Rams earn shutout vs. Elk Grove
By Dave Owen

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A 21-2 advantage in shots meant nothing on the scoreboard for Elk Grove.

Denied all Saturday afternoon by Glenbard East’s collapsing defense and several excellent saves by Rams’ goalkeeper Seth Quam, the Grenadiers (2-3-4) left Lombard with a 0-0 tie.

“It’s very frustrating - we hadn’t been shut out yet,” Elk Grove coach Joe Bush said. “We played safe. We wouldn’t penetrate. I just think we played a little outside of ourselves at times, trying to carry the ball too much at midfield and then pass too much inside the 18. Towards the end we started putting balls in the corner and things started happening.

“But they (Glenbard East) did a tremendous job,” Bush added. “They had 11 guys behind the ball, and they had to do that because they couldn’t match us skill for skill. They did that against Downers South the other night and Downers got two (goals) against them, but we just couldn’t (score).”

In particular for Glenbard East (2-8-1), goalkeeper Quam, defenders Nick DeJong, Matt Rossetti, Cesar Infante and Trevor Cook and  midfielders Jackson Zetterquist, Juan Jimenez and Eduardo Diaz all stood tall under relentless pressure en route to the Rams’ third shutout of the season.

“Matt Rossetti and Trevor Cook were really solid,” Rams’ coach Josh Adler said. “They were picking off things and reading things really well. Nick DeJong my right back did a great job with things, and he also tried to get an attack for us a little bit on the wide side.

“And then Seth really positioned himself where he needed to be. He was tested a lot, but for the times he was tested it was stuff he could easily manage because of what a good job he did reading the play.”

Quam finished with 14 saves, nine in the second half.

“The main thing is communication,” Quam said. “I got a lot of help today from the center backs Matt Rossetti and Trevor Cook. They were doing a good job making sure we’re on the line and got side on so that we’re ready when (Elk Grove) plays the big ball.

Other than that for me it was staying focused when they were shooting and try to get in front of as many balls as possible.”

Quam was in the right spot on two plays in particular.

With 4:30 left in the first half, Elk Grove’s Guillermo Anaya sent an 18-yard straight on blast destined for the lower left corner, only to be denied on a diving deflection out of bounds by Quam.

“That’s just reaction,” Quam said of the save, “but I know I don’t necessarily need to catch it so I just try to knock it over the post and then reorganize and get everyone back to defend on the corner (kick).”

The Grenadiers’ offense kept the heat on, then turned up the temperature even more late in the match. With less than eight minutes left, a nice cross from Jonathon Arzeta was sent inches wide on a 25-yard shot by Connor Murphy.

Then with 6:20 on the clock, a strong throw-in to the crease by Murphy set up a point-blank shot blast from Anthony Gonzalez – and a big-time save by Quam.

“The shot was from about the 6, so I didn’t even have time to get my hands on it,” Quam said. “I just let it hit off my chest and then go from there, and it worked out.”

Elk Grove’s hard work offensively never paid off, adding to the pain of the squad’s four-game winless streak after the squad’s 2-0-3 start.

“We’re kind of on a lose-tie streak,” Murphy said, “so we just want to keep this team together as a family and keep working towards wins.

“Some of our possessions when we get in front of the goalie we miss wide or kind of panic a little bit,” Murphy added. “That gets frustrating, and obviously possessing most of the game and not being able to score against a team that sits in is a little frustrating.”

Murphy’s long throw-ins were one consistent weapon, producing earlier big second half chances with 36:15 left (setting up a Gio Garcia header just wide) and 28:40 to go (a David Bahena header saved by Quam).

“I just started taking them (throw-ins) a few years ago,” Murphy said, “and they started getting longer and longer. I guess they’ve almost become like a cross or clearance to me. That’s a threat to some teams if they don’t see it coming.”

Glenbard East actually had one of the game’s first good chances. In the 9th minute of play, Rossetti’s strong 45-yard free kick set up a combination of two headers in the box – ending in Ram midfielder Brian Mika’s header wide of the right post.

The Rams’ next shot wouldn’t come until 13:50 remained in the game, when Carlos Urbina sent a 25-yard free kick wide of the net.

Outside of those moments, Elk Grove dominated possession time and chances.

“In the middle of the first half we moved Connor Murphy back to center mid, and he was able to pick the ball up and penetrate a little bit better,” Bush said. “Gio had the one header opportunity – he finished one of those against Buffalo Grove the other night. Our back three held up when they had to, and I thought Deion Morales did a nice job when he got in playing some balls over the top. But it’s had to find a shining star. We were kind of lazy in our transition.”

Glenbard East was tireless in its defense every moment of play, as epitomized by an Elk Grove flurry with 30 seconds left in the first half. The Rams’ Cook headed away two consecutive cross attempts to the box, then Zetterquist blocked another Grenadier shot attempt.

“I thought we did a nice job,” Adler said, “for as much as we were getting peppered and the play was in our half of the field. We didn’t get rattled. We stayed pretty disciplined and pinched off seams as much as we could. A lot of their play had to come from the wide parts of the field. That’s what we need to do. If we can’t present things forward as much, we have to be a really good defending team.

“One of the things we’ve really stressed is that we have to be an organized group. In Thursday night’s game (a 2-0 loss to Downers South) we got spread pretty thin at times, and we spent a lot of time chasing when we were defending. We talked yesterday about that, and how we solve those problems by communicating where guys need to be and position ourselves a little sooner.”

“I’m definitely concerned about possession,” Adler added. “The moment we gained possession we gave it right back and we’re defending again. Sometimes we try to force the play instead of develop the play wide or come back into the middle. But when you get a shutout it’s a positive thing. It’s something to build on for Naperville North on Tuesday, and it’ll be fun to see what we can do to build off of that.”

Elk Grove hosts Schaumburg on Tuesday.

“We have a lot of offense, from outside mids to the forwards,” Bush said. “We just couldn’t connect. We’re kind of in a slump right now.

“It’s our first three game week – I don’t know if that had anything to do with it. We transitioned too slowly. We had opportunities and let them get away.”