South Side to shine in CPL championship
By Patrick Z. McGavin
History is made at night goes the saying. And something historic is certain to happen Thursday night at Toyota Park.
Solorio (16-1-1) and Washington (12-3-1) clash in the championship of the Public League city title at 7 p.m. in Bridgeview.
This is more than just a game.
The Sun Warriors, ranked fifth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, are the defending Class AA state champion. In beating Hancock 3-1 in the semifinal round Tuesday, Solorio earned the first city title appearance in program history.
Washington is the defending city champion. The Patriots won the 2014 Class AA state championship. Washington is on a new quest to become the first South Side program to win back-to-back city championships.
Both teams are hungry.
“We want a taste of everything,” Solorio junior forward Alex Sanchez said.
All four of the semifinal contestants were South Side schools. Rivalries, combined with a deep familiarity and local bonds, are the dominant order here.
“At the end of the day we are all one big CPS family,” Washington coach Alvar Perez said. “This rivalry, Solorio and Washington, has been developing over a long period of time. We want to stay humble. We have to stay calm, regardless of what happens in the game and play our style. That is what we have been able to do.”
The Patriots have shown the panache and resilience to play from behind, winning their quarterfinal and semifinal after going long stretches of trailing on the scoreboard.
Washington has 10 players who either started or saw action on last year’s city title team. The return to the city final marks a validation.
“It’s a big accomplishment for us, knowing that we had our first-ever city title last year and having the chance now to come back again and win another,” senior midfielder Juan Antonio Garibay.
He scored both regulation goals in the Patriots’ penalty shootout victory over Juarez on Tuesday.
Garibay and Felipe Ramirez form an electric and skilled middle tasked with generation, possession and now slowing down the explosive Sun Warriors’ attack. Senior forward Angel Arismendiz is the offensive leader, a quick and explosive talent with a knack for getting to the goal.
“It’s an honor to play in the city title game,” Arismendiz said. “This program took a while to come up. We have a lot of great South side teams: Solorio, Juarez, Kennedy. Just to be the first to try and repeat is a blessing.
“We prepared all season, took it game by game. We just set up our goals. Let’s go to the next game. That was our mentality. We want to win game by game.”
Solorio represents a strong threat to defending the title. The Sun Warriors beat Washington 3-1 on August 29 but know that result is clearly in the past.
“This is a great accomplishment for us,” said senior midfielder Jonathan Vasquez, who scored a goal in the semifinal victory over Hancock.
“After we won state, this was the main focus that we had,” he said. “State has higher expectations than the city, and you should be able to make the final. That’s what we did.
“We know we beat them once, but we are not looking past anybody. We take everybody we play very seriously.”
The city title appearance marks the culmination of a long-term plan coach Adrian Calleros envisioned in building the program 15 years ago.
“We were a new school,” Calleros said. “We didn’t have a lot of respect. People wondered what a Sun Warrior was. This is huge for our program and huge for the school. It’s great to do this for the community and neighborhood. The players are proud to walk around, and it is nice for the community.
“This is the honor of our administration, our coaches and our student body.”
Sanchez is an elite talent, one of the state’s top scorers with a staggering 37 goals on the year. Solorio is hardly a one-man team. Forward Carlos Villa is another versatile and uncanny player who starred in the semifinal victory with a goal and assist.
Vasquez is one of seven players who played a critical role in last year’s state championship run.
Both Washington and Solorio had to survive a gauntlet of a schedule, with the tournament’s wider field and World Cup format: three group games followed by a round of 16, quarterfinal and semifinal games. The games were also bunched together and allowed little time for recovery.
Both teams are looking for a springboard to the start of the state tournament.
“It’s like the conference tournaments in men’s basketball that leads to the start of the NCAA tournament,” Calleros said. “You see it, teams get hot in the conference and that prepares them for the NCAA. We want to keep that momentum going.”
By Patrick Z. McGavin
History is made at night goes the saying. And something historic is certain to happen Thursday night at Toyota Park.
Solorio (16-1-1) and Washington (12-3-1) clash in the championship of the Public League city title at 7 p.m. in Bridgeview.
This is more than just a game.
The Sun Warriors, ranked fifth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, are the defending Class AA state champion. In beating Hancock 3-1 in the semifinal round Tuesday, Solorio earned the first city title appearance in program history.
Washington is the defending city champion. The Patriots won the 2014 Class AA state championship. Washington is on a new quest to become the first South Side program to win back-to-back city championships.
Both teams are hungry.
“We want a taste of everything,” Solorio junior forward Alex Sanchez said.
All four of the semifinal contestants were South Side schools. Rivalries, combined with a deep familiarity and local bonds, are the dominant order here.
“At the end of the day we are all one big CPS family,” Washington coach Alvar Perez said. “This rivalry, Solorio and Washington, has been developing over a long period of time. We want to stay humble. We have to stay calm, regardless of what happens in the game and play our style. That is what we have been able to do.”
The Patriots have shown the panache and resilience to play from behind, winning their quarterfinal and semifinal after going long stretches of trailing on the scoreboard.
Washington has 10 players who either started or saw action on last year’s city title team. The return to the city final marks a validation.
“It’s a big accomplishment for us, knowing that we had our first-ever city title last year and having the chance now to come back again and win another,” senior midfielder Juan Antonio Garibay.
He scored both regulation goals in the Patriots’ penalty shootout victory over Juarez on Tuesday.
Garibay and Felipe Ramirez form an electric and skilled middle tasked with generation, possession and now slowing down the explosive Sun Warriors’ attack. Senior forward Angel Arismendiz is the offensive leader, a quick and explosive talent with a knack for getting to the goal.
“It’s an honor to play in the city title game,” Arismendiz said. “This program took a while to come up. We have a lot of great South side teams: Solorio, Juarez, Kennedy. Just to be the first to try and repeat is a blessing.
“We prepared all season, took it game by game. We just set up our goals. Let’s go to the next game. That was our mentality. We want to win game by game.”
Solorio represents a strong threat to defending the title. The Sun Warriors beat Washington 3-1 on August 29 but know that result is clearly in the past.
“This is a great accomplishment for us,” said senior midfielder Jonathan Vasquez, who scored a goal in the semifinal victory over Hancock.
“After we won state, this was the main focus that we had,” he said. “State has higher expectations than the city, and you should be able to make the final. That’s what we did.
“We know we beat them once, but we are not looking past anybody. We take everybody we play very seriously.”
The city title appearance marks the culmination of a long-term plan coach Adrian Calleros envisioned in building the program 15 years ago.
“We were a new school,” Calleros said. “We didn’t have a lot of respect. People wondered what a Sun Warrior was. This is huge for our program and huge for the school. It’s great to do this for the community and neighborhood. The players are proud to walk around, and it is nice for the community.
“This is the honor of our administration, our coaches and our student body.”
Sanchez is an elite talent, one of the state’s top scorers with a staggering 37 goals on the year. Solorio is hardly a one-man team. Forward Carlos Villa is another versatile and uncanny player who starred in the semifinal victory with a goal and assist.
Vasquez is one of seven players who played a critical role in last year’s state championship run.
Both Washington and Solorio had to survive a gauntlet of a schedule, with the tournament’s wider field and World Cup format: three group games followed by a round of 16, quarterfinal and semifinal games. The games were also bunched together and allowed little time for recovery.
Both teams are looking for a springboard to the start of the state tournament.
“It’s like the conference tournaments in men’s basketball that leads to the start of the NCAA tournament,” Calleros said. “You see it, teams get hot in the conference and that prepares them for the NCAA. We want to keep that momentum going.”