Vikings' second half too much for Elk Grove
Fremd now in 3-way tie atop MSL West

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By Gary Larsen

There was Alex Bochat launching a free kick from around the midfield stripe, and there was Spencer Filosa charging across the goalmouth and hammering Bochat’s feed to the back netting with a head shot.

There was Jake Nedza sliding on the ground to save a ball from crossing the touchline, sending it forward to Eduardo Cruz, and Cruz swooping up the end line to finish on a goal in his first varsity game.

There was an opening push from host Fremd, a shove back from visiting Elk Grove, and when it was over there was a three-way tie for the top spot in the MSL West.

Fremd’s 2-0 win on Saturday put the Vikings in a tie with Conant and Barrington for the division lead, thanks to two goals scored during a solid second 40 minutes of play.

“You could feel as it went along that we were beginning to put more pressure on,” Fremd coach Steve Keller said. “In the first half I wouldn’t have been surprised if we were down 1-0. But we came out strong in the second half, and we felt confident that a goal was coming.”

Filosa and Cruz were the offensive heroes and the defensive trio of Bochat, Alex Prelipceanu, and Eric Leonard were mostly rock-solid in front of Fremd goalkeeper Scott Sutarik.

After starting the season an unbeaten 5-0-2, including four wins and a tournament title at the formidable Best of the West in Naperville, Fremd (8-2-2, 4-2) went 3-2 in its next five games, including Thursday’s 2-1 overtime loss to Rolling Meadows.

Saturday’s second half was a strong step in the right direction for the Vikings.

“Every game has been a struggle for us. We’ve had trouble getting our heads in the game,” Filosa said. “We just had to come out and play hard today.”

Keller only recently went to a three-back system, and the dividends paid off in the second half. Filosa moved from the back to the midfield, where his impact was obvious throughout.

“We’d been playing with four defenders but I think we have to go with three,” Keller said. “We have to win the battle at midfield a little bit better so we pushed (Filosa) up. I think that gives us more offense and more stability in the middle.”

And after an occasionally shaky first half, defensively, Sutarik and his back three severely limited a feisty Elk Grove attack to the final buzzer. Sutarik twice had to make quality saves in the first half

 “The second half was much better in terms of them talking and communicating,” Keller said. “When they mark up like that and keep things sorted out, it’s tough to crack them. In the second half, we didn’t give them much at all.”

“I’m confident with them back there,” Filosa said of Bochat, Prelipceanu, and Leonard. “They’re doing a nice job and (Sutarik) is a very good goalkeeper.”

Fremd kept a steady presence on Elk Grove’s end through 20 minutes of play, but wasn’t able to test Elk Grove keeper Mike Rogano, who filled in for absent starter Frankie Ortiz.

Elk Grove (7-4, 3-3) began finding feet through the midfield at the 20-minute mark and attacked well to halftime. Sutarik left his line to stuff a ball off the foot of Cesar Rodriguez, and traveled out to the 18 to try to cut off a dangerous serve before the break.

Fremd controlled play through most of the second half. Filosa got whacked near midfield in the 56th minute, setting up Bochat’s freekick and the game’s first goal. “Alex Bochat put a great ball in. I just ran on and flicked it towards the goal, and it happened to go in,” Filosa said.

Cruz’s goal came three minutes later and the Vikings effectively had their win.

“I thought Jake (Nedza) played real well and (Sutarik) did well on the couple of chances they had,” Keller said. “Spencer was all over the place. He was solid and reliable, and Eric Leonard was solid. He’s a freshman but he’s a smart, smart player.”

Nedza’s hustle play to save a ball from going out of bounds set up Cruz, a sophomore playing in his first varsity game. Both Cruz and varsity newcomer Tim Lehigh saw their first action on Saturday.

And there’s nothing like a couple of hungry younger players, itching to prove themselves, to inject a little added intensity to the process.

“(Cruz) has been tearing it up on jayvee, and both of those guys have tremendous speed,” Keller said. “That’s deadly, when they can go at people, and they bring relentless hustle, which is good for the guys that have been up with me the whole time to see, because they can sometimes relax a little bit.”

Relax for even one small second and big, bad things can happen to your soccer team. Keller has been preaching that point to his boys since the Best of The West tournament, after the Vikings won 1-0 over Neuqua Valley for the title.

“After the Neuqua game I talked about immaturity. We didn’t know how to handle it,” Keller said. “Since then, every game has been close. We’ve battled. They’ve always given me effort, but they haven’t done it smartly. It’s the little, itty-bitty things that you have to do for eighty minutes. You can’t do them for seventy.”

 “We’ve been our own worst enemy and we’ve made dumb mistakes that other teams have capitalized on,” Filosa said. “Mental toughness has been our biggest problem. We have a bunch of seniors and we’re all motivated, so I don’t know what the problem is. But it starts in practice, and we haven’t started there, and then we’ve got to bring it to the game.”