St. Francis preps for prime time
Repeat win over IMSA sets up
date with Wheaton Academy
By Dave Surico
WHEATON -- The premilimary bout is over. Now St. Francis is in training for the main event.
After its authoritative 4-0 regional play-in win over Illinois Math and Science Academy at home Friday, the Spartans have their sights set on Wheaton Academy, the fifth-best team in the region according to one poll and the top-ranked team in Class 2A.
"I don't have a lot of thoughts right now. My mind's on the next one," said St. Francis coach Kevin Ward. "We were expected to win tonight; we should have, so we did enough to get that done. So my mind's just on Tuesday right now.
"We played the whole roster tonight. We had good long balls, and good, long through balls. Midfield wasn't too bad, we've got to shore things up in the middle a little bit."
St. Francis (9-8-4) was expected to score a knockout against IMSA, especially after a 9-2 win against the Titans earlier in the week.
"We needed to work on our basics and make sure we had our fundamentals down before we play Wheaton Academy," said senior captain Brian Cochrane. "That's the game all the guys were looking forward to, especially our coach, he was definitely drilling us hard in the practice before making sure everything was sound and secure heading into this game.
"Coming into this game ... I felt confidence in my team, and I didn't have any sort of worry that we were going to come out with a win. We all had our minds set right and definitely had the confidence and the skills to come out with the victory today."
With everything in its favor, St. Francis surprisingly found itself in the back seat for the first 10 minutes of the game.
After a few minutes, some spectators wondered aloud if this was the same IMSA team after the Titans controlled the pace and most of the possession at midfield, a byproduct of their game plan and the zone defense of St. Francis.
A breakdown in the IMSA defense delivered the first goal to the hosts. With Nate Fafara coming off his line for the ball, a defender chose to clear the ball before the keeper could grab it. His attempted clear rolled meekly across the face of the goal and found an open Nick Roehl in front of a completely exposed left side of the net. The score a second into the 11th minute was all St. Francis needed.
"Having previously played them on Tuesday, we shifted around our formation and went to three in the back," said Roehl, who collected two goals, one assist and Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors. "We wanted to possess the whole time and had five in the midfield. We looked to control the ball."
IMSA looked like it would get a chance at a quick equalizer when Krishi Korrapati had a head of steam as he dribbled into the right upper corner of the St. Francis 18-yard box. In hindsight, a shot would have been the better choice after his through ball to the right sideline found no receiver.
St. Francis padded its lead when Matthew Martin's hard shot yielded a rebound off Fafara that he put away in the 17th minute.
The increasingly busy Fafara was forced to come up big, stopping a shot from St. Francis freshman Ethan Grosam after a give-and-go with Roehl and making a diving save on a Martin attempt, both in the 29th minute. Grosam's next try from 12 yards forced the Titan keeper to make a reaction save to keep the score unchanged four minutes later.
The 5-foot-4, red-haired Grosam performed like a bottle of 5-hour Energy for the Spartans, infusing life into the attack.
"That's kind of my job," he said. "Practicing with these guys, they're good, and they're tough, and they made me tough. Now I'm stronger. We work as a team."
In the next several minutes IMSA tri-captain and left back Dennis Rich made several more of his crafty takeaways as he kept his side a "No Trespassing" zone for St. Francis.
"I thought their play style was to play it down either side, but they were really good at switching the field," said Rich, who didn't play in the second half due to an injury. "Whenever they came to my side and I shut them down, I thought they did a really good job of switching it back to the other side."
St. Francis' next score started down the middle. After a steal near the center of the field, Grosam slotted the ball to the left to find a wide-open Roehl who easily collected his second goal in the 37th minute.
The scoring ended when Roehl switched roles and slotted a diagonal ball to the same area and found Cochrane for the finish :42 seconds before the halftime buzzer.
St.Francis keeper Jonathan Burke got his only real tests of the game in the 49th minute. Zach Yager's strong 30-yard free kick from the middle glanced off a body and forced the junior keeper to adjust to the ball which deflected over the endline. IMSA's only corner kick of the game followed and forced Burke to come out and deflect the ball away.
On the other side of the field, Titan keeper Fafara turned the second half into his own highlight reel with stops and sliding clears galore. His name was announced more times on the p.a. than El trains at the Lake Street station during the morning rush.
"It definitely was one of my better games," he said "It was pretty exhausting out there."
