Boys soccer: Glenbrook North denies Leyden's strong upset bid
An entertaining Class 3A sectional semifinal went in favor of Glenbrook North on Wednesday night in Northfield as the top-seeded Spartans defeated Leyden 2-0 at New Trier Stadium.
Glenbrook North (19-3-1) will play the New Trier-Evanston winner on Saturday at 3 p.m. for the sectional crown.
Throughout the Central Suburban North campaign, Glenbrook North was the best team in the league. The Spartans continued to demonstrate why they are one of the the top team in the state in the postseason, producing a pair of convincing wins to advance into the matchup against coach Mark Valintis' Leyden squad.
"We knew from the results GBN had this season against many of the top-rated teams that they would be a tough opponent, but we showed all along we could play with the best, including Morton, St. Charles North and others," said Valintis. "We came in knowing we had to be at our best - and I thought we were for long stretches. But two mental errors ended up in the back of our net, and try as we might, we just couldn't pull one back to hopefully turn things around in our favor."
The Spartans initially pressed the Eagles (18-4-2) very aggressively during the opening quarter-hour in the search for an early lead. Glenbrook North got that goal when all-state midfielder Robbie Fraser took advantage of some trouble in the Leyden end and found Sahil Modi, who finished an angled shot past David Duwal.
The Eagles began to even out possessions near the half-hour but still continued to struggle to find their leading scorers up top, Eduardo Hernandez and Francisco Toral.
Partly that was due to Glenbrook North's commitment to defend the center of the pitch, part of its strategy to slow the Eagles by neutralizing service from out of the back.
"We knew coming in that Leyden had a handful of very good attacking players," said Glenbrook North senior Evan Goldberg. "So we did our best to cut down their possession, putting their forwards under a lot of pressure and then sitting in a little more than we normally do after we got that first goal, and again later when we doubled our advantage."
Second-half play began with Valintis going to a 3-4-3 formation, pushing Matt Makowiec alongside Hernandez and Toral in an effort to generate more firepower in the Eagles' attack.
Leyden had it first good chance in the 53rd minute when the trio combined to set Toral free - but his attempt went over the bar.
Three minutes later, the Spartans jumped on a poorly played square pass in its own end, which ended with Deng Deng Kur finishing nicely past Duwal after a superb early ball from Modi split the Leyden defense.
The Eagles could have folded after conceding the second goal, but to the credit of a veteran Leyden team, it was instead an all-out attack for the final 20 minutes.
Hernandez went over the bar, then flicked a header on a Andy Moreno service toward Glenbrook North keeper Daniel Spencer.
Spencer pulled down a well-aimed ball into the box from Adrian W. Flores. It was Spencer again pushing away another attempt, this one a 35-yard rocket from Moreno. Despite the pressure, Glenbrook North stayed well organized defense and ultimately did not yield.
"We had 17 seniors on this roster, and none of them wanted to see their season end tonight," said Valintis. "So they all fought right until there were 10 seconds remaining, when they knew it was too late to score one, then maybe a second.
"They were a tremendous group of guys to coach, and they had a great season, despite the result tonight."