Streaking Addison Trail tops Willowbrook
Juarez brace leads Blazers to 8th-straight win
By Chris Walker
VILLA PARK – Addison Trail once again showed that it has a special team this season. The Blazers handily took care of host Willowbrook 5-1 in a West Suburban Conference Gold Division game Tuesday.
How impressive are the Blazers? Well, Willowbrook coach Peter Ginter believes they’re the best Addison Trail side in a long, long time.
The current team hopes to join the ranks of previous Blazers' squads that made it to state: 1984; 1989 (fourth place); and 1992 (shootout loss to Batavia in the quarterfinals).
“That’s probably the best team they’ve had in about 30 years; they’re that good,” Ginter said. “We knew what we were up against. Our boys played hard, so I was pleased with their effort. We actually had a little more possession in the game than I thought we would. We kind of lost it at the end when they scored the fourth goal. We lost concentration, or a step or two, but for the most part we were right in there.”
Addison Trail junior Martin Juarez, who was named Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, scored his first of two goals early in the first half to give the Blazers an early lead.
He actually didn’t really see his first shot land in the back of the net.
“The shot came back to me, and I just shot it,” he said. “I got kicked and fell so I didn’t see the ball and then everyone was coming at me and yelling that I scored. I was like ‘Oh really?’” and then I looked and saw the ball in the net and was like, ‘Wow.’”
While Addison Trail (13-1-0, 3-1-0) didn’t jump all over the Warriors after Juarez’s goal though, the Blazers did extend their lead midway through the first half on a goal from Ruben Amaro to make it 2-0. Still, the Warriors kept battling, putting a couple of excellent shots on frame in the first half, but coming up empty.
Early in the opening half, Ali Saleh had a solid opportunity off a corner and just missed while Miguel Correa had a breakaway chance with a little less than seven minutes left in the first half, but just misfired wide right.
“I thought it was a relatively close game,” Saleh said. “If you don’t look at the score, it was really a close game with possession at about 50/50. We created some chances. We just didn’t get as many shots on the ball, and they finished their chances and we didn’t.”
The Blazers extended their lead to 3-0 just three minutes into the second half when Enrique Luna scored.
Willowbrook (6-6-0, 2-2-0) finally got on the scoreboard with 34:49 remaining in the game when Correa connected. It was the only offensive highlight for the Warriors that had a happy ending, although the team did create some other worthwhile chances the rest of the way.
“We just need a better supportive attack and that’s been one of our issues that was apparent again today,” Ginter said. “We’ll send the ball to our top forward and it’ll be like a 2-v.-4 or 3-v.-5 and we’ve just got to transition a lot quicker from our defense to our offense upfield when he have those opportunities. So that’s something we’ll need to work on.”
It’s not something that’s plagued Addison Trail, which made the most of its chances.
“They move as a unit so well and spread the ball really well,” Saleh said. “They shifted left and right to the point where we were trying to play catch-up. And they had a lot of time and space on the ball, and we gave them empty shots. They finished five of the six good shots they had.”
Juarez tapped in his second goal with 28:46 left to make it a 4-1 game and Melvin Mora added a goal with less than 10 seconds remaining to conclude the scoring.
“We’re pretty pumped right now,” Juarez said. “Winning the Pepsi on Sunday was big and our only loss this season was to Morton who is the top-ranked team. So we just want to keep winning more and more. I think if we got another chance against Morton we could maybe beat them.”
Boasting a roster with 13 seniors - and a group that’s getting collectively healthy after battling some early season injuries - certainly bodes well for a team that’s putting together an unforgettable campaign.
“Having a ton of seniors who have been playing together for a while and have bought into what we’re doing makes a huge difference,” Addison Trail coach Ryan Dini said. “Our guys show up for every game. We’re 13-1 now and that only loss was to Morton, which is no. 1. Our guys are confident and fired up. They really expect to win every game, and we haven’t seen a letdown yet. We hope that continues.”
The Blazers played for the fifth time in seven days but looked anything but tired in winning their eighth-straight game. They won’t have much of a break either with games against York and Neuqua Valley scheduled for later this week.
“(On Monday) we only worked on set-pieces and had a light day because we’ve been playing so often,” Dini said. “The guys didn’t letdown. They knew this was a big rivalry game in the same district, and they played that way.”
Addison Trail senior midfielder Jason Solares said he knew the Warriors would be tough and that the final score was misleading to what truly transpired on the pitch.
