Naperville North's Hipp
new midfield look a winner
Huskies fashion key DVC win over host Wheaton North
By Dave Surico
WHEATON -- With Brandon Hipp in the Naperville North backline, the Huskies showed flashes of brilliance, but ranked as a .500 team as they struggled to a 4-4-1 record through the first three weeks of the season.
With the tri-captain's move from center back to midfield several weeks ago, new-look Naperville North is a model of success. The Huskies continued their six-game unbeaten streak with an impressive 3-0 DuPage Valley Conference win at Wheaton North on Tuesday.
"That's been the difference the last two weeks," coach Jim Konrad said of the change. "It's really allowed us to be a lot more dangerous."
Hipp finished the game with a goal and two assists. He put the Huskies in the lead with a mystery goal in the 32nd minute -- it's a mystery how the ball went in.
Naperville North's newest midfielder put an easy shot from distance on Wheaton North starter Connor Reece. Somehow the slow roller snuck by and put the visitors on the board in the 32nd minute.
The Huskies' final two goals, against Wheaton North second-half goalie Mitch Biegalski, were prettier.
In the 55th minute, sophomore midfielder Chris Sullivan scored after he initiated a give-and-go that Hipp slotted perfectly through the Wheaton North defense.
Then Hipp combined with fellow captain Chris Ensign, who put the ball on the foot of Glenn Wishnew for the final score in the 61st minute.
Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match is definitely enjoying his new role.
"It's really fun being on the offensive side of it and not having to worry about giving up goals," Hipp said with a laugh. "We knew what was on the line. We want to win conference. That was in the back of our minds the entire game, so we wanted to play hard.
"I think we had a great team effort."
Ensign assisted on the first and third goals. He let on that the Huskies (8-4-3) had extra motivation for the game.
"Everybody was ticked off (Monday after a 1-1 tie with Joliet Central)," he said. "We didn't come out as fast as we wanted to yesterday.
"We were a little caught up in ourselves. We were being a little selfish, I believe, and we were getting frustrated. But we sorted things out and got stuff done today.
"Overall we've definitely been improving up top with the addition of Brandon Hipp. We have created a lot more chances."
Konrad was more than satisfied with his team's effort.
"This was one of our better games of the year, for sure. I thought we had a full-team effort," he said. "Our back four was fantastic, especially Wes Wong. He was so tough in the air and he won every tackle that he went for. I thought Nick Carballo played great, and so did our two outside backs, Matty Sylvester and Kevin Keane. Our midfield was steady all night."
The result was a letdown for Wheaton North (9-5-1, 1-2), which could have stayed in the conference title picture with a win. The loss hurt in other ways, too.
"We wanted to come out and have a good showing before the sectional seeds come out," said senior defender Zach Oslund. "We came out unfocused and maybe not thinking we were the better team, playing like we were the better team, which is never a good way to start out."
Wheaton North has not beaten either Naperville school -- North or Central -- in recent years, and it's something they've got to get out of their heads, according to coach Tim McEvilly.
"We've been able to come back and score goals against anybody this year and come back from deficits, but for some reason we still seem to struggle with recognizing that the Naperville teams aren't better than us," he said. "It's a game that we should have won, but we didn't play with the strength and conviction that was required in the second half to come back.
"We had a few guys who should have scored goals. I think it's making Naperville bigger than Naperville is. It's a mental hurdle.
"The boys have done a great job to get the program to where it's at compared with where it was two or three years ago. But they still see those scoreboards (against Naperville) when they were playing varsity as sophomores, a lot of these kids. If their jerseys didn't say 'Naperville,' I think the result would have been different tonight."
Hipp gave an indication of the active night he would have with a good header that went wide in the ninth minute and a cross through the box that Sullivan shot wide in the 12th minute.
Wheaton North's first aggressive attack came from an Aaron Deeke carry to and along the left end line that forced Naperville North keeper Christian Robert to come out with a sliding challenge.
Naperville North started to become more dangerous as the half aged. Kevin Keane's header from in close was stopped by Reece.
However, the hosts could have taken the lead in the 29th minute. Cooper Winckler sent a beautiful through ball that put Zoran Tanasic in alone. But a tough touch pushed the ball to the keeper before he could do anything with it.
For the majority of the match, Wheaton North had difficulty linking passes together.
"We had guys in open space, but we were rushing things that we didn't need to be rushed," McEvilly said. "We had the wings open, but were trying to play a perfect pass instead of being sure of what we're doing. Our focus just wasn't there tonight."
Starting lineups
Naperville North
GK: Christian Robert
D: Matty Sylvester
D: Kevin Keane
D: Nick Carballo
D: Wesley Wong
MF: Chris Sullivan
MF: Brandon Hipp
MF: Connor McBride
MF: Grant Borg
F: Adam Helf
F: Chris Ensign
Wheaton North
GK: Connor Reece
D: Cole Montejano
D: Kenny Stang
D: Armand Torrez
D: Zach Oslund
MF: Aaron Deeke
MF: Jason Szumski
MF: Dan Norton
MF: Sam Mason
MF: Nico Bibergall
F: Zoran Tanasic
Man of the Match: Brandon Hipp, Naperville North
Officials: Tony Martinez (center); Francisco Damian; Jose Gonzales.
new midfield look a winner
Huskies fashion key DVC win over host Wheaton North
By Dave Surico
WHEATON -- With Brandon Hipp in the Naperville North backline, the Huskies showed flashes of brilliance, but ranked as a .500 team as they struggled to a 4-4-1 record through the first three weeks of the season.
