Naperville North stars light
the way against Bolingbrook
Big three lead Huskies to 3-0 win, regional championship
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – Each of Naperville North’s offensive stars brings something different to the table.
Together, Chris Ensign, Brandon Hipp and Chris Sullivan are the full package.
All three players scored goals Friday night and combined to record four assists as the host Huskies beat Bolingbrook 3-0 to win the Class 3A Naperville North Regional championship.
It was Naperville North’s ninth regional title in the past decade. The Huskies (14-4-3) will take an eight-match winning streak and 12-game unbeaten string into Tuesday’s Bolingbrook Sectional semifinal against the winner of Saturday’s Naperville Central-West Aurora match.
“Those three have been great,” Naperville North coach Jim Konrad said. “It’s really a testament to those three guys. If you look at the stat line – each boy getting a goal tonight was great.
“They look for each other. They do a real good job of reading where each other is going to be, and that’s been the change.”
The change was Konrad’s shrewd decision to move Hipp from center back to forward, where he has scored 13 of his team-leading 14 goals. The Huskies have not lost since the switch, going 10-0-2.
“Putting those three together has really changed our year,” Konrad said. “We’ve played with three up front all year, but moving Hipp from back to front really changed us as a team.
“Him being up there gives us a more cerebral kid. Sullivan is so shifty, and Chris [Ensign] is obviously a freak athlete. He’s just fast and strong and hits a great ball.”
Ensign demonstrated that on numerous occasions against Bolingbrook. The senior twice barely missed the net on bullets from just outside the box.
But it was a shot from just inside the 18 that turned out to be the game winner. Sullivan sent a lead ball up the right wing to Ensign, who was in full stride as he received the pass.
Ensign fired from 17 yards out, and his shot nestled just inside the far post to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead at the 30:54 mark of the first half.
“[Sullivan] played a great ball through, and then I just kind of took it in,” Ensign said. “[Naperville North assistant coach Steve] Goletz and Konrad were yelling ‘at ‘em, at ‘em,’ so I shot and found the back of the net.”
With it, the Huskies found some important momentum.
“It’s always huge to get the momentum change,” Ensign said. “Once you put the first one in, hopefully you can get another one and keep going. The first goal is always huge to have and it definitely gets the guys wound up a little bit more. This is our home field.”
And it was the last time Ensign and his fellow Naperville North seniors, including starters Hipp, Christian Robert, Matty Sylvester, Wesley Wong and Connor McBride, played on that field, which made the victory a little more special.
“It’s huge,” Ensign said. “It’s every guy’s dream to win their last home game. It’s something spectacular and it feels great.”
Ensign, the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, was far from done after scoring his goal. For good measure, he demonstrated he is just as good with his hands as he is with his feet, setting up Naperville North’s other goals with long throw-ins, which came four minutes apart and from opposite sides of the field.
The first came from the right side and sailed over the heads of several defenders to the back post, where Hipp crashed in for a header and a 2-0 lead with 29:39 remaining.
The second came from the left and also went to Hipp, whose touch found Sullivan just outside the six-yard box. Sullivan took three dribbles to get the ball on his left foot and finished from five yards out for his ninth goal of the season.
“He’s incredible,” Sullivan said of Ensign. “Whenever the ball goes out, it’s a threat to the goal.”
Many coaches are purists who prefer to score in the run of play and don’t like set pieces, which produce about a third of all goals.
“It’s so cheap, but we’ll take it,” Konrad said of throw-in goals. “It’s part of the game.”
Ensign and Robert are probably Naperville North’s most athletic players. Ensign played football when he was younger and was a diver his freshman and sophomore year.
“Ever since I can remember, I’ve always had a long throw-in,” Ensign said. “It comes natural. I used to dive, and there’s a lot of forward motion in that.”
Konrad was suitably impressed by Ensign’s play.
“He had a couple great shots tonight,” Konrad said. “He was dangerous; he broke them down a couple of times.
“Besides that, our back four did great, especially winning balls in the box. [Bolingbrook] did a nice job of whipping balls in, and Wes Wong and Grant Borg especially came back and won a bunch of big balls for us. It was a great win.”
