Wheaton Warrenville South
plants loss on Marmion
Tigers catch foes napping on winning goal
By Dave Surico
BARRINGTON -- "Communication Breakdown" is not just a Led Zeppelin song. It's what Wheaton Warrenville South used to post a 1-0 win against Marmion Academy on the opening night of the Barrington Classic on Tuesday.
The Tigers (2-0-1) used a short corner kick to set up the game winner that caught Marmion (1-2) napping.
Using the same play that hadn't worked earlier from the left side, sophomore midfielder Carlos Rojas tapped the ball to Elliot Kettle in the right corner. His left-footed cross found a wide open Jon Salgado, who headed home the ball from in close in the 56th minute.
"No one was ready on the other team, so I just found the way to get in," Salgado said. "It was pretty simple because no one was on top of me. I was the one who was ready and got my head on the ball and made it."
The goal gave Marmion coach Ricky Del Toro an unpleasant feeling of deja vu.
"I'm going to have to look at the film. West Chicago scored on us the exact same way (in a 3-2 loss Aug. 30). It was a short-corner, first-post goal," he said. "It's a lack of communication that we need to address."
The game played out as a contest between two teams looking for consistency and cohesiveness among new players. Wheaton Warrenville South got only seven of 13 expected varsity returnees due to what coach Guy Callipari called "normal things: attrition, players moving, a player staying on academy, the things all teams go through."
To illustrate the place his Tigers are in, Callipari substituted his entire eight-man bench into the game in each half. He said it was "a little bit" of a first-string, second-string situation.
"We know we're going to be a little bit of a roller coaster ride here early on. We'll try to build some consistancy in what we can do," he said. "I have a good feeling at least that they all played at least a half a game today.
"We feel we're pretty deep, and we want to make certain we're all prepared at any given time to step in and we don't lose any of that confidence or that momentum that we might carry into that next game.
"I told them that they're still being evaluated. We can get everybody played in and try to build for what's coming up later in the year. The wins will take care of themselves if we do what we're supposed to do."
Given the substitutions, Callipari didn't see what he expected in the second half.
"I was kind of surprised. I thought that because of our substitutions we would bring in a much better second half, having our legs about ourselves," he said. "Give credit to Marmion. They really came in with a lot of fire in the second half. I thought they would fade after 10 or 15 minutes, but they continued to pressure.
"And we kind of shot ourselves in the foot. I thought we started to dribble a little too much and got out of rhythm. We were very individualistic at the time. That's unfortunate. So we have to go back and discuss those sorts of things to get back to a formula that we thought was going to be successful."
Marmion looked lost in the middle of the field, and there was a big reason for it. Center mid Trevor Jones is out until later in the month with a deep knee contusion.
"We can't wait for Trevor to come back." said Del Toro of his senior co-captain. "Right now we're trying to figure out who's going to help Tim (Wheeler) in the midfield; we're moving a lot of guys around. The first half wasn't good.
"It looked better the second half. We put Quinn Turcich with Dolan Hunt and Wheeler. I think we're going to use this tournament to find the best partnerships and see what can help us to get results, especially for conference."
Wheaton Warrenville South keeper Adam Mrzlak was the one constant for the Tigers in their consistently inconsistant performance.
He was rock solid when tested and earned his first varsity shutout and Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the March honors.
The junior made a big play late in the first half that kept Marmion off the scoreboard. The Cadets' Gavin Sanchez chipped the ball over the defense to give Landon Meyer a seemingly clear run on goal. Mrzlak met Meyer at the top right corner of the box with a slide tackle that knocked the ball out of danger. He made a similar play earlier in the match and added a diving stop and a save in the 79th minute to cement the win.
Callipari said that's a trademark of his new keeper.
"He never looks uncomfortable," he said. "And whether it's going to be a bad decision or a good decision, it going to be a decision. And with his athleticism, he won't look like a purist-type goalie technically, but he'll come out and be courageous. ... He'll come out 20 yards and win a ball."
