Rams fall victim to DGN's strong second half
By Dave Miller

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It’s not that Downers Grove North is trying to be a second-half team. It’s just working out that way.

The Trojans came out firing after intermission and eventually scored twice to edge Glenbard East 3-2 in the Lake Park Hillner Soccer Classic Tuesday night at Carstens Field in Downers Grove.

“We always come out in the second half a little bit harder,” said Josh Triechel, who gave the Trojans the lead for good with a goal in the 60th minute that made it 2-1. “Sometimes we come out slow in the first, but in the second half we just come out harder.”

There’s a reason for that.

“We’re a very fit team,” Downers North coach Brian Gervase said. “If nothing else, we’re very fit. We don’t want to call ourselves a second half team, but we just naturally are because I think other teams have a hard time running with us.”

That’s how the action eventually played out, but it didn’t start that way. Shots of any kind were few and far between in a tightly played first half. Both shots put on net in the first 40 minutes resulted in goals.

Downers North (2-2-0) struck first in the eighth minute. Cullen Cummings launched a free kick from 48 yards out and Reid Melton headed the ball into the net for his fourth goal of the season, putting the home team up 1-0.

Two minutes later, Glenbard East (0-3-0) answered when Fredy Ibarra beat his defender to the ball and then beat Downers North goalkeeper Jim Barkei from about 18 yards out to tie the game.

The stadium lights were turned on for the second half and it was as if someone flipped a switch on Downers North’s offense, too. The Trojans fired off more than a half dozen shots, though most were off target, before Triechel gave them the lead with his third goal of the year. He fought for the ball in traffic and sent the ball flying into the net from above the box.

“We kept the pressure on them and eventually they just kind of cracked,” Triechel said.

Glenbard East goalkeeper Seth Quam made a couple saves after that before Downers North added an insurance goal. Jake Stevenson, the only sophomore on the Trojans roster who was called up from the JV team recently, capped a charge down the field by taking a pass from Tony Zea and blasting it into the net from the right wing to make it 3-1 in the 77th minute.

The Rams still had some life left, however. Miguel Godoy scored off a free kick in the 78th minute, his second goal of the season, to bring the visitors within 3-2.
       
But Glenbard East did not mount a serious threat to tie the game after that in the final 2:20.

“I think right now we’re just lacking a few little things about the varsity game,” Rams coach Josh Adler said. “The last two games it’s been the little mistakes that have been pretty costly in the second half for us. Tonight it was laziness on the back side of the field, on the ball that gets served across the box, and not realizing that they still have a defending responsibility.

“But I want these guys to make these mistakes right now. A week from now, that’s when conference play kicks in, so that's why we’re trying to figure these things out. We’re still trying to figure our identity a little bit, but the good thing is they keep trying to find ways to get back into games so that’s the positive.”

Downers North improved to 2-1 in the tourney. The Trojans wrap up the event against Wheaton North at 11 a.m. Saturday at Lake Park.

“I just like the fact that we’re starting to get organized,” Gervase said of this Trojans. “We looked very disorganized watching the film from a few games. I think we’re getting to know each other a little bit better.”

Despite a modest start, Gervase is optimistic about the season.

“We should be over .500,” he said. “I would like to see us win two-thirds. I think we’re that kind of team this year.”

Glenbard East fell to 0-2 in the tourney. The Rams have a pair of games left at Lake Park – against the host at 7 p.m. Thursday and versus Conant at 1 p.m. Saturday.