Buffalo Grove falls into same pattern
in loss to Palatine
Bison tie game before falling 2-1
By Mike Garofola
BUFFALO GROVE -- On a bright, sunny fall afternoon, Palatine recorded a straight-forward 2-1 victory against Buffalo Grove thanks to a 53rd minute game-winner from Ricardo Gonzalez.
This MSL cross-over marked the end of the regular season for both clubs. It sent the Pirates (9-6-2) into the state playoffs on the upswing, and Brad Abel's lads on their back foot in advance of their regional opener at 6:30 p.m. Friday at home.
"Obviously we would have liked to get a win today to give us a little momentum going into our game with Zion-Benton, (but) there was still a lot of good stuff we took from this game, and that's what we'll work from when we train tomorrow."
Abel made sure to get all of his roster into Tuesday's contest, and all made their individual imprint when called upon, much to the delight of the Bison manager, who admitted this 80-minute match, was much like most he's watched this season.
"It's amazing to think of how many of our games have gone just like this one," began Abel.
"We've been involved in 9 or 10 games decided by one-goal (10 after Tuesday). Won four of them, lost the others, including our game with Wheeling which happened in the last 10 minutes.
"We typically concede the first goal, get back even, then find a way to give one away, and we leave the stadium with a loss.
"It's been hard at times because the results we have are not for a lack of effort. But it's our lack of experience - varsity experience, which usually catches up to us.
It's a situation the players realize as well.
"It really has been our experience, especially early on, that led to a tough start to the season, but we've really come around as a team after that initial break-in period, and there's no doubt in my mind that we can be a real difficult team to play in the postseason," suggested Cullen O'Doherty, who along with his fellow center-back, Tyler Nieman, stayed watertight in front of keeper Jake Salzman, who was forced into action on just a few quality opportunities from the Pirates.
Both O'Doherty and Nieman, who shared Man of the Match honors, were key figures in all of the dead-ball chances the home side would muster on this day - many of which found their way into the box, whether by the long throws from O'Doherty, or free-kicks served up off the right foot of Nieman.
"Our defense has been real solid of later, especially during a stretch when we lost just once in seven games, and I thought we were real solid once again today against Palatine," opined Nieman.
Prior to consecutive losses to Conant and Palatine, the Bison went 3-1-3 to raise it overall record to 7-7-4 until falling below .500 on the season with the two defeats.
A pair of free-kick attempts from Nieman led to some trouble for the visitors in the first quarter hour, the first leading to a long throw which the Pirates parried out of the area. The second saw fearless Palatine keeper Dylan Ruzbasan come off his line to punch the 40-yard strike out of danger.
"We didn't do much in that first half but defend, and try to figure a way to keep no. 9 (Alex Alfaro), who is very crafty and clever on the ball, from killing us in our end," said Palatine manager, Willie Filian.
"Buffalo Grove, has a lot of team speed, and we struggled with that as well as the first and second balls in the first half. It wasn't until we got control of both of those things that we were able to get back some of the play after the break."
Bad luck would continue to follow Buffalo Grove, when in the 25th minute, the home side conceded an own goal after Javi Garcia and Danny Pacheo instigated a troublesome ball which was redirected into the Bison net by one of its defenders.
Alfaro would cancel out the Pirates opening goal in brilliant fashion. He took a superb early ball from Michael Sauer and outraced his mark on the right side to get enough space to fire his angled shot into the far inside netting.
"That was one of the best passes we've had all season long," were the words Abel greeted Sauer with when he was subbed for minutes later.
With the wind in its sails after the Alfaro equalizer, the Bison would work tirelessly to go ahead before intermission. They nearly did so when Nieman stung the gloves of Ruzbasan with his free-kick - and Kyle Adams and Pat McLoone came this close to finishing a Manny Mazariegos corner.
Alfaro would continue to stoke the Bison fire to keep the attack running on pure octane once the second period began. With the help of Kevin Elioza and Matt Misch, the home side continued to keep their guests under pressure.
