Maine West stops Taft
Maine West's boys soccer team kicked off its homecoming weekend in crowd-pleasing fashion Thursday.
Seniors Fernando Becerra and Alex Landowski struck six minutes apart to spark the Warriors to a 3-1 win over visiting Chicago Taft in Des Plaines.
"It was a win we really needed," said Maine West coach Alan Matan, who watched his club recently go 1-2-1 at the PepsiCo Showdown tournament play and 2-5-3 since losing in penalty kicks to Addison Trail in the Joe Novy Tourney final back in early September. "We've been struggling a little bit putting the ball in the back of the net. And that, along with losing Danny Silva Jr. to an injury, kind of made this an important game for us."
Silva, a key figure in the midfield, went down with an MCL injury during a 0-0 draw with Huntley in the tourney final of the PepsiCo last week.
"It's tough losing our captain and the guy who keeps things organized and calm for us," Matan said. "So for now, we'll need others to take over while Danny works to get back with us later on."
Matan thought his team showed plenty of life in a 2-1 loss to crosstown rival Maine East earlier in the week. But in the early going of its nonconference match with Taft (5-3-2), it appeared there was no carry-over from the 80-minute battle with the Blue Demons.
"We didn't start particularly well which is the way things have gone for us all season long," said Taft first-year coach Jeff Lucco. "But we quickly took over the match, put a goal in on them, and really didn't allow them to do much at all until they got even with us. Then after that, we just fell apart."
Kacper Dwojak put the visitors ahead at 18 minutes when he finished a Kyle Ochwat corner. Keeper Nick Pisani did not see the ball until the very last moment when it was too late to stop the short-range attempt.
Pisani was just brought back on after suffering a minor injury. He later gave way when the second period began to Edgar Vallejo, who made a marvelous goal-saving stop on Armin Ganibegovic.
"This team never gives up, so I knew even when we went down a goal, that we could get back in it," Landowski said.
Landowski obviously knows his teammates well.
With Jesus Rivera and his back line mates throwing a noose around the Eagles' front line, and the trio of Becerra, Joey Pulvino and Gabriel Juszczynski taking control up top, the Warriors soon found the equalizer.
They took advantage of a bit of a break to draw even just before the half-hour.
That's when Christian Ayala's well-paced ball out of the back beat the Eagles back line. Keeper Alexis Perez lost his footing to allow the hard-running Juszczynski to steer the rolling ball into the net.
Maine West was sharp right away in the second period. After a strong-opening 15 minutes, the Warriors were rewarded for their effort as Becerra finished on the tail end of his center-channel run.
"Becerra's goal off a great ball from Joey (Pulvino) was terrific but our third goal was a thing of beauty," Matan said of the 63rd-minute eventual game-winner.
Landowski brought the big crowd alive when he thumped his back post header past a helpless Perez after Pulvino provided a brilliant helper. Juszczynski got it all started from 35 yards away.
"It makes things a little easier for the defense when we can put a few balls into the back of the net," Rivera said. "But I know our guys are trying to do their best."
Rivera, Edgar Felix, Juan Vallejo and Edgar Montesinos kept Taft from getting anything of quality on Vallejo during the second half.
"I really believe our defense is one of the best, if not the best in our sectional, and they showed how good they are after we gave up that first goal," Landowski said.
"Again, this was a big win for us on several levels," Matan said. "Taft is in our sectional, so that helps us a lot, and second (they) beat Solorio in a Chicago Public League match, and we lost to them in overtime at the Pepsi."
The Warriors will host Leyden on Monday in the annual nonconference contest. The Eagles are one of the top clubs from the West Suburban Conference.