He finished the season strong after returning from a broken leg suffered in a game late last year. He made a tactical change Friday that helped make this game a 180-degree turnaround from the last against St. Francis
"The first game I didn't come out of the six (-yard box) that much," said the soft-spoken junior. "Tonight I came out and tried to cut off the ball before it came in too close to the goal."
Farfara finished with 22 saves, a total that should have his athletic department checking the record book at the Aurora school.
The 4-0 win was no surprise for St. Francis. For the Titans it was a point of pride.
"Big turnaround, big turnaround," said IMSA coach Matthew Wunderlich. "We knew it was going to be a hard, physical game. Unfortunately, we have a smaller team so that doesn't work to our favor.
"But these guys, even though they were down 4-0, that they shut them down in the second half was just amazing. These guys have all the heart in the world. It's just a great group of kids, and I'm so proud of them.
"Nobody expected us to do anything this game. But to put a respectable score up there, no blowout, we're going home happy."
After taking a team picture, Dennis reflected on the game and his soccer career.
"We're not happy to lose, but with the 9-2 (result) last time, especially with the second half where we shut them out, we're really pleased," he said. "I want to take away all these memories from games like this where we fight hard and leave it all on the field. That's what I wanted to do for my last game too, and I think I did."
For St. Francis, it's all about Tuesday and Wheaton Academy.
"They're obviously an incredible team, and we're preparing pretty well I think," said Roehl, who noted that several Warriors scouted the game. "Our defense will be most important for us. If we're defensively strong, I think we'll be good."
Starting lineups
Illinois Match and Science Academy
GK: Nate Farfara
D: David Kodma
D: Alex Yow
D: Dennis Rich
MF: Zach Yager
MF: Kasey Cervantes
MF: Kyle Thomas
MF: Arthur Ortiz
MF: Krishi Korrapati
F: Reid Fikejs
F: Julian Pacheco
St. Francis
GK: Jonathan Burke
D: Ian Hart
D: David Johnson
D: Colin Scharf
DMF: Brian Cochran
MF: Carney Herard
MF: Matthew Martin
MF: Keenan Corrigan
MF: David Gianos
F: Nicholas Roehl
F: Joey Wood
Man of the Match: Nicholas Roehl, St. Francis
Officials: Jim Franklin (center); Dave Kintz; Bret Richter
Repeat win over IMSA sets up
date with Wheaton Academy
By Dave Surico
WHEATON -- The premilimary bout is over. Now St. Francis is in training for the main event.
After its authoritative 4-0 regional play-in win over Illinois Math and Science Academy at home Friday, the Spartans have their sights set on Wheaton Academy, the fifth-best team in the region according to one poll and the top-ranked team in Class 2A.
"I don't have a lot of thoughts right now. My mind's on the next one," said St. Francis coach Kevin Ward. "We were expected to win tonight; we should have, so we did enough to get that done. So my mind's just on Tuesday right now.
"We played the whole roster tonight. We had good long balls, and good, long through balls. Midfield wasn't too bad, we've got to shore things up in the middle a little bit."
St. Francis (9-8-4) was expected to score a knockout against IMSA, especially after a 9-2 win against the Titans earlier in the week.
"We needed to work on our basics and make sure we had our fundamentals down before we play Wheaton Academy," said senior captain Brian Cochrane. "That's the game all the guys were looking forward to, especially our coach, he was definitely drilling us hard in the practice before making sure everything was sound and secure heading into this game.
"Coming into this game ... I felt confidence in my team, and I didn't have any sort of worry that we were going to come out with a win. We all had our minds set right and definitely had the confidence and the skills to come out with the victory today."
With everything in its favor, St. Francis surprisingly found itself in the back seat for the first 10 minutes of the game.
After a few minutes, some spectators wondered aloud if this was the same IMSA team after the Titans controlled the pace and most of the possession at midfield, a byproduct of their game plan and the zone defense of St. Francis.
A breakdown in the IMSA defense delivered the first goal to the hosts. With Nate Fafara coming off his line for the ball, a defender chose to clear the ball before the keeper could grab it. His attempted clear rolled meekly across the face of the goal and found an open Nick Roehl in front of a completely exposed left side of the net. The score a second into the 11th minute was all St. Francis needed.
"Having previously played them on Tuesday, we shifted around our formation and went to three in the back," said Roehl, who collected two goals, one assist and Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors. "We wanted to possess the whole time and had five in the midfield. We looked to control the ball."
