Naperville C. routs Waubonsie
to reach Best of the West final
Redhawks, McCormack dominate at midfield
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – No one was surprised that Naperville Central took an unbeaten record into the final round of pool play at the Best of the West tournament. Waubonsie Valley, on the other hand, raised a few eyebrows by also reaching the same stage without a loss.
The two sides met Saturday morning at Memorial Stadium, and the host Redhawks thumped Waubonsie Valley 4-0 in a match that determined the pool championship and a berth in Saturday night’s title game.
“I’m not surprised [with the good start],” Waubonsie Valley coach Jose Garcia said. “We play well. Technically we are a good team but I think this is definitely a wakeup call to see that we’re not invincible and that we definitely need to work on a couple of things.”
The Warriors (3-1-1) were never in the match because the Redhawks (5-0-1) utterly dominated the midfield behind the play of senior Jordi McCormack, who earned Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match honors.
McCormack assisted on Naperville Central’s first two goals, which came less than two minutes apart in the first half. The first was a through ball up the middle to Jordi Heeneman, who got to the ball at the top of the box and lobbed it over Waubonsie goalie Eddie Sanchez’s head.
McCormack’s second assist came when he flicked a throw-in from Riley Guttosch into traffic in the middle of the box to Taha Din, who booted a short shot past Sanchez for a 2-0 lead. It was the first varsity goal for Din, a sophomore forward.
“It was good,” Din said. “I was just standing in the middle of the box and the ball came in off the throw-in and fell right to my feet. I just took a touch and it was on my weaker foot, but I couldn’t do anything about it so I shot it and it went in.
“I feel like it was coming because the last couple of games I’ve had lots of shots, but none of them fell in. It felt really good to finally score.”
McCormack has emerged as a driving force for the Redhawks, who are developing a quick passing game to keep possession and pressure opponents’ defenses. That was the case against the Warriors, who were constantly chasing the ball.
“We’ve been talking a lot about where we’re at this point of the season we’re still establishing what we want to do,” Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said. “We like to play 1-2-3 in that middle and back third, and I know Jordi has had a good run of buying into it.
“The center mid role is multifaceted. It’s not just scoring goals. It’s distributing, it’s finding others and he’s done a good job of that.”
Six games into the season, McCormack says he feels comfortable with his role.
“I just have to keep it simple because I’m in the middle of the field, so if I start taking too many touches then it offsets the tone,” McCormack said. “I need to distribute the ball so my teammates have opportunities.
“As we progress through the season, I think our combination play is getting a lot, lot stronger and we’re understanding the runs that we’re making. It’s easier to find each other.”
Forwards like Heeneman and Din appreciate McCormack’s unselfishness.
“Coach is wanting us to play one-touch, two-touch, three-touch,” Din said. “When you do that, the ball moves a lot quicker. We’ve all been working hard on it in practice, so luckily we’re getting the results.”
Coach Garcia praised the Redhawks, stating, “[Passing] is one thing they do very well. They’re very good at transitioning and playing quick, which is something we weren’t ready for.
“They’re a very technical team, and we want to be a technical team. We can be, but today it was just not there. They just compacted the midfield so much it made it hard for us to play that game.”
The Redhawks continued their dominance in the second half, outshooting the Warriors 9-1 after intermission.
Chris Schwaiger bumped the lead to 3-0 with 23:53 to go when he blasted a shot from the top of the box past Sanchez, who was on the ground after clearing a centering pass from Daniel Poole. Noah Hey capped the scoring by converting a penalty kick at the 6:50 mark.
Waubonsie Valley didn’t get a shot off in the second half until the final 15 seconds. The Warriors had just three for the game, with Naperville Central goalie Joe Kallikadan needing to make only one save.
Kallikadan and backup Adam Daas, who played the second half, shared the Redhawks’ fourth shutout.
Despite the loss, Garcia is pleased with the Warriors’ start and optimistic about the future.
“I think Henry [Zehnal] has always played well, and Sohum has scored a lot of goals for us,” Garcia said. “Eddie (Sanchez) up until today has been playing pretty well for us.
“I think every team needs something like this once in a while, a little wakeup call. This is ours, and we move on from here and definitely get better.”
Starting lineups
Waubonsie Valley
GK Eddie Sanchez
D Rogelio Grimaldo
D Jeff Ito
D Justin Damon
D Jason Wolfe
M Drew Valek
M Jon Braun
M Henry Zehnal
M Leo Mendoza
F Tyler Barker
F Sohum Buch
Naperville Central
GK Joe Kallikadan
D Derek Krebs
D Sean Flading
D Griffin Geisler
M Noah Hey
M Jordi McCormack
M Noah Canlas
M Riley Guttosch
F Ethan Mohr
F Jordi Heeneman
F Daniel Poole
Man of the Match: Jordi McCormack, Naperville Central
to reach Best of the West final
Redhawks, McCormack dominate at midfield
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – No one was surprised that Naperville Central took an unbeaten record into the final round of pool play at the Best of the West tournament. Waubonsie Valley, on the other hand, raised a few eyebrows by also reaching the same stage without a loss.
