St. Ignatius shows former coach,
Wheaton North what it can do
Wolfpack howls to 3-0 win over former soph coach's team
By Matt Le Cren
LA GRANGE – Wheaton North coach Robert Stassen had an insider’s knowledge of every St. Ignatius player heading into Saturday’s consolation game at the PepsiCo Showdown.
It didn’t help.
Jonathan Manzo scored two goals and Rudy Bieglmeier had one on a day of firsts for St. Ignatius, which knocked off Wheaton North 3-0 at the Lyons Soccer Complex.
Stassen spent the last four years as the sophomore coach at St. Ignatius before taking over at Wheaton North this year, so he was well aware of what the Wolfpack could do.
“It was an emotional day,” Stassen said. “I just left Ignatius. These were all my boys for the last four years. Being together (competing against them) was hilarious.”
But it was the Wolfpack (4-2-3) that got the last laugh, taking advantage of some shaky defensive play by the Falcons (3-7-1), who never did manage to get control of the game, especially in the midfield.
Despite chasing the ball for much of the match, the Falcons held firm for the first 30 minutes before St. Ignatius broke through with a pair of goals in a span of 2:27.
Manzo, who hadn’t scored since the season opener, registered his first two-goal game, got the party started when he ran onto a cross from the left wing from Alex Collins and scored from the middle of the box with 10:29 remaining in the first half.
The play was emblematic of what the Wolfpack has been trying to do, getting their outside backs to push up the wings and then feed cutters in behind the defense.
Collins got his first varsity point on Manzo’s opening goal.
“We’ve been working on that lately a lot,” St. Ignatius coach Ryan Kearns said. “We possess well in the middle third and we possessed well toward the attacking third at the beginning of the season, but we couldn’t penetrate that final third.
“So we’ve been working a lot on making runs going into that space, confusing the defense, catching their defenders ball-watching while someone slides in behind and we’ve got an angle in.
“That’s primarily what we’ve been doing for the last week and it’s really starting to pay off right now. They’re gaining some confidence, so I’m really excited.”
Manzo, the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, was excited once he saw how good the cross from Collins was.
“Coach has been telling us to follow up on the crosses and for both of those goals that’s exactly what I did,” Manzo said. “I saw that they were going through, and my first reaction was to keep on running until I get there because if it passes one of my teammates I can always go pick it up.”
There was no need to run after the ball on that play, but there was on the second St. Ignatius goal.
Sophomore Owen Allen was the trigger man, sending a lead pass up the right wing into space just inside the Wheaton North penalty area. Wheaton North goalkeeper Conner Reece rushed out and appeared ready to smother the ball, but Bieglmeier beat him to it and quickly lofted the ball over him and into the net at a sharp angle for his first varsity goal and a 2-0 Wolfpack lead.
“It was a good goal,” said Allen, who recorded his first assist on the play. “We want to get everyone their goal, so it feels good for Rudy’s first goal on varsity. It feels good.”
Stassen had mixed emotions about Bieglmeier’s strike. He was disappointed though not surprised to witness it.
“That was one hell of a shot that he popped over the top,” Stassen said. “He’s one of those kids who can shoot from anywhere and when he gets the ball he’s very dangerous.”
Despite holding only a 5-4 edge in shots at halftime, St. Ignatius was clearly the dominant side and the Wolfpack confirmed that by increasing the lead to 3-0 on the second shot of the second half.
This time Diego Vazquez started the play, launching a high-arcing cross from out on the right wing. The ball bounced just in front of the six-yard box and Manzo knocked it past Reece with 32:00 to go.
“He was in the right spot,” Kearns said. “He challenged that area and that’s a really dangerous area for a keeper and for the defense.
“If you get the ball in you’ve got the advantage because they’re facing away from their net so they’re not sure where it’s at. So we’re always trying to get the ball in and around the six and just make the goalie do his job, and if he’s not willing to come out on it then we can knock it home.”
The third goal put the game out of reach for the Falcons, who 45 seconds earlier failed to convert on their only decent scoring chance when St. Ignatius goalkeeper Bryant Hales made a kick save on Jorge Petino.
Hales finished with three saves for the Wolfpack’s second-straight shutout and fourth of the season. Wheaton North now has been shut out six times.
“They clicked, and we flopped,” Stassen said. “The score line was very true to the way the game was played.
“Once we made our first mistake, that was it. We were holding onto straws at that point.
“After the first mistake the heads went down. Second one went in on goalkeeper error, but that’s life. We’ll take the errors and you’ve got to pick yourself up. We didn’t.”