Mrzlak doesn't shy from his job description.
"A goalie has to take a lot of risks in soccer, and I made the right ones then," he said. "Our defense held them in except for one or two mistakes when they got a shot on goal, but overall I think we did a good job."
Marmion's Jones-less period will be tougher due to the youth of the squad, which started just four seniors. But junior co-captain Wheeler thinks his club will find its way.
"I feel like we're still finding ourselves," he said. "And it's really early in the season so I think we're building from here. We had little spurts of good play, but sometimes it got a little sloppy. We're going to work on that and clean it up.
"We're going to figure out runs on top. We're just starting to find our chemistry, and once we find that everything's going to be good."
Throw-ins
If that guy in the green t-shirt leaning on the fence looked familiar to you, there was a reason. It was former longtime Marmion mentor and 2011 Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association Coach of the Year Kevin O'Connor. The color of his shirt soon changed when he prepared to work as an AR for the Barrington-Crystal Lake South game.
Wheaton Warrenville South senior Luis Cruz played with the Tigers' second group after coming off a card.
Sophomore Quinn Gratz and junior Joe Duffield turned in strong performances on the Marmion backline.
Starting lineups
Marmion Academy
GK: Matt Fletcher
D: Brian Miller
D: Dolan Hunt
D: Joe Duffield
D: Blake Turcich
MF: Quinn Turcich
MF: Tim Wheeler
MF: Nick Grant
MF: Quinn Gratz
F: Landon Meyer
F: Gavin Sanchez
Wheaton Warrenville South
GK: Adam Mrzlak
D: Anthony Berardi
D: Darby Anderson
D: Ian Daniel
D: Jake Donzelli
MF: Carlos Rojas
MF: Danny Jiminez
MF: Haris Hadzic
MF: Elliot Kettle
MF: Javi Rosas
F: Jon Salgado
Man of the Match: Adam Mrzlak, GK, Wheaton Warrenville South
Officials: Mike Valsamis (center); Ruth Fiordaliso, Mohammad Mushtar (ARs).
plants loss on Marmion
Tigers catch foes napping on winning goal
By Dave Surico
BARRINGTON -- "Communication Breakdown" is not just a Led Zeppelin song. It's what Wheaton Warrenville South used to post a 1-0 win against Marmion Academy on the opening night of the Barrington Classic on Tuesday.
The Tigers (2-0-1) used a short corner kick to set up the game winner that caught Marmion (1-2) napping.
Using the same play that hadn't worked earlier from the left side, sophomore midfielder Carlos Rojas tapped the ball to Elliot Kettle in the right corner. His left-footed cross found a wide open Jon Salgado, who headed home the ball from in close in the 56th minute.
"No one was ready on the other team, so I just found the way to get in," Salgado said. "It was pretty simple because no one was on top of me. I was the one who was ready and got my head on the ball and made it."
The goal gave Marmion coach Ricky Del Toro an unpleasant feeling of deja vu.
"I'm going to have to look at the film. West Chicago scored on us the exact same way (in a 3-2 loss Aug. 30). It was a short-corner, first-post goal," he said. "It's a lack of communication that we need to address."
The game played out as a contest between two teams looking for consistency and cohesiveness among new players. Wheaton Warrenville South got only seven of 13 expected varsity returnees due to what coach Guy Callipari called "normal things: attrition, players moving, a player staying on academy, the things all teams go through."
To illustrate the place his Tigers are in, Callipari substituted his entire eight-man bench into the game in each half. He said it was "a little bit" of a first-string, second-string situation.
"We know we're going to be a little bit of a roller coaster ride here early on. We'll try to build some consistancy in what we can do," he said. "I have a good feeling at least that they all played at least a half a game today.
"We feel we're pretty deep, and we want to make certain we're all prepared at any given time to step in and we don't lose any of that confidence or that momentum that we might carry into that next game.
"I told them that they're still being evaluated. We can get everybody played in and try to build for what's coming up later in the year. The wins will take care of themselves if we do what we're supposed to do."
