Sajuan collects hat trick as Fire U-15/16 rolls past Indiana United in home finale

By Curt Herron

Following last Sunday's disappointing defeat to the Chicago Magic, it was not a case of if, but how, the Fire Academy's U-15/16 team would respond.

And that was determined quickly when the Fire met Indiana United on Wednesday in their home finale, which was moved from May 29 due to bad weather.

The Fire scored a pair of first half goals and added four more tallies after the break to roll to a 6-0 Great Lakes Division victory in Bridgeview.

Francisco Sajuan had three goals and an assist while Joel Salmeron, Jesus Medina and Ruben Chavez also scored and Louis Bennett added two assists.

It was by far the team's top day offensively, doubling its previous-best goal effort, which came during a 3-0 win over FC Milwaukee from May 22.

In fact, Chicago (7-4-3, 24 points) had scored just 12 goals in 13 division matches and had only scored more than two goals in that recent match.

Sajuan, who had scored three goals in all of his matches, became the first Fire U-15/16 player to collect more than one goal in a division match.

The defense's shutout was its tenth, and was a welcome sight after the squad allowed three goals in the last 15 minutes of its loss to the Magic.

Christian Lomeli had an easy time in goal, thanks to Charlie Oliver, Benjamin Kucera, Bennett and Manny Chavez, who moved back from the midfield.

The Fire heads into its final two regular season matches this weekend with a very clear picture of what it needs to do to advance to the playoffs.

Chicago meets the last place team in the division, the Internationals, on Saturday and faces the first place squad, the Columbus Crew, on Sunday.

In the teams' earlier matches, the Fire scored late to win 1-0 over the Internationals and lost 1-0 on a questionable penalty kick to the Crew.

With a sweep in Ohio, the Fire could be in first place at the end of the weekend, but Sockers FC can claim the division if it wins its last two.

A six-point weekend would assure the Fire of at least second place in the division, which is one of the qualifications for reaching the playoffs.

They currently rank seventh in the wildcard standings with a 1.81-points per match average. The top 12 wildcards also advance to the postseason.

While a 1-1 showing might get the job done, the Fire are going in with an approach where they look to finish regular season play with three wins.

They hope to be pushed along in their quest by the Fire's U-17/18 team, which faces a similar scenario during its matches this weekend in Ohio.

In good shape in the wildcard race, the older Fire (6-4-4, 22) can still reach the playoffs by claiming first or second with a six-point effort.

"We knew we had to pick it up following that loss so we came out with intensity today," Manny Chavez said. "We had to put today's heat behind us and came out strong and the other team wasn't ready.

"We played well in the first half of our game on Sunday but just lost it during the second half. Knowing that, we knew that we had to come back a lot better today, and we did that.

"We only may need to win one game this weekend but we want to go 2-0 to show everyone that we're ready to play. When we play together, it's hard to stop us, so we'll see how it goes this weekend."

As for Wednesday's match, the Fire made the most of their early scoring chances, something that they didn't do in the 3-1 defeat to the Magic.

Chicago struck for the first time in the 16th minute when Bennett sent a pass to Sajuan, who got past defenders and connected for a nice goal.

After Salmeron, Medina and Sajuan were denied on a series of good attempts, Lomeli stopped one of the few threatening shots that came his way.

The Fire grabbed a 2-0 advantage in the 33rd minute when Sajuan directed a cross toward Salmeron, who then fired in a line drive for the score.

Sajuan looked like he had another good opportunity again before the break, but his effort got broken up by the keeper near the top of the box.

Not long before the halftime whistle blew, Sajuan was tripped up just outside of the box and Bennett curved in a free kick that was dangerous.

It was more of the same following the break, with the Fire scoring a pair of goals in the early going to remove any doubts about the outcome.

In the 44th minute, Bennett sent a cross which eluded Salmeron but went to Elliot Borge, who settled it before Sajuan put in a short attempt.

After Lomeli was stopped on a long free kick and Borge saw his grounder collected, the Fire made it 4-0 when they scored in the 50th minute.

Bennett got things started with a pass toward Sajuan, who worked his way past defenders before connecting from close range for his third goal.

At that point, coach Larry Sunderland was able to make wholesale substitutions, but the changes in the lineup didn't slow down the Fire attack.

Drew Conner had a shot deflected by Indiana United's keeper and Ruben Chavez followed with a rebound try, which was cleared away by a defender.

Chicago added another score in the 60th minute when Bennett sent a pass to Medina, who put in a short shot for the fifth goal of the evening.

The scoring concluded in the 65th minute when Manny Chavez fired a free kick from near the top of the box and Ruben Chavez put in the rebound.

In the late going, Craig Scott was denied on consecutive attempts, Oliver bounced a shot off the crossbar and Scott sent a liner to the keeper.

"This was a good way for us to rebound after a tough loss," Oliver said. "A I think that this puts us back on track for our upcoming games, where we need to get one result, but we're aiming for two.

"There was some adversity with us missing Cody (Witkowski) in the back today, but Manny filled that spot great. And it was good to see us score some goals since it definitely builds our confidence up.

"I'm excited to see what will happen this weekend. I know after this win that we're all going to come out fired up since we want to win our last two games."