York caps 'statement week'
in style at Addison Trail
Dukes strike early en route to 5-0 Top 25 win over Blazers
By Dave Owen
ADDISON -- An emotional letdown after a huge win? Forget it.
York, ranked 12th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, took mere minutes to provide that emphatic answer Thursday in a nonconference matchup at no. 13 Addison Trail.
Coming off a 1-0 overtime victory at Hinsdale Central two days earlier that put the Dukes in a five-way tie for the West Suburban Conference Silver Division lead, York (13-1-0) struck for two goals in the first 12 minutes Thursday and rolled on to a 5-0 win over the Blazers (9-3-0).
“That (win at Hinsdale) fueled us,” said York senior defender Brendan Haran, whose team led 3-0 at halftime Thursday on a Blazers team that had allowed just seven goals all year. “We’re flying high, and we want to keep it that way.
“We had a ton of energy right off the bat (tonight), and I think it showed throughout the whole game. We brought it to them, and I don’t think they were ready for it. And they’ve been playing well.”
Forward Kevin Gliatis was a major tone-setter Thursday.
With more than 300 fans in attendance and an Addison Trail drum line on the track playing loud enough for even the late, great Charlie Watts to hear them, Gliatis turned a small defensive lapse into a putaway in the box and a 1-0 Dukes lead just four minutes in.
“It was off a bobble on the 18,” Gliatis said. “It bounced off one of their defenders, I got a bounce off my chest and volleyed it back post.
“The day after (Hinsdale Central) we trained pretty hard, and right into this game we knew we had business to do today. And we did it.”
The playoff-like atmosphere between the two talented sides mere miles apart provided part of the spark.
“Early the crowd got us going, and we were excited to make a statement,” Gliatis said. “They (the Blazers) were a tournament winner (the Novy Classic that Addison Trail hosts in early September), so it would definitely be good to get a win over them.
“We definitely came at them fast. We’ve been working on our diagonal runs, with the midfield moving a lot, and it worked for us splitting the defense and going at them.”
Another York rush in the 12th minute produced a foul and a Dukes free kick from 22 yards. Gliatis (who has 10 goals this season) was on the receiving end of Ryder Kohl’s set-piece send to quickly make the lead 2-0.
“A cross to the face and back-post run,” Gliatis said, “I cut in in front of my defender, got a head to it and put it in.”
Entering the week with a 9-1-0 record and impressive wins this year over West Chicago and Metea Valley, the Blazers dropped a heartbreaker on penalty kicks at Downers Grove South on Tuesday. Then came the York buzz saw.
“We were just off tonight,” Blazers coach Ryan Dini said. “We didn’t have the energy we usually have. They (York) were beating us to every ball, they were physical, and we just never got in a rhythm.
“By the time we got in the game it was 3-0 already. You can’t do that against a team like them.”
Addison Trail standout senior defender David Peters downplayed any effect of Tuesday’s tough loss.
“Coming into this one we were a little bit down (from Tuesday), but we were ready,” Peters said. “They (York) just took us by surprise.
“Long balls, trips, they cut us in, took us out. They ran circles around us. It’s one of these games where I don’t think we lost. It’s more of a learning curve. Now we know what to do next time.”
Added Dini: “They (York) are playing great. They hit us early. And we had way too many fouls around the box.”
One of those fouls from further distance in the 29th minute would be a showcase for the impressive talents of York scoring leader Jose Herrera.
Measuring a free kick from 28 yards, Herrera defied the odds and perfectly tucked his 18th goal of 2021 inside the upper 90 to put York ahead 3-0.
“No one’s going to believe me, but I told everybody to get in the box because I was going to shoot it,” Herrera said. “I was aiming for that corner, and it happened.”
Herrera called it his best goal of the year, and he wasn’t getting any arguments.
“José has proven that he can hit shots like that in training,” York coach Jordan Stopka said. “He just hasn't been able to hit one in a match until now.
“I thought he was going to send it back post because of the angle, and when he hit it I remember saying ‘good ball’ out loud thinking it was a cross. And it ended up being a perfect shot. No complaints over here.”
There was also little to complain about defensively, as the Dukes posted their ninth shutout of 2021.
