Host Willowbrook sends message
with draw against Hinsdale Central
Visitors score with 15 minutes left to erase 1-0 deficit
By Dave Owen
VILLA PARK- Willowbrook is the real deal.
If five weeks of quality soccer hadn’t proven that yet, the host Warriors (6-6-2) drove home that point Saturday by leading perennial state power Hinsdale Central most of the way before a goal with 15:01 left rallied the Red Devils (9-3-3) to a 1-1 tie.
“We’ve been playing really well defensively all year, so we just tried to keep playing our game and not take any risks,” Willowbrook senior defender Gideon Karasek said. “And it worked well.
“We’ve played them every year, and they’ve always dominated us (including Red Devil wins of 3-0 last year and 4-0 in 2012 at Willowbrook). We just came in confident and kept it going, and it was a good result.”
Karasek and goalkeeper Asmir Perviz were Saturday’s biggest stars in a galaxy of strong and disciplined performances for the Warriors – and a lot of big plays were needed to keep waves of Hinsdale Central attacks from causing damage.
A soon-to-be familiar tone was set in the third minute when Karasek made a nice steal on Bryan Loebig’s dribble in towards the goal on right wing. Also within the first 15 minutes, Karasek stole a cross to the front by Jack Baderman and blocked and cleared a dangerous Loebig cross.
Perviz rose, literally, to just about every challenge the Red Devils threw at him. One of his best plays came with 28:40 left in the first half when Evan Floersch’s solidly hit 58-yard direct kick was deflected towards the crossbar – where Perviz outjumped Jim Walker and tipped his header attempt just over the crossbar.
On the ensuing corner kick, the Warriors' Lucas Betts blocked a Floersch header attempt and the score remained 0-0.
That changed with 23:35 left in the first half when Willowbrook made just its second good chance (the other an Aaron Johnson 25-yard shot over the net in the 15th minute) a very effective one.
Off a nice initial pass to the wing by Mike Rogalski, Arkadiusz Szlachta burst in on right wing and sent a cross to Saul Hernandez, who lined a 12-yard shot into the lower left corner of the net to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead 23:35 before halftime.
If that lead was a surprise to some, Willowbrook proved it was legit by maintaining the 1-0 advantage for the next 48 minutes.
“One of the things that we wanted to do was not allow them to control the midfield,” Willowbrook coach Peter Ginter said. “Defensively we tried to close off all passing lanes and force them into more long ball passing that’s easier to defend.
“That worked pretty good today, and we challenged aerial balls better today. That was always a weakness for us, and they have some pretty tall players. I thought we were about 50/50 on those, and I told the guys if you can’t get it, make sure they can’t get it.”
The Warriors’ strategy gave the Red Devils chances, but not enough great ones to easily break through: in the final 15 minutes of the first half, Betts deflected a 23-yard Baderman shot over the net, Johnson blocked a Jake Semba shot and Baderman’s cross to the post was headed just wide.
Imploring his team during their half of near-miss chances, Hinsdale Central coach Mike Wiggins was philosophical afterwards.
“I’m a little disappointed that we had the time of possession in the first half and came away looking at a 1-0 (deficit),” Wiggins said. “But everything is measured toward the end of the year, and we’re progressing right where we want to be. It’s another good test – that’s why they’re on the schedule.”
Loebig and his teammates also maintained confidence.
“It gets frustrating,” the junior midfielder said, “but coach conditions us to focus on pushing through for the whole game. It might not go your way the first half, but you can’t stop.”
That extra push would finally pay off for Loebig and the Red Devils, but not until many more big moments for goalkeeper Perviz and the Warriors’ defense.
Perviz made a nice catch at the far post of William McGowen’s header off a Walker corner kick with 37:30 left.
The Warriors’ keeper later made stops on Loebig (a 14-yard shot with 31:55 to go) and Walker (liner from the corner at 27:40), then biggest of all off a Walker corner kick, Perviz leaped to get a piece of Semba’s high 20-yarder with 22:30 to go that then caromed off the crossbar.
Perviz made another leaping catch of Daniel Lillard’s header off a Floersch 33-yard direct kick.
“Asmir did a nice job for us and came up with some big saves,” Ginter said. “The weather conditions (40 degrees and raining) made it tough for a good possession game on a slick field. Normally we play a better possession game, but it was good enough.”
But the Red Devils expanded their unbeaten streak to six games when they finally found an opening with 15:01 left. Off a Walker corner kick, Loebig fielded a deflection away from the crowd in front and buried a 15-yard blast into the open right side of the net to tie the game 1-1.
