Meadows gets the better of Fremd
Soccer can be a crazy game.
Just ask the Fremd faithful.
Dominating the run of play for nearly all 80 minutes, and especially in the final 10 minutes, the Vikings (2-1-0) still found themselves on the short end of a 1-0 decision Saturday afternoon in Palatine when a Atillio Bonasera goal in the 55th minutes held for visiting Rolling Meadows.
The home side, which had already tied its 2008 win total with a pair of early victories over Evanston and Downers Grove North, appeared headed towards a third straight win when it opened with confidence and aggressively pushed forward, only to see the Mustangs (1-1-0) keep the ball out of the net.
"We had a tough time at times and became a little disorganized along the back with the pressure Fremd was bringing," said the Mustangs' Peter Mikulak, who earned a victory over the Vikings for the first time in his six years as head coach. "But you could sense we were beginning to play better after Atillio's goal, and sometimes a goal like his, maybe a little lucky one, is just the type of thing a team can use to help provide a much needed spark."
The Mustangs' backline of Carter Gibson, Kevin Wayne, Steven Kay and two-year starter Jake Muszczynski did well to keep most of the Vikings' attack away from keeper Joey Aiello, but it didn't come without a cost as the quartet worked much harder than it may have liked, in addition to losing Gibson just after the break with an injury.
Gibson did not return, but teammate Matt Banczak stepped in without missing a beat and helped his mates slow the Vikings in the end as they pushed forward in search of the equalizer.
"We had our trouble(s) in the last 10 minutes marking up on all of their corners and deep throws, but we did pretty well when we had to and it felt really good to get a win like this today," said Muszczynski.
The Vikings were the aggressor for the first 40 minutes but failed to finish behind Aiello, lacking the sharp play in and around the box needed to score.
Hounded and hammered for nearly an hour, the visitors struck the decisive goal when Bonasera hit a curling left-footer from 30 yards to the far post, and the combination of the wind and keeper Jeff Vasudevan's momentum allowed the ball to settle into the back of the net.
Fremd coach Steve Keller added another striker up top just afterward, and the trio of Sal Aiello, Jake Nedza and Spencer Filosa were relentlessly creating chance after chance, only to come up short.
Filosa sent a beautiful serve to the back post, only to watch it go unmet. Moments later, Filosa was unable to get a boot on a rebound Aiello gave up after a superb save on a Lorenzo Savino blast from up close.
"I was pleased at how we worked hard and tried to create chances at the end," said Keller, "but after starting out well, we coasted in between and didn't really find ourselves until it was too late."