Boys soccer: Elk Grove pulls out victory over Maine West
After the relief of an opening-day victory for Elk Grove, boys soccer coach Rob Shepard admitted a not-so-pretty win is still the better way to begin a new season.
The Grens held on during a frenetic final quarter-hour to register a 3-2 decision over host Maine West in Des Plaines on Tuesday night, using an Adolfo Rascon finish in the 71st minute as the difference-maker.
"I told the guys afterwards it got a little ugly in the last 15½ minutes ... but a win is a win is a win, and I am proud of their effort, and very happy to start our season like this," said Shepard, now in his third year at the helm. "We played a lot of guys tonight, which was the plan, and now we'll have a look at the video. But I can tell you the mistakes we made tonight are all correctable, and that's a good way to start as well."
The Grens' victory helped give the Mid-Suburban League a 6-3-3 record against the Central Suburban League in the annual CSL/MSL Challenge, held in the first week of each season.
After the final whistle, Maine West coach Alan Matan was just as positive as his coaching counterpart despite the result before a nice Tuesday night audience.
"The guys never gave up, and after we struggled with those typical first-game nerves and jitters, we did some very good things and even had a chance to get back even."
Just minutes after being brought on, Elk Grove junior Charlie Konsolakis fired in the first goal of the match, finishing what sophomore Dylan Ingebrigsten began when the sophomore roared up the center channel.
The 21st-minute strike gave the visitors a 1-goal advantage at the intermission, which held up until just after the hour, when Geronimo Xolio's equalizer at 66 minutes began an exciting final 15 minutes of play.
Xolio steered in his close-range attempt at the back post after some terrific work from Michael Podsiadly drew Grens keeper Pablo Ortiz out in anticipation of trouble.
Two minutes later, the Ingebrigsten caught Warriors keeper Edgar Vallejo off his line, sending a shot from just inside the mid-line into the net.
Oscar Suarez, who enjoyed a wonderful night as the Grens' creative force in the midfield, guided his left-footed free kick off the bar from 22 yards. The rebound spilled kindly to Rascon, who ran onto the ball and one-timed his shot past a diving Edgar Vallejo in the 71st minute.
"The guys thought he was offside, and stopped playing - hopefully that's the first and only time we do that this year," Matan said.
The hosts stayed focus despite their disadvantage, and when captain Joey Pulvino brought down Jimmy Torres' helper and carefully placed it past Ortiz with a sublime touch, the big crowd sensed their heroes might have a chance to get back even in the remaining five minutes.
"Moving (Pulvino) up top to give us three forwards really helped get out attack going, as did us not playing the ball over the top and instead of on the ground where we can move the ball around much better," said Matan.
"Things kind of got exciting in the last 15-20 minutes, but I felt like our best soccer of the night was the first 20 minutes, when we possessed and played a lot of one-two combinations," said Elk Grove senior Noe Centeno, who along with his backline mates, Markos Christoforou, Chris Guadarrama and Connor Emmerich stayed organized for most of the evening during their first match together.
Next up for the Grens is a match at home on Thursday with Zion-Benton, while the Warriors open pool play at the Joe Novy Invite, hosted by Addison Trail, also on Thursday, against Curie of the Chicago Public League.