Grens shut out by Palatine
By Bill Stone

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With about 27 minutes left in the first half, Palatine senior center midfielder Dave Clark received the ball just beyond the top of the box Tuesday at Elk Grove after a passing combination with Marco Arreola and Luis Vargas.

Clark displayed some fancy footwork to ward off a defender and blasted a shot. It shook the crossbar but bounced back into play and was cleared by the Grenadiers.

Instead of being frustrated, Clark was excited, hoping for another chance.

When the next opportunity came following a wild combination of headers, Clark converted a one-timer with 5:13 left until halftime. It proved to be the only goal in the unbeaten Pirates’ 1-0 victory over Elk Grove in Mid Suburban League action.

“It settled to my foot and I hit it as hard as I could,” Clark said. “I hit it because the first one felt good. It felt good so that’s why I hit the shot once I got the ball.”

Unfortunately for the Pirates (10-0-2, 7-0-1 in MSL), Clark’s blast off the crossbar was more indicative of their afternoon of offensive frustration. A combination of missed opportunities and a strong defensive effort by the Grenadiers (3-5-4, 2-5-1) kept the game a nail-biter.

The Pirates out shot Elk Grove 23-5 (8-2 in shots on goal) and led 8-3 in corner kicks. The defense of goalie Kyle Leber, central defender Kyle Clancy, outside defenders Ulises Alcaraz and Matt Fleischhauer and defensive center midfielder Jeremy Velinski carried Palatine to its sixth shutout this season and third in the last four outings. The Pirates have allowed just six goals overall.

“It’s nice to win, but my assistant coach (Charlie Gries) and I both have high blood pressure and this is not helping any,” said Palatine coach Willie Filian with a smile.
 
“I was a little frustrated with our lack of finishing. We made a lot of half chances. We’re organized defensively, but it would be a little more ideal if we finished better.”

The Pirates’ one score was a sweet one, not necessarily from a tactical standpoint but in terms of teamwork and effort.

“(The play) was started off by a bad ball from me in the corner,” Clark said, laughing. “It was in the air for a while.”

With a succession of headers by junior Sergio Hernandez, senior Matt Ryan-Darrah and Hernandez again, the ball worked its way from right wing to an unmarked Clark at the top of the box, a few steps closer than his earlier unsuccessful shot.

“There were like six headers and then (the ball) fell inside,” Elk Grove coach Joe Bush said. “We worked a lot against set plays and corners and long throws because they’re awfully good and it’s tough to be able to keep them off the scoreboard.”

Elk Grove goalie Daniel Alvarez made six saves and thwarted many other dangerous balls in the crease off restarts, including several long sidelines throw-ins by Velinski. The defensive line of sweeper Manny Pillado, stopper Ivan Corona and outside defenders Avery Cheng and Tony Romero also was tested often.

This was only the second time over the past seven games that the Grenadiers allowed fewer than two goals. Elk Grove is 0-5-1 in that stretch, rallying to win its last game 3-2 at Prospect Sept. 20 after trailing 2-0.

“Maybe we took time off because they’re not Palatine. But everybody’s got good long throwers and corner kicks,” Bush said. “I hope (from this effort) we’ll be able to play this way against everybody.”

Clark, who now has seven goals, has a knack for dramatic goals. He remembered having three game winners in 2011, including a golden goal with five seconds left for a 1-0 victory over Waukegan in the Libertyville Regional semifinals.

“Dave Clark has real good technique,” Filian said. “(This goal) was a nice job of keeping the ball in the air and even though the ball’s in the air, that doesn’t mean you can’t target it to someone on your team. They kept it alive and it was a nice find.”

Last year, Ryan-Darrah assisted three of Clark’s goals. Although he only had an indirect hand, or head, in Tuesday’s tally, he and Hernandez displayed the continued depth of the Pirates.

Both players came off the bench Tuesday. Ryan-Darrah entered with about 24 minutes left in the half for outside midfielder Johnny Enriquez and Hernandez at forward with 19 minutes left for Cesar Valdez. Ryan-Darrah and Hernandez came out right after the score.

“Everybody on our outside midfield, we have so many good outside midfielders and it just shows with the guys off the bench,” Ryan-Darrah said.

The starting midfield of Clark, Vargas, Arreola and Enriquez also received help from Brennan Harding and sophomore Gavin Folotico. Hernandez and Abdul Azziz were among those in a forward rotation with starters Valdez and Josh Lee.

“It really doesn’t matter who is starting,” said Ryan-Darrah, who has started a couple of times this season. “I know about the time that I’m going in and when I’m going to play so I’m getting out there.”

Clark took six shots Tuesday and just missed heading in a cross by Enriquez late in the first half. The Pirates nearly got breathing room with a second goal in the final 30 minutes but couldn’t convert.

“We knew they had come back on Prospect. We told the guys at halftime we were blowing a lot of opportunities,” Filian added.

The tall and athletic Velinski had strong but unsuccessful headers in the crease off free kicks by Clancy with 25 and 24 minutes remaining. On a Hernandez corner kick with less than 13 minutes left, Velinski took a shot that was stopped near the goal line by Pillado and cleared out.

 “We definitely should have had a second score. It wasn’t falling for us today,” Clark said.

With just a one-goal deficit and considering that Palatine’s only CSL tie was against Prospect, Elk Grove kept pushing but had problems getting clear looks.

When the Grenadiers’ Connor Murphy put a long throw-in on goal with 10 minutes left, Leber came out to grab it, but he got lost among the crowd in the crease and the ball lay dormant for a second before Fleischhauer cleared it out. Elk Grove’s last corner kick with less than seven minutes left was headed by Alcaraz and cleared without a shot.

“We really limit other teams’ chances, and that’s got to be part of our game,” Filian said. “(The defense) has been the basis to our season. I think our marking backs are as hard as nails. And probably one of our most intelligent kids is Kyle Clancy. He cuts down so many chances by his communicating and merely organizing. So does Kyle Leber.”

The Grenadiers nearly caught the Pirates napping with a last-minute surge before halftime. Clark cleared Gio Garcia’s header in the crease off a cross by Murphy, and Anthony Gonazlez’s left-wing shot in the final seconds was wide left.

“That’s the challenge against Palatine. Their defense does such a nice job,” Bush said. “(Velinski) won every single ball. Their sweeper (Clancy) has got the greatest job in the world because he’s got (Velinski) in front of him.”

The next challenge for Palatine is coming back Wednesday to play host to Conant in another CSL game. Elk Grove visits Hoffman Estates in CSL action Thursday.