“With the ball coming out we work on that in practice, and the biggest focus is to try to get the ball on goal,” said Loebig, who has four goals in 2014.
“With a lot of people in front of the keeper, coach (Wiggins) has been teaching us to get a shot off because if the keeper is blinded anything on goal has a chance to go in. We do drills every day shooting and striking through.”
Finally tied, the Red Devils did all they could to pull ahead. Walker’s low 20-yard shot with 12:15 left was saved by Perviz, strong defense by Karasek denied a Justin Yi chance near the right post two minutes later, then Perviz punched away a dangerous 27-yard free kick by Floersch with 7:15 to play.
The Warriors also had to deal with the departure of Rogalski (yellow card), Karasek and Stasiu Szudrowicz (injuries) for late stretches of the game, but maintained the tie.
“I thought Aaron Johnson played very well – he put in a great effort,” Ginter said. “Our center backs Anthony Pieroni and Kristian Johansson are really coming together and stepping up their games. And our outside defenders Gideon and Stasiu are playing well and bring the ball up nicely, so overall our defense has really solidified.
“As far as getting possessions, Mike (Rogalski) did a nice job in the middle, Benny (Heredia) played very well today and Saul (Hernandez) scored a big goal. I could pretty much mention everybody in the lineup – it was a team effort.”
Both teams made frenetic late challenges – a Willowbrook counterattack fueled by Riad Perviz’s long pass sprung Rogalski in on goal with 1:15 left, only to be denied on a sliding block near the right post by Hinsdale Central goalkeeper Ethan Gama (in for usual starter Wes Bergevin after halftime).
What followed was typical of the day – two Red Devil chances in the last 25 seconds, each stifled by the Warrior defense. Rogalski nicely defended a potential chance for Lillard in close, then Baderman lined a 22-yarder just over the net and off the football crossbar with 10 seconds to go.
“For us a sign of a good team that has good mental discipline and character is what happened in the last 10 minutes,” Ginter said. “When they had us on the ropes we didn’t let down and didn’t break. Plus we were missing our two outside fullbacks. That’s a good sign of mental discipline and togetherness.”
Saturday produced lots of good signs, and ended with an impressive tie for the Warriors to build on.
“We have a really hard schedule coming up,” Karasek said, “but now that we played this well against Hinsdale Central we know we can take anybody we play.”
Hinsdale Central excelled in its previous match (a 1-0 win over Lyons Township), but Wiggins wasn’t overly concerned by his team’s play at Willowbrook.
“We look at several things: how we organized defensively and we did fine, we possessed, and we were generating chances,” Wiggins said. “We probably could have done a better job in pressing in the middle third and probably could have done a better job of converting chances, but that’s how the game goes.
“The conditions aren’t the best with the cold and the rain, but I’m not worried about that. Every game presents different challenges.”
Most of all, the afternoon became a tribute to the vast and fast improvement within Ginter’s program.
“Credit to them – he’s been doing a good job over there getting those kids buying in to playing for a program, and it’s nice to see that,” Wiggins said. “That’s good for high school soccer and his program.”
Not exactly weekend Warriors before, Willowbrook is also rewriting that reputation.
“Overall the effort for us was fantastic,” Ginter said. “We haven’t played well on Saturdays – this is the first Saturday game we played pretty good, and that’s another good sign. We’re kind of correcting a lot of deficiencies that we’ve had in the past.”
With conference powers Morton and Downers Grove South still ahead on the schedule, Willowbrook can ride the confidence of playing WSC Silver leader Hinsdale Central to a draw.
“They’re a great program,” Ginter said, “but we came out here not to tie them but to win this game. It didn’t happen, but overall I was pleased with our effort.”
Starting lineups
HINSDALE CENTRAL
G: Wes Bergevin
D: Nicholas Silva
D: William McGowen
D: Evan Floersch
D: Jim Walker
M: Justin Yi
M: Sebastian Skiba
M: Bryan Loebig
M: Jack Baderman
M: Jeremy Yi
F: Jake Semba
WILLOWBROOK
G: Asmir Perviz
D: Gideon Karasek
D: Anthony Pieroni
D: Kristian Johansson
D: Stasiu Szudrowicz
M: Mike Rogalski
M: Arkadiusz Szlachta
M: Aaron Johnson
M: Benny Heredia
M: Lucas Betts
F: Saul Hernandez
Man of the Match: Gideon Karasek, Willowbrook
with draw against Hinsdale Central
Visitors score with 15 minutes left to erase 1-0 deficit
By Dave Owen
VILLA PARK- Willowbrook is the real deal.