With the tri-captain's move from center back to midfield several weeks ago, new-look Naperville North is a model of success. The Huskies continued their six-game unbeaten streak with an impressive 3-0 DuPage Valley Conference win at Wheaton North on Tuesday.
"That's been the difference the last two weeks," coach Jim Konrad said of the change. "It's really allowed us to be a lot more dangerous."
Hipp finished the game with a goal and two assists. He put the Huskies in the lead with a mystery goal in the 32nd minute -- it's a mystery how the ball went in.
Naperville North's newest midfielder put an easy shot from distance on Wheaton North starter Connor Reece. Somehow the slow roller snuck by and put the visitors on the board in the 32nd minute.
The Huskies' final two goals, against Wheaton North second-half goalie Mitch Biegalski, were prettier.
In the 55th minute, sophomore midfielder Chris Sullivan scored after he initiated a give-and-go that Hipp slotted perfectly through the Wheaton North defense.
Then Hipp combined with fellow captain Chris Ensign, who put the ball on the foot of Glenn Wishnew for the final score in the 61st minute.
Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match is definitely enjoying his new role.
"It's really fun being on the offensive side of it and not having to worry about giving up goals," Hipp said with a laugh. "We knew what was on the line. We want to win conference. That was in the back of our minds the entire game, so we wanted to play hard.
"I think we had a great team effort."
Ensign assisted on the first and third goals. He let on that the Huskies (8-4-3) had extra motivation for the game.
"Everybody was ticked off (Monday after a 1-1 tie with Joliet Central)," he said. "We didn't come out as fast as we wanted to yesterday.
"We were a little caught up in ourselves. We were being a little selfish, I believe, and we were getting frustrated. But we sorted things out and got stuff done today.
"Overall we've definitely been improving up top with the addition of Brandon Hipp. We have created a lot more chances."
Konrad was more than satisfied with his team's effort.
"This was one of our better games of the year, for sure. I thought we had a full-team effort," he said. "Our back four was fantastic, especially Wes Wong. He was so tough in the air and he won every tackle that he went for. I thought Nick Carballo played great, and so did our two outside backs, Matty Sylvester and Kevin Keane. Our midfield was steady all night."
The result was a letdown for Wheaton North (9-5-1, 1-2), which could have stayed in the conference title picture with a win. The loss hurt in other ways, too.
"We wanted to come out and have a good showing before the sectional seeds come out," said senior defender Zach Oslund. "We came out unfocused and maybe not thinking we were the better team, playing like we were the better team, which is never a good way to start out."
Wheaton North has not beaten either Naperville school -- North or Central -- in recent years, and it's something they've got to get out of their heads, according to coach Tim McEvilly.
"We've been able to come back and score goals against anybody this year and come back from deficits, but for some reason we still seem to struggle with recognizing that the Naperville teams aren't better than us," he said. "It's a game that we should have won, but we didn't play with the strength and conviction that was required in the second half to come back.
"We had a few guys who should have scored goals. I think it's making Naperville bigger than Naperville is. It's a mental hurdle.
"The boys have done a great job to get the program to where it's at compared with where it was two or three years ago. But they still see those scoreboards (against Naperville) when they were playing varsity as sophomores, a lot of these kids. If their jerseys didn't say 'Naperville,' I think the result would have been different tonight."
Hipp gave an indication of the active night he would have with a good header that went wide in the ninth minute and a cross through the box that Sullivan shot wide in the 12th minute.
Wheaton North's first aggressive attack came from an Aaron Deeke carry to and along the left end line that forced Naperville North keeper Christian Robert to come out with a sliding challenge.
Naperville North started to become more dangerous as the half aged. Kevin Keane's header from in close was stopped by Reece.
However, the hosts could have taken the lead in the 29th minute. Cooper Winckler sent a beautiful through ball that put Zoran Tanasic in alone. But a tough touch pushed the ball to the keeper before he could do anything with it.
For the majority of the match, Wheaton North had difficulty linking passes together.
"We had guys in open space, but we were rushing things that we didn't need to be rushed," McEvilly said. "We had the wings open, but were trying to play a perfect pass instead of being sure of what we're doing. Our focus just wasn't there tonight."
Starting lineups
Naperville North
GK: Christian Robert
D: Matty Sylvester
D: Kevin Keane
D: Nick Carballo
D: Wesley Wong
MF: Chris Sullivan
MF: Brandon Hipp
MF: Connor McBride
MF: Grant Borg
F: Adam Helf
F: Chris Ensign
Wheaton North
GK: Connor Reece
D: Cole Montejano
D: Kenny Stang
D: Armand Torrez
D: Zach Oslund
MF: Aaron Deeke
MF: Jason Szumski
MF: Dan Norton
MF: Sam Mason
MF: Nico Bibergall
F: Zoran Tanasic
Man of the Match: Brandon Hipp, Naperville North
Officials: Tony Martinez (center); Francisco Damian; Jose Gonzales.