Grens play with pride vs. MSL West-leading Schaumburg

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By Mike Garofola

The rebuilding project continues at Elk Grove, one year after the Grens were on their way to their best-ever season in program history, which included a trip to the MSL Cup against perennial soccer power Fremd.

Tuesday night in the rain, the Grens, as they have so often this fall, opened brightly enough against Schaumburg, but were unable to stay in the express lane with the MSL leaders, which broke open a close match with 3 second-half goals en route to a 4-1 victory.

The loss drops the Grens to 1-6-2 in the MSL table, while the Saxons (8-1-0, 24 points) inch closer to booking its place in the 36th annual MSL Cup championship on Thursday, October 13th.

"With us being on top of the table this season, we've come to expect that teams will come at us real hard each and every match, and tonight was no exception," began Schaumburg head coach Hamid Mehreioskouei, who was a sophomore scoring sensation on the last Schaumburg team to participate in the MSL Cup in 1996.

"Elk Grove played very well in the first half hour or so, and made us do things we didn't want to do, but this season we're very deep and we bring a lot of energy and a strong work rate for 80 minutes. I feel that's been the main reason for our success thus far."

You can tell 30 seconds into a conversation with Elk Grove junior Justin Gavros that he wears his captains armband with pride, bleeds Elk Grove green, and stands firm in his belief that his teammates showed no signs of backing down from the league leaders on Tuesday.

Elk Grove played Schaumburg even or better in the first-half on the turf in Schaumburg, which opened its pitch to the Grens after steady rain during the day forced a change in venue for safety purposes.

"Everyone played hard all throughout the match tonight," said Gavros, one of just a few holdovers from the Grens championship club from 2010.

"We possessed, knocked the ball around, and defended in our end really well in the first half, and nobody on this team gave up, even when we went down a couple of goals, and that's the way this team has been all season long."

"Justin's right," agreed Grens coach Joe Bush. "We did just about everything right in that first half but finish, and that's something we've struggled with this season because of our youth and inexperience.

"We may have taken a step back after those quick second-half goals, but we played hard against a team that might be the best in the MSL this season. From the way it sounds and from what we hear, this is the way they have been beating teams all season."

The recipe for the Saxons’ success has been to be a resilient side in the first half, taking a few body punches for a half hour or so, opening up with a couple of big right hooks after intermission, then pounding their opponents until the whistle ends the match.

The Grens' would play through Gavros and Gio Garcia regularly in the first quarter hour, as teammates Conor Murphy, Eddie Rodriguez, Jesus Lara and Jonathan Arzeta slipped  in and out of the Saxons area to disrupt an opponent which hasn't allowed much quality in its end most of the season.

"The backline of Schaumburg seems to communicate really well, and always appears to be organized and committed to defend," said Bush.

Gavros and Lara worked a nice 1-2 in close, but just a little too much pace jinxed the play as Lara was unable to catch up to the through-ball, which would have put the senior in on Schaumburg keeper Ben Beard.

Moments later, at 23 minutes, the Grens' would dispossess a Saxon player near the spot, and Elk Grove could have taken advantage of its opportunity if not for an alert Beard, who smothered a loose ball.

As the pressure continued to mount, Beard would punch a nicely-served ball into the box by Lara, but that would signal an end to the Grens’ domination in the run of play for the next 10 minutes, as the Saxons' would suddenly come alive, perhaps fueled by the increase in rain, which made the play appear to be much faster than before.

Trevor Cwiok would head a couple of dangerous balls sent in from free kicks and long throws by Nick Abel from in deep, while a 35-yard free kick blast by Jake Savino forced Grens keeper Mike Ragano to save in the 32nd minute.

Two minutes later the Saxons' were on the scoreboard, courtesy of Dew Simon, after Cwiok cleared an initial toss from Abel but his mates were unable to parry the ball out of danger.

"What you saw in that first half is kind of the way things have gone for us this season,” Bush said. “We play a strong 25-30 minutes to open and then struggle to keep playing that way, especially in the second half against more experienced teams than ours.

"We just couldn't win any fifty-fifty or second balls in the middle, and that's where they just were dominating things in the second half. That forced us to defend more than we wanted, which didn't allow us to get forward much as well."

Ragano made a magnificent acrobatic stop at 52 minutes on Savino's point-blank full bicycle, but the senior keeper's stunning effort gave up a rebound and Joe Faleni finished from in close to double the Schaumburg lead at 52 minutes.

It quickly became a 3-goal lead for the Saxons when Raul Alcala redirected past Ragano, who was on the ground following another strong save on a Savino ball curled in from the endline.

"We need to learn to play with more confidence and composure when we give up a goal. That seems to be an ongoing issue for us as we continue to grow as a team," said Bush.

Beard took away a ball in the air from Rodriguez, who was bearing down on the keeper near the spot in the 66th minute in the last of the Grens' best chances to pry open the Saxons along the back. Minutes later, Schaumburg’s John Franco struck a superb free kick from just outside the box to easily earn goal-of-the-match honors.

Credit the Grens' for their effort until the very end, when Arzeta went up and over Beard in the 77th minute with the help of Manny Pillado, who was given the assist.

"Tonight again proves how tough the MSL is," began Mehreioskouei. "There is never an easy night in the conference, and you cannot take anyone for granted, or you’re in trouble.

"Joe is doing a great job with a young team, and they were tough on us in the early going. The challenge was there for us, and fortunately, we were able to meet that challenge."