Boys soccer: Maine West scores win over Northridge Prep
The attacking trio of Jason Ybarra, Justin Scholler and Angel Contreras all found the net as host Maine West claimed a 4-1 boys soccer victory Saturday afternoon over Class 1A power Northridge Prep in Des Plaines.
Ybarra's first half spot-kick got the goal scoring under way, and although freshman Jack Brown briefly drew the visitors back even, the Warriors (10-4-1) reasserted their authority when Contreras and Scholler put their club back in front for good.
"Maine West is a very good team. They have some talented players in the midfield and up top, but I thought for us playing our second game in less than 24 hours, we played them fairly even at times," said Northridge Prep's Paolo Rossi, who set his roots in coaching at Hersey in 1990, before moving on in the spring of 2004.
"We played 90 minutes in the rain and mud against Francis Parker (Friday) night, so at times our legs looked a little heavy, but we have four freshmen in our starting lineup, and sometimes that's why we've given up quick goals in bunches."
One of the freshmen Rossi spoke of, Owen Mongoven, performed brilliantly between the sticks for the Knights (9-7-2), taking four potential goals out of the net in the first half to keep the visitors in the match.
Mongoven's point-blank save on Contreras on a ball from Ybarra in the 13th minute was terrific but the young keeper saved his best effort for later when the Warriors were pouring on the pressure.
Scholler was put through with a superb helper from Ybarra, and saw his first attempt turned away, then his second off the rebound was somehow stopped without fear from close range.
"We started really slow against Deerfield the other night, and it might have cost us the game but today we were so much better moving the ball and creating chances and finally put a few of them in," said Ybarra, the Warriors' gifted senior midfielder, who is drawing interest from a couple of D-I programs.
Ybarra, Scholler and their teammates suffered through a 2-1 loss at Deerfield last Tuesday, a defeat which eventually knocked them out of the CSL final next week against New Trier.
"We knew going into that game with Deerfield that a win would put us through but we let down in the second half after scoring the first goal, and it was our frustration that might have beat us more than anything," said Scholler.
"We've been without one of our top scorers (Emerson Herrera) for almost two weeks, plus we we're missing players in our back line but that's not an excuse for that loss. We needed others to step up that day in order to get by Deerfield," said Warriors head coach Alan Matan.
Ybarra's PK in the 32nd minute came after Cristian Correa was hauled down in the box, then it was a Ybarra helper that allowed Contreras to finish easily from inside 8 yards.
Two minutes later, at 53 minutes, Correa played a ball inside the box that wrong-footed Mongoven and allowed Scholler to score.
Ybarra's second PK conversion in the 75th minute put an exclamation point on the Warriors' 10th victory, one short of last year.
"We're looking to play well in our last three games of the season next week against Oak Park-River Forest, Glenbrook South and Von Steuben, and to use that before the start of regionals," said Ybarra.
The Warriors were anointed the No. 6 seed in the Evanston sectional, while Northridge Prep earned the No. 1 seed in the Waukegan Cristo Rey St. Martin regional.