Chicagoland Soccer

Bison fall in shootout to Palatine
By Mike Garofola

Palatine survived with a late equalizer and then finished off a valiant side from Buffalo Grove in a shoot-out to lift the MSL Cup on Thursday for the second time in four years.

The Pirates have now won the Cup an MSL-record 8 times, after their 2-1 victory at BG’s Grant Blaney Stadium in the 36th MSL Cup.

The Pirates’ comeback began when they drew even just three minutes before time, on a trademark set-piece goal from Jeremy Velinski, before flawless work in shoot-out gave them their victory on a rainy, cold night in Buffalo Grove.

"All of this is pretty amazing," began Palatine senior Dave Clark, "including the fact that now, both my brothers (Jonathan and Josh) and I have all been a part of three different championship teams while playing here at Palatine.”

"What a great group of guys we have," Palatine coach Willie Filian said.

Filian watched his club celebrate the win in front of the raucous Pirates faithful following the traditional lifting of the Cup, then took a little extra time with each player to congratulation them on their title.

Buffalo Grove lost 3-1 to Palatine on Oct. 2 and played Thursday without one of the best in the land in midfield start Irving Eloiza.

"I am so proud of my guys tonight," said Bison manager Rick Carlson. "I felt we had our chances to win the first meeting between us two, and going into this one I felt exactly the same way.

"The effort we gave tonight without having two of our starters, including the MSL East player of the year (Eloiza), with two freshmen and a young, inexperienced keeper (Dillon Eaton) against the favorite, was simply amazing. We can hold our heads high with how we played right up until the very end and let's face it, when you get into PK's to decide a winner, all bets are off."

The struggle was expected to be intense, regardless of the absence of Eloiza, whose red-card in the Bison' 3-1 division clincher with Hoffman Estates kept the brilliant 4-year star in street clothes for the evening.

The loss of Eloiza not only put a strain on the vaunted Bison attack, but also provided a major void in leadership on the pitch. Seniors Demo Drakoulis, Alexix Herrera and Alberto Eloyza were asked to help fill that void, and they did just that.

"Alberto played like an MVP out there tonight," said Carlson. "He stepped up to help run the attack, while defending like crazy in the middle, all night long."

Drakoulis liked the effort given all around in Eloiza’s absence.

"We all knew how much we would miss not having Irving out there tonight, but everyone did a little bit more to help out, especially our backline with Alexix and Daniel (Ramirez) and our two freshmen. And Dillon was fantastic, all night," Drakoulis said.

The freshmen to which Drakoulis referred were Ryan Drum and Drew Brauner, who proved to be air-tight for most of the hundred-plus minutes played, as Eaton managed to defend countless deep throws from Pirates’ specialist Velinski and corners sent in from Matt Fleischhauer, who struck the game-winner with his 4th round spot-kick.

Fleischhauer, along with defenders Kyle Clancy and Ulises Alcaraz, sparkled whenever the Bison’s Eloyza, Drakoulis, Irving Balboa and Zach Masciopinto manufactured a little offensive magic in the Pirates’ end.

"Buffalo Grove doubled Jeremy all night long on our corners, and made it tough for our best weapon to do what he does so well on those opportunities,” Fleischhauer said. “And they did a good job of defending all of his long throws."

"Those young kids in the back, along with Alexix and Daniel were really something out there, weren't they?” Carlson said.

"We knew we just had to defend as best as we could against what they do so much better than every other team does, and we did that except for just once, which obviously came at a bad time and sent the match into overtime."

Buffalo Grove went into Thursday’s game hoping to win their first MSL crown since the glory years of then-future U.S. star Brian McBride, who helped lead his club over Rolling Meadows (3-2) in 1988. That same year McBride and company, led by Hall of Fame head coach John Erfort, went on to win an Illinois state title.

Thursday’s first quarter-hour resembled a chess match, as each side tested and prodded its opponent’s backline. By the 20-minute mark, the Pirates had amassed a half dozen deep throws from Velinski, while Eaton pulled a quality serve from Marco Arreola out of the air near the spot, just moments after Arreola went over the bar following a throw from Velinski.

"It became alarming when we produced so many throws from Jeremy, and a bunch more corners and we weren't finishing at the other end of them because we just weren't as sharp as we needed to be on those," offered Filian.

