Rockford FC 0-8 Chicago House A.C.: Making Due

Chicago House Athletic Club finished off their Midwest Premier League campaign in style, beating Rockford FC 8-0 at Wyeth Stadium. It was a controlled performance from the visitors, who scored twice in the first few minutes and ended the first half with five goals to their name. They arguably could’ve had more when all was said and done, but it was still a simple day at the office for all involved.

What happened

Chicago opened the scoring after just a few minutes. Isiah Gallegos-Munoz hit the post with a shot from a tight angle, but the ball fortunately bounced right to Alejandro Mentasti, who converted the rebound.

It was 2-0 moments later. A cross picked out Ricardo Avalos Jr, and his finish was smart, redirecting a first-time volley into the back of the net.

Rockford had a chance to pull one back from a corner, but Tyler Marfo reacted quickly to get down and make a save.

After an uneventful spell, the House made it three midway through the break. The ball was laid off to an onrushing AR Smith, and he did the rest, taking a few touches before blasting a strike into the top corner.

They added another soon after. Avalos won the ball high up the pitch, and then he found Mentasti in the box with a low cross, who slotted home with relative ease, even if it didn’t look too pretty.

It was nearly five a bit before the break. Shannon Seymour unleashed a shot from the edge of the area, but a brilliant save denied him. It looked like Mentasti would easily follow up, but his effort was blocked heroically on the line.

Avalos did grab a fifth for Chicago seconds before the break. He was slipped in behind the backline with the clock ticking down, and he placed the ball into the corner before the timer hit zero.

Rockford came out hot to start the second half, and they came so close to grabbing their own goal. Jovanni Ramos had a go from a distance, and the effort moved in the air, but Marfo could set his feet and punch the ball over the bar.

It was the House who scored next, though. Avalos broke free once again, and this time he dribbled by the keeper before passing the ball into the back of the net to complete his hat-trick.

Another player would secure a hat-trick a few moments later. This time it was Mentasti who got on the end of a cross from substitute Damon Almazan to put his side up seven.

Almazan turned from provider to scorer before the day was done. Getting the ball in a dangerous area, he cut inside before settling himself and blasting a shot into the roof of the net.

There was one final highlight: the Rockford keeper pulled off a brilliant double save to keep the scores as they were.

What it means

This win meant that Chicago ended their season on a high note, picking up four wins from their final four matches. It may have taken them a bit too long to hit their stride, but this run has shown how good the team can be when they’re in form.

For Rockford, this loss was, unfortunately, more of the same, but they do still have two games left to go to try and dig themselves out of last place. If they can put it all together in their final two matches, they might be able to pick up a few points.

Notes and observations

The Wyeth Stadium press box is the greatest I’ve ever been to. It was significantly higher up than the rest of the stadium, there were two levels to it, and there was genuinely a door that led to nothing in particular. The door was just in the middle of the room, and you could walk around it. The press box was like a random house in a Bosnian village.

A car started doing doughnuts in the parking lot across from the pitch, and it was really a moment that epitomizes the magic of lower-league soccer.

Aaron Nguyen is an interesting case. He was at left-back here, a right-back in the game I was at a few weeks ago, and featured in center midfield during the team’s Open Cup run. Has Chicago not figured out his best position yet? Are they trying to make him better at all facets of the game? Or are they just experimenting?

I’ve been to games with small attendances, but this was the clearest I could ever hear the players and coaches on the pitch.

On that note, the Rockford players started seemingly beefing with each other during the contest, getting really upset when one would make a mistake or not cover space correctly. It sounded like dudes at the park who had turned against one another.

It really should’ve been more than five in the first half.

Jasper Waddington looks like he’s a class player. He carries himself in a certain way, and nothing seems to phase him. He was good on the afternoon, even if he wasn’t tested much, and the defender is certainly one to keep an eye out for in the future. He was shown a yellow for an incident off the ball, which isn’t ideal, although I did not see what happened.

I couldn’t confirm this, but from what I was told Rockford had an outfield player in goal. If that is true, he deserves credit for making a few solid saves over the course of the contest. None of the goals were completely his fault, either.

I think a crop duster plane flew over the pitch at one point.

Despite the final score, Rockford weren’t absolutely horrific. They had some solid stretches, and they could frustrate the opposition at times. However, there were too many mental lapses, and they couldn’t keep the ball when they needed to, instead making foolish decisions. I’ve fallen in love with the Rockford area, so hopefully, the team can build on this season going forward.

Man of the match - Ricardo Avalos Jr.

Do you get to keep the match ball in the Midwest Premier League?

Although both Avalos and Mentasti both scored hat-tricks, the former got his first and helped create another goal, so he’ll get the nod here.

Avalos was a threat throughout the contest. He was silky on the ball, making a few nice passes and occasionally dancing past defenders. His speed was his best asset here, though, as he kept flying past the backline off the ball, and pressing them when out of position.

That led to his three-goal outing, and he deserved each and every goal. Is he the next in line to make the move elsewhere like many House players before him? Only time will tell.

Key quotes

Chicago House head coach Matt Poland - “We knew we needed to get three points. We came out with energy and got two quick goals; we didn’t want to give them a feeling like they were in the game, so the goals gave us control.”

“The mentality can change when up big. There’s three moments in professionalism - when it’s close it’s easy to be professional, when you’re down big it’s easy to lose the professionalism because you can zone out, and then there’s the professionalism when you’re winning. The challenge for us was to be professional and use the time to improve our style and brand of play and not worrying about the opponents and not doing things that wouldn’t work against future opponents.”

“It’s always nice to get younger guys some minutes and help them improve. Over the course of the year we’ve been able to get them minutes, get guys on the field and get them experience with the first team, which is always a positive.”

“Once you get the flow of a team playing well, can you keep that going and add to that? The guys have a good sense of that now, they had four complete games against tough opponents and now we know what it takes to be successful and what it takes during the week to have a good weekend.”

Chicago House winger Ricardo Avalos Jr. - “It was an excellent game from the whole team, scoring first and keeping up that energy. I’m excited to get the hat trick, it’s been time, but I’m waiting for the match ball. I wish we could’ve started the season like this, but we keep improving.”