t have it tonight. We needed that first goal to get going, and then that own-goal was kind of the dagger. So the two goals we gave up were just not great from us.”
Remian saved a Joshua Ruiz shot in the 52nd minute, and Rolon made a fine save at the post on a blistered shot off the foot of Fremd’s Joey Rodino in the 57th.
Smolak’s defensive goal-line play came next. Fremd made a bid for a third goal, but Rolon made another good save in the 59th minute on an Akashi shot from 10 yards.
The save of the day came from Remian after the Saints’ Mason Brockmeyer hit a screamer from 16 yards in the 70th minute. The keeper dived to his left and swatted the shot past the post and over the end line.
The dramatic stop stood as an exclamation point on Fremd’s shutout.
“We defend as a whole team, from our forwards all the way to our defense, and our goalie made some great saves,” Smolak said.“I liked how we competed. The final 15 minutes was getting really scrappy, and I liked how physical we kept playing.”
St. Charles East, which saw its eight-game win streak end, were left to ponder the what ifs, almosts, and just abouts that took place in the loss.
“We created enough chances, had a breakaway in the second half, a ball served in that we missed,” DiNuzzo said. “So we had some good chances. But we didn’t play how we wanted to tonight. Some of that’s what (Fremd) did, but most of it is our kids just not being up for it tonight. We were flat. Hopefully it’s a learning experience.”
DiNuzzo applauded the play of defender Connor Brown, while Keller liked what he got from defenders Roos, Smolak, and Statz among others.
“I thought (midfielder) Dimitri Vlahos played a very solid game, and he always does,” Keller said. “Brandon Wozniak and Joey Rodino in the midfield, and Eli (Schoffstall) played different roles for us tonight as the attacker and then at midfield, where he kind of calmed everything down for us.”
St. Charles East aims to bounce back from only their second loss of the season.
“I think we’re headed in the right direction, and we probably needed a game like this,” DiNuzzo said. “Now we’ve got one against no. 6 Naperville North (on Oct. 7), so hopefully these games get us prepared for the playoff push we’ll need.”
Starting lineups
Fremd
GK Robby Remian
D Beck Smolak
D Braden Roos
D Caden Statz
MF Dimitri Vlahos
MF Ryan Sapiente
MF Will Mayer
MF Joey Rodino
MF Brandon Wozniak
F Eli Schoffstall
F Christian Tirado
St. Charles East
GK Jordan Rolon
D Connor King
D Aaron Frost
D Jake Walker
MF Phil Anton
MF Luca Avendano
MF Mason Blenner
MF Joshua Ruiz
MF Jack Harrington
F Sebastian Carranza
F Will Orloff
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Beck Smolak, sr., D, Fremd
Scoring summary
First half
Fremd — Smolak (Statz) 38th minute
Second half
Fremd — Own-goal (Akashi send) 51st minute