The Bison lost another weapon early on when a hard tackle from Clancy on Irving Balboa saw the Pirates booked, and Balboa helped off the pitch at 11 minutes. Fortunately, some extra work from the medical staff helped Balboa come back on before too long

After a terrific early ball from Nick Kaczkowski, Drakoulis nearly beat Pirates keeper Kyle Leber to a 50-50 ball, and the rest of the first half was filled mostly with set-piece serves and more long throws, each producing a few half chances at both Leber and Eaton.

Clark headed a shot over the bar on a nicely-struck Clancy freekick, while Sergio Hernandez, Saul Gutierrez and Gavin Falotico gave the Pirates plenty of energy and pace when brought on for fresh legs during the half.

Eloyza's strong run to the endline led to a wonderful cross to his mate Balboa to the near post, but the alert Palatine defense parried away the dangerous ball for a corner at 36 minutes. That led to Balboa having a go at Leber when Ramirez gave his mate a nice ball to work free before forcing Leber to save.

The Bison (12-6-0) stunned Palatine (16-1-3) at 48 minutes after a Leber save on an Eloyza shot from close range spilled a rebound in the area.

BG’s Aldo Figueroa didn’t hesitate with his return volley, steering in his shot to the approval of the Bison faithful and putting his side ahead.

"I sensed a little trouble and nervousness from us after their goal, maybe because we've never trailed in a game all year long," said Clark.

But Palatine stood up to the challenge. With urgency in their step, the Pirates would get forward as they chased the lead, after being on the other end of the chase all season long.

Velinski's long throw into the mix saw Eaton go airborne to gather the toss. Clark then put Arreola through, but he was correctly ruled offsides.

With 10 minutes remaining in regulation, Carlson moved Drakoulis into more of a withdrawn forward’s role, with the task of being a vacuum cleaner in front of the Bison midfield.

The home side would lose Drum for the rest of the night when another searing long throw from Velinski was pulled out of the sky by a fearless Eaton, leaving Drum on the ground for a minute or two before he limped off with the help of the BG trainer.

Carlson sent Rafa Arcos to the backline for Drum, and Kaczkowski to the outside midfield spot vacated by Arcos for the final, hopeful last 8 minutes of play, but the Pirates had other ideas about the game’s finish.

After creating another throw, Filian asked Falotico to do the throw-in honors in order to get Velinski into the box, and the plan worked. Falotico's throw was headed over the endline by a BG defender, setting up a Fleischhauer corner kick.

Clark elevated to meet Fleischhauer's corner, and -- seeing Velinski get into his near post run -- headed the decisive helper to the Pirates captain, who poured in the 77th-minute equalizer.

"I saw Ski in the corner of my eye, and just got the ball to him," offered Clark, who will follow his brothers to Wheaton College next fall.

"That's what we've come to expect from (the MSL West player of the year) Velinski," said Filian.

Two 10-minute overtimes produced little from both sides, as the rain and wind increased and each side struggled with its touch and footing. Both Leber and Eaton weathered a few nervous moments ahead as the dramatic ending neared.

It wouldn't happen for either keeper, with Velinski, Alcaraz and Clancy easily converting from the spot, while Balboa did the same, sandwiched in between by two easy saves from Leber.

Up 3-1 in kicks, Fleischhauer's stutter step before his attempt forced Eaton to show his first move. The big senior’s shot into the back of the net set off a wild celebration by the Pirates and their fans, who roared in approval when the Pirates lifted the championship trophy.

"Everyone knows when it goes to PK's it's just anybody's game from there on out, and that's okay. That's just how our game goes,” Drakoulis said. “But it's kind of tough to lose two big games back-to-back the same way."

The Bison lost their 2011 sectional final in a shoot-out to Prospect.

"Now we just go forward, and get ready for next Tuesday and our regional opener," continued Drakoulis. "I have a lot of faith and confidence in my teammates, and I know we'll take all of the positive stuff from this game, and bring it into training for the next couple of days. Now that we know we can play with the best, maybe we'll have another chance, which would be in the sectional finals."

Filian tipped his hat to the host Bison on his way out of the stadium.

"This was a terrific win for us tonight, against a BG team which played so hard, without one of the absolute best players around, and they did just a great job of defending all of our dead balls and corners," Filian said.

"Again, this is such a hard-working group that we have here this season, which is very deserving of this championship. Hopefully, ten or fifteen years from now, they will remember all of this, and just how memorable it is to win a MSL title, and all of the extra work that goes into achieving success."