Stassen said it felt like the Falcons were playing with their feet stuck in the mud, and that was literally true on Manzo’s second goal.
“Our defender went up for it and he said ... when he jumped he got stuck in the mud and his feet went out from under him,” Stassen said. “But we played on the mud, they played on the mud, and they dealt with it better than we did.”
Both teams used the prestigious tournament as a measuring stick, with the Wolfpack making more progress. St. Ignatius went 3-1 in the Pepsi, winning three straight after a 2-1 opening round loss to Plainfield Central.
“We were hoping to go all the way to the top,” Manzo said. “Unfortunately we lost our first game, but this just shows to the organizers and everybody that we fight and can come back even after a loss.”
Manzo said the Wolfpack played their most complete game of the season against the Falcons and Allen agreed.
“This game we felt everything kind of came together,” Allen said. “Everyone moved up and down the field as a team.
“(Playing in the Pepsi) is cool because we’re in a smaller league, so this kind of opens it up and we get to see teams that we wouldn’t see.”
Wheaton North, which lost 3-2 to Kelly in the first round, finished the tournament with a 2-2 record and also learned lessons.
“We need to wake up,” Stassen said. “We don’t enjoy Saturday games. We need to make sure we come out flying and both Saturdays have been the same problem.
“We come out slow, and we let the other team get in and once they’re in the game, that’s it. We’re struggling to come back.
“If we get our feet moving early and the guys play, it’s fantastic, and that’s what this tournament showed us. Although we can play with the best of them, the Wheaton Academys of the group, unfortunately it shows the growth that we (still) have to make.”
Starting lineups
St. Ignatius
G Bryant Hales
D Alex Collins
D A.J. Capitanini
D Owen Allen
D Carlos Sierra
M Patrick Breslin
M Ian Waller
M Eduardo Lopez
F Max Taylor
F Diego Vazquez
F Ethan McManus
Wheaton North
G Conner Reece
D Carlos Saavedra
D Michael Pfaff
D Anand Patel
M Jake Macadam
M Jon Duncan
M Cooper Winckler
M Nicholas Bibergall
M Jake Dzarnowski
F Joseph Simon
F Jorge Petino
Man of the Match: Jonathan Manzo, MF, St. Ignatius
Wheaton North what it can do
Wolfpack howls to 3-0 win over former soph coach's team
By Matt Le Cren
LA GRANGE – Wheaton North coach Robert Stassen had an insider’s knowledge of every St. Ignatius player heading into Saturday’s consolation game at the PepsiCo Showdown.
It didn’t help.
Jonathan Manzo scored two goals and Rudy Bieglmeier had one on a day of firsts for St. Ignatius, which knocked off Wheaton North 3-0 at the Lyons Soccer Complex.
Stassen spent the last four years as the sophomore coach at St. Ignatius before taking over at Wheaton North this year, so he was well aware of what the Wolfpack could do.
“It was an emotional day,” Stassen said. “I just left Ignatius. These were all my boys for the last four years. Being together (competing against them) was hilarious.”
But it was the Wolfpack (4-2-3) that got the last laugh, taking advantage of some shaky defensive play by the Falcons (3-7-1), who never did manage to get control of the game, especially in the midfield.
Despite chasing the ball for much of the match, the Falcons held firm for the first 30 minutes before St. Ignatius broke through with a pair of goals in a span of 2:27.
Manzo, who hadn’t scored since the season opener, registered his first two-goal game, got the party started when he ran onto a cross from the left wing from Alex Collins and scored from the middle of the box with 10:29 remaining in the first half.
The play was emblematic of what the Wolfpack has been trying to do, getting their outside backs to push up the wings and then feed cutters in behind the defense.
Collins got his first varsity point on Manzo’s opening goal.
“We’ve been working on that lately a lot,” St. Ignatius coach Ryan Kearns said. “We possess well in the middle third and we possessed well toward the attacking third at the beginning of the season, but we couldn’t penetrate that final third.
“So we’ve been working a lot on making runs going into that space, confusing the defense, catching their defenders ball-watching while someone slides in behind and we’ve got an angle in.
“That’s primarily what we’ve been doing for the last week and it’s really starting to pay off right now. They’re gaining some confidence, so I’m really excited.”
Manzo, the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, was excited once he saw how good the cross from Collins was.
“Coach has been telling us to follow up on the crosses and for both of those goals that’s exactly what I did,” Manzo said. “I saw that they were going through, and my first reaction was to keep on running until I get there because if it passes one of my teammates I can always go pick it up.”
