Leyden has its work cut out
for it at Willowbrook
By Bobby Narang
VILLA PARK – Two of the hottest teams in the West Suburban Conference Gold Conference are set to square off Tuesday night.
Willowbrook (10-7-3, 3-2-x) hosts Leyden (10-5-5, 4-1-x) at 6:30 p.m. in what’s expected to be a hotly contested match.
Leyden’s Mark Valintis said he has outlined a game plan for his players to follow in order to beat the Warriors, who have outscored their last four opponents by a whopping total of 25-6.
“They have had some nice wins this season, and we always have a real tough time with them at their place,” Valintis said. “We certainly have to come prepared to play. If we can take less touches on the ball, move off the ball when in possession, and connect our passes especially in the final third, we should be able to create some good chances. In our defensive third, we need to stay compact and move as a unit to and pressure them in the midfield to create turnovers and counterattacks.”
The Eagles started to turn their season around September 7 after a rough start against several high-profile teams. The Eagles’ first five games included a loss to city powerhouse and currently 20th-ranked Taft, a 3-3 tie with undefeated and sixth-ranked Stevenson, a 1-0 loss to always tough West Chicago, a 4-1 setback to Downers Grove North and a 3-0 defeat to no. 13 St. Charles East.
The current combined records of Leyden’s first five opponents are an impressive 56-22-10. Valintis said the tough early slate turned out to be a positive.
“It forced us to develop chemistry quicker and learn that training sessions were very important to work through some of our issues,” he said. “The reality is we played even with all those teams early on, we just could not finish to save our lives. We realized that we can play with anyone, but the moment you lose focus or come apart as a team, you pay the price. We had to be disciplined in our responsibilities and learn to put the team first.”
The Eagles went undefeated for nearly a month. Their 12-match undefeated streak ended in a 2-1 overtime loss to no. 4 Morton on Oct. 6.
“It was a tough one to lose,” Valintis said. “We scored early and probably were the better team in the first half. We just could not find that second goal. When they started to throw more numbers forward, we had some nice counters but just missed our chances. Then they scored with under 15 minutes left on a truly remarkable shot that we had perfectly defended, so we just had to tip our hat to them.
“Just before overtime, we went a man down and you just can't play Morton a man down and expect success. It was a great game by both teams, but we have to move on.”
The Eagles, Valintis said, have relied on a collective effort to be successful this season rather than the star approach. They conclude the regular-season at home in a nonconference match against Wheaton North on Thursday.
Leyden hosts a regional but will have a battle to get to the final. The 10-seed will meet sixth-seeded Maine South at 6 p.m. Oct. 18
The Eagles need their leaders to keep up their strong play.
“Javier Solis has been an absolute terror in our attack since moving up to forward,” Valintis said. “Stefano Andrino has moved into the midfield and those two switches have boosted our attack and goal-scoring ability.
“Oliver Salgado is our leading scorer, and Daniel Guevara has been on fire the past few weeks. Fabian Rodriguez has returned from injury to bolster our backline. In his absence, both Duvan Trujillo and William Rivera have been more than capable in shutting down opponents.
“Daniel Llanos, our sophomore goalkeeper, has been improving every game and has really shown why he’s a special talent in net.”
Willowbrook coach Victor Lopez credited his team's recent surge in scoring goals to the work it has done in practices. Lopez said Leyden is quality test late in the regular-season.
"We've been working on our finishing the last couple of weeks," Lopez said. "We noticed that we create a lot of opportunities, but our last decision wasn't the best. Now it looks that's been working better for us.
“We have some kids with a lot of experience. We have to just play our game and try not to make a lot of mistakes (against Leyden)."
The game concludes the Warriors regular-season.
Willowbrook will get a week to train before a tough opening assignment in the Class 3A playoffs. The Warriors are a 14th sectional seed and open the postseason at third-seeded and 15th-ranked Conant Oct. 19.
for it at Willowbrook
By Bobby Narang
VILLA PARK – Two of the hottest teams in the West Suburban Conference Gold Conference are set to square off Tuesday night.
Willowbrook (10-7-3, 3-2-x) hosts Leyden (10-5-5, 4-1-x) at 6:30 p.m. in what’s expected to be a hotly contested match.
Leyden’s Mark Valintis said he has outlined a game plan for his players to follow in order to beat the Warriors, who have outscored their last four opponents by a whopping total of 25-6.
“They have had some nice wins this season, and we always have a real tough time with them at their place,” Valintis said. “We certainly have to come prepared to play. If we can take less touches on the ball, move off the ball when in possession, and connect our passes especially in the final third, we should be able to create some good chances. In our defensive third, we need to stay compact and move as a unit to and pressure them in the midfield to create turnovers and counterattacks.”
The Eagles started to turn their season around September 7 after a rough start against several high-profile teams. The Eagles’ first five games included a loss to city powerhouse and currently 20th-ranked Taft, a 3-3 tie with undefeated and sixth-ranked Stevenson, a 1-0 loss to always tough West Chicago, a 4-1 setback to Downers Grove North and a 3-0 defeat to no. 13 St. Charles East.
The current combined records of Leyden’s first five opponents are an impressive 56-22-10. Valintis said the tough early slate turned out to be a positive.
“It forced us to develop chemistry quicker and learn that training sessions were very important to work through some of our issues,” he said. “The reality is we played even with all those teams early on, we just could not finish to save our lives. We realized that we can play with anyone, but the moment you lose focus or come apart as a team, you pay the price. We had to be disciplined in our responsibilities and learn to put the team first.”
The Eagles went undefeated for nearly a month. Their 12-match undefeated streak ended in a 2-1 overtime loss to no. 4 Morton on Oct. 6.
“It was a tough one to lose,” Valintis said. “We scored early and probably were the better team in the first half. We just could not find that second goal. When they started to throw more numbers forward, we had some nice counters but just missed our chances. Then they scored with under 15 minutes left on a truly remarkable shot that we had perfectly defended, so we just had to tip our hat to them.
“Just before overtime, we went a man down and you just can't play Morton a man down and expect success. It was a great game by both teams, but we have to move on.”
The Eagles, Valintis said, have relied on a collective effort to be successful this season rather than the star approach. They conclude the regular-season at home in a nonconference match against Wheaton North on Thursday.
Leyden hosts a regional but will have a battle to get to the final. The 10-seed will meet sixth-seeded Maine South at 6 p.m. Oct. 18
The Eagles need their leaders to keep up their strong play.
“Javier Solis has been an absolute terror in our attack since moving up to forward,” Valintis said. “Stefano Andrino has moved into the midfield and those two switches have boosted our attack and goal-scoring ability.
“Oliver Salgado is our leading scorer, and Daniel Guevara has been on fire the past few weeks. Fabian Rodriguez has returned from injury to bolster our backline. In his absence, both Duvan Trujillo and William Rivera have been more than capable in shutting down opponents.
“Daniel Llanos, our sophomore goalkeeper, has been improving every game and has really shown why he’s a special talent in net.”
Willowbrook coach Victor Lopez credited his team's recent surge in scoring goals to the work it has done in practices. Lopez said Leyden is quality test late in the regular-season.
"We've been working on our finishing the last couple of weeks," Lopez said. "We noticed that we create a lot of opportunities, but our last decision wasn't the best. Now it looks that's been working better for us.
“We have some kids with a lot of experience. We have to just play our game and try not to make a lot of mistakes (against Leyden)."
The game concludes the Warriors regular-season.
Willowbrook will get a week to train before a tough opening assignment in the Class 3A playoffs. The Warriors are a 14th sectional seed and open the postseason at third-seeded and 15th-ranked Conant Oct. 19.