“Everything goes from our defense,” Gliatis said, “and we have a lot of heart in our team. We all want to play for each other and win for each other.”
Goalkeeper Ricardo Torres and starting defenders Haran, Kohl, Connor Bare and Yael Silvestre were a proverbial wall.
“It’s all about communication and covering for each other,” Haran said, “and playing for each other. If you’re not communicating it’s all going to fall apart.”
Haran summed up the style that is helping anchor a solid backline.
“I just try to hold (attackers), wait for them to make the first move, and then I react to that,” he said. “It’s really all just off my reactions. When the ball’s there I’ll go for it. If not, I’ll just sit back.”
If the defensive unit isn’t enough to frustrate foes, there’s York midfielder Kacper Janowski.
“Kacper who plays our holding mid, that kid is literally everywhere all the time,” Stopka said. “As a coach you’re worried about a ball bouncing. I’m not even worried this year. You know Kacper is going to get it.”
A demonstration came with 34:05 left in the match, when Janowski nicely headed away from danger a free kick cross from left of the box by Addison Trail’s Sebastian Alicea.
A bigger threat to the York shutout came with 24:30 to go. Off an Alex Sandoval dish, Alicea burst into the box but had his point blank 8-yard liner blocked aside by goalkeeper Torres.
Still holding a 3-0 lead, York added to its margin with two great displays of teamwork in the late going.
In the 66th minute, Joe Hernandez’s pass sprung Gliatis into the box. Disdaining a shot at a hat-trick as defenders converged, Gliatis found Hernandez for a left side 10-yard liner into the net to up the Dukes advantage to 4-0.
Five minutes later off an initial clear of a York corner kick, Janowski passed to Herrera who rushed the net on the right. Janowski’s tap-in from in front off the Herrera cross ended the scoring in style.
“We work a lot on give-and-gos,” Herrera said, “and just finding our player right back to get that easy tap-in. That’s what we did.”
The goal was both beautiful and notable.
“That was actually Kacper’s first goal of the season,” Stopka said. “He’s been stuffed so many times, and we’ve been joking that he needed that first goal. And he finally got it.
“I’m very happy for him. He’s had some good shots too. It’s not even like he’s missing his opportunities. Goalies have denied him on some great saves.”
Good saves late in the match included Torres’ catch off a Peter Savinos 10-yard header in the 72nd minute.
A combined attack by York reserves Grant Pinkerton (throw-in), Aidan McGovern and Neil McGovern then led to a corner kick with 5:15 left. Silvestre’s ensuing corner cross led to a Henri Ymeraj 6-yard shot at the left post that was denied on a great save by Addison Trail second half goalkeeper Joey Dionne.
York reached the five-goal mark for the sixth time this season. The Dukes have netted four in three other games.
“We just had an amazing offensive game today,” Herrera said. “We like to move a lot, have big-time communication, and our middle played amazing locking it down.”
Said Stopka: “It was a duplicate of Tuesday except the ball went in the net,” Stopka said. “We had trouble finishing on Tuesday, but we tried to keep the same energy, we kept the same pregame routine, and sometimes they fall, sometimes they don’t. Today they obviously went in.
“Coach (assistant David) Alvarez was just saying in the huddle: ‘We’re striving for perfection.’ We’ll never get there, but you can always be better. But I couldn’t be happier today.”
Addison Trail’s earlier loss was a 1-0 decision against Boylan, which is the top-ranked team in the Chicagoland Soccer Illinois 10 poll.
“It just hasn’t been our week,” Dini said. “We had been playing great, and it’s a long season, ups and downs. Maybe we’ll get it out of the way this week and have two weeks before playoffs.
“I do like what I heard from our team right now (in the postgame huddle). We’re going to bounce back. It’s a regular-season game, and that’s why we schedule these games: to play good teams. We play better sometimes when we get hit in the mouth, so we’ll see how we respond (Saturday vs. Neuqua Valley).”
While York spoiled the party, the atmosphere was tough to beat.
“I loved the crowd, loved the drums,” Peters said. “I’m so happy everyone came out. And I know when we’re back in school tomorrow they’re still going to be our fans and still love us.”