“The scoreboard might not reflect what really happened, because it was different on the field,” he said. “That’s a really good team we beat. They’re super talented and I’m just happy we beat them because they gave us a hard time last year and they made it tough on us this time.”
This special season has been brewing for a while now for Addison Trail, and the pre-season excitement wasn’t miscalculated. The Blazers have proven that they deserve their no. 11 rank in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 and should be in the running for a spot in statewide polls.
Some may argue that their schedule isn’t as tough as teams that play in other conferences, or that they haven’t played a difficult nonconference schedule, but this is a team that won a bracket of the PepsiCo tournament and has beaten two DVC teams. Plus, it's a cohesive group whose bond goes beyond the soccer field and one that feels it has something to prove.
“Camaraderie-wise, this is the closest team I’ve ever had,” Dini said. “They go out to dinner and breakfast, they’re always hanging out, and they do community service stuff. The guys have been all about the on-the-field stuff as well as off-the-field.
“And it helps that we’ve got 21 seniors overall as a group when you include JV. So things are going good with this group. We just have got to keep it going.”
Solares considers the team family.
“We’re a family, we really look out for each other, go to team dinners and overall we play as a team,” he said. “If someone messes up we cover them, because that’s what a family does. That’s just how we are with each other. We’re just really close.”
And it’s not just about the seniors.
“We do a lot of things together especially all the seniors, but we’ll invite anybody from our team, so it’s a big group,” Solares said. “ We’ve had juniors like Martin (Juarez) who is a beast and stepped up in games, and Lalo (Eduardo Gomez) and Melvin Mora are sophomores who have stepped up really big, especially with injuries we started the season with.”
Starting lineups
Addison Trail
GK Jacob Gryko
D Edmond Montano
D Melvin Mora
D Brian Ramos
D Jason Solares
M Adrian Wnorowski
M Tomasz Kania
M Eduardo Gomez
M Martin Juarez
F Jonathan Hernandez
F Enrique Luna
Willowbrook
GK Mario Giase
D Ali Saleh
D Steven Cerda
D Ismael Roman
D Benny Heredia
D Tomas Hernandez
M Nichola Hernandez
M Michael Pavlik
M Jose Alvarado
F Saul Hernandez
F Miguel Correa
Man of the Match – Martin Juarez, M, Addison Trail
Juarez brace leads Blazers to 8th-straight win
By Chris Walker
VILLA PARK – Addison Trail once again showed that it has a special team this season. The Blazers handily took care of host Willowbrook 5-1 in a West Suburban Conference Gold Division game Tuesday.
How impressive are the Blazers? Well, Willowbrook coach Peter Ginter believes they’re the best Addison Trail side in a long, long time.
The current team hopes to join the ranks of previous Blazers' squads that made it to state: 1984; 1989 (fourth place); and 1992 (shootout loss to Batavia in the quarterfinals).
“That’s probably the best team they’ve had in about 30 years; they’re that good,” Ginter said. “We knew what we were up against. Our boys played hard, so I was pleased with their effort. We actually had a little more possession in the game than I thought we would. We kind of lost it at the end when they scored the fourth goal. We lost concentration, or a step or two, but for the most part we were right in there.”
Addison Trail junior Martin Juarez, who was named Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, scored his first of two goals early in the first half to give the Blazers an early lead.
He actually didn’t really see his first shot land in the back of the net.
“The shot came back to me, and I just shot it,” he said. “I got kicked and fell so I didn’t see the ball and then everyone was coming at me and yelling that I scored. I was like ‘Oh really?’” and then I looked and saw the ball in the net and was like, ‘Wow.’”
While Addison Trail (13-1-0, 3-1-0) didn’t jump all over the Warriors after Juarez’s goal though, the Blazers did extend their lead midway through the first half on a goal from Ruben Amaro to make it 2-0. Still, the Warriors kept battling, putting a couple of excellent shots on frame in the first half, but coming up empty.
Early in the opening half, Ali Saleh had a solid opportunity off a corner and just missed while Miguel Correa had a breakaway chance with a little less than seven minutes left in the first half, but just misfired wide right.
“I thought it was a relatively close game,” Saleh said. “If you don’t look at the score, it was really a close game with possession at about 50/50. We created some chances. We just didn’t get as many shots on the ball, and they finished their chances and we didn’t.”
The Blazers extended their lead to 3-0 just three minutes into the second half when Enrique Luna scored.
