Boys soccer: New formation helps Glenbard North overcome Glenbard South

Glenbard North's 3-1 victory at Glenbard South on Saturday afternoon left both boys soccer teams with something to like.

The Panthers not only enjoyed the nonconference victory, they appreciated the new formation they played in. For the first time under coach Gregg Koeller, Glenbard North tried a 4-3-3, instead of their usual 4-4-2.

"Some of our offensive deficiencies I thought would be rectified by that," Koeller said. "I like how we attacked. I told the guys after the game, the scoreboard doesn't always reflect the stats. Had we tied this game or lost a close one, I still would have liked the fact that we possessed. We created multiple opportunities.

"I thought Livre (Emena) and Danny Koeller in the midfield were much more impactful than they have been able to be in the last couple of games, and I think the formation change is going to be a big part of that going forward."

The new formation helped the Panthers (4-3) dominate the first half, both in terms of ball possession and shots, where Glenbard North held an 18-1 advantage. Still, the Panthers didn't score until the 36th minute when the Raiders (5-2-1) failed to clear the ball from its penalty area and Emena knocked it into the net.

"Honestly, it was pretty frustrating," senior forward Michael Botchev said, "but I'm happy that we woke up and then we put some back in the net."

The Raiders bounced back in the second half, tying the game in the 43rd minute. Senior forward Matthew Waters headed in junior Sean McLaughlin's flip throw-in about 4 yards in front of the Panthers' goal.

"He got just enough of it to get the redirect," Raiders coach Adam Szyszko said. "Otherwise I thought it was going to be a throw right into the goal. It was nice."

"Honestly, we came out the first couple of minutes (of the second half) flat and they capitalized," added Botchev, in his fourth year on the Panthers varsity. "But right after that was a wakeup call for us. We put some back in the net, and that's all that matters."

The Panthers took the lead for good in the 54th minute on Botchev's first goal of the season off an Isaac Manuel assist. Emena's second goal of the day made it 3-1 in the 59th, Erik Lopez getting the assist.

Despite the loss the Raiders saw progress.

"We played them in the summer league, they handled us pretty good," Szyszko said. "We played them last year, they handled us pretty good. We hung with. A couple of mental mistakes."

That improvement will be put to the test in the coming weeks.

"We're getting into the hard part of our schedule now where we're playing a lot of (Class) 3A teams and our conference is kind of a meat grinder with (Riverside-Brookfield), Fenton and Wheaton Academy," Szyszko said. "There are some really good sides. We're going to find out. Today was really encouraging."

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