Robert made five saves, including a pair of great leaping stops on long-range rockets, to record his ninth shutout of the season. But his most impressive and arguably game-altering play was not a save.
The 12th-seeded Raiders (17-5-3), who had eliminated No. 5 seed Plainfield South 2-1 on penalty kicks Tuesday, came in riding a seven-game winning streak and appeared ready to take the lead just 1:45 into the match when Erick Gonzalez snuck behind the defense and ran onto a cross from the left wing.
Gonzalez quickly fired a shot as Robert aggressively charged off his line to cut down the angle. The ball whizzed over the crossbar as Gonzalez and Robert collided. Both were shaken up but continued playing.
Bolingbrook was trying to win its first regional title since 1992. The Raiders tied the school record for victories but got stuck in the toughest sectional in the state.
“We might be a sectional champion [anywhere else],” Bolingbrook coach Jamie Clemmons said. “We strive to be as good as a sectional champ, and unfortunately in this sectional you have dominant teams that could go Downstate and they knock each other out every year.
“I’m proud of them. We’ve spent a long time building up the program and we put a quality product on the field. [The Huskies] are just a better team.”
And one that is rolling at just the right time.
“Every once in a while, all the parts come together and we just click,” Sullivan said. “That’s what we’re doing right now. We’re hot and we’re excited about the next game.”
Starting lineups
Bolingbrook
GK Brandon Murillo
D John Lund
D Christopher Zermeno
M Cristian Gutierrrez
M Tyler Elmore
M Jorge Navas
M Erick Gonzalez
M Marco Becerra
F Brian Najera
F Juan Alcantara
F Luis Flores
Naperville North
GK Christian Robert
D Matty Sylvester
D Kevin Keane
D Nick Carballo
D Wesley Wong
M Chris Sullivan
M Connor McBride
M Grant Borg
F Chris Ensign
F Brandon Hipp
F Adonay Hammond
Man of the Match: Chris Ensign, Naperville North
Officials: Andrew Sok, Tom Guidarra, Kevin Parker
the way against Bolingbrook
Big three lead Huskies to 3-0 win, regional championship
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – Each of Naperville North’s offensive stars brings something different to the table.
Together, Chris Ensign, Brandon Hipp and Chris Sullivan are the full package.
All three players scored goals Friday night and combined to record four assists as the host Huskies beat Bolingbrook 3-0 to win the Class 3A Naperville North Regional championship.
It was Naperville North’s ninth regional title in the past decade. The Huskies (14-4-3) will take an eight-match winning streak and 12-game unbeaten string into Tuesday’s Bolingbrook Sectional semifinal against the winner of Saturday’s Naperville Central-West Aurora match.
“Those three have been great,” Naperville North coach Jim Konrad said. “It’s really a testament to those three guys. If you look at the stat line – each boy getting a goal tonight was great.
“They look for each other. They do a real good job of reading where each other is going to be, and that’s been the change.”
The change was Konrad’s shrewd decision to move Hipp from center back to forward, where he has scored 13 of his team-leading 14 goals. The Huskies have not lost since the switch, going 10-0-2.
“Putting those three together has really changed our year,” Konrad said. “We’ve played with three up front all year, but moving Hipp from back to front really changed us as a team.
“Him being up there gives us a more cerebral kid. Sullivan is so shifty, and Chris [Ensign] is obviously a freak athlete. He’s just fast and strong and hits a great ball.”
Ensign demonstrated that on numerous occasions against Bolingbrook. The senior twice barely missed the net on bullets from just outside the box.
But it was a shot from just inside the 18 that turned out to be the game winner. Sullivan sent a lead ball up the right wing to Ensign, who was in full stride as he received the pass.
Ensign fired from 17 yards out, and his shot nestled just inside the far post to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead at the 30:54 mark of the first half.
“[Sullivan] played a great ball through, and then I just kind of took it in,” Ensign said. “[Naperville North assistant coach Steve] Goletz and Konrad were yelling ‘at ‘em, at ‘em,’ so I shot and found the back of the net.”
With it, the Huskies found some important momentum.
