Communication Breakdown Costs Warriors Game

The surface was uneven. There were injuries. There were suspensions. There were questionable officiating decisions. There was bad luck.

You can pick any excuse you want. But, boys soccer coach Mike Divincenzo wasn’t having any Wednesday night after his Warrior team fell to Leyden, 4-2.

“When you have a young team this can be expected,” said the Warrior manager minutes after the match. “We played well the other night (against Prospect) and tonight we struggled a little bit defensively. With not a ton of experience we can have ups and downs.”

Earlier:

Six minutes into the match Maine West goalie Dennis Chronopoulos was called into action from the penalty spot. Teammate Jerry Espinoza fouled Leyden’s Fernando Camacho but Chronopoulos was up to the task as he dove left and parried away Camacho’s penalty kick.

Leyden continued their good early play with quick passing and good movement but Maine West seemed to change the momentum on the drop of a dime.

Eight minutes into the game, and seemingly with the Warriors’ first real attack down field, they scored. Sophomore Alex Herrera adjusted his body perfectly as he coiled in a sweet volley off of a pass from senior captain Spencer Walton to give Maine West an early advantage.

It was surprising to see Maine West in front, given how well Leyden had been passing and moving and putting pressure on the Warrior goal in the first few minutes.

But soccer is a funny old game, and lightning almost struck within seconds again for Maine West. This time, Walton was on the receiving end of teammate Josh DeLeon’s pass and saw his shot come careening off of the crossbar after having easily beaten Leyden’s goalkeeper, Marco Granda.

Maine West continued to look threatening in attack, but Leyden’s game plan of pumping balls into the Maine West half paid its dividends nine minutes before halftime.

A goal kick was flicked forward from midfield and Eagle senior Krystian Drozdz latched onto it, skirted past a pair of Warrior defenders and shot the ball across Chronopoulos to tie the game at one apiece.

The second half provided plenty of highlights.

Again, it was Maine West on top early when Walton flicked home on an open net after Granda misplayed what looked like an easy cross from Maine West’s Xaiver Gomez.

But at 52 minutes the come back was on.

A long throw-in from the Eagles’ Juan Recendez bounced in the Warrior box and took a big hop to the far post where David Noicki thumped home with his right foot.

At 69 minutes Leyden was back on the score sheet when they copied the strategy. A long throw-in from Recendez wasn’t cleared, and after a scramble Volodymyr Bereskky rocketed it in to give Leyden their first lead.

It was another long ball that sealed and delivered Maine West’s fate.

A minute after Alex Herrera was red-carded a free kick was lofted in from the right about 35 yards out. It took a bounce and Noicki was on hand to score again, this time with his head.

Divincenzo said confidence from the back and lack of communication were the main reasons for defeat. Chronopoulos needs to do a better job coming off of his line, but communication among the defense has to get a lot better as well, he said.

“We gave up three goals when they lobbed it in the box,” Divincenzo said. “We didn’t clean up and we saw what happened.”

Maine West returns to action Sept. 8 when they are home to fellow Central Suburban League member New Trier.

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