One play cause Abel and his bench to howl their disapproval. They thought the heels of Mazariegos were clipped, bringing down the junior just in front of the center official, who chose to ignore the apparent foul as play continued.
The Pirates did well to recircle the ball from left to right, where it would find Gonzalez, who took just a moment to tee-up his 25-yard cracker past a diving Salzman.
True to their coach's earlier statement, the Bison again had to chase a goal.
Erik Hernandez, Alfaro and Nieman would each have a half-chance after Abel went to three up top but only once did Ruzbasan suffer a nervous moment -- a well-struck low attempt from Alfaro at 74 minutes.
His counterpart Salzman was at his best when Palatine's Sebastian Fraczek unloaded a nasty left-footed drive in the 78th minute, but the Bison were unable to generate anything of quality on frame before the whistle brought the match to an end.
"I told the guys we wanted to go out there today and put in a better effort than the first time we played Palatine, because it was important to measure how far we've come since that game. I feel like we did just that," said Abel.
"This was a great test for us today, and if we play like we did today, we'll go past Zion-Benton and then get another chance at Barrington next week," said Nieman.
"We lost 3-0 in our season opener with Barrington, and we weren't very good at that time, so to have another opportunity to play them again is what all of us are looking forward to."
Starting lineups
Palatine
GK- Dylan Ruzbasan
D- David Lopez
D- Connor McGarvey
D- Christopher Munoz
D- Ricardo Gonzalez
M- Jonathan Ines Rodriguez
M- Danny Pacheo
M- Javi Garcia
M- Spencer Poklop
F- George Soipan
F- Sebastian Fraczek
Buffalo Grove
GK- Jake Salzman
D- Cullen O'Doherty
D- Tyler Nieman
D- Max Kilkuszowian
D- Jack Keady
M- Erik Hernandez
M- Alex Alfaro
M- Manny Mazariegos
M- Kyle Adams
F- Kevin Eloiza
F- Pat McLoone
Men of the Match: Tyler Nieman, D, Buffalo Grove; Cullen O'Doherty, D, Buffalo Grove
Official: Brian Norwood (center)
in loss to Palatine
Bison tie game before falling 2-1
By Mike Garofola
BUFFALO GROVE -- On a bright, sunny fall afternoon, Palatine recorded a straight-forward 2-1 victory against Buffalo Grove thanks to a 53rd minute game-winner from Ricardo Gonzalez.
This MSL cross-over marked the end of the regular season for both clubs. It sent the Pirates (9-6-2) into the state playoffs on the upswing, and Brad Abel's lads on their back foot in advance of their regional opener at 6:30 p.m. Friday at home.
"Obviously we would have liked to get a win today to give us a little momentum going into our game with Zion-Benton, (but) there was still a lot of good stuff we took from this game, and that's what we'll work from when we train tomorrow."
Abel made sure to get all of his roster into Tuesday's contest, and all made their individual imprint when called upon, much to the delight of the Bison manager, who admitted this 80-minute match, was much like most he's watched this season.
"It's amazing to think of how many of our games have gone just like this one," began Abel.
"We've been involved in 9 or 10 games decided by one-goal (10 after Tuesday). Won four of them, lost the others, including our game with Wheeling which happened in the last 10 minutes.
"We typically concede the first goal, get back even, then find a way to give one away, and we leave the stadium with a loss.
"It's been hard at times because the results we have are not for a lack of effort. But it's our lack of experience - varsity experience, which usually catches up to us.
It's a situation the players realize as well.
"It really has been our experience, especially early on, that led to a tough start to the season, but we've really come around as a team after that initial break-in period, and there's no doubt in my mind that we can be a real difficult team to play in the postseason," suggested Cullen O'Doherty, who along with his fellow center-back, Tyler Nieman, stayed watertight in front of keeper Jake Salzman, who was forced into action on just a few quality opportunities from the Pirates.
Both O'Doherty and Nieman, who shared Man of the Match honors, were key figures in all of the dead-ball chances the home side would muster on this day - many of which found their way into the box, whether by the long throws from O'Doherty, or free-kicks served up off the right foot of Nieman.
