U-15/16 finds scoring touch in victory at FC Milwaukee

By Curt Herron

After playing five halves without being able to put the ball into the net, things finally started to click for the Fire Academy U-15/16 team on Saturday.

The Fire broke their long scoreless drought with a pair of goals during the second half of their US Soccer Development Academy match with FC Milwaukee.

It was also the first win in Great Lakes Division play for the Fire, who went 0-1-1 last weekend after only allowing one goal in their first two matches.

Chicago received scores from Manny Rios and Charlie Oliver about five minutes apart to spoil FC Milwaukee's first match in division play this season.

Rios made a penalty kick in the 54th minute and Oliver scored in the 59th minute to help the Fire took control of a match that featured little first half drama.

After those goals, the Fire controlled the possession and allowed the hosts few chances in the match at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee's Engelmann Field.

Much of the credit for that goes to the backline of Louis Bennett, Benjamin Kucera, Cody Witkowski and Bay Kurtz, who came in when Oliver moved to the midfield.

That group made life easy for keeper Christian Lomeli, who didn't have to stop much in order to record his second shutout against competition in the division.

While the victory was obviously was well-received by the entire squad, it was especially so for Bennett, one of the many new faces on the two Academy teams.

Bennett's dad, also named Louis Bennett, led UW-Milwaukee's program for 10 years before he moved across town to take over as Marquette's head coach in 2006.

"Winning this game was a lot of fun since I grew up watching games here," Bennett said. "And I definitely liked how we played in the second half since we had better determination and our effort going forward was a lot better.

"In the second half, we were working as a team and trusting one another and that resulted in two goals. Things have been going real well for us in the back and we're communicating a lot better and also our chemistry is good.

"I think the chemistry that we have on this team creates an atmosphere where each player can do what he does best and that formulates into a team effort. So far, everything has been going great."

Early in the final half, Rios was denied on a grounder by keeper Alexander Cagle and Joel Salmeron had a liner off a Rios corner kick grabbed a bit later.

About 12 minutes into the new half, Alexander McBride was driving toward the Fire net but Witkowski broke the play up, setting the stage for the first goal.

That came a couple of minutes later when Rios was taken down in the box and then connected on the penalty kick to give his team the eventual winning score.

Just five minutes later, the Fire was at it again when Rios sent a pass to Ruben Chavez, who found Oliver and he fired in a liner to make it a 2-0 match.

"Everybody on the team worked hard," Chavez said. "We got back to defend when we needed to and found the offense, and that's why we got those goals. Then we wanted to keep the ball on their half and did with good passing.

"I like the overall passing of our team and the one-two touches. In our first two matches, our work rate wasn't as good as it was today. If we keep working like we did today, then we should do well this season."

The Fire had a few more chances after taking the 2-0 lead, beginning with a Salmeron corner kick that resulted in a Kucera header that went to the keeper.

Later on, Elliot Borge had a shot stopped by a defender while Christian Henock-Berhanu had an try halted by Cagle, who also hauled in a liner from Oliver.

Midway through the opening half, Bennett had a long attempt hauled in by the keeper while Francisco Sajuan was also denied on a shot from close range.

Lomeli also got into the act just before the break, sending a long goal kick toward Drew Conner, who directed a header toward the net that was stopped.

"We found our rhythm in the second half and everyone got involved," Fire assistant coach Tony Kees said. "It was just a matter of solving the problems in front of us and getting the spaces and the breakthroughs, which we did.

"Confidence is scoring goals is contagious. You can knock the ball around and not get results but the idea now is to make your possession count. We broke through a couple of times today and could have maybe got a couple more.

"And when you limit the other teams like we have been, you give yourself a chance. Our backline and our goalkeepers have been pretty solid so far."