Said Dini: “This was our Homecoming game (for soccer). We had a really good crowd, but we never got them into it (falling behind early) so we couldn’t feed off it.”
But the Blazers did have positives.
“Emilio Macias has really stepped up,” Dini said. “He was a starter for us in the beginning of the year and had a little rough patch, but he’s played great this week.
“He can play defensive mid, center back, anywhere for us. He gives us some good size, and as a junior he’s getting good experience with this senior-led group.
“And David’s a great leader and a really good defender.”
Peters has been impressed by the Blazers’ play this fall.
“Everyone’s improved greatly,” he said. “We’ve scored more goals than last spring, and defensively we’ve let in not many goals except for tonight. Everyone has been great.”
Great may be too mild a word for York’s play on Thursday.
“We told them this week was a statement week,” Stopka said, “with Hinsdale Central being a good team and Addison Trail being a phenomenal team. We told them we want to end up 2-0 on Thursday. They made the statement, I feel, the best they could have.”
The York players got the message, then sent one.
“Today we just made a statement,” Herrera said. “Any good team, we’re going to come to play, play our hearts out and show them how we play. And that’s what we did.”
Starting lineups
York
GK Ricardo Torres
D Ryder Kohl
D Connor Bare
D Brendan Haran
D Yael Silvestre
M Sam Musial
M Joe Hernandez
M Gustavo Herrera
M Kacper Janowski
F Kevin Gliatis
F Jose Herrera
Addison Trail
GK Mateo Gomez
D Uriel Bibiano
D Luca Fischer
D David Peters
D Brian Teran
M Sebastian Alicea
M Matias Aguilar
M Nico Parente
M Matt Sobus
M Moises Hernandez
F Alex Sandoval
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Kevin Gliatis, sr. F, York
Scoring summary
First half
Y- Kevin Gliatis (unassisted), 4’
Y- Kevin Gliatis (Ryder Kohl assist), 12’
Y- Jose Herrera (free kick), 29’
Second half
Y- Joe Hernandez (Gliatis), 66’
Y- Kacper Janowski (Herrera), 71’
in style at Addison Trail
Dukes strike early en route to 5-0 Top 25 win over Blazers
By Dave Owen
ADDISON -- An emotional letdown after a huge win? Forget it.
York, ranked 12th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, took mere minutes to provide that emphatic answer Thursday in a nonconference matchup at no. 13 Addison Trail.
Coming off a 1-0 overtime victory at Hinsdale Central two days earlier that put the Dukes in a five-way tie for the West Suburban Conference Silver Division lead, York (13-1-0) struck for two goals in the first 12 minutes Thursday and rolled on to a 5-0 win over the Blazers (9-3-0).
“That (win at Hinsdale) fueled us,” said York senior defender Brendan Haran, whose team led 3-0 at halftime Thursday on a Blazers team that had allowed just seven goals all year. “We’re flying high, and we want to keep it that way.
“We had a ton of energy right off the bat (tonight), and I think it showed throughout the whole game. We brought it to them, and I don’t think they were ready for it. And they’ve been playing well.”
Forward Kevin Gliatis was a major tone-setter Thursday.
With more than 300 fans in attendance and an Addison Trail drum line on the track playing loud enough for even the late, great Charlie Watts to hear them, Gliatis turned a small defensive lapse into a putaway in the box and a 1-0 Dukes lead just four minutes in.
“It was off a bobble on the 18,” Gliatis said. “It bounced off one of their defenders, I got a bounce off my chest and volleyed it back post.
“The day after (Hinsdale Central) we trained pretty hard, and right into this game we knew we had business to do today. And we did it.”
The playoff-like atmosphere between the two talented sides mere miles apart provided part of the spark.
“Early the crowd got us going, and we were excited to make a statement,” Gliatis said. “They (the Blazers) were a tournament winner (the Novy Classic that Addison Trail hosts in early September), so it would definitely be good to get a win over them.
“We definitely came at them fast. We’ve been working on our diagonal runs, with the midfield moving a lot, and it worked for us splitting the defense and going at them.”
