Fremd grabs a lead but can't hold on vs. Buffalo Grove

By Matt Le Cren

Fremd was only 10 minutes away from achieving a much-needed road victory Tuesday night at Buffalo Grove. Instead, the Mid-Suburban League match ended in heartbreak.

The Vikings squandered a 1-0 lead and fell 2-1 in overtime, thus extending their winless streak to eight games.

“You’ve got to finish,” Fremd coach Steve Keller said. “You’ve got to put the ball in the net and you’ve got to play solid ‘D.’ We ended up missing too many opportunities and then we have one defensive breakdown and that’s the game.”

The breakdown came with 4:49 left in overtime, when a miscommunication in the back allowed Buffalo Grove sophomore Alex Maciopinto to get through on a breakaway and score the game-winner. That ruined what had otherwise been a pretty solid effort by the Vikings (2-7-1, 0-4-1 MSL).

“We play well when we play as a team,” Fremd forward Lorenzo Savino said. “We have a lot of chemistry when we work together. But we had a little miscommunication, didn’t talk, and they got a breakaway.”

After scoring just three goals in its previous seven games, Fremd was able to put together some sustained pressure on offense beginning late in the first half, and Savino was a big reason why.

The junior who had been substituted for early in the game, squeezed off three shots on goal before intermission, then gave the Vikings a 1-0 lead with 27:12 left in the second half with his sixth goal of the season.

Savino beat two defenders up the right wing and fired a 15-yard shot that Bison keeper Nick Landsberger stopped but couldn’t handle. After a few seconds, the ball came loose in the middle of the penalty area and Savino rushed in and scored.

“I was out for about 25-30 minutes because [Keller] wasn’t pleased with my first five minutes,” said Savino, who has accounted for two-thirds of his team’s scoring. “If you’re not playing well you’re going to sit, and you don’t want someone else to take your spot and play.

“[On the goal] I started at [midfield], beat a guy, beat another guy and then I didn’t see much in the middle so I took a shot on goal just to test the goalie. The goalie couldn’t catch it and then I saw the ball [come loose] and I just hustled my butt and took the shot.”

Savino nearly gave the Vikings a two-goal lead with 17:40 remaining when he took a pass from Matthew Burkhardt on the left wing and fired a left-footed rocket from 17 yards out that Landsberger dove to his left to knock away. Two minutes later, Sal Aiello missed an open shot from point-blank range.
The Bison (6-5-4, 2-2-1) got the equalizer against the run of play with 9:17 left. Goalie Eric Ciura, who finished with six saves, stopped a shot from the left wing but gave up a rebound to an unmarked Luis Marquez, who converted from seven yards out.

“You can’t blame Eric,” Keller said. “He played a nice game. It started well before that on a failed clear, and then where were our guys following up? [Buffalo Grove] followed it up and we didn’t.”

Despite the loss, Savino can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

“I feel like we’re taking baby steps to working and playing with pride,” he said. “We’ve just got to start capitalizing and finishing.”

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Fremd starters vs. Buffalo Grove