Ramirez, Mundelein surge past Wheeling in second half
A dynamic effort from Javier Ramirez helped fuel a second-half uprising from Mundelein (1-0-0), which defeated Wheeling 2-0 Wednesday afternoon in a tournament opener for both teams at the Glenbrook South Invitational in Glenview.
The Mustangs broke open a goal-less match 15 minutes into the second half, when Ramirez, the starting keeper last season for coach Dave Ekstrom, slotted under Wheeling keeper Matt Rosen. Ramirez then helped initiate an own-goal minutes to all but put away their opponent, which on Monday beat Maine East 4-0 to open the season.
"Yes, it's a lot more fun scoring goals than trying to save them," smiled Ramirez, who as an acrobatic keeper last season made several spectacular goal-saving stops but appears to have made a smooth transision to become one of the Mustangs' top attacking players for Ekstrom.
"Javier was easily our most talented technical player last season, but we really needed him in goal (then). But already you can see what he can mean when we go forward," said the long-time Mundelein coach.
It was a bit of deja vu for the Wildcats (1-1-0) and coach Ed Uhrik, a day after his club exploded for 4 unanswered goals on Maine East but still came up short.
"I thought after (Mundelein) had the better of play in the first 10 minutes or so, we came back and began to possess and spend a lot of time in (their) end, only to fail to finish on some good chances, which kind of happened with us (with) Maine East," said Uhrik, who watched Irving Eloiza stopped in close by keeper Matt Iwaniuk in the first quarter hour, and later by Iwaniuk after the sophomore was sent through with a superb touch by Roberto Anaya.
Anaya, a key figure in the middle of the park for the Wildcats, left the match minutes before the Ramirez goal and didn't return after injuring his right ankle.
Just before intermission, Zach Guthrie ran freely into the box, only to head over the bar a well-aimed corner from teammate Saul Figueroa - the Mustangs' best chance of the half to that point. Later, a blast from Gabriel Marcos fooled Wildcats keeper Arturo Escobedo for a moment before the senior alertly pulled off of the end line to save a goal.
"I knew our second half better because we are well conditioned, and I figured we would have the extra energy needed to gain an advantage," said Ramirez.
The senior was on the end of a wonderful crossfield ball sent from the left side by Cristian Mata, which Figueroa and Ramirez kept alive inside the Wildcats' box long enough for Ramirez to finish.
With the Wildcats still struggling to get organized along the back, some clever trickery by Ramirez led to his being pulled down inside the box.
Guthrie's PK attempt was saved by Rosen, but the Cats keeper gave up a rebound to his right, where an ever opportunistic Ramirez deftly touched towards the back post off of an unfortunate defender and into the net.
"(Mundelein) took advantage of a great switch of fields and we got caught on that first goal, and we were a little unlucky on that second goal, but that's going to happen," Uhrik said. "It wasn't a bad effort for us today, but I would have liked us to finish some of those chances from the guys who we feel are capable of finishing when given the opportunity to do so."
Said Ekstrom: "I was happy with the result, and with how we would possess, especially during the second-half leading up to those 2 goals."
The Mustangs continued pool play today at 5:45 against Niles North, while Wheeling takes on Warren, also at 5:45.