Grens fall to Fremd in Palatine
Two second-half goals hand Elk Grove 2nd straight loss

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By Gary Larsen

Negotiating success can be a tough nut to crack, when that success is new to a group of soccer players.

Elk Grove is a quality side, to be sure, but on Saturday at Fremd the Grens saw for the second straight game what it will take to make a run at an MSL title.

Elk Grove (7-4, 3-3 in MSL play) lost 2-0 to Fremd (8-2-2, 4-2) in Palatine, three days after falling 2-1 to Barrington.

“Barrington and Fremd in the same week, and Barrington’s record is nowhere near how good they are,” Bush said of the 7-6 Broncos. “They’re a good team, and we’re learning how to compete with the big boys.

We’ve got three games in the MSL East next week and it’s going to be the gauntlet. Rolling Meadows beat Fremd, and then we play Prospect and Wheeling. The next three games are important and the next one is where we need to start.”

The Grens weathered an opening 20 minutes on Saturday during which Fremd kept a steady presence in its attacking third, earning corner kicks and deep throw-ins but coming up empty.

The Grens best chances occurred on the counterattack during that span. Cesar Rodriguez sent a ball just wide two minutes into the contest, and Ernesto Rodriguez converged on a ball near the 18 with Fremd keeper Scott Sutarik 10 minutes in. The ball popped up and Rodriguez sent a good chance wide of frame. Cesar Rodriguez broke in alone on Sutarik near the post on an ensuing play, but Sutarik charged out and stuffed his shot attempt.
 
After 20 minutes, Elk Grove began finding its own groove in the attack, finding feet and building through the midfield.

“Our best compliment came about 40 minutes in when (Fremd coach Steve) Keller told his boys we were making them look silly,” Bush said. “But we just don’t do enough of that. We do good things and then for some reason we turn it off.”

Keller liked the test his side got from Elk Grove.

“They’re a strong team and they’re going to be a team to watch, come playoff time,” Keller said. “They’re smart, their kids hustle, they’ve got some size, some speed, and they’re technically skillful.”

The one thing lacking during the Grens’ strong run of play was a goal, but Carlos Cisneros, Ernesto Rodriguez, Cesar Rodriguez, Irving Cruz and company fought hard in the attack.

“Our forwards worked hard today. We just didn’t get as many chances,” Elk Grove senior Mike Ginter said. “Their defense was good and (Scott Sutarik) is a really good goalie.”

Mike Ragano started in net for Elk Grove, in place of absent starter Frankie Ortiz. Ragano stuffed a shot at the post in the 47th minute off the foot of a charging Lorenzo Savino, and then saved a Matthew Burkhardt shot in close two minutes later.

But with Fremd’s pressure mounting in the second half, the dam finally burst in the 56th minute, when Spencer Filosa scored on a head shot, off a long freekick feed from Alex Bochat.

Eduardo Cruz swooped in up the end line on Rogano three minutes later to make it 2-0. Fremd’s Jeremy Koszac forced Rogano to tip a shot from distance over the crossbar in the 71st minute.

The defender Ginter manned up in describing Fremd’s first score of the game.

“I just subbed in and I was supposed to mark (Filosa). I just lost focus and let him around me. That goal was my fault,” said Ginter, who along with brother Matt, left the game and returned after sustaining leg injuries.

Elk Grove kept battling but couldn’t find a goal to the final buzzer. Bush applauded the play of Jesse Schultz in filling in at both holding mid and sweeper in Saturday’s game.

The Grens coach hopes his side takes the lessons learned in the last two games and applies them moving forward.

“It’s mental lapses and it’s putting together eighty minutes,” Bush said. “I told the guys all week at practice that we have to stop worrying about the future, the conference, and regionals. Tomorrow is the only thing that matters.

Just because we had a couple good sessions at practice didn’t mean we were going to come out and beat a good team, and Fremd is a darn good team. Savino and Filosa isolated us in the corner, and they did a tremendous job. That’s something we lack. Our forwards work hard but their forwards put pressure on our backs the whole game.”

Ginter hopes he and his teammates can bounce back in MSL play in their three upcoming conference games this week.

“It’s mostly a mental thing. If they’re ranked or even the best team out there, we still have to play hard. We have to be as physical as them. We can’t play to low standards. We have to play up to their standards.

We can play really good but these past few games we’ve been getting frustrated, and mad at each other. We have to pull it together.”