advertisement

Boys soccer: Waukegan stops Warren's progress

A despondent Richie Flores squatted like a catcher on the 30-yard line yard, trying to absorb a frustrating defeat, and rocked on his soccer cleats. He then allowed his momentum to tip him on his back.

Warren never could gain forward progress against Waukegan in Saturday's Class 3A Mundelein regional final, and it might not have been entirely the Blue Devils' fault.

Warren, the top seed in the Stevenson sectional complex, had a pair of first-half goals disallowed and, despite a late push, came up just short, losing 2-1 to a physical, eighth-seeded Bulldogs team.

While the Blue Devils finish their season with a 16-5-3 mark, Waukegan (14-2-4) will next play No. 5 Deerfield at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Stevenson sectional semifinals.

"Soccer is a game of momentum," Warren coach Jason Ahonen said. "Twice, we thought we had the momentum. ... I've been doing this a long time. I can't remember two goals that were disallowed, as such, especially in a big match. But hats off to Waukegan."

Warren appeared to take a 1-0 lead just eight minutes into the match when Alex Fratila curled a free kick into the box. As Waukegan keeper Manuel Lopez went low to grab the ball, Flores arrived almost simultaneously and poked the ball into the net.

The referee immediately waved off the goal.

"I saw a great ball by Alex," said Flores, who later scored the Blue Devils' only goal. "I know I need to be there, and I felt I got to the ball cleanly. The ref saw something else. I personally don't agree with him, but it happens."

Waukegan took advantage of the break, as Osvaldo Zarinana scored two minutes later, only to see Warren appear to answer in the 18th minute. With a stiff wind at his back, Fratila sent a free kick into the box. The ball maneuvered through bodies and high into the net. Again, the goal was disallowed, as Warren was called for offsides.

"The first one, those are 50-50," Waukegan coach Peter Valdez said of Flores' no-goal. "We've had those go either way, and that's soccer. The goalie looked like he had possession, and the ref called it right away. The second goal was a clear offsides. I asked the referee, 'Just for my own peace of mind: How much was it offsides? He said, 'Three feet.' He said there were two guys offsides, so it was a pretty easy call. "

Waukegan scored both of its goals going into the wind. Just a couple of minutes after Flores' goal was waved off, Zarinana fired in a shot from the top of the box past Warren keeper Blair McCormick. Juan Ramirez had gained leverage on a defender on the wing before sending a perfect pass to Zarinana, who finished in the 11th minute.

Then in the 30th minute, Warren failed to clear a high-bouncing ball in the box, and Ezau Millan knocked in a half-volley from close range to make it a 2-0 game. The Bulldogs took that advantage into halftime.

"We were going with a 4-4-2 early on just to see if we could get a little bit more space," Valdez said. "We don't like to play too much in the air. We like to go a little bit more lateral and penetrate more. It wasn't working for us, so we went to a 4-5-1 toward the middle of the first half and then the whole second half. And it helped because we established control of the midfield."

Warren finally scored a goal that counted with 13:12 left when Flores finished another beautifully designed set play. Fratila rolled a corner kick that Ivan Esquivel dummied to Flores, who ripped in a shot past Lopez.

"We practice (dead balls) a lot," Flores said. "We said let's do our No. 2 (play) and it worked for us."

Warren generated two more corner kicks in the final 10 minutes, and Flores had another great chance in the box denied when Waukegan defender Kevin Galarza blocked his hard shot. Lopez also got help from defenders Ulises Esquivel, Andres Lomeli and Alexis Garcia-Ayala.

"I thought we dominated at times," Ahonen said. "We just couldn't find the back of the net. Congrats to (Waukegan)."

  Jeremy Richter of Warren ends up in the net after scoring what turned out to be the second disallowed goal of the period against Waukegan in Class 3A Mundelein boys soccer regional play. Bob Chwedyk/bchwedyk@dailyherald.com
  Jeremy Richter of Warren disputes his disallowed goal against Waukegan in the Class 3A Mundelein boys soccer regional final. Bob Chwedyk/bchwedyk@dailyherald.com
  Jacob Luka of Warren peeks through a pair of Waukegan defenders during the Class 3A Mundelein boys soccer regional final. Bob Chwedyk/bchwedyk@dailyherald.com
Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.