Home is sweet for St. Francis
as Spartans down Bartlett
Roehl shows 'nose for the goal' with pair of scores
By Derek Wolff
WHEATON — It was far from “The Beautiful Game,” but for St. Francis, a 4-2 home defeat over Bartlett on Saturday was just that -- beautiful.
The Spartans (2-4-2), playing at home for just the third time this season, were able to outslug the Hawks in a rough-and-tumble, physical match that saw plenty of yellow cards and ugly goals.
Junior midfielder and Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match Nicholas Roehl wound up netting the game winner, his second of the match, in the 58th minute.
Bartlