Bartlett-Streamwood in pivotal UEC clash
By Steve Nemeth
Does a victory in Monday’s Upstate Eight Conference match with Streamwood at Bartlett guarantee anything for either side’s title hunt?
Since every league member has four conference matches remaining, the answers are: no; yes; are you kidding?
No, a win simply keeps you in range of the top where West Chicago currently sits at 4-0-1 (13 points) followed by Glenbard East at 3-1-1 (10 pts.) and Streamwood at 2-1-1 (7 pts.)
Click here for Upstate Eight Conference standings
Yes, a loss doesn’t hurt the mathematical chances, but in reality the 2019 champion finishing with two losses is highly unlikely. So everyone currently sitting with five or three points pretty much needs to run the table picking up the maximum 12 available points to catch or overtake anyone.
Last year Elgin compiled 23 points going 7-0-2, one-loss Streamwood at 6-1-2 had 20 points, and two-loss West Aurora at 6-2-1 had 19 points for third. Even in previous years when the UEC operated with River and Valley Divisions, the winners never had more than a single loss.
Of course this year has featured an unusual amount of parity. Right now the UEC schools combined have 16 wins which of course means 16 losses, but there have also been 16 ties. Look at the standings from top to bottom and the 10 programs all have anywhere from one to three draws.
Speaking of stalemates, Bartlett may lead the state with a current overall record of 5-3-6 with two of those draws included in a 1-1-2 UEC ledger.
“With all those ties it’s fair to say we’ve had mixed results, but thankfully we really broke out in our last match,” Bartlett coach Vince Revak noted.
The Hawks are coming off a 5-0 thumping of tourney host Hampshire last Saturday after starting that day watching a first half lead slip away in a 3-2 loss to Romeoville. Immediately prior to that came three ties.
“The Romeoville match isn’t indicative of how well we’ve been doing defensively,” Revak noted.
Through 14 matches, Bartlett has allowed a mere 15 goals. However, the Hawks have scored only 22.
“We’re still searching for our true identity and that includes making some lineup adjustments,” Revak added. “Moving Hernan Garcia from a holding mid to center back; pairing him with Nico (Gomez) has been fantastic. Actually I’d say when our back four are really ready to play, they do a fantastic job.
“Cesar (Palomares) has been playing better on the right side. Actually he, Edgar (Leon), Raj (Parikh), and Amine (Medmoun) are starting to click,” Revak said.
Palomares had four goals in the two Hampshire tournament matches. Kamil Jarzabek paces Bartlett with 10 points from three goals and four assists. Medmoun has three goals and three assists.
“Every conference game can be considered must win since the race is far from over, but simply winning is our overall goal,” Revak added.
Although the two programs are District U-46 schools, the rivalry is fairly new but has favored Streamwood. The Sabres were 2-0 victors last year, 1-0 winners in 2017, and the two prior seasons featured – what else? – ties. A 1-1 draw in 2016 and even a 3-3 deadlock in 2015 when Bartlett went on to finish fourth in Class 3A.
“We’ve always struggled with them so this a chance for us to prove that we can compete with them,” said Gomez, now a four-year varsity veteran for Bartlett “Our record doesn’t indicate our ability. We really are indescribably better. My freshman year we had a lot of talent, but there were so many new faces to the school and team, we were inconsistent.
“As we’ve racked up all these ties, we look back at video of our game, and it’s really not one thing that keeps happening,” Gomez noted. “Different little things occur, so we simply need to focus more on playing our game, which is combining possession and aggressiveness.”
Match after match Streamwood coach Matt Polovin has been mystified at the Sabres difficulty in finding the back of the net. It’s never been a lack of opportunities, but not finishing is reflected in the up-and-down of a 6-6-3 overall record with that 2-1-1 UEC standard.
“Bottom line we’ve been close to first for several years that we know every conference match matters,” Polovin said. “We always have good, quality battles with Bartlett. Being another U-46 program means the kids know each other and that adds to the desire to win.”
“I believe Bartlett is one of our rivals and a big incentive to keep having good outcomes against them,” senior Edwin Peralta said. “Our record isn’t where we’d like, because we have had opportunities but didn’t finish them. Hopefully our last game has changed that. Once we score, it gives us a boost, and we become more confident.”
Streamwood was trailing Lake Park 2-0 when Peralta blasted home a shot from distance. That was the first of four goals the Sabres scored in just under 16 minutes and Peralta added two assists.
Angel Diaz has come on to lead Streamwood with 16 points off seven goals and two assists with Alejandro Morales (15 pts., 5g-5a) and Peralta (14 pts., 5g-4a) right behind.
A definite strength for the Sabres is the steady play of Chicagoland Soccer 2018 All-State pick Jose Ibarra, who Polovin insists is the state’s best defender.
“I think the key in the last game was that we were patient and kept playing our game even though we fell behind early,” Ibarra said. “For me personally, I consider (Bartlett) another team to beat. I want us to beat every conference team and actually, every team we face.”
