Fire U-17/18 get back on winning track after avenging earlier defeat to Magic

By Curt Herron

The Fire Academy's U-17/18 team faced perhaps its biggest match on Sunday and responded in an appropriate manner.

Needing a victory against the rival Chicago Magic, the Fire turned in one of their best performances of the season.

Their 1-0 Great Lakes Division win at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn avenged an earlier 2-0 loss to the Magic.

It also erased away some of the disappointment of last Sunday's 3-1 defeat to Indiana United in their home finale.

The Fire (6-4-4, 22 points) are 4-1-2 in their last seven matches and moved into a tie with Indiana for second place.

This weekend, the Fire plays road matches with the Internationals and the Columbus Crew to conclude the regular season.

Jacob Brindle scored the match-winner on a short attempt during the 73rd minute, which followed a cross from Brady Wahl.

Then the defense of Keaton Albert, Peter Beasley, Lalo Cuautle and Anthony Torres and keeper Zak Allen held off the Magic.

Victor Pineda was back in the Fire lineup, following his return from Portugal where he competed in a tournament with the U.S. U-18 Men's National Team.

It was the Fire's fifth division shutout while the Magic (5-4-4, 19 points) fell to 1-3-2 during their last six matches.

"They beat us the last time we played, so this was definitely a grudge match for us," Beasley said. "We felt like we owed them something since we didn't play particularly well last time.

"So we wanted to come out with more energy and I think we did tonight and we got the result, which is good. We want to play well going into playoffs, and hopefully that's what we'll do.

"I thought we played well through most of the game. We possessed the ball and attacked them until the end, when they were pushing for a goal. Overall, this was one of our best games."

After withstanding some Magic threats in the early going, the Fire had most of the good chances during the opening half.

Brindle sent a shot to keeper Jovani Castanon and Luis Medina had a try deflected a short time later off a pass from Wahl.

Manny Guzman sent a header in after a free kick from Cuautle and Guzman was wide on a short attempt just before the break.

Shortly after halftime, Felipe Cortez and Noah Anthony came in for David Caban and Guzman and the Fire resumed the attack.

Just after the midpoint of the half, Medina was tripped up just outside the box, but Wahl's free kick smacked into a wall.

Right after that, however, the Fire finally connected when Wahl's pass went through defenders to Brindle, who connected.

"Everybody really worked their butts off tonight," Anthony said. "That was one of the best games that we've played the whole year. We were all connecting and on the same page.

"It was kind of a derby day and they got the better of us last time and we came out on top this time. This was a big test since we want to keep playing well going into playoffs.

"There have been games where we haven't come out ready to play but today wasn't one of those nights, and that really helped. We played the full 90 minutes and toughed it out."

The Magic responded with a few challenges of their own down the stretch, starting with a short try by Brandon Ramirez.

Not long after Jayson LeSeth fired a close-range shot over the net, Miguel Medina sent a header that Allen hauled in.

With three division matches left, the Magic needs to win out against Sockers FC and the Ohioans to have a playoff shot.