If five weeks of quality soccer hadn’t proven that yet, the host Warriors (6-6-2) drove home that point Saturday by leading perennial state power Hinsdale Central most of the way before a goal with 15:01 left rallied the Red Devils (9-3-3) to a 1-1 tie.
“We’ve been playing really well defensively all year, so we just tried to keep playing our game and not take any risks,” Willowbrook senior defender Gideon Karasek said. “And it worked well.
“We’ve played them every year, and they’ve always dominated us (including Red Devil wins of 3-0 last year and 4-0 in 2012 at Willowbrook). We just came in confident and kept it going, and it was a good result.”
Karasek and goalkeeper Asmir Perviz were Saturday’s biggest stars in a galaxy of strong and disciplined performances for the Warriors – and a lot of big plays were needed to keep waves of Hinsdale Central attacks from causing damage.
A soon-to-be familiar tone was set in the third minute when Karasek made a nice steal on Bryan Loebig’s dribble in towards the goal on right wing. Also within the first 15 minutes, Karasek stole a cross to the front by Jack Baderman and blocked and cleared a dangerous Loebig cross.
Perviz rose, literally, to just about every challenge the Red Devils threw at him. One of his best plays came with 28:40 left in the first half when Evan Floersch’s solidly hit 58-yard direct kick was deflected towards the crossbar – where Perviz outjumped Jim Walker and tipped his header attempt just over the crossbar.
On the ensuing corner kick, the Warriors' Lucas Betts blocked a Floersch header attempt and the score remained 0-0.
That changed with 23:35 left in the first half when Willowbrook made just its second good chance (the other an Aaron Johnson 25-yard shot over the net in the 15th minute) a very effective one.
Off a nice initial pass to the wing by Mike Rogalski, Arkadiusz Szlachta burst in on right wing and sent a cross to Saul Hernandez, who lined a 12-yard shot into the lower left corner of the net to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead 23:35 before halftime.
If that lead was a surprise to some, Willowbrook proved it was legit by maintaining the 1-0 advantage for the next 48 minutes.
“One of the things that we wanted to do was not allow them to control the midfield,” Willowbrook coach Peter Ginter said. “Defensively we tried to close off all passing lanes and force them into more long ball passing that’s easier to defend.
“That worked pretty good today, and we challenged aerial balls better today. That was always a weakness for us, and they have some pretty tall players. I thought we were about 50/50 on those, and I told the guys if you can’t get it, make sure they can’t get it.”
The Warriors’ strategy gave the Red Devils chances, but not enough great ones to easily break through: in the final 15 minutes of the first half, Betts deflected a 23-yard Baderman shot over the net, Johnson blocked a Jake Semba shot and Baderman’s cross to the post was headed just wide.
Imploring his team during their half of near-miss chances, Hinsdale Central coach Mike Wiggins was philosophical afterwards.
“I’m a little disappointed that we had the time of possession in the first half and came away looking at a 1-0 (deficit),” Wiggins said. “But everything is measured toward the end of the year, and we’re progressing right where we want to be. It’s another good test – that’s why they’re on the schedule.”
Loebig and his teammates also maintained confidence.
“It gets frustrating,” the junior midfielder said, “but coach conditions us to focus on pushing through for the whole game. It might not go your way the first half, but you can’t stop.”
That extra push would finally pay off for Loebig and the Red Devils, but not until many more big moments for goalkeeper Perviz and the Warriors’ defense.
Perviz made a nice catch at the far post of William McGowen’s header off a Walker corner kick with 37:30 left.
The Warriors’ keeper later made stops on Loebig (a 14-yard shot with 31:55 to go) and Walker (liner from the corner at 27:40), then biggest of all off a Walker corner kick, Perviz leaped to get a piece of Semba’s high 20-yarder with 22:30 to go that then caromed off the crossbar.
Perviz made another leaping catch of Daniel Lillard’s header off a Floersch 33-yard direct kick.
“Asmir did a nice job for us and came up with some big saves,” Ginter said. “The weather conditions (40 degrees and raining) made it tough for a good possession game on a slick field. Normally we play a better possession game, but it was good enough.”
But the Red Devils expanded their unbeaten streak to six games when they finally found an opening with 15:01 left. Off a Walker corner kick, Loebig fielded a deflection away from the crowd in front and buried a 15-yard blast into the open right side of the net to tie the game 1-1.
