Trojans fall victim to Buffalo Grove attack
By Eddie Burns

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Relentless would be the best way to describe how Buffalo Grove played its most recent match.

The Bison harassed Downers Grove North to the tune of a 4-0 victory against the Trojans on Saturday morning in a match played at Lake Park as part of the Hillner Soccer Classic named for previous Lake Park coach Norm Hillner, who retired after last season.

Buffalo Grove was aggressor right from the start.

“These kids really want it and they play that way,” Buffalo Grove coach Rick Carlson said. “The guys all have a motor and they know that they need that motor to compete and they are. They are hungry and they want to prove they are the real deal. There is no doubt that they get after it.”

The foursome of Irving Balboa, Irving Eloiza, Demo Drakoulis and Alberto Eloyza spearheaded the Bison attack throughout the midfield and in the offensive third.

Balboa tallied the first goal of the match when the accepted a well-played ball from teammates Zach Masciopinto and Balboa finished with a shot past Downers Grove North goalie Jim Barkel.

Balboa’s goal was the lone tally during the opening half, although Buffalo Grove had two potential goals waived off because of offsides violations.

The Trojans almost pulled even in the opening moments of the second half when senior forward Josh Triechel had a shot bounce off the post.

The Bison (3-0) quickly responded with the duo of Eloiza and Drakoulis connecting for goals in the 45th and 57th minute. Eloiza assisted Drakoulis on both goals.

Drakoulis capped the scoring with his third goal in the 76th minute.

Buffalo Grove’s backline consisting of defenders Alexix Herrera, Daniel Ramirez, Rafa Arcos, Aldo Figueroa and goalie Anthony Pawlicki helped preserve the shutout.
Balboa, Drakoulis, Eloiza and Eloyza are all seniors have played club soccer together since the seventh grade.

“We’ve been together for quite some time, so we know we wanted to make this senior season special,” Drakoulis said. “We are so excited to go after it. We’ve worked hard and we want it. We busted ourselves all preseason. We ran a lot and we know how important it is going to be to be in shape. We want the ball. Last year we tied a lot of matches that we could have easily have won, we’re out to make sure that type of stuff doesn’t happen this year.”

The bond formulated on the pitch also continues off of it as well.

“We all support each and we all want to succeed together, so when we want to attack it makes it harder for opposing teams to keep up with how well we move the ball as a group,” Eloiza said. 

Downers Grove North coach Brian Gervase was impressed with Buffalo Grove and also disappointed with the way the Trojans played.

“(BG) put a lot of pressure on us and we really didn’t put much, if any pressure, on them and that is a big problem for us,” Gervase said. “We are too easy to defend. They made a lot of passes and put a lot of pressure on our backs and had them running -- turned around a lot. That starts with midfield play and allowing a team free reign of where they want to play the ball. We have to tighten that up.”

The Trojans (2-1) tried to use their size to their advantage by attempting to make the match more physical in nature, but the smaller Bison held their own.

“We know that we have a small team – I mean, our JV team is bigger than us, but we will push hard and play,” Drakoulis said.
Eloiza agreed.

“We really did a nice job of keeping our composure because they were hitting us hard,” he said. “We kept it going and stayed calm. We’re not just happy with a win like this. We will go back to practice and continue to work hard and improve.”

Carlson couldn’t have been happier with how the Bison handled the aggressive play. 

“We dealt with (the yellow cards),” Carlson said. “You didn’t see our kids responding and they were hard fouls – not necessarily cheap, but hard fouls. We dealt with it and moved on. We possessed the ball. We play in a very tough league where guys are going to hit you and they are going to be aggressive. Teams like Barrington and Fremd have great athletes and they are going to hit hard and we have to deal with it – especially if we’re going to hold the ball with our feet.”

There was a lengthy delay in the early portion of the second half when the referee stopped the match to discuss a potential second yellow card against Downers Grove North’s Cullen Cummings. The official huddled with both of his linesman before ultimately not awarding the second yellow card. The IHSA has a new rule this season and if the card had been given, Cummings would have been ejected from the rest of Buffalo Grove match and also miss Downers Grove North’s next match as well.  

“That is a big deal,” Gervase said. “The officials all got together and they got the call right.”

Barkel was one of the few bright spots and he did his best to keep the Trojans in the match, but the relentless Buffalo Grove attack was a bit much to handle, at times.

“Our possession has to improve,” Gervase said. “We have a lot of talented offensive players, but we’re playing a bit too fancy and we’re giving the ball away way too much. We were chasing way too much. Our backline is a bit of a work in progress. We are still working hard, but we have some issues we have to address and that is why we like to play in this tournament.”