Fremd hangs on against Wheeling
Fremd’s boys soccer team struggled to get by No. 13 seed Wheeling but was rescued by the finishing expertise of Eric Leonard in a 1-0 decision Tuesday in Palatine.
His first-half strike was enough to send the No. 4 Vikings (12-5-2) into their own Class 3A regional final at 5:30 p.m. Friday against No. 5 Lake Forest, which defeated Conant 2-1 in double overtime in the second match of the evening.
Leonard buried his game-winner at the back post in the 28th minute after Brian Hindle’s free kick scooted across the face of the goal, where Nick Tambellini’s clever dummy allowed the ball to fall to the Fremd sophomore.
“Once again we were really flat at the start of the game, which is something we’ve got to stop if we hope to continue in the postseason,” said Hindle, “and Wheeling made things difficult for us, and just as easily could have won.”
The Wildcats, after finishing in the bottom half of the MSL table this fall, entered this match as the clear underdog. But Ed Uhrik’s club is a determined bunch and put up a brave show for 80 minutes, coming close to scoring on three occasions and clearly showing every intention of springing a big first-round upset on the Vikings’ home pitch.
“I honestly can’t say enough about the effort the guys gave tonight,” said Uhrik. “We created some great chances, we defended and played (Fremd) about as hard as we could. But we had one letdown, and it cost us a goal and ultimately the game.”
The visitors controlled the run of play from the start with Sergio Nunez, Irving Balboa, Giovanni Gomez and Adan Gonzales providing plenty of pace and energy in the attack. Fremd was forced to defend more than it would have liked, but successfully did so with the help of Matt Briars and Eric Scott.
After Leonard put the Vikings ahead just before the half-hour, scoring chances were few until after the break, when Alan Flores went over the bar at 45 minutes, and Yusuke Kanada fired wide on the turn just afterward.
Wheeling came close to drawing level at 70 minutes, but the crossbar sent Gonzalez’ close-range attempt up and over.
The Vikings defended with all their might in the final 10 minutes of regulation and kept everything far enough away from keeper Colton Caesius, who recorded the shutout.
“Give Wheeling a lot of credit,” said Fremd coach Steve Keller. “They were likely more dangerous than we were tonight, and played with a lot of energy and heart. But we did too when we had to, and fortunately we did well enough to make that 1 goal be enough.”