Addison Trail gets another shutout

Defense has been the calling card for Addison Trail this season and Tuesday’s Senior Night match against Willowbrook saw that trend continue.

The senior defensive trio of Daniel Krajewski, Juan Amezquita and Angelo Amato, along with junior defender Sergio Marin, held the Warriors to just 6 shots on the night while preserving a 3-0 shutout in the West Suburban Conference Gold matchup.

Willowbrook (2-9-2, 1-3-0) was held without a shot for the first 24 minutes and did not have a shot on goal until there was 12:30 left in the first half. Addison Trail outshot its opponent 22-6 on the night.

“We kind of stacked our defense halfway through the season and started shutting teams out, winning games 1-0 or 2-0,” Addison Trail coach Ryan Dini said. “I told our guys that every one of our wins except for one has been a shutout. If you’re shutting teams out, you’re going to win.”

Addison Trail (6-8-1, 3-1-0) got on the board with 32:31 left in the first half when Trey Smith sailed a ball from midfield to Tom Kania, who drew Willowbrook goalkeeper Zac Boehm away from the net. Kania went to his right and kicked a shot past Boehm for a 1-0 lead.

Elias Leyva netted Addison Trail’s second goal at 22:12, connecting on an unassisted shot from 10 feet away.

Smith helped set up the third goal at 20:23 when he used his speed to get past his defender and into Willowbrook’s zone. He kicked to Kevin Alvarez across the field, who then assisted Uriel Martinez’s goal that gave the Blazers a 3-0 lead.

Willowbrook finally had its first shot of the night with 15:50 left in the first half when Aaron Johnson’s attempt went left of the goal.

Johnson had his team’s only shot on goal in the first half, attempting one at the 12:30 mark that sailed into the hands of Addison Trail goalkeeper Cristian Aguilar.

“Out of the six shots we had, five of them came from Aaron (Johnson), who’s a defensive midfielder,” Willowbrook coach Peter Ginter said. “We need much better production from our forwards.

“And Addison Trail has about 4-5 technically talented players,” Ginter continued. “That’s something we don’t have right now.”

The Blazers’ final goal came with 9:23 left in the match when Cesar Chavez made a reverse kick save as the ball was about to go out of bounce near the Willowbrook net. It found its way to teammate Javier Berrum who buried it into the back of the net for the final score.