“It’s always huge to get the momentum change,” Ensign said. “Once you put the first one in, hopefully you can get another one and keep going. The first goal is always huge to have and it definitely gets the guys wound up a little bit more. This is our home field.”
And it was the last time Ensign and his fellow Naperville North seniors, including starters Hipp, Christian Robert, Matty Sylvester, Wesley Wong and Connor McBride, played on that field, which made the victory a little more special.
“It’s huge,” Ensign said. “It’s every guy’s dream to win their last home game. It’s something spectacular and it feels great.”
Ensign, the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, was far from done after scoring his goal. For good measure, he demonstrated he is just as good with his hands as he is with his feet, setting up Naperville North’s other goals with long throw-ins, which came four minutes apart and from opposite sides of the field.
The first came from the right side and sailed over the heads of several defenders to the back post, where Hipp crashed in for a header and a 2-0 lead with 29:39 remaining.
The second came from the left and also went to Hipp, whose touch found Sullivan just outside the six-yard box. Sullivan took three dribbles to get the ball on his left foot and finished from five yards out for his ninth goal of the season.
“He’s incredible,” Sullivan said of Ensign. “Whenever the ball goes out, it’s a threat to the goal.”
Many coaches are purists who prefer to score in the run of play and don’t like set pieces, which produce about a third of all goals.
“It’s so cheap, but we’ll take it,” Konrad said of throw-in goals. “It’s part of the game.”
Ensign and Robert are probably Naperville North’s most athletic players. Ensign played football when he was younger and was a diver his freshman and sophomore year.
“Ever since I can remember, I’ve always had a long throw-in,” Ensign said. “It comes natural. I used to dive, and there’s a lot of forward motion in that.”
Konrad was suitably impressed by Ensign’s play.
“He had a couple great shots tonight,” Konrad said. “He was dangerous; he broke them down a couple of times.
“Besides that, our back four did great, especially winning balls in the box. [Bolingbrook] did a nice job of whipping balls in, and Wes Wong and Grant Borg especially came back and won a bunch of big balls for us. It was a great win.”
Robert made five saves, including a pair of great leaping stops on long-range rockets, to record his ninth shutout of the season. But his most impressive and arguably game-altering play was not a save.
The 12th-seeded Raiders (17-5-3), who had eliminated No. 5 seed Plainfield South 2-1 on penalty kicks Tuesday, came in riding a seven-game winning streak and appeared ready to take the lead just 1:45 into the match when Erick Gonzalez snuck behind the defense and ran onto a cross from the left wing.
Gonzalez quickly fired a shot as Robert aggressively charged off his line to cut down the angle. The ball whizzed over the crossbar as Gonzalez and Robert collided. Both were shaken up but continued playing.
Bolingbrook was trying to win its first regional title since 1992. The Raiders tied the school record for victories but got stuck in the toughest sectional in the state.
“We might be a sectional champion [anywhere else],” Bolingbrook coach Jamie Clemmons said. “We strive to be as good as a sectional champ, and unfortunately in this sectional you have dominant teams that could go Downstate and they knock each other out every year.
“I’m proud of them. We’ve spent a long time building up the program and we put a quality product on the field. [The Huskies] are just a better team.”
And one that is rolling at just the right time.
“Every once in a while, all the parts come together and we just click,” Sullivan said. “That’s what we’re doing right now. We’re hot and we’re excited about the next game.”
Starting lineups
Bolingbrook
GK Brandon Murillo
D John Lund
D Christopher Zermeno
M Cristian Gutierrrez
M Tyler Elmore
M Jorge Navas
M Erick Gonzalez
M Marco Becerra
F Brian Najera
F Juan Alcantara
F Luis Flores
Naperville North
GK Christian Robert
D Matty Sylvester
D Kevin Keane
D Nick Carballo
D Wesley Wong
M Chris Sullivan
M Connor McBride
M Grant Borg
F Chris Ensign
F Brandon Hipp
F Adonay Hammond
Man of the Match: Chris Ensign, Naperville North
Officials: Andrew Sok, Tom Guidarra, Kevin Parker