Willowbrook (6-6-0, 2-2-0) finally got on the scoreboard with 34:49 remaining in the game when Correa connected. It was the only offensive highlight for the Warriors that had a happy ending, although the team did create some other worthwhile chances the rest of the way.
“We just need a better supportive attack and that’s been one of our issues that was apparent again today,” Ginter said. “We’ll send the ball to our top forward and it’ll be like a 2-v.-4 or 3-v.-5 and we’ve just got to transition a lot quicker from our defense to our offense upfield when he have those opportunities. So that’s something we’ll need to work on.”
It’s not something that’s plagued Addison Trail, which made the most of its chances.
“They move as a unit so well and spread the ball really well,” Saleh said. “They shifted left and right to the point where we were trying to play catch-up. And they had a lot of time and space on the ball, and we gave them empty shots. They finished five of the six good shots they had.”
Juarez tapped in his second goal with 28:46 left to make it a 4-1 game and Melvin Mora added a goal with less than 10 seconds remaining to conclude the scoring.
“We’re pretty pumped right now,” Juarez said. “Winning the Pepsi on Sunday was big and our only loss this season was to Morton who is the top-ranked team. So we just want to keep winning more and more. I think if we got another chance against Morton we could maybe beat them.”
Boasting a roster with 13 seniors - and a group that’s getting collectively healthy after battling some early season injuries - certainly bodes well for a team that’s putting together an unforgettable campaign.
“Having a ton of seniors who have been playing together for a while and have bought into what we’re doing makes a huge difference,” Addison Trail coach Ryan Dini said. “Our guys show up for every game. We’re 13-1 now and that only loss was to Morton, which is no. 1. Our guys are confident and fired up. They really expect to win every game, and we haven’t seen a letdown yet. We hope that continues.”
The Blazers played for the fifth time in seven days but looked anything but tired in winning their eighth-straight game. They won’t have much of a break either with games against York and Neuqua Valley scheduled for later this week.
“(On Monday) we only worked on set-pieces and had a light day because we’ve been playing so often,” Dini said. “The guys didn’t letdown. They knew this was a big rivalry game in the same district, and they played that way.”
Addison Trail senior midfielder Jason Solares said he knew the Warriors would be tough and that the final score was misleading to what truly transpired on the pitch.
“The scoreboard might not reflect what really happened, because it was different on the field,” he said. “That’s a really good team we beat. They’re super talented and I’m just happy we beat them because they gave us a hard time last year and they made it tough on us this time.”
This special season has been brewing for a while now for Addison Trail, and the pre-season excitement wasn’t miscalculated. The Blazers have proven that they deserve their no. 11 rank in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 and should be in the running for a spot in statewide polls.
Some may argue that their schedule isn’t as tough as teams that play in other conferences, or that they haven’t played a difficult nonconference schedule, but this is a team that won a bracket of the PepsiCo tournament and has beaten two DVC teams. Plus, it's a cohesive group whose bond goes beyond the soccer field and one that feels it has something to prove.
“Camaraderie-wise, this is the closest team I’ve ever had,” Dini said. “They go out to dinner and breakfast, they’re always hanging out, and they do community service stuff. The guys have been all about the on-the-field stuff as well as off-the-field.
“And it helps that we’ve got 21 seniors overall as a group when you include JV. So things are going good with this group. We just have got to keep it going.”
Solares considers the team family.
“We’re a family, we really look out for each other, go to team dinners and overall we play as a team,” he said. “If someone messes up we cover them, because that’s what a family does. That’s just how we are with each other. We’re just really close.”
And it’s not just about the seniors.
“We do a lot of things together especially all the seniors, but we’ll invite anybody from our team, so it’s a big group,” Solares said. “ We’ve had juniors like Martin (Juarez) who is a beast and stepped up in games, and Lalo (Eduardo Gomez) and Melvin Mora are sophomores who have stepped up really big, especially with injuries we started the season with.”
Starting lineups
Addison Trail
GK Jacob Gryko
D Edmond Montano
D Melvin Mora
D Brian Ramos
D Jason Solares
M Adrian Wnorowski
M Tomasz Kania
M Eduardo Gomez
M Martin Juarez
F Jonathan Hernandez
F Enrique Luna
Willowbrook
GK Mario Giase
D Ali Saleh
D Steven Cerda
D Ismael Roman
D Benny Heredia
D Tomas Hernandez
M Nichola Hernandez
M Michael Pavlik
M Jose Alvarado
F Saul Hernandez
F Miguel Correa
Man of the Match – Martin Juarez, M, Addison Trail