Bubbly effort lifts Leyden past Metea Valley
Leyden's debut at the PepsiCo Showdown on Saturday morning in LaGrange went about as well as the Eagles faithful could have hoped.
The Eagles (4-1-1) produced three first-half strikes, including the important third goal just minutes before intermission from Christian Sosnowski to secure a 4-0 victory over Metea Valley, thus ending the Mustangs' six-game unbeaten streak.
"This was a very nice win for us," said Leyden coach Mark Valintis, whose team will likely travel to Lane Tech on Tuesday for a second-round match after its early morning victory. "I said to you before this game that it looks like we'll have to count on scoring by committee this year, and today we received a very good balanced attack, with three different guys finding the back of the net for us."
This impressive win was fueled by a fourth-minute goal from David Senk, whose angled header finished what both Sosnowski and Erik Rodriguez began in the Mustangs (5-2-1) end.
Angel Lopez doubled the Leyden advantage at the quarter-hour with a zig-zag run into the area after Hector Herrera initiated the oppportunity with some terrific individual work.
Michael Adams, who turned in a strong effort throughout as the target-man for the Mustangs, ignored the howls for an offsides call from the Leyden bench to get in. Adams drew keeper Alfredo Recendez off his line, the served a dangerous ball into the box - only to see the Eagles' back line parry the serve out of danger.
Adams broke the high line the Eagles were playing on two other occasions drove his attempts over the bar to keep the Leyden lead at 2-0 in the 25th minute.
Sosnowski's brilliant effort to drive his one-timer into the far inside netting from an impossible angle sent the Eagles into the break with a stunning 3-0 lead.
"Scoring the first goal at any time is so important, but getting that one to make it 3-0 was so crucial to us getting a big win in our tournament opener," said the senior Sosnowski, who returned from club to play his final year for Mark Valintis.
"We were young out there today with three guys out of action because of ACT testing, but that doesn't discount what Leyden did," said Metea Valley coach Josh Robinson. "Both teams created some great chances - and they finished, and we didn't. Scoring has been a bit of a problem for us coming into the tournament, but our defense has carried us well until today.
"I thought we played a good first half of soccer, but again, they were able to finish their chances, and they deserve credit for that."
The Mustangs nearly pulled one back in the 38th minute, but Jacob Kellogg was offside after Adams put him in.
Rodriguez got his third helper of the day when Senk made it 4-0 in the 46th minute.
Recendez turned away a point-blank drive from Adams moments later, and afterward, the match settled in with Herrera and the Leyden defenders staying water-tight for the next half-hour.
"It's nice to have a keeper like Alfredo who you can count on to make a big save, or take command in our end along with an experienced back line, and it was great to see us get into the back of the net a little bit to take some pressure off of those guys in the back," said Valintis.