By Steve Nemeth
Does a victory in Monday’s Upstate Eight Conference match with Streamwood at Bartlett guarantee anything for either side’s title hunt?
Since every league member has four conference matches remaining, the answers are: no; yes; are you kidding?
No, a win simply keeps you in range of the top where West Chicago currently sits at 4-0-1 (13 points) followed by Glenbard East at 3-1-1 (10 pts.) and Streamwood at 2-1-1 (7 pts.)
Click here for Upstate Eight Conference standings
Yes, a loss doesn’t hurt the mathematical chances, but in reality the 2019 champion finishing with two losses is highly unlikely. So everyone currently sitting with five or three points pretty much needs to run the table picking up the maximum 12 available points to catch or overtake anyone.
Last year Elgin compiled 23 points going 7-0-2, one-loss Streamwood at 6-1-2 had 20 points, and two-loss West Aurora at 6-2-1 had 19 points for third. Even in previous years when the UEC operated with River and Valley Divisions, the winners never had more than a single loss.
Of course this year has featured an unusual amount of parity. Right now the UEC schools combined have 16 wins which of course means 16 losses, but there have also been 16 ties. Look at the standings from top to bottom and the 10 programs all have anywhere from one to three draws.
Speaking of stalemates, Bartlett may lead the state with a current overall record of 5-3-6 with two of those draws included in a 1-1-2 UEC ledger.
“With all those ties it’s fair to say we’ve had mixed results, but thankfully we really broke out in our last match,” Bartlett coach Vince Revak noted.
The Hawks are coming off a 5-0 thumping of tourney host Hampshire last Saturday after starting that day watching a first half lead slip away in a 3-2 loss to Romeoville. Immediately prior to that came three ties.
“The Romeoville match isn’t indicative of how well we’ve been doing defensively,” Revak noted.
Through 14 matches, Bartlett has allowed a mere 15 goals. However, the Hawks have scored only 22.
“We’re still searching for our true identity and that includes making some lineup adjustments,” Revak added. “Moving Hernan Garcia from a holding mid to center back; pairing him with Nico (Gomez) has been fantastic. Actually I’d say when our back four are really ready to play, they do a fantastic job.
“Cesar (Palomares) has been playing better on the right side. Actually he, Edgar (Leon), Raj (Parikh), and Amine (Medmoun) are starting to click,” Revak said.
Palomares had four goals in the two Hampshire tournament matches. Kamil Jarzabek paces Bartlett with 10 points from three goals and four assists. Medmoun has three goals and three assists.
“Every conference game can be considered must win since the race is far from over, but simply winning is our overall goal,” Revak added.
Although the two programs are District U-46 schools, the rivalry is fairly new but has favored Streamwood. The Sabres were 2-0 victors last year, 1-0 winners in 2017, and the two prior seasons featured – what else? – ties. A 1-1 draw in 2016 and even a 3-3 deadlock in 2015 when Bartlett went on to finish fourth in Class 3A.
“We’ve always struggled with them so this a chance for us to prove that we can compete with them,” said Gomez, now a four-year varsity veteran for Bartlett “Our record doesn’t indicate our ability. We really are indescribably better. My freshman year we had a lot of talent, but there were so many new faces to the school and team, we were inconsistent.
“As we’ve racked up all these ties, we look back at video of our game, and it’s really not one thing that keeps happening,” Gomez noted. “Different little things occur, so we simply need to focus more on playing our game, which is combining possession and aggressiveness.”
Match after match Streamwood coach Matt Polovin has been mystified at the Sabres difficulty in finding the back of the net. It’s never been a lack of opportunities, but not finishing is reflected in the up-and-down of a 6-6-3 overall record with that 2-1-1 UEC standard.
“Bottom line we’ve been close to first for several years that we know every conference match matters,” Polovin said. “We always have good, quality battles with Bartlett. Being another U-46 program means the kids know each other and that adds to the desire to win.”
“I believe Bartlett is one of our rivals and a big incentive to keep having good outcomes against them,” senior Edwin Peralta said. “Our record isn’t where we’d like, because we have had opportunities but didn’t finish them. Hopefully our last game has changed that. Once we score, it gives us a boost, and we become more confident.”
Streamwood was trailing Lake Park 2-0 when Peralta blasted home a shot from distance. That was the first of four goals the Sabres scored in just under 16 minutes and Peralta added two assists.
Angel Diaz has come on to lead Streamwood with 16 points off seven goals and two assists with Alejandro Morales (15 pts., 5g-5a) and Peralta (14 pts., 5g-4a) right behind.
A definite strength for the Sabres is the steady play of Chicagoland Soccer 2018 All-State pick Jose Ibarra, who Polovin insists is the state’s best defender.
“I think the key in the last game was that we were patient and kept playing our game even though we fell behind early,” Ibarra said. “For me personally, I consider (Bartlett) another team to beat. I want us to beat every conference team and actually, every team we face.”