Fremd comes back to force tie against Schaumburg

By Gary Larsen

The best cure for a losing streak is often a matter of locating the fight in the dog, and Fremd found its inner canine on Thursday.

Coming off of four consecutive losses, Fremd fell behind 2-0 to Mid-Suburban League rival and host Schaumburg before halftime. Steve Keller’s Vikings had not scored a goal since a 2-0 win over Downers Grove South on Aug. 27.

Lorenzo Savino, Brian Hindle, and Travis Laschiava all helped put an end to that nonsense, as a defense led by Spencer Filosa kept Schaumburg from scoring for 60 minutes of regulation play, and then 20 overtime minutes.

Savino tallied twice to tie the game.

“In the last four games we lost three 1-0 games and had a stupid (4-0) loss to Sandburg,” Savino said. “We had to come in here and show some pride, and we left it on the field today.”

Keller was happy to see his side play with a chip on its collective shoulder throughout the game. “Tonight I saw a confidence in the guys, and an attitude that wasn’t there earlier in the year.”

“To sum it up in a word, we competed.”

The Saxons and Vikings took the game through two overtime periods without another goal being scored, settling for a 2-2 tie in Schaumburg.

“I’m not surprised we came back, only because of how hard I saw our guys come out from the start of the game,” Keller said. “You could tell that they were focused.”

“So I’m not surprised. Upset that we dug ourselves a hole, I guess.”

Schaumburg took a 1-0 lead midway through the first half on a penalty kick conversion by Declan Geraghty after a handball call in the box.

The Saxons scored again a minute later on an Erhan Caglayan goal near the goalmouth, set up by a corner kick.

Down 2-0, Fremd needed a spark. “We just had to pick it up and play together,” Savino said.

Fremd forced a handful of quality saves from Saxons goalkeeper Peyton Irmen, who dove to the post to swat a pair of Vikings shots away before Savino’s goal late in the half.

“It was good to get that first one before halftime,” Keller said. “That one kind of gives you confidence.”

With Schaumburg’s hustle matched by Fremd’s intensity, the two squads slugged it out up and down the field throughout the second half. “They’re scrappy. They’ve got (Caglayan) and (Geraghty) and their hustle creates a lot of stuff for them,” Keller said.

Hindle got behind the defense only to see Irmen stop his offering in the 44th minute, and four minutes later the sophomore hit a great chance just wide of net on a head shot.

“We’re working a lot on finishing in practice,” Hindle said. “It’s one of the things we’re stressing since last week, after the bad tournament.”

The game-tying score came in the game’s 54th minute. Savino, who sent balls on frame consistently throughout, beat everyone to a Heika feed sent forward and gauged the space in front of him.

 “I was right at the ball, I looked up, and saw that the goalie was about to dive,” Savino said. “I just gave it a little chip with my left foot and it went in.”

Irmen stuffed a Savino shot taken from point-blank range two minutes later, and Heika sent a free kick just high of the upper ninety thereafter. Schaumburg’s Mike Grassa sent a shot off the crossbar in the 76th minute, and Laschiava busted through two defenders on the dribble and fired just wide a minute later.

“Travis was kind of our plug in the middle there. He won a lot of head balls and did a lot of the dirty work,” Keller said.

Fremd is now 2-4-1 overall, and 0-1-1 in MSL play. The Vikings host Palatine at 1:00 on Saturday.

Man of the match: Lorenzo Savino

By Gary Larsen

After failing to finish on a ball during three games of the recent Best of the West tournament in Naperville, Fremd needed to get on the scoreboard in a bad way.

Lorenzo Savino got them there.

Savino ran down a through-ball up the gut and tucked a shot inside the post just 32.6 seconds before the halftime buzzer, and the junior scored again in the second half to force a 2-2 tie with host Schaumburg.

Savino stepped forward onto a Mike Heika through-ball and finally managed to hammer a shot past diving Schaumburg goalkeeper Peyton Irmen, who stood tall in net throughout

“Some of the defenders were playing good diagonal balls across, and we just finally capitalized on one,” Savino said.

Keller liked the effort Savino kept up throughout.

“(Savino) can be very dangerous when he plays like he did tonight,” Keller said. “He had energy and an edge about him, and when he’s shooting he’s got a great shot. He just has to shoot.”

Fremd starters vs. Schaumburg