There was no need to run after the ball on that play, but there was on the second St. Ignatius goal.
Sophomore Owen Allen was the trigger man, sending a lead pass up the right wing into space just inside the Wheaton North penalty area. Wheaton North goalkeeper Conner Reece rushed out and appeared ready to smother the ball, but Bieglmeier beat him to it and quickly lofted the ball over him and into the net at a sharp angle for his first varsity goal and a 2-0 Wolfpack lead.
“It was a good goal,” said Allen, who recorded his first assist on the play. “We want to get everyone their goal, so it feels good for Rudy’s first goal on varsity. It feels good.”
Stassen had mixed emotions about Bieglmeier’s strike. He was disappointed though not surprised to witness it.
“That was one hell of a shot that he popped over the top,” Stassen said. “He’s one of those kids who can shoot from anywhere and when he gets the ball he’s very dangerous.”
Despite holding only a 5-4 edge in shots at halftime, St. Ignatius was clearly the dominant side and the Wolfpack confirmed that by increasing the lead to 3-0 on the second shot of the second half.
This time Diego Vazquez started the play, launching a high-arcing cross from out on the right wing. The ball bounced just in front of the six-yard box and Manzo knocked it past Reece with 32:00 to go.
“He was in the right spot,” Kearns said. “He challenged that area and that’s a really dangerous area for a keeper and for the defense.
“If you get the ball in you’ve got the advantage because they’re facing away from their net so they’re not sure where it’s at. So we’re always trying to get the ball in and around the six and just make the goalie do his job, and if he’s not willing to come out on it then we can knock it home.”
The third goal put the game out of reach for the Falcons, who 45 seconds earlier failed to convert on their only decent scoring chance when St. Ignatius goalkeeper Bryant Hales made a kick save on Jorge Petino.
Hales finished with three saves for the Wolfpack’s second-straight shutout and fourth of the season. Wheaton North now has been shut out six times.
“They clicked, and we flopped,” Stassen said. “The score line was very true to the way the game was played.
“Once we made our first mistake, that was it. We were holding onto straws at that point.
“After the first mistake the heads went down. Second one went in on goalkeeper error, but that’s life. We’ll take the errors and you’ve got to pick yourself up. We didn’t.”
Stassen said it felt like the Falcons were playing with their feet stuck in the mud, and that was literally true on Manzo’s second goal.
“Our defender went up for it and he said ... when he jumped he got stuck in the mud and his feet went out from under him,” Stassen said. “But we played on the mud, they played on the mud, and they dealt with it better than we did.”
Both teams used the prestigious tournament as a measuring stick, with the Wolfpack making more progress. St. Ignatius went 3-1 in the Pepsi, winning three straight after a 2-1 opening round loss to Plainfield Central.
“We were hoping to go all the way to the top,” Manzo said. “Unfortunately we lost our first game, but this just shows to the organizers and everybody that we fight and can come back even after a loss.”
Manzo said the Wolfpack played their most complete game of the season against the Falcons and Allen agreed.
“This game we felt everything kind of came together,” Allen said. “Everyone moved up and down the field as a team.
“(Playing in the Pepsi) is cool because we’re in a smaller league, so this kind of opens it up and we get to see teams that we wouldn’t see.”
Wheaton North, which lost 3-2 to Kelly in the first round, finished the tournament with a 2-2 record and also learned lessons.
“We need to wake up,” Stassen said. “We don’t enjoy Saturday games. We need to make sure we come out flying and both Saturdays have been the same problem.
“We come out slow, and we let the other team get in and once they’re in the game, that’s it. We’re struggling to come back.
“If we get our feet moving early and the guys play, it’s fantastic, and that’s what this tournament showed us. Although we can play with the best of them, the Wheaton Academys of the group, unfortunately it shows the growth that we (still) have to make.”
Starting lineups
St. Ignatius
G Bryant Hales
D Alex Collins
D A.J. Capitanini
D Owen Allen
D Carlos Sierra
M Patrick Breslin
M Ian Waller
M Eduardo Lopez
F Max Taylor
F Diego Vazquez
F Ethan McManus
Wheaton North
G Conner Reece
D Carlos Saavedra
D Michael Pfaff
D Anand Patel
M Jake Macadam
M Jon Duncan
M Cooper Winckler
M Nicholas Bibergall
M Jake Dzarnowski
F Joseph Simon
F Jorge Petino
Man of the Match: Jonathan Manzo, MF, St. Ignatius