Another York rush in the 12th minute produced a foul and a Dukes free kick from 22 yards. Gliatis (who has 10 goals this season) was on the receiving end of Ryder Kohl’s set-piece send to quickly make the lead 2-0.
“A cross to the face and back-post run,” Gliatis said, “I cut in in front of my defender, got a head to it and put it in.”
Entering the week with a 9-1-0 record and impressive wins this year over West Chicago and Metea Valley, the Blazers dropped a heartbreaker on penalty kicks at Downers Grove South on Tuesday. Then came the York buzz saw.
“We were just off tonight,” Blazers coach Ryan Dini said. “We didn’t have the energy we usually have. They (York) were beating us to every ball, they were physical, and we just never got in a rhythm.
“By the time we got in the game it was 3-0 already. You can’t do that against a team like them.”
Addison Trail standout senior defender David Peters downplayed any effect of Tuesday’s tough loss.
“Coming into this one we were a little bit down (from Tuesday), but we were ready,” Peters said. “They (York) just took us by surprise.
“Long balls, trips, they cut us in, took us out. They ran circles around us. It’s one of these games where I don’t think we lost. It’s more of a learning curve. Now we know what to do next time.”
Added Dini: “They (York) are playing great. They hit us early. And we had way too many fouls around the box.”
One of those fouls from further distance in the 29th minute would be a showcase for the impressive talents of York scoring leader Jose Herrera.
Measuring a free kick from 28 yards, Herrera defied the odds and perfectly tucked his 18th goal of 2021 inside the upper 90 to put York ahead 3-0.
“No one’s going to believe me, but I told everybody to get in the box because I was going to shoot it,” Herrera said. “I was aiming for that corner, and it happened.”
Herrera called it his best goal of the year, and he wasn’t getting any arguments.
“José has proven that he can hit shots like that in training,” York coach Jordan Stopka said. “He just hasn't been able to hit one in a match until now.
“I thought he was going to send it back post because of the angle, and when he hit it I remember saying ‘good ball’ out loud thinking it was a cross. And it ended up being a perfect shot. No complaints over here.”
There was also little to complain about defensively, as the Dukes posted their ninth shutout of 2021.
“Everything goes from our defense,” Gliatis said, “and we have a lot of heart in our team. We all want to play for each other and win for each other.”
Goalkeeper Ricardo Torres and starting defenders Haran, Kohl, Connor Bare and Yael Silvestre were a proverbial wall.
“It’s all about communication and covering for each other,” Haran said, “and playing for each other. If you’re not communicating it’s all going to fall apart.”
Haran summed up the style that is helping anchor a solid backline.
“I just try to hold (attackers), wait for them to make the first move, and then I react to that,” he said. “It’s really all just off my reactions. When the ball’s there I’ll go for it. If not, I’ll just sit back.”
If the defensive unit isn’t enough to frustrate foes, there’s York midfielder Kacper Janowski.
“Kacper who plays our holding mid, that kid is literally everywhere all the time,” Stopka said. “As a coach you’re worried about a ball bouncing. I’m not even worried this year. You know Kacper is going to get it.”
A demonstration came with 34:05 left in the match, when Janowski nicely headed away from danger a free kick cross from left of the box by Addison Trail’s Sebastian Alicea.
A bigger threat to the York shutout came with 24:30 to go. Off an Alex Sandoval dish, Alicea burst into the box but had his point blank 8-yard liner blocked aside by goalkeeper Torres.
Still holding a 3-0 lead, York added to its margin with two great displays of teamwork in the late going.
In the 66th minute, Joe Hernandez’s pass sprung Gliatis into the box. Disdaining a shot at a hat-trick as defenders converged, Gliatis found Hernandez for a left side 10-yard liner into the net to up the Dukes advantage to 4-0.
Five minutes later off an initial clear of a York corner kick, Janowski passed to Herrera who rushed the net on the right. Janowski’s tap-in from in front off the Herrera cross ended the scoring in style.
“We work a lot on give-and-gos,” Herrera said, “and just finding our player right back to get that easy tap-in. That’s what we did.”
The goal was both beautiful and notable.
“That was actually Kacper’s first goal of the season,” Stopka said. “He’s been stuffed so many times, and we’ve been joking that he needed that first goal. And he finally got it.
