Vikings spring second-half surprise on host Elk Grove
Prelipceanu starts 3-goal outburst to help Fremd lift MSL Cup

 

By Mike Garofola

Not a better script could have been written.   

First the MSL East, and now Elk Grove wished for the double, and the MSL Cup in its trophy case. And for Fremd, with all of its history in this championship series, no club since 1993 had lifted the hardware in triumph.

What a terrific storyline in advance of the 34th MSL Cup, and on Thursday evening on a glorious night for soccer, before a fired up crowd, the two sides came together to decide who would carry off the conference trophy.

The MSL West champion Vikings (15-2-2) broke the hearts of the home-side, stunning the Grens' faithful in the 48th minute to open the scoring, then using a pair of late strikes from scoring leader Lorenzo Savino to seal the deal in a 3-1 victory.

"It's kind of amazing to think of all the teams that I've been a part of - this is my first championship in 13 years as head coach," said head coach Steve Keller.

Keller has had some terrific clubs during his reign, including his first season in 1998, which followed the Vikings’ state title in Gerardo Pagnani's final season, and featured future D1 stars Doug Warren and John Tomaino, among others.

"I guess I never really thought much about this team reaching the MSL Cup, but it's a real credit to all of the players, who have worked hard, and won some tough matches along the way to get themselves here tonight, and eventually win a title for the school and our program."

The Vikings, who were last here in 2006 and had been on a personal 3-game losing streak, finally broke through to win their first conference championship since defeating Hoffman Estates in PK's (2-1) under the old north-south divisional set-up.

But it wasn't as easy as Thursday’s 3-1 final score might indicate. "Let me say that Elk Grove is a very good soccer team," began Keller.

"They have a lot of talent and technical skill in the middle, terrific speed up front, and a big, strong backline which made it difficult for us to get in close. The rest of their team knocked it around with confidence and quick touches, which made us work harder than we wanted to."

"Joe (Bush) does a great job with his guys, and they are going to cause a lot of problems for their opponents when the post-season begins next week."

The Grens (12-5-2) never once looked or played like they were just happy to be playing for the MSL Cup for the first time. Elk Grove became the final team in conference history to advance to the title game since Wheeling defeated Forest View 5-2, when the league played what was then called the Soccer Bowl, in 1977.

"We were all very excited to be here tonight," said Bush.

"The players, students, faculty and staff were all behind us, and it felt good to finally be in this game. And I could not have been more proud of this team for their chance to be playing in front of a big crowd. But we came here to win and we knew that even though Fremd is a great team, and is coached by one of the best in the business, that we had a very good opportunity of walking out of this match with the conference championship."

The Grens would come out with plenty of grit and determination, and clearly much brighter than the visitors, putting the Vikings under pressure from the opening whistle. Elk Grove’s young midfield duo of sophomores Justin Gavros and Carlos Cisneros kept the pace up in the middle of the park, which allowed Nick Jordan to push the attack to give Ernesto Rodriguez, Irving Cruz and others to break into the area and stay there.

"We knew we had to do a much better job of winning the 50-50 and second balls compared to our first meeting with Fremd, and that was something our guys in the back, Matt and Mike Ginter, along with Rafal (Borys) did on a regular basis, to help us control the run of play in the first half," said Bush.

"(They) were really stacking their numbers along the back, which made it nearly impossible for us to get in on them, and their midfield just outworked and outplayed us in the first half," admitted Fremd junior Brian Hindle. Hindle and Fremd senior Spencer Filosa were unable to generate much in the Vikings’ attack, as both were forced to defend, leaving Jeremy Kosacz to handle the chore of playing both sides of the ball in each half of soccer.

"Both Jeremy and Tim Lehigh, who we brought on to provide some energy and pace, turned out to be key contributors for us tonight,” Keller said. “Especially Jeremy, who was outstanding throughout the match, and was one of our unsung heroes."

Despite all of the Grens’ dominance in the first 40 minutes, it would have nothing to show for it on the scoreboard. Although Bush' lads did go close with a handful of opportunities, they were betrayed by their own touch in close, and the gritty and hardworking Fremd backline of Alex Bochat, Eric Leonard and Alex Prelipceanu.

"Fremd was so good at getting back to collapse and smother (us) and they made it so hard for us to get into the back of the net despite having some quality chances in that first half," said Bush.

"We had our chances, but we just weren't good enough in the final third tonight," said a disappointed Cesar Rodriguez. Rodriguez was superb when called to action when the Grens needed a pair of fresh legs, whether as the lone striker or alongside Ernesto Rodriguez up top.

Prelipceanu, who would have Keller barking at the senior all week long during training to sharpen up his runs in the Vikings' dead-ball opportunities, responded to Keller’s plea when the big defender thumped in a header at the back post to give the Vikings the lead at 48 minutes off a well-aimed corner from Hindle.

"Coach had been on my case about my runs into the box, and when (Hindle) hit his serve, I just looped around, got up over everyone else, and put the ball in."

The Vikings fourth corner of the half, taken by Hindle, came about after a sensational save from Grens keeper Jesse Ortiz, who somehow suspended himself in the air long enough to push a missile from Kosacz up and over the woodwork.

The senior figured his goal wouldn't stand up for the next half hour, because of all of the weapons Elk Grove possessed, but the goal seemed to open things up a bit and help swing the momentum solidly in the Vikings’ favor, leading up to their second goal.

The Vikings doubled their lead when Matt Burkhardt sent Savino through with a brilliant ball, and the senior did the rest, smashing in his 12th of the season at 67 minutes past the diving Ortiz.

"Even when we fell behind by two goals, I never thought for a second the match was over, and that we couldn't come back on them," said Jordan, who would join both of the Rodriguez' strikers to form a strikeforce up top.

The Grens’ extra attacker led to Cesar Rodriguez floating a deft shot off the bar, and then later sending a serve across the face of the goal to create a corner kick. Scott Sutarik would stop a pair of Grens shots in close, before Elk Grove eventually broke through to draw closer.

The Vikings’ lead would be cut in half at 76 minutes after Jordan and Cruz would help open up space for Cesar Rodriguez, who got himself free and in on Sutarik with some cleverness before slotting under the Vikings keeper.

But it was too little, too late, when on the stroke of regulation, Savino would sent a looping long-range ball over the head of Trevor Cwiok, who was installed as another striker in favor of Ortiz.

"We left everything we had (out) there tonight, but we lost in the end to a great program and its coach," Bush would say afterwards.

"Our guys played with a lot of confidence and pride against them and we came up a little short. Now we’ll turn our attention to our regional, which begins next week, and we look forward to playing it on our home field."