Mustangs advance to sectional play with 3-0 win

MORTON VS. SAINT IGNATIUS PHOTOS
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By Gary Larsen

The Saint Ignatius midfield was winning the day early on against Morton, so Morton coach Mike Caruso pulled an ace from his sleeve.

He slid forward Joel Salmeron back to midfield and changed the complexion of the game.

“Their midfield was the difference,” Saint Ignatius coach Jim Luzzi said. “They were very, very active and they controlled the ball very well. Even if we had some moments of possession ourselves, their midfield was able to counter our possession. They were very aggressive and that was the game.”

With Friday’s 3-0 win over Saint Ignatius (12-11-1), Morton won its 13th regional title in program history and its 10th consecutive regional crown since 2002.

As the No. 2 seed of the Class 3A Hinsdale Central sectional, the Mustangs (19-3-2) will next head to a sectional semifinal game against Saturday’s winner between No. 3 Lyons Township (13-4-3) and No. 11 Downers Grove North (5-15-2).

Morton got goals from Salmeron, Joel Leon, and Jose Luis Alvarado, and a pair of assists from Jesus Morales in the win. Salmeron knows what his side needs to do if it hopes to make a long postseason run.

“We just have to work harder off the ball,” Salmeron said. “We’re good individually but we have to work as a team, because individuals can only take you so far. We have to come together and that’s how we’ll have to get past other teams.

“We’ve only given up like four goals in our last eight games, so that’s a big contribution from our defense. Now the offense has to finish off games.”

The Mustangs’ back line of captain Joel Leon, Elias Salgado, Abdon Delgado, and Roberto Avila helped keeper Miguel Chacon to the team’s fourth consecutive shutout and its 10th this year.

Caruso wants his boys in back to continue working on communication, and he wants his attacking players to reach another level of hunger near the goalmouth.

“We still need to finish better in the six-yard box,” Caruso said. “We had three or four more chances in there that need to go into net. Especially now because those chances will get harder to come by. We have to score the chances that we have.”

The 10th-seeded Wolfpack went into Friday’s game on the heels of a 3-1 regional semifinal win over 8th-seeded Proviso East. Brandon Medina and company were winning the midfield and spent time working the ball around the perimeter of Morton’s penalty area, searching for a shot.

The Mustangs began turning the tables at midfield thanks to the work of Salmeron, Marcos Romo, Mario Romero, Daniel Vargas, and Jose Luis Alvarado. And with the crafty Jesus Morales and Alonso Torres up top, the Mustangs’ attacking pressure began to take shape.

“Once we moved Joel back to midfield and moved Alonso (Torres) up top with Jesus, that seemed to be the combination that worked for us,” Caruso said. “And I liked what (Alvarado) gave us on the outside. I thought he was up and down that sideline. He kept them honest and he had a non-stop engine.”

The game remained scoreless until the 30th minute, when Morales sent a corner kick near-post and Salmeron made a diagonal run at it, sneaking a shot inside the tight space between the post and Wolfpack keeper Zak Allen.

“I made the run and touched it. It was a small gap but it managed to get through there,” Salmeron said.

Allen made a nice save on a point-blank Torres shot at 58 minutes, but an ensuing corner kick led to Leon’s goal in the goalmouth to put Morton up 2-0. Torres streaked up the right side and ran down a Morales through ball at 66 minutes and then buried a shot to the inside netting at the far post from 16 yards out.

And with Morton possessing well and giving up very little to the Wolfpack attack, the 3-0 lead held to the end of regulation.

Saint Ignatius won 3-1 over Proviso East in its regional semifinal to reach Friday’s title game. Luzzi bids farewell to 11 seniors from this year’s team.

Allen had a four-year varsity career in net, and the Wolfpack will also say good-bye to Erich Eklin, Luke McIlhattan, Dan McIlhattan, Dan Ibarra, Sterling Yates, Albert Alfaro, Sean McDonald, Bobby Nolan, Tom Frazel, and Charlie White.

“Our seniors have contributed a lot,” Luzzi said. “Generally speaking, we’ve always had good seniors on the team. A lot of them this year knew they weren’t going to get a lot of playing time but they continued to work hard in practice and were very supportive of everybody else. Those kids don’t get enough credit and we appreciate them a lot.

“We’re losing Zak, two starting defenders in Sterling and Charlie, a midfielder in Sean McDonald, a sometimes forward. We’re very optimistic about the future but that doesn’t make up for losing a game like this. We’re not even thinking about next year yet.”

Morton won its regional semifinal with a 7-0 win over Hinsdale South. The Mustangs have posted a 25-0 scoring edge against opponents in their last four games, but they know that the deeper they go into the postseason, the rockier the road will get.

“Even from the first game of the playoffs, we’ve showed that we’re not messing around,” Salmeron said. “Before this game we had a good talk and said that this is a new season, this is what it comes down to. Forget the (regular season). This is our main goal – going down to state.

“We’re on a good run now, we’re building better as a team, showing character and showing that we can play with anyone.”

After returning from a knee injury eight games into this season, Salmeron is knee brace-free and working his way into form – which is only helping a team with no shortage of skilled attacking players on its roster.

“I’m better now,” Salmeron said. “I cramped up a little bit at the end of the game, but I’m getting my conditioning and my rhythm back. This is what I worked for. Three games ago I still had my brace on and I still had that little bit of doubt, but I have to go hard into every play and play it out.”