Salako, New Trier too quick for Fremd
A 3-goal explosion before the half-hour all but sealed the fate for Fremd, which dropped a 5-1 boys soccer decision to visiting New Trier (1-0-1) Thursday night at Hale Hildebrandt Field in Palatine.
Amine Salako and the Trevians' overall speed were too much for the Vikings (0-2-0), who enjoyed an evenly played match in the early stages only to be fall to an opponent that had too much pace for coach Steve Keller's club.
"At times it looked like they had 20 guys out there, not 11," Keller said. "They were fit and were sharp in their attack, and to be honest, they could have scored a few more on us."
Last season, the Vikings defeated New Trier (1-0) in the supersectionals to advance into the Class 3A state tournament, where they later lifted the third-place trophy.
"We've got to find our identity, and we've obviously got to fix some things which were clearly exposed on a night like this. But we also have to want it here as well," said Keller, pointing to his heart, "more than anything else."
The speed of the Trevians' front seven was never so evident as in the first quarter-hour, when Salako found another gear coming from his spot as a withdrawn striker to run onto a loose ball and finish neatly at the back post in the eighth minute.
Trevians keeper Joey Campbell punched a well-aimed free kick from Jake Arbour out of the area three minutes later. But Salako soon doubled the New Trier advantage when the home side failed to keep a free kick in front of them, allowing Salako to thump in his header past Vikings keeper Josh Kasser.
Kasser was superb during his 40 minutes of work, stopping two consecutive point-blank strikes from Michael Gallo, to keep his team in the match.
"What a different night for us after our opener against Wheeling the other night," said New Trier coach Wes Molyneaux. "Wheeling kind of sat in during our 0-0 draw with them, and our attack went stagnant. But tonight, we attacked and were much more dynamic. We came at them with a lot of speed and creativity, which was exciting to watch, and I am sure fun for the players as well."
The Trevians host a sparkling eight-team tourney beginning next Monday at its Northfield Campus, a group with includes Schaumburg, St. Charles East and Lyons Township.
Junior Luke Schoffstall, the Vikings' talented striker who was a hero on several occasions last year during Fremd's state tournament run, nearly snuck Seiya Igucchi's free kick past Campbell in the 26th minute. But moments later, Ryan Krueger scored the first of his 2 goals to make it 3-0.
Arbour pulled one back just after the break, but Salako completed his hat trick before Krueger finished the scoring in the 60th minute.
"We were without Rohan (Menon) tonight, who is a big part of what this team can do, but that's not an excuse for the result," said Keller. "We've got to get better in all parts of our game, and we'll begin working on that tomorrow for sure."
The Vikings host Downers Grove South at 2 p.m. Saturday before beginning pool play at the Best of the West tournament next Tuesday against Benet Academy.