Grens show their meddle at Buffalo Grove
By Mike Garofola

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It was a modern day remake of one of those old western movies at the O.K. Corral.

When it was over, eight goals were scored, many more could have found their way into the back of the net, and the break-neck speed of play in the attacking third left fans wanting more right up until the center official whistled the match over.

Buffalo Grove (7-0-0, 2-0-0) moved within one point of upstart Rolling Meadows on the MSL East table following its 5-3 victory over visiting Elk Grove on a gorgeous Thursday evening at Grant Blaney Stadium in Buffalo Grove.

The attack-minded Bison opened what looked like a comfortable three-goal advantage after Irving Eloiza's sensational 40-yard cracker, but the Grens showed their meddle with a valiant fight-back, drawing close at 4-3 to put a scare in the home side until Irving Balboa's second of the night at 70 minutes derailed the comeback of the visitors and head coach Joe Bush.

"I'd like to think a year from now, that's us out there," said Bush, pointing towards Bison players involved in their post-game cool down.

"That's a very talented offensive team, beginning with Irving (Eloiza), but I’m very proud of the fact that we showed we could stay with them, especially in the second half. Even though we have some way to go to reach their level, I really feel like we can be there next season."

This match had it all from start to finish, with the Bison conceding an early goal off a set-piece, in what seems to be its Achilles heel, after doing the same in its tournament championship victory over Lake Park last Saturday at the Norm Hillner Classic.

Jonathan Arzeta and David Bahena raced up the right side on a well-played combination, resulting in a foul, just outside the box, where backline player Manny Pillado soon found himself over the ball on a freekick opportunity.

The junior, who hit dozens of well-paced balls out of the back, and a handful of quality dead-ball serves all night long, struck his best when he bent a left-footer over the wall and into the wide-open corner at the near post.

With the statement of 'the next 5 minutes boys' still ringing throughout the air, Bush would watch his young club struggle to a now-inspired Bison side, which went full speed ahead in the attacking third with the skills of Eloiza, Balboa, Demo Drakoulis, Zach Masciopinto and Alberto Eloyza all on display.

"It's the way we enjoy playing," began Balboa, who came over from Wheeling last year on a transfer.

"We've got so many skillful players who like to play attacking soccer, and we've shown so far that we can score a lot of different ways, with a lot of different players."

Balboa sent a close range shot off the woodwork and the ever opportunistic Drakoulis hooked his return shot into the net to give the Bison the equalizer at 12 minutes.

After the Drakoulis goal, there was plenty of one-way traffic in the Grens’ (2-1-3, 1-1-1) end. The Bison’s Aldo Figueroa got into the act when he went wide after Masciopinto and Balboa set up the senior defender, and shortly thereafter Balboa roared up the right side to beat two opponents before having a chance on frame against Grens’ keeper Daniel Alvarez.

The junior Alvarez could plead no defense on the second Drakoulis strike when the senior sifted his way through and into the box to collect a long throw from Bison defender Daniel Ramirez.

Once in possession, Drakoulis turned and fired into net.

"Two goals to youthful mistakes, and three overall set-piece goals is not acceptable, especially against a team like Buffalo Grove," bemoaned Bush.

Still, Bush has seen his club respond to more training and less regular season matches, after adopting a few ideas first installed by Steve Keller of Fremd, and Schaumburg manager Hamid Mehreioskouei.

"We take Fridays off and let them be high school students, and we train for nearly three hours on Saturdays instead of matches,” Bush said. “They really seem to enjoy that type of schedule, and at least early on, they seem fresh and ready to go regardless of what we're doing."

His coaching counterpart, Rick Carlson certainly noticed.

"I am very impressed with the job Joe does with his team," began Carlson. “They always seem to have a very good idea of what they are doing, and he keeps his kids under control and focused, and I think he does more with what he has than a lot of other teams that I've seen in my two years with our varsity."

Elk Grove players Gio Garcia, Hugo Sanchez, Ben Castellanos, Bahena and Arzeta certainly made a favorable impression on Carlson, as they fashioned some very attractive soccer with quick touches, clever play and the ability to use width when building the attack.

"We did some very good things out there in the first half, but we allowed those three goals and that hurt us,” Garcia said. “But in the second half, we worked so hard as a team, and (we) showed we could play with a great team like Buffalo Grove.”

After Rafa Arcos was brought down outside the box, Balboa sent a screaming freekick crashing into the back of the net to increase the Bison lead to 3-1 in the 33rd minute.

Eloiza, booked for dissent at 26 minutes, forced Carlson to sit his star for the final quarter hour of the first period, but the Bison senior opened the second half with a highlight film goal when he needed just one touch before rattling the net from 40 yards with his right foot.

"Irving is a special player, and special players do special things sometimes. That goal really took the wind out of our sails," admitted Bush.

But to the credit of his young club, the Grens didn't allow this potential momentum-swinging strike to send them reeling, and moments later Garcia breathed life into the Elk Grove cause.

Arzeta would flash his inward swinging corner into the box for the junior captain to finish and suddenly awaken the visitors, while sending the Bison into a funk which would last until Balboa pulled back two consecutive goals from the Grens.

With Keyshawn Brown and Connor Murphy providing the extra pace and energy needed up top to help give the Grens extended periods of high pressure on the Bison backline, and Garcia's mates in the midfield becoming more of a distraction with each touch or rush forward into the Bison end, the Grens became the aggressor, slowing the high profile attack of the Bison to a halt.

"We didn't manage the lead well at all," said a disappointed Carlson. "All we wanted to do was attack, and in doing so, we gave way too much space and big gaps in the middle for Elk Grove, and to their credit they took advantage.

"We didn't play smart soccer for a good 20-25 minutes, and we've got to get better at that if we hope to advance later."

A nifty touch from Arzeta put Sanchez through and his shot at keeper Dillon Eaton resulted in a corner at 62 minutes. Three minutes later, Murphy nearly beat Eaton on a 50-50 ball inside the 6-yard box.

With their confidence building, the Grens went close again with Arzeta going just wide of the post, but Garcia did not miss when he got on the other end of a long throw from Murphy and thumped home a header to bring the visitors back to within one.

"It was exciting to get back in this game, and again we showed we could play with the best when we played our game," offered Garcia.

But it was the slick Balboa who would help the Bison double their lead with his low drive just inside the post, letting some of the air out of the Grens’ comeback.

"Irving, Mash (Masciopinto) Demo, myself, Alberto (Eloyza) - we've got so many guys who can attack, go forward and possess, but I guess sometimes we've got to use that to control and manage the game, especially when we have the lead," suggested Balboa.

"At times it looked like they were playing a 4-3-3, then other times it was if they had 5 or 6 guys up top - they can really come at you," began Bush. "It's early, but we don't want to get too far down in the table, especially with this team, as well as Hersey, and with Rolling Meadows playing so well."

Carlson sees things the same way.

"It's kind of crazy because we played a real strong, tight match the other night in our 1-0 win over Fremd, then we come out and get so into our offense, that we forget how to play, and you probably heard me tell the boys just that after the game.

"There's a lot of talent on this team, but we cannot continue to give up dead-ball goals, or stop playing on both sides of the ball, because a team like Elk Grove can come in and end our season in the regionals."