“With the ball coming out we work on that in practice, and the biggest focus is to try to get the ball on goal,” said Loebig, who has four goals in 2014.
“With a lot of people in front of the keeper, coach (Wiggins) has been teaching us to get a shot off because if the keeper is blinded anything on goal has a chance to go in. We do drills every day shooting and striking through.”
Finally tied, the Red Devils did all they could to pull ahead. Walker’s low 20-yard shot with 12:15 left was saved by Perviz, strong defense by Karasek denied a Justin Yi chance near the right post two minutes later, then Perviz punched away a dangerous 27-yard free kick by Floersch with 7:15 to play.
The Warriors also had to deal with the departure of Rogalski (yellow card), Karasek and Stasiu Szudrowicz (injuries) for late stretches of the game, but maintained the tie.
“I thought Aaron Johnson played very well – he put in a great effort,” Ginter said. “Our center backs Anthony Pieroni and Kristian Johansson are really coming together and stepping up their games. And our outside defenders Gideon and Stasiu are playing well and bring the ball up nicely, so overall our defense has really solidified.
“As far as getting possessions, Mike (Rogalski) did a nice job in the middle, Benny (Heredia) played very well today and Saul (Hernandez) scored a big goal. I could pretty much mention everybody in the lineup – it was a team effort.”
Both teams made frenetic late challenges – a Willowbrook counterattack fueled by Riad Perviz’s long pass sprung Rogalski in on goal with 1:15 left, only to be denied on a sliding block near the right post by Hinsdale Central goalkeeper Ethan Gama (in for usual starter Wes Bergevin after halftime).
What followed was typical of the day – two Red Devil chances in the last 25 seconds, each stifled by the Warrior defense. Rogalski nicely defended a potential chance for Lillard in close, then Baderman lined a 22-yarder just over the net and off the football crossbar with 10 seconds to go.
“For us a sign of a good team that has good mental discipline and character is what happened in the last 10 minutes,” Ginter said. “When they had us on the ropes we didn’t let down and didn’t break. Plus we were missing our two outside fullbacks. That’s a good sign of mental discipline and togetherness.”
Saturday produced lots of good signs, and ended with an impressive tie for the Warriors to build on.
“We have a really hard schedule coming up,” Karasek said, “but now that we played this well against Hinsdale Central we know we can take anybody we play.”
Hinsdale Central excelled in its previous match (a 1-0 win over Lyons Township), but Wiggins wasn’t overly concerned by his team’s play at Willowbrook.
“We look at several things: how we organized defensively and we did fine, we possessed, and we were generating chances,” Wiggins said. “We probably could have done a better job in pressing in the middle third and probably could have done a better job of converting chances, but that’s how the game goes.
“The conditions aren’t the best with the cold and the rain, but I’m not worried about that. Every game presents different challenges.”
Most of all, the afternoon became a tribute to the vast and fast improvement within Ginter’s program.
“Credit to them – he’s been doing a good job over there getting those kids buying in to playing for a program, and it’s nice to see that,” Wiggins said. “That’s good for high school soccer and his program.”
Not exactly weekend Warriors before, Willowbrook is also rewriting that reputation.
“Overall the effort for us was fantastic,” Ginter said. “We haven’t played well on Saturdays – this is the first Saturday game we played pretty good, and that’s another good sign. We’re kind of correcting a lot of deficiencies that we’ve had in the past.”
With conference powers Morton and Downers Grove South still ahead on the schedule, Willowbrook can ride the confidence of playing WSC Silver leader Hinsdale Central to a draw.
“They’re a great program,” Ginter said, “but we came out here not to tie them but to win this game. It didn’t happen, but overall I was pleased with our effort.”
Starting lineups
HINSDALE CENTRAL
G: Wes Bergevin
D: Nicholas Silva
D: William McGowen
D: Evan Floersch
D: Jim Walker
M: Justin Yi
M: Sebastian Skiba
M: Bryan Loebig
M: Jack Baderman
M: Jeremy Yi
F: Jake Semba
WILLOWBROOK
G: Asmir Perviz
D: Gideon Karasek
D: Anthony Pieroni
D: Kristian Johansson
D: Stasiu Szudrowicz
M: Mike Rogalski
M: Arkadiusz Szlachta
M: Aaron Johnson
M: Benny Heredia
M: Lucas Betts
F: Saul Hernandez
Man of the Match: Gideon Karasek, Willowbrook