IMSA looked like it would get a chance at a quick equalizer when Krishi Korrapati had a head of steam as he dribbled into the right upper corner of the St. Francis 18-yard box. In hindsight, a shot would have been the better choice after his through ball to the right sideline found no receiver.
St. Francis padded its lead when Matthew Martin's hard shot yielded a rebound off Fafara that he put away in the 17th minute.
The increasingly busy Fafara was forced to come up big, stopping a shot from St. Francis freshman Ethan Grosam after a give-and-go with Roehl and making a diving save on a Martin attempt, both in the 29th minute. Grosam's next try from 12 yards forced the Titan keeper to make a reaction save to keep the score unchanged four minutes later.
The 5-foot-4, red-haired Grosam performed like a bottle of 5-hour Energy for the Spartans, infusing life into the attack.
"That's kind of my job," he said. "Practicing with these guys, they're good, and they're tough, and they made me tough. Now I'm stronger. We work as a team."
In the next several minutes IMSA tri-captain and left back Dennis Rich made several more of his crafty takeaways as he kept his side a "No Trespassing" zone for St. Francis.
"I thought their play style was to play it down either side, but they were really good at switching the field," said Rich, who didn't play in the second half due to an injury. "Whenever they came to my side and I shut them down, I thought they did a really good job of switching it back to the other side."
St. Francis' next score started down the middle. After a steal near the center of the field, Grosam slotted the ball to the left to find a wide-open Roehl who easily collected his second goal in the 37th minute.
The scoring ended when Roehl switched roles and slotted a diagonal ball to the same area and found Cochrane for the finish :42 seconds before the halftime buzzer.
St.Francis keeper Jonathan Burke got his only real tests of the game in the 49th minute. Zach Yager's strong 30-yard free kick from the middle glanced off a body and forced the junior keeper to adjust to the ball which deflected over the endline. IMSA's only corner kick of the game followed and forced Burke to come out and deflect the ball away.
On the other side of the field, Titan keeper Fafara turned the second half into his own highlight reel with stops and sliding clears galore. His name was announced more times on the p.a. than El trains at the Lake Street station during the morning rush.
"It definitely was one of my better games," he said "It was pretty exhausting out there."
He finished the season strong after returning from a broken leg suffered in a game late last year. He made a tactical change Friday that helped make this game a 180-degree turnaround from the last against St. Francis
"The first game I didn't come out of the six (-yard box) that much," said the soft-spoken junior. "Tonight I came out and tried to cut off the ball before it came in too close to the goal."
Farfara finished with 22 saves, a total that should have his athletic department checking the record book at the Aurora school.
The 4-0 win was no surprise for St. Francis. For the Titans it was a point of pride.
"Big turnaround, big turnaround," said IMSA coach Matthew Wunderlich. "We knew it was going to be a hard, physical game. Unfortunately, we have a smaller team so that doesn't work to our favor.
"But these guys, even though they were down 4-0, that they shut them down in the second half was just amazing. These guys have all the heart in the world. It's just a great group of kids, and I'm so proud of them.
"Nobody expected us to do anything this game. But to put a respectable score up there, no blowout, we're going home happy."
After taking a team picture, Dennis reflected on the game and his soccer career.
"We're not happy to lose, but with the 9-2 (result) last time, especially with the second half where we shut them out, we're really pleased," he said. "I want to take away all these memories from games like this where we fight hard and leave it all on the field. That's what I wanted to do for my last game too, and I think I did."
For St. Francis, it's all about Tuesday and Wheaton Academy.
"They're obviously an incredible team, and we're preparing pretty well I think," said Roehl, who noted that several Warriors scouted the game. "Our defense will be most important for us. If we're defensively strong, I think we'll be good."
Starting lineups
Illinois Match and Science Academy
GK: Nate Farfara
D: David Kodma
D: Alex Yow
D: Dennis Rich
MF: Zach Yager
MF: Kasey Cervantes
MF: Kyle Thomas
MF: Arthur Ortiz
MF: Krishi Korrapati
F: Reid Fikejs
F: Julian Pacheco
St. Francis
GK: Jonathan Burke
D: Ian Hart
D: David Johnson
D: Colin Scharf
DMF: Brian Cochran
MF: Carney Herard
MF: Matthew Martin
MF: Keenan Corrigan
MF: David Gianos
F: Nicholas Roehl
F: Joey Wood
Man of the Match: Nicholas Roehl, St. Francis
Officials: Jim Franklin (center); Dave Kintz; Bret Richter