Given the substitutions, Callipari didn't see what he expected in the second half.
"I was kind of surprised. I thought that because of our substitutions we would bring in a much better second half, having our legs about ourselves," he said. "Give credit to Marmion. They really came in with a lot of fire in the second half. I thought they would fade after 10 or 15 minutes, but they continued to pressure.
"And we kind of shot ourselves in the foot. I thought we started to dribble a little too much and got out of rhythm. We were very individualistic at the time. That's unfortunate. So we have to go back and discuss those sorts of things to get back to a formula that we thought was going to be successful."
Marmion looked lost in the middle of the field, and there was a big reason for it. Center mid Trevor Jones is out until later in the month with a deep knee contusion.
"We can't wait for Trevor to come back." said Del Toro of his senior co-captain. "Right now we're trying to figure out who's going to help Tim (Wheeler) in the midfield; we're moving a lot of guys around. The first half wasn't good.
"It looked better the second half. We put Quinn Turcich with Dolan Hunt and Wheeler. I think we're going to use this tournament to find the best partnerships and see what can help us to get results, especially for conference."
Wheaton Warrenville South keeper Adam Mrzlak was the one constant for the Tigers in their consistently inconsistant performance.
He was rock solid when tested and earned his first varsity shutout and Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the March honors.
The junior made a big play late in the first half that kept Marmion off the scoreboard. The Cadets' Gavin Sanchez chipped the ball over the defense to give Landon Meyer a seemingly clear run on goal. Mrzlak met Meyer at the top right corner of the box with a slide tackle that knocked the ball out of danger. He made a similar play earlier in the match and added a diving stop and a save in the 79th minute to cement the win.
Callipari said that's a trademark of his new keeper.
"He never looks uncomfortable," he said. "And whether it's going to be a bad decision or a good decision, it going to be a decision. And with his athleticism, he won't look like a purist-type goalie technically, but he'll come out and be courageous. ... He'll come out 20 yards and win a ball."
Mrzlak doesn't shy from his job description.
"A goalie has to take a lot of risks in soccer, and I made the right ones then," he said. "Our defense held them in except for one or two mistakes when they got a shot on goal, but overall I think we did a good job."
Marmion's Jones-less period will be tougher due to the youth of the squad, which started just four seniors. But junior co-captain Wheeler thinks his club will find its way.
"I feel like we're still finding ourselves," he said. "And it's really early in the season so I think we're building from here. We had little spurts of good play, but sometimes it got a little sloppy. We're going to work on that and clean it up.
"We're going to figure out runs on top. We're just starting to find our chemistry, and once we find that everything's going to be good."
Throw-ins
If that guy in the green t-shirt leaning on the fence looked familiar to you, there was a reason. It was former longtime Marmion mentor and 2011 Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association Coach of the Year Kevin O'Connor. The color of his shirt soon changed when he prepared to work as an AR for the Barrington-Crystal Lake South game.
Wheaton Warrenville South senior Luis Cruz played with the Tigers' second group after coming off a card.
Sophomore Quinn Gratz and junior Joe Duffield turned in strong performances on the Marmion backline.
Starting lineups
Marmion Academy
GK: Matt Fletcher
D: Brian Miller
D: Dolan Hunt
D: Joe Duffield
D: Blake Turcich
MF: Quinn Turcich
MF: Tim Wheeler
MF: Nick Grant
MF: Quinn Gratz
F: Landon Meyer
F: Gavin Sanchez
Wheaton Warrenville South
GK: Adam Mrzlak
D: Anthony Berardi
D: Darby Anderson
D: Ian Daniel
D: Jake Donzelli
MF: Carlos Rojas
MF: Danny Jiminez
MF: Haris Hadzic
MF: Elliot Kettle
MF: Javi Rosas
F: Jon Salgado
Man of the Match: Adam Mrzlak, GK, Wheaton Warrenville South
Officials: Mike Valsamis (center); Ruth Fiordaliso, Mohammad Mushtar (ARs).