"Our defense has been real solid of later, especially during a stretch when we lost just once in seven games, and I thought we were real solid once again today against Palatine," opined Nieman.
Prior to consecutive losses to Conant and Palatine, the Bison went 3-1-3 to raise it overall record to 7-7-4 until falling below .500 on the season with the two defeats.
A pair of free-kick attempts from Nieman led to some trouble for the visitors in the first quarter hour, the first leading to a long throw which the Pirates parried out of the area. The second saw fearless Palatine keeper Dylan Ruzbasan come off his line to punch the 40-yard strike out of danger.
"We didn't do much in that first half but defend, and try to figure a way to keep no. 9 (Alex Alfaro), who is very crafty and clever on the ball, from killing us in our end," said Palatine manager, Willie Filian.
"Buffalo Grove, has a lot of team speed, and we struggled with that as well as the first and second balls in the first half. It wasn't until we got control of both of those things that we were able to get back some of the play after the break."
Bad luck would continue to follow Buffalo Grove, when in the 25th minute, the home side conceded an own goal after Javi Garcia and Danny Pacheo instigated a troublesome ball which was redirected into the Bison net by one of its defenders.
Alfaro would cancel out the Pirates opening goal in brilliant fashion. He took a superb early ball from Michael Sauer and outraced his mark on the right side to get enough space to fire his angled shot into the far inside netting.
"That was one of the best passes we've had all season long," were the words Abel greeted Sauer with when he was subbed for minutes later.
With the wind in its sails after the Alfaro equalizer, the Bison would work tirelessly to go ahead before intermission. They nearly did so when Nieman stung the gloves of Ruzbasan with his free-kick - and Kyle Adams and Pat McLoone came this close to finishing a Manny Mazariegos corner.
Alfaro would continue to stoke the Bison fire to keep the attack running on pure octane once the second period began. With the help of Kevin Elioza and Matt Misch, the home side continued to keep their guests under pressure.
One play cause Abel and his bench to howl their disapproval. They thought the heels of Mazariegos were clipped, bringing down the junior just in front of the center official, who chose to ignore the apparent foul as play continued.
The Pirates did well to recircle the ball from left to right, where it would find Gonzalez, who took just a moment to tee-up his 25-yard cracker past a diving Salzman.
True to their coach's earlier statement, the Bison again had to chase a goal.
Erik Hernandez, Alfaro and Nieman would each have a half-chance after Abel went to three up top but only once did Ruzbasan suffer a nervous moment -- a well-struck low attempt from Alfaro at 74 minutes.
His counterpart Salzman was at his best when Palatine's Sebastian Fraczek unloaded a nasty left-footed drive in the 78th minute, but the Bison were unable to generate anything of quality on frame before the whistle brought the match to an end.
"I told the guys we wanted to go out there today and put in a better effort than the first time we played Palatine, because it was important to measure how far we've come since that game. I feel like we did just that," said Abel.
"This was a great test for us today, and if we play like we did today, we'll go past Zion-Benton and then get another chance at Barrington next week," said Nieman.
"We lost 3-0 in our season opener with Barrington, and we weren't very good at that time, so to have another opportunity to play them again is what all of us are looking forward to."
Starting lineups
Palatine
GK- Dylan Ruzbasan
D- David Lopez
D- Connor McGarvey
D- Christopher Munoz
D- Ricardo Gonzalez
M- Jonathan Ines Rodriguez
M- Danny Pacheo
M- Javi Garcia
M- Spencer Poklop
F- George Soipan
F- Sebastian Fraczek
Buffalo Grove
GK- Jake Salzman
D- Cullen O'Doherty
D- Tyler Nieman
D- Max Kilkuszowian
D- Jack Keady
M- Erik Hernandez
M- Alex Alfaro
M- Manny Mazariegos
M- Kyle Adams
F- Kevin Eloiza
F- Pat McLoone
Men of the Match: Tyler Nieman, D, Buffalo Grove; Cullen O'Doherty, D, Buffalo Grove
Official: Brian Norwood (center)