“I’m very happy for him. He’s had some good shots too. It’s not even like he’s missing his opportunities. Goalies have denied him on some great saves.”
Good saves late in the match included Torres’ catch off a Peter Savinos 10-yard header in the 72nd minute.
A combined attack by York reserves Grant Pinkerton (throw-in), Aidan McGovern and Neil McGovern then led to a corner kick with 5:15 left. Silvestre’s ensuing corner cross led to a Henri Ymeraj 6-yard shot at the left post that was denied on a great save by Addison Trail second half goalkeeper Joey Dionne.
York reached the five-goal mark for the sixth time this season. The Dukes have netted four in three other games.
“We just had an amazing offensive game today,” Herrera said. “We like to move a lot, have big-time communication, and our middle played amazing locking it down.”
Said Stopka: “It was a duplicate of Tuesday except the ball went in the net,” Stopka said. “We had trouble finishing on Tuesday, but we tried to keep the same energy, we kept the same pregame routine, and sometimes they fall, sometimes they don’t. Today they obviously went in.
“Coach (assistant David) Alvarez was just saying in the huddle: ‘We’re striving for perfection.’ We’ll never get there, but you can always be better. But I couldn’t be happier today.”
Addison Trail’s earlier loss was a 1-0 decision against Boylan, which is the top-ranked team in the Chicagoland Soccer Illinois 10 poll.
“It just hasn’t been our week,” Dini said. “We had been playing great, and it’s a long season, ups and downs. Maybe we’ll get it out of the way this week and have two weeks before playoffs.
“I do like what I heard from our team right now (in the postgame huddle). We’re going to bounce back. It’s a regular-season game, and that’s why we schedule these games: to play good teams. We play better sometimes when we get hit in the mouth, so we’ll see how we respond (Saturday vs. Neuqua Valley).”
While York spoiled the party, the atmosphere was tough to beat.
“I loved the crowd, loved the drums,” Peters said. “I’m so happy everyone came out. And I know when we’re back in school tomorrow they’re still going to be our fans and still love us.”
Said Dini: “This was our Homecoming game (for soccer). We had a really good crowd, but we never got them into it (falling behind early) so we couldn’t feed off it.”
But the Blazers did have positives.
“Emilio Macias has really stepped up,” Dini said. “He was a starter for us in the beginning of the year and had a little rough patch, but he’s played great this week.
“He can play defensive mid, center back, anywhere for us. He gives us some good size, and as a junior he’s getting good experience with this senior-led group.
“And David’s a great leader and a really good defender.”
Peters has been impressed by the Blazers’ play this fall.
“Everyone’s improved greatly,” he said. “We’ve scored more goals than last spring, and defensively we’ve let in not many goals except for tonight. Everyone has been great.”
Great may be too mild a word for York’s play on Thursday.
“We told them this week was a statement week,” Stopka said, “with Hinsdale Central being a good team and Addison Trail being a phenomenal team. We told them we want to end up 2-0 on Thursday. They made the statement, I feel, the best they could have.”
The York players got the message, then sent one.
“Today we just made a statement,” Herrera said. “Any good team, we’re going to come to play, play our hearts out and show them how we play. And that’s what we did.”
Starting lineups
York
GK Ricardo Torres
D Ryder Kohl
D Connor Bare
D Brendan Haran
D Yael Silvestre
M Sam Musial
M Joe Hernandez
M Gustavo Herrera
M Kacper Janowski
F Kevin Gliatis
F Jose Herrera
Addison Trail
GK Mateo Gomez
D Uriel Bibiano
D Luca Fischer
D David Peters
D Brian Teran
M Sebastian Alicea
M Matias Aguilar
M Nico Parente
M Matt Sobus
M Moises Hernandez
F Alex Sandoval
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Kevin Gliatis, sr. F, York
Scoring summary
First half
Y- Kevin Gliatis (unassisted), 4’
Y- Kevin Gliatis (Ryder Kohl assist), 12’
Y- Jose Herrera (free kick), 29’
Second half
Y- Joe Hernandez (Gliatis), 66’
Y- Kacper Janowski (Herrera), 71’