Boys soccer: Tirado's 2 goals lift Fremd past Palatine
There wasn't any dramatic overtime heroics at the 27th annual Kinsella Cup such as there were last spring. But Thursday night at Hildebrandt Field, Christian Tirado proved to be the hero for his soccer club at Fremd.
The Vikings (9-1-1, 6-0-0) senior bagged two second half goals to give the home side a 2-0 victory over Palatine to send Tirado and his mates home with bragging rights between these two longtime crosstown rivals.
"I played for the Palatine Celtic Soccer club for 4-5 years, and with many of the players over at Palatine (so) this is always a big game for us to win and bring back the Kinsella Cup trophy," said a thrilled Tirado after the Vikings lifted the coveted trophy for the sixth consecutive season, and 18th in this series which is named after Palatine Celtic Club founder Jimmy Kinsella.
"It's kind of ironic with Steve (Keller, Fremd head coach) away for tonight's game that Gerardo Pagnani is coaching this evening (because) he and I go way back, and he's actually the guy who helped resurrect the (Kinsella) Cup when it was ended for 3-4 years by the powers to be," said Palatine coach Willie Filian, who after coaching the Pirates girls program next spring will retire after 31 brilliant years in charge.
"Fremd has a great team, and tonight, they kept us (under) pressure for most of the game (even) with 3-4 guys out with injuries," continued Filian, who came into this game with 369 victories in the Pirates boys program. "We played with a lot of energy and heart tonight, something we haven't done much of this season. Maybe we need to play teams that wear Green and Gold shirts (like Fremd) to inspire us from here on out."
The Vikings came out on its front foot but squandered a couple of quality chances in the first half-hour after which the Pirates (2-9-1, 2-4-0) slowly began to come in the game.
Augustine (Guti) Miranda, who came on for injured keeper Diego Maradiaga, saw potential trouble coming his way and made a brave point-blank stop on Will Mayer just before the intermission - which would be the first of five quality chances from 10 yards the Vikings would fail to convert.
Dennis Valle Raude had a chance to hit the opener just after the break, but the Pirates junior drove his one-timer straight on frame, and Vikings keeper Robby Remian.
Minutes later, Tirado would finish on the tail end of a counter in which he and Mayer would lead with a wicked angled low smash from the right side.
Isaac Lara had a chance to equalize in the 64th minute, but his attempt at Remian was saved with confidence by the junior.
Tirado would double the Vikings advantage in the 78th minute when he chipped Miranda who came far off his line after Kenan Mesics' superb early ball pried open the Pirates defense.
"We're playing really well right now, and all this team wants to do is win our division, and get into the championship game of the MSL," said Tirado.
Next up for the Vikings will be Prospect on the road this Saturday, while the Pirates travel to Buffalo Grove next Friday afternoon at 4:45.