ROSELLE — Lake Park coach Mike Bruckner was happy to talk about dirty laundry after the Lancers 6-2 loss against Leyden on Thursday night.

“We’ll get that cleaned up and then retire it,” he said of sophomore holding midfielder Denys Klyuchenko’s former JV jersey.

“There’s no way he’ll ever play JV again,” Bruckner added. “Not after what he showed us tonight. He’ll help us up here.”

Klyuchenko, wearing no. 26, battled like he was already a member of the Lancers’ parent club in his varsity debut, creating a number of promising chances on one end of the pitch and thwarting several others at the other end. 

But Leyden — ranked fifth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 — wore out the Lancers with their speed, quick touches and seemingly effortless ball-movement, especially in the first half of their 6-2 victory at Krupke Memorial Field.

Coach Mark Valintis watched his club strike for three goals in the first 14 minutes of the nonconference game and lead 5-1 at halftime.

Senior midfielder Christian Esquivel paced the winners with a brace. Ryvin DelPilar and Jesus Ramos added a goal and assist apiece.

Esquivel, the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, also nudged an assist to senior midfielder Brandon Delgado to expand the Eagles’ advantage to 5-1 in the 61st minute. Delgado dribbled smoothly toward the middle of the 18 ahead of his deft chip over charging Lake Park junior goalkeeper Adriano Padua (seven saves).

“We don’t have a stud,” Valintis said after his side improved to 11-1-2. “What we do have is a lot of very, very good players.”

Thirteen of his 23 boys have found the back of the next at least once in ’24.

“It’s a fun group, with a lot of depth,” Valintis said. 

“Their chemistry,” Lancers sophomore Eryk Wolski said, “is outstanding. I could tell a lot of them have been playing together for a long time.”

Leyden junior DelPilar opened the scoring seven minutes in, after gathering a feed from senior forward Ramos and darting to open space near the top of the 18. From there, DelPilar poked a diagonal shot that nobody could have stopped.

Ramos doubled the lead two minutes later, banging a rebound home from about 12 yards.

Esquivel tallied his first goal of the night, via another rebound, at the 14-minute mark to make it 3-0.

“I told our guys at halftime that, despite falling behind so early, we’d been doing good things,” Bruckner said. “What hurt us was Leyden’s speed. When they’re hip-to-hip with us, and there’s a ball to chase, they win that race every time.

“We didn’t react the right way in instances early on.”

Esquivel completed his brace 19 minutes before intermission. The unassisted 15-yarder entered the goal between Padua’s right mitt and the near post.

Leyden reserve Rafael Burciaga notched the prettiest score of the night in the 33rd minute after a delivery from senior forward Alexis Santos. 

The junior midfielder, with the ball at his feet just north of the 18, tapped it to his right and then to his left, creating ample space to display more examples of his creativity.

A handful of Lancers tried valiantly to stymie or at least slow the Eagle, but Burciaga then hammered a far-post fastball past Padua to make it 5-1.

Lake Park (2-5-3) received its first goal of the mild evening from reserve junior forward Zory Schmitt, who calmly one-timed a cross from junior midfielder Adrian Podosek in minute 28. Schmitt’s top-of-the-box shot beat Leyden senior keeper Daniel Llanos (seven saves) and netted his first goal of the fall.

“Lake Park is a tough team,” Valintis said. “Both their goals were nice ones.

“We created opportunities and finished them, too. That was nice to see.”

Throughout most of the second half, Lake Park looked nothing like the first half Lancers, pressuring Leyden’s backs and enjoying the run of play for significant stretches. Klyuchenko, Wolski, Schmitt and sophomore forward Jakub Nowicki all stood out while refusing to let Leyden’s advantage deflate them.

Wolski’s second goal of the season capped the scoring in minute 73, and it was a beaut. Shortly after collecting a pass from Schmitt, he bent a 30-yard, far-post shot that entered the northwest corner of the goal.

“It was nice to be able to play our entire roster tonight,” Bruckner said. “Guys got opportunities and made the most of them.”

In the end, Leyden was too good, too fast and too much. Too many of the visitors’ possessions were near-masterpieces. What makes the game beautiful, many believe, has more to do with passing than with scoring.

Count Delgado as one of the believers.

“When we watch film of our games and see some of the passes we make, we sometimes can’t believe that’s us,” he said. We connected well tonight.”

For DelPilar, the most encouraging part of Thursday night’s effort was Leyden’s early barrage of goals.

“We got off to a slow start in our last game,” he said, referring to the Eagles’ 3-0 defeat of host Hinsdale South on Sept. 24.

“Tonight, we were much better early. We wanted to score as many goals as possible.”

Leyden’s electric performance didn’t surprise Bruckner.

“That team has intelligent players,” he said. “It’s a good team, with gifted individuals who play within themselves.”

Bruckner has written Klyuchenko’s name on the varsity roster in ink.

“Denys scans the field well, always looking to see who will press him,” the coach said. “He’s impressive.”

Lake Park hosts Palatine — an honorable mention team in the Top 25 — at noon Saturday; Leyden (2-0-0 in the West Suburban Gold) has some time off before it hosts West Suburban Conference Gold Division foe Proviso East at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Footnotes

Valintis, in his 18th season at the Franklin Park school, plays soccer on Sundays with a 40-and-up group. The former Addison Trail midfielder competed at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. “I’ve taken kids down there for camps,” he said before Thursday’s kickoff. … Lake Park junior Carlos Ramos, listed as a forward on the Lancers’ roster, served as a midfielder Thursday night. He came up big defensively several times in the first half, when Leyden seemed to be on pace to score every other possession. … Leyden received another sturdy collective effort from its starting backline of seniors David Tracewicz, Yadier DeLaCruz, Fabian Rodriguez and Stefano Andrino.

Starting lineups

Leyden
GK Daniel Llanos
D David Tracewicz
D Yadier DeLaCruz
D Fabian Rodriguez
D Stefano Andrino
MF Rogelio Herrera
MF Kevin Puga-Hernandez
MF Christian Esquivel
MF Brandon Delgado
MF Ryvin DelPilar
F Jesus Ramos

Lake Park
GK Adriano Padua
D Patrick Swacha
D Andrew Nguyen
D Daniel Niezgoda
D Dominick Nash
MF Carlos Ramos
MF Jose Lozano
MF Danny Chukurov
F Rodrigo Maceda
F Jakub Nowicki
F Nolan Strejc

Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Christian Esquivel, sr., MF, Leyden

Scoring summary

First half
Leyden — DelPilar (Ramos), 7’
Leyden — Ramos (unassisted), 9’
Leyden — Esquivel (DelPilar), 14’
Leyden — Esquivel (unassised), 21’
Lake Park — Zory Schmitt (Adrian Podosek), 28’
Leyden — Rafael Burciaga (Alexis Santos), 33’

Second half
Leyden — Delgado (Esquivel), 61’
Lake Park — Eryk Wolski (Schmitt), 73’