Quest for the Wheaton Cup
Wheaton Academy seeks to keep prize
with win vs. Wheaton Warrenville South on Saturday
By Chris Walker
Wheaton Academy wants to sweep through Wheaton
The Warriors beat Wheaton North on Thursday 3-0 and look to solve Wheaton Warrenville South on Saturday afternoon.
If they can do that, it would be the second-consecutive season that the Warriors have swept their two neighboring Wheaton schools and held the
Wheaton Cup.
“(Coach Guy) Callipari always has them battling in the DVC, and they play a really good schedule and enter good tournaments so they’ll be ready for us,” Warriors coach Jeff Brooke said. “I think they’ll try to force us to increase our pace. We’ll try to handle our touches like we did in the second half (Thursday).”
Wheaton Academy (16-1-1) will enter Red Grange Field with a target on its back. Sure, the Warriors are technically a 2A school taking on another much bigger 3A school, but after the success they’ve enjoyed in nonconference battles against dominant 3A schools – including Batavia, Libertyville, Morton and St. Charles East – they’ve earned the right this fall to be considered one of the top teams in the state, regardless of class 1A, 2A or 3A designations.
Wheaton Warrenville South’s record of 5-11-2 really doesn’t do justice for how competitive the Tigers have been throughout the fall. They’ve made some mistakes along the way, but a daunting schedule in the DuPage Valley Conference as well as outside of that in the PepsiCo Showdown and elsewhere, has prepared them for any team and Saturday should be no different.
They’re coming off a 1-1 tie to St. Charles East on Thursday, and while the Tigers are just 1-5-1 in their last seven games, they’ve challenged some teams recently who are enjoying very good seasons. During their slide, they’ve dropped a 1-0 game to Batavia, as well as 2-1 games to West Aurora and Naperville Central.
One thing the Warriors don’t want to do is look past the Tigers.
“We know they’re a good team,” Wheaton Academy goalkeeper Drew Sezonov said. “They played Wheaton North in a close game and North gave us a good game (on Thursday). It should be another tough one so I’m looking forward to it.”
Reid Culberson added: “I really don’t know much about them. We’ll debrief on Friday during practice. We know they’re a DVC team so we know they’ve played a good schedule. Hopefully we can show up and surprise them.”
Or, perhaps, it’ll be the other way around and the Tigers will surprise the Warriors.
Wheaton Academy seeks to keep prize
with win vs. Wheaton Warrenville South on Saturday
By Chris Walker
Wheaton Academy wants to sweep through Wheaton
The Warriors beat Wheaton North on Thursday 3-0 and look to solve Wheaton Warrenville South on Saturday afternoon.
If they can do that, it would be the second-consecutive season that the Warriors have swept their two neighboring Wheaton schools and held the
Wheaton Cup.
“(Coach Guy) Callipari always has them battling in the DVC, and they play a really good schedule and enter good tournaments so they’ll be ready for us,” Warriors coach Jeff Brooke said. “I think they’ll try to force us to increase our pace. We’ll try to handle our touches like we did in the second half (Thursday).”
Wheaton Academy (16-1-1) will enter Red Grange Field with a target on its back. Sure, the Warriors are technically a 2A school taking on another much bigger 3A school, but after the success they’ve enjoyed in nonconference battles against dominant 3A schools – including Batavia, Libertyville, Morton and St. Charles East – they’ve earned the right this fall to be considered one of the top teams in the state, regardless of class 1A, 2A or 3A designations.
Wheaton Warrenville South’s record of 5-11-2 really doesn’t do justice for how competitive the Tigers have been throughout the fall. They’ve made some mistakes along the way, but a daunting schedule in the DuPage Valley Conference as well as outside of that in the PepsiCo Showdown and elsewhere, has prepared them for any team and Saturday should be no different.
They’re coming off a 1-1 tie to St. Charles East on Thursday, and while the Tigers are just 1-5-1 in their last seven games, they’ve challenged some teams recently who are enjoying very good seasons. During their slide, they’ve dropped a 1-0 game to Batavia, as well as 2-1 games to West Aurora and Naperville Central.
One thing the Warriors don’t want to do is look past the Tigers.
“We know they’re a good team,” Wheaton Academy goalkeeper Drew Sezonov said. “They played Wheaton North in a close game and North gave us a good game (on Thursday). It should be another tough one so I’m looking forward to it.”
Reid Culberson added: “I really don’t know much about them. We’ll debrief on Friday during practice. We know they’re a DVC team so we know they’ve played a good schedule. Hopefully we can show up and surprise them.”
Or, perhaps, it’ll be the other way around and the Tigers will surprise the Warriors.