Maine West ousts Mather
A virtuoso performance from the Maine West boys soccer team finished in a thrilling 3-1 victory Friday night over Chicago Mather, sending the Warriors into their first-ever supersectional appearance at Loyola Soccer Park and putting them just one win away from booking a spot in the Class 3A state tournament next weekend.
Maine West will face either Libertyville or Central Suburban League rival Highland Park at 6 p.m. Tuesday night.
The No. 2 seed Warriors (14-4-7) gave a revved-up audience at Wilson Field in Park Ridge more entertainment than it could handle against a Mather side which was showcasing one of the most highly skilled attacking units around. Mather had knocked off top seed Niles West last Friday in the regional final.
“We were out to scout (Mather) against Niles West, and I can tell you, I thought I saw everything they had on that night, but when you get up close and watch how many weapons they have and how quickly they play and with so much technical ability ... well, you can't help but be a little afraid of what they might do,” said Maine West coach Mike DiVincenzo, who saw his players swarmed by hundreds of fans who burst onto the pitch at Maine South after the match.
“We knew there were some things that we could do against them if we executed our game plan, controlled the midfield and won as many 50-50 balls as we could. And in the end, we did just that and much more to earn the biggest victory in our history.”
The two teams were well organized in the early stages, which for the Warriors was most important, given how the Rangers found junior Chisom Ogbonna. His outrageous speed on the ball made him a threat every time he had the ball.
But for all the technical wizardry of the Rangers (14-7-3), they could be exploited along the back. And at seven minutes, the Warriors struck first when freshman Nelson Herrera create a chance from nothing and fired past Edwin Vazquez.
“Scoring the first goal in a game like this was so big for us, and it really helped us build some confidence and momentum afterwards,” said Maine West senior and tri-captain Ryan Ybarra.
Mather showed it would not go into a shell after the early goal and and immediatley got back into its attack, pressuring the Warriors' back four of Emmett Turner-Jackson, Austin O'Toole, Augustin Bolanos-Quintana and Alex Blancas, who collectively were quick to the ball, strong in the tackle and stayed organized even when the Rangers came flooding forward with numbers.
“Those guys in the back, all of them, were terrific all night long,” said DiVincenzo.
The Warriors made it 2-0 just three minutes after the break on a superbly executed sequence up the right side, initiated by a an O'Toole ball up the flank to Herrera, whose angled running set him free.
With the composure of a surgeon, Herrera unselfishly waited before giving an inch-perfect pass to Ybarra, who side-footed past Vazquez from 8 yards.
“I thought especially in the first half, we played without the necessary composure needed to compete in a match this important, and although we did better at that after the break, we still didn't play at the level that Maine West did tonight,” said Mather coach Henry Rahana, who took his club to the quarterfinals of the Chicago Public League tournament before falling 1-0 to eventual city champ Kelly.
Despite the 2-goal cushion, DiVincenzo admitted to be still on edge, and his confidence was shaken briefly when the center official gave Mather a PK at 63 minutes. Steve Younus converted the spot kick to bring the Rangers closer, but junior Tommy Cerri sealed the Warriors' safe passage into the supersectional when he was on the tail end of a superb build-up initiated by Jerry Espinoza and Tait Jensen at 73 minutes.
“This is just an amazing feeling tonight,” said Cerri.
“I am not so sure that any of us would have thought we would be playing into the last week of the season,” said Ybarra, “but I can tell you it feels great to be a part of this, and to have so many of our friends and family here to help us enjoy what just happened to our team.”