Pirates strike twice in the second half to doom Wheeling

By Gary Larsen

Whatever Palatine senior Ivan Garcia may lack in size, he made up for it against Mid Suburban League rival Wheeling on Tuesday.

Twice.

At roughly 5-foot-8, Garcia found both the end of a Jon Clark cross and an Ethan Chaplinsky throw-in, and buried two head shots in the Pirates’ 3-1 win over the Wildcats in Wheeling.

“He picks the right spaces,” Palatine coach Willie Filian said of Garcia. “You have kids that run into space just for the sake of running there, but he understands and he’s got a purpose to where he’s going. He’s just an intelligent kid.”

“You just have to hustle, and be at the right spot,” Garcia said. “And you just have to get up there and challenge it.”

Wheeling coach Ed Uhrik warned his boys about what the defending MSL champion Pirates would bring to the table in terms of set-piece play.

“We knew they’d do that, be aggressive, and be pretty direct, and that’s how they played,” Uhrik said. “On that first one, (Garcia) had a great, placed header and beat our keeper near post.”

Palatine (5-2, 2-0 in MSL play) struck first in the game’s 9th minute when Clark took a ball to the end line and served it up, where Garcia buried it. Wheeling (3-5) found the equalizer 9 minutes later on a Dan Speidel goal, and the tie held to halftime.

The Pirates grabbed the lead for good when Jorge Caballero effectively scored the game-winner, 10 minutes into the second half. Chaplinsky sent a shot wide in the 47th minute before his Caballero found one of his throw-ins and buried it at the near post.

“I did like our set pieces, especially on a narrow field like this,” Filian said. “We obviously need to continue to get better at those because we get plenty of those long throws in, but don’t seem to get enough kids on the end of them.”
 
Clark ripped a ball on frame that Wheeling keeper Arturo Escobedo handled in the 51st minute, but the Pirates struck just two minutes later when Chaplinsky and Garcia connected again to end the day’s scoring.

“With (Garcia’s) size he may not get that first one but through the years he has figured out where that second one is going to be,” Filian said. “He keeps his ground at the far post, there’s a good percentage of balls that go through, and he’s there.”

Wheeling kept fighting to the final buzzer but weren’t able to solve Palatine’s back line and keeper Evan Held in the second half. Six of Uhrik’s starters only saw spot action due to a team violation, but he was for the most part pleased with his boys’ play on Tuesday.

“I thought our three defenders did a good job. Every time they got beat they were able to recover,” Uhrik said of Alfonso Noveron, Alan Flores, and Osvaldo Solano. “I also thought Dan Speidel played well in the center, and we had some good movement. It was good to see more of an understanding of the game, rather than just putting our head down and trying to beat everybody alone.”

“We’re still trying to find the working formula here, and hopefully we’ll find it soon. It’s not so much a young team as it is an inexperienced team.”

Filian wants to see continued improvement from his defense, and he looked to Kyle Clancy, Chaplinsky, Martin Rodriguez, Jonathan Aburto, and Jeremy Velinski to get the job done against Wheeling.

You don’t see too many freshmen put in primary defensive roles, but Palatine has a solid one in the middle in Clancy. Clancy broke up three potentially dangerous attacking runs by Wheeling in the first half, and played steady throughout the contest.

“That’s why he’s there,” Filian said of Clancy. “People ask how you can play a freshman, but he’s good enough to be there. He’s intelligent, he holds us together at the back, and he gives us a chance. We still have our holes defensively, but he keeps us together during the run of play. Nothing gets through him and he doesn’t make many mistakes.”

The freshman was slightly intimidated when he first found out he’d be a varsity starter for Palatine, but he’s feeling more comfortable as the season progresses.

“I was surprised but it’s a good opportunity for me,” Clancy said. “My goal now is just to stay up here. I was a little nervous at first but now I just trust the guys around me. I think we’re starting to click. In the beginning of the year we weren’t sticking the marks, but now we’re communicating, winning tackles, and winning the first and second ball.”

Offensively, Palatine’s goal will be clear.

“We have to continue to play simple, one-two touches because when we run across skillful teams like Wheeling, we can’t get caught playing their game,” Filian said. “We have to release the ball quicker, find the spaces a little quicker, and I was happier with that in the second half. We just need to continue to play simple, play the ball into spaces, and not get caught in possession because that’s not our game.”

“We’re starting to outwork teams more now, take them down the line, and play our game,” Garcia said.

The Pirates got solid efforts from around the pitch on Tuesday.

“I thought Jon Clark played well, and another guy that’s been playing really well for us is Jack Reynolds,” Filian said. “He always seems to be around the play. He plays up top, we use him in the midfield, and he just does the job everywhere you put him.”

“But I thought it was a good team effort, especially in the second half.”