Spartans see promise in opening loss

By Eddie Burns

As far as openers go the final outcome might not show it, but it was a good night for the St. Francis boys’ soccer team.

The Spartans allowed two first-half goals while losing a 2-0 decision to Juarez on Monday night in the season opener for both schools, but St. Francis coaches and fans received a glimpse of the future with a lineup that featured plenty of new faces in a lot of new places.

“We have a long way to go because of the inexperience of not playing together a lot and I think that showed both offensively and defensively,” St. Francis coach Tim Dailey said. “We made a lot of errors but for a first game, we were pleased with what we did and we think this is something we can build on.”

For Dailey and the rest of the St. Francis coaching staff, Monday provided a chance to finally see the final product out on the field.

“We certainly learned a lot about out personnel and playing them in different places and positions,” he said. “We’re going to have to experience a lot. We saw some things tonight. Some things just don’t come out in a scrimmage and sometimes you just have to see player perform in game situations.”

This was the second time in two seasons that the Spartans (0-1) and the Eagles (1-0) opened the season with St. Francis claiming a 2-1 victory a year ago.

But this time it was a different story as the visitors, who made the 45-minute drive out from Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood on the city’s southwest side, struck for two goals five minutes apart in the 22nd and 27th minutes.

The first goal occurred when the St. Francis defense failed to clear the ball out of their end. As a result, in a struggle for possession the ball bounced around in the St. Francis penalty area before Juarez’s Raul Figueroa managed to get his head on the ball and flip it over the head of Spartans’ keeper Ryan Suerte, who was caught a bit out of position.

A few minutes later St. Francis’ Drew Mascari was whistled for a foul in the penalty area and the official awarded the Eagles a penalty kick, which Arturo Carmona converted past a diving Suerte (9 saves).

“Sure, I hit their player, but it was a debatable call,” Mascari said.

The match was physical and featured three yellow cards, two red cards and a number of stoppages, which didn’t allow either team a chance to get in any sort of a rhythm.

“We played very physical and that was a very positive aspect to the match,” St. Francis senior defender Danny Wright said. “And we didn’t give in and played them even in the second half.”

The final 40 minutes featured a much more inspired effort from the Spartans.

Sophomore Adam Fetter hit the crossbar on a restart after Juarez’s Cesar Chavez was removed from the match for receiving a red card.

Junior Mike Vale, sophomore Dave Kaminky, junior Wes Dorman, freshman Jon Mifsud and senior Kyle Wood continued to attack the Juarez net while St. Francis had the man advantage, but the Spartans couldn’t finish.

“We didn’t score, but we had some close chances,” Mascari said. “We’ll fix that.”

Wright said it is just a matter of getting everyone on the same page.

“I think it will take a little more time,” Wright said. “We are just getting to get to know one another better and each other’s tendencies. I think it a few weeks we’ll be a much different looking team.” 

The offense also will receive a boost when leading scorer from last season, Jamie Pigott, returns. Pigott did not play in Monday’s match because he was returning from a family wedding that occurred overseas.

While the offensive attack was a bright spot, there were plenty of issues on the backend.

“We have to work on man-to-man marking,” Dailey said. “(Juarez) was very quick, fast and highly skilled and they beat us way too often one-on-one and they beat us to way too many 50-50 balls. We’ll get better in all of those areas with more confidence and experience.

“Overall, we saw a lot good level of energy from the kids and we worked really, really hard. I was really pleased with the effort.”

PLAYER OF THE GAME ….
St. Francis freshman Jon Mifsud

Dailey started Mifsud at midfield, but as the match moved along Mifsud had a knack for being around the ball. He had a few good scoring chances, but couldn’t quite size up the ball squarely with his foot.

Since Mifsud is a freshman, he and bunch of his teammates were a bit of an unknown heading into the season for the coaching staff.

“He was one of those guys we learned a lot about tonight,” Dailey said. “He did a great job of getting involved and being in the action.”

2009 Schedule