Warriors' makeshift lineup falls to Fenton
By Gary Larsen

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Willowbrook coach Peter Ginter wasn’t about to make any excuses for his team after its 4-1 loss to Fenton on Tuesday.

But realistically, he could have.

Playing without leading scorer Ben Draus and two key starting defenders in Tito Cabral and Dan Torres, the Warriors struggled to find cohesion with a makeshift lineup, playing in their fifth game in eight days.

“It has been a grind,” Ginter said. “But I thought Fenton played it slow out of the back and if we had pressured them we might have caused some turnovers. And some of our guys weren’t marking correctly and we were out of position a few times on their goals.”

Rogelio Fuentes had a great scoring chance on his foot for the Warriors just two minutes into play but his shot from the right side flew wide of target. Fuentes had another shot from distance saved at 31 minutes, and big senior Tim Weyer also applied pressure to Fenton’s backline early in the contest.

“(Fuentes) joined us a week ago so he’s not as fit as he will be and he’s a talented forward,” Ginter said. “We’re teaching him to stay on-side and he’s a great breakaway player for us. He’s starting to understand our system a little better and it will just take a little time.”

With a wind at its back, Fenton began pressuring the Willowbrook backline of senior captain Eric Lukitsh, Nick Williams, Arturo Herrera, John Karcz, and keeper Luke Ruszkowski. Ruszkowski elevated at 13 minutes to get a hand on a quality Fenton shot, saved a head shot at 18 minutes, and took good command of the goalmouth on Tuesday.

“When we lost to Curie (4-1 on Saturday), Luke didn’t have a very good game but he really picked up his game today,” Ginter said. “He does a great job on long shots and I was really pleased with his performance. He’s a tall keeper and we’ve been working on him coming out to take charge of his box. The penalty box is his house and we don’t want anyone to take over his house, so we’re just looking for him to be more aggressive."

Fenton led 2-0 on goals from Juan Ayala and Kevin Garcia, one on an own-goal by the Warriors and the other on a penalty kick after a handball call on Willowbrook inside the penalty area.

The Warriors came out with renewed intensity after halftime. Ginter moved Lukitsh into more of an attacking role and Willowbrook found a few legitimate shots on frame in the first five minutes after intermission.

Senior Leo Solis is a speedy and physical attacking player, and he muscled past a defender on the right side and forced a save at the near post at the 45-minute mark. Lukitsh fed sophomore Anthony Pieroni at 48 minutes, and he blistered a shot off the post from just outside the 18 on the right side.

Pieroni broke in on net three minutes later and cut the lead in half, becoming the first Willowbrook player not named Draus to score a goal for the Warriors this season.

Senior captain Draus has four goals on the season but was forced to sit out Tuesday’s contest.

“(Pieroni) has been a great player for us,” Ginter said. “He’s a defensive mid but he gets into the offense as well. He’s got good size and energy as a sophomore. I’m very pleased with what he gives to the team.”

Sophomore Mike Rogalski found a shot from 20 yards out that was handled by Fenton keeper David Sanchez at 53 minutes, but unfortunately for Willowbrook fans, the extra energy and intensity their side showed through the first 15 minutes of the second half began to wane, as a speedy and skilled Fenton team found feet and began working the ball around the pitch with more cohesion.

Ruszkowski made a diving stop at the post at 54 minutes, and charged off his line and into a collision with Ayala to thwart a Fenton scoring chance at 58 minutes. At 64 minutes, the senior keeper tipped a laser of a shot over the crossbar to keep his side within a goal of tying the game.

It wasn’t to be. Ayala got behind the Willowbrook defense at 69 minutes and finished to make it 3-1, and Garcia scored off a bit of set piece chicanery at 72 minutes to effectively put the game out of reach. On a Fenton free kick from 25 yards out, Garcia made a curling run from the ball to the right wing, received the pass, and fired from a tough angle to finish the day’s scoring.

“At halftime we knew we needed to pick up our game, mark better, we needed more energy, we had to attack the wings more, and we did a better job of that in the second half,” Ginter said. “Had we continued that I thought we could have tied the game.”
Once sweeper Cabral returns from injury, he and stopper Lukitsh figure to provide a solid one-two punch up the heart of the defense.

“Eric and Tito play really good together,” Ginter said. “Eric played sweeper today and he does a great job up there. But when we were down 2-0 we had to push him up to gain his ball control and get some offensive push.

“Eric and Ben are great players. They’re a coach’s dream. We really missed Ben today. He’s our leading scorer, he’s aggressive, and he controls the ball for us in the middle.  And Eric gives us great versatility. He has played great soccer so far this season.”

Ginter is particularly pleased with the play of the sophomore Herrera on the outside of his defense, he likes the pressure that Solis provides up top, and he’s also encouraged by the attacking potential of outside mids Dylan Jones and Randy Dziak.

Ginter, who took over the program after eight years as Addison Trail’s head coach, would now like to see his boys develop towards the style he likes to see his teams play.
 
“We need to improve our possession game and get more control on the ball, and not just kick it forward,” he said. “Create passing combinations and work the wings, and that’s what we’ll work on in practice. Our guys work hard and they just have to find a way to play the possession game better – three-four-five guys where we’re hitting moving targets.

“Our offense has to come team-wide. Our outside mids have to be attackers, and we have to switch the field and create one-vee-one situations. (Dziak and Jones) are in the learning process of playing that outside position and they’re progressing really well.”