The two sides met Saturday morning at Memorial Stadium, and the host Redhawks thumped Waubonsie Valley 4-0 in a match that determined the pool championship and a berth in Saturday night’s title game.
“I’m not surprised [with the good start],” Waubonsie Valley coach Jose Garcia said. “We play well. Technically we are a good team but I think this is definitely a wakeup call to see that we’re not invincible and that we definitely need to work on a couple of things.”
The Warriors (3-1-1) were never in the match because the Redhawks (5-0-1) utterly dominated the midfield behind the play of senior Jordi McCormack, who earned Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match honors.
McCormack assisted on Naperville Central’s first two goals, which came less than two minutes apart in the first half. The first was a through ball up the middle to Jordi Heeneman, who got to the ball at the top of the box and lobbed it over Waubonsie goalie Eddie Sanchez’s head.
McCormack’s second assist came when he flicked a throw-in from Riley Guttosch into traffic in the middle of the box to Taha Din, who booted a short shot past Sanchez for a 2-0 lead. It was the first varsity goal for Din, a sophomore forward.
“It was good,” Din said. “I was just standing in the middle of the box and the ball came in off the throw-in and fell right to my feet. I just took a touch and it was on my weaker foot, but I couldn’t do anything about it so I shot it and it went in.
“I feel like it was coming because the last couple of games I’ve had lots of shots, but none of them fell in. It felt really good to finally score.”
McCormack has emerged as a driving force for the Redhawks, who are developing a quick passing game to keep possession and pressure opponents’ defenses. That was the case against the Warriors, who were constantly chasing the ball.
“We’ve been talking a lot about where we’re at this point of the season we’re still establishing what we want to do,” Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said. “We like to play 1-2-3 in that middle and back third, and I know Jordi has had a good run of buying into it.
“The center mid role is multifaceted. It’s not just scoring goals. It’s distributing, it’s finding others and he’s done a good job of that.”
Six games into the season, McCormack says he feels comfortable with his role.
“I just have to keep it simple because I’m in the middle of the field, so if I start taking too many touches then it offsets the tone,” McCormack said. “I need to distribute the ball so my teammates have opportunities.
“As we progress through the season, I think our combination play is getting a lot, lot stronger and we’re understanding the runs that we’re making. It’s easier to find each other.”
Forwards like Heeneman and Din appreciate McCormack’s unselfishness.
“Coach is wanting us to play one-touch, two-touch, three-touch,” Din said. “When you do that, the ball moves a lot quicker. We’ve all been working hard on it in practice, so luckily we’re getting the results.”
Coach Garcia praised the Redhawks, stating, “[Passing] is one thing they do very well. They’re very good at transitioning and playing quick, which is something we weren’t ready for.
“They’re a very technical team, and we want to be a technical team. We can be, but today it was just not there. They just compacted the midfield so much it made it hard for us to play that game.”
The Redhawks continued their dominance in the second half, outshooting the Warriors 9-1 after intermission.
Chris Schwaiger bumped the lead to 3-0 with 23:53 to go when he blasted a shot from the top of the box past Sanchez, who was on the ground after clearing a centering pass from Daniel Poole. Noah Hey capped the scoring by converting a penalty kick at the 6:50 mark.
Waubonsie Valley didn’t get a shot off in the second half until the final 15 seconds. The Warriors had just three for the game, with Naperville Central goalie Joe Kallikadan needing to make only one save.
Kallikadan and backup Adam Daas, who played the second half, shared the Redhawks’ fourth shutout.
Despite the loss, Garcia is pleased with the Warriors’ start and optimistic about the future.
“I think Henry [Zehnal] has always played well, and Sohum has scored a lot of goals for us,” Garcia said. “Eddie (Sanchez) up until today has been playing pretty well for us.
“I think every team needs something like this once in a while, a little wakeup call. This is ours, and we move on from here and definitely get better.”
Starting lineups
Waubonsie Valley
GK Eddie Sanchez
D Rogelio Grimaldo
D Jeff Ito
D Justin Damon
D Jason Wolfe
M Drew Valek
M Jon Braun
M Henry Zehnal
M Leo Mendoza
F Tyler Barker
F Sohum Buch
Naperville Central
GK Joe Kallikadan
D Derek Krebs
D Sean Flading
D Griffin Geisler
M Noah Hey
M Jordi McCormack
M Noah Canlas
M Riley Guttosch
F Ethan Mohr
F Jordi Heeneman
F Daniel Poole
Man of the Match: Jordi McCormack, Naperville Central