Chicagoland Soccer

Vikings top Wheeling on strong second half

By Dan Santaromita

After a pair of less than stellar showings Fremd showed progress at Wheeling, but they still lacked a strong start.

The Vikings scored first, but let the host Wildcats hang around in the first half before putting them away in the second en route to a 4-1 win Monday night in a Mid Suburban League crossover.

Four different Vikings found the net and forward Yusuke Kanada had a pair of assists.

Slow starts have been a recent trend for Fremd and that continued against Wheeling, but it was a step in the right direction. Coach Steve Keller classified the effort.

“Today was more of a reacting kind of effort,” Keller said. “We just were second all the time to loose balls and anticipating, that kind of stuff so it makes it easier on the other team. They’re able to keep the ball. They’re able to get numbers forward and it puts us under a little bit more pressure.”

Fremd took control of the game in the second half and tightened it up, but the first fifteen minutes of the match were very wide open. Both sides scored in the first ten minutes and Kanada had a spectacular chance all alone in front of goal not even a minute into the match that he failed to convert.

Kanada made up for the wasted opportunity by sending a sharp cross near the right corner into the box that Brian Hindle headed home for the opening goal in the sixth minute.

Hindle and Kanada’s partnership up top has allowed Kanada to play more of a passing game and drop back into the midfield more often.

“I kind of changed my playing style a little bit,” Kanada said. “I was going at players, but now I’m trying to hold the ball and lay it off because Hindle is playing with me up top.”

Usually an early goal deflates the opposition, but Wheeling answered almost immediately. A minute later Irving Balboa outran the Fremd defense for a long, bouncing ball on the turf and half volleyed over Viking’s goalkeeper Colton Caesius.

The game saw chances from both sides, but around the midway point of the half Fremd seized control of the match. Keller switched formations early in the match, adding another midfielder, and the change was noticeable.

The Vikings took the lead at 27 minutes and Hindle played a role again, this time laying the ball off to junior midfielder Jeremy Kosacz for the goal. Kosacz’s shot from inside the box came on his first touch and curled perfectly off the inside of the far post.

Fremd stayed on the front foot in the second half and tightened the screws on Wheeling with a pair of goals before the hour mark. Kanada tallied his second assist at 45 minutes with a nice angled pass to set up Tim Lehigh and Brock Vonholt put the game away in the 53rd minute by heading in a bouncing ball after some sloppy defending.

“We did a better job in the second half of what we talked about doing at halftime: possessing the ball a little bit, looking to exploit some things and get behind their defense,” Keller said. “The difference was we put ours on frame and made some nice shots.”

“We’re trying to fix stuff up now, that coming out weak and I think we’re doing it better,” Kanada said. “Not perfect yet, we came out a little weak today again, but better.”

Balanced scoring is always nice, but the Vikings also got good defensive efforts from Eric Leonard and Eric Scott. Caesius made a pair of saves before being subbed out in the second half for Steven Soltykiewicz, who needed to make just one.

Fremd stands 6-2-1 overall and 3-1 in the league with another MSL match Tuesday against Rolling Meadows.