Schaumburg gets needed bounce-back win at Fremd

Schaumburg's impressive Mid-Suburban League boys soccer campaign continued Monday night as the visiting Saxons handled Fremd 3-1 to move 8 points clear of Barrington in the league standings as an important week begins for coach Hamid Mehreioskouei's team.

Thanks to a pair of late goals before intermission from Alexis Flores and Edward Gomez and a PK conversion by Jessie Lopez just seconds into the second period, the Saxons (13-2-0, 7-1-0) earned a precious 3 points at Hale Hildebrandt Field.

"This was the way we had to begin this week," said Mehreiouskouei, who watched his team drop its first league game of the season last Friday at Conant. "We had to come out and impose our will tonight against Fremd, which played with so much emotion, energy and toughness, especially in the first 20 minutes. And when we did, I knew we would be in good shape tonight."

Schaumburg was relieved that it can look at the result vs. Conant as an aberration.

"I don't know if we took Conant too lightly, but that was a bad loss," said Gomez. "We had to put it behind us right away and get ourselves focused on (Fremd) and the rest of our opponents we have this week."

The senior forward, along with his running mate Flores, were kept under wraps during the opening quarter-hour, thanks in part to a Vikings club, who last time out against Buffalo Grove, showed little bite in its attack for 80 minutes, while having additional trouble defending in its own end in an eventual 2-1 defeat.

"You saw us the against Buffalo Grove - we had no life, especially in the first half, and never really generated much offensively either," said Fremd coach Steve Keller. "But tonight, there was energy and purpose as we defended well as a team while putting some pressure on them from time-to-time. In the end, we continued to kill ourselves with the little things."

It was clear from the early exchanges that Fremd had come to play against the MSL leader, as sharp tackling, along with inspired midfield play led by junior Michael LaBarge, kept the Saxons all-state midfielder Jessie Lopez and the Saxons' high-powered attack under wraps.

"When Michael plays within himself, he will win balls in the air and on the ground from his spot just in front of our back three while helping us control that part of the field," said Keller. "He did all of that and more in the first half, until he was booked for his tackle which led to their PK."

The Vikings (5-9-0, 3-3-0) kept the touches for the creative Lopez to a minimum, but it an opportunistic Flores made his mark when he followed a Noah Kostkiewicz point-blank scorcher, which was fearlessly turned away by keeper Josh Kasser.

Flores finish the rebound sharply at 36 minutes before Gomez steered in a Flores helper a minute later amid protests from Fremd that the latter goal should have been disallowed.

"(They) looked to be offsides, and maybe it's a 2-1 game and things are different in a 1-goal game," said Keller, "but make no mistake - Schaumburg was clearly the better team tonight, and deserved their result."

Austin Lara and Gomez were the creative forces which allowed Lopez to trick his way into the box before being brought down. Team captain Jason Schoo easily converted the spot-kick to make it 3-0.

"Coach told us at the break if we add a third goal it would help us put this game away for good," said Gomez.

The Vikings pulled one back when Rohan Menon curled his free kick through a Saxons wall. The ball was redirected on the way in and got past Edgar Aviles, who lost his shutout at 56 minutes.

Fremd continued its bid to draw closer, targeting Luke Schoffstall and Max Clark up top. The impressive pace of Clark, a sophomore, kept the Saxons' backline on the alert during the last 15 minutes of regulation.

The Saxons host Elk Grove tonight, while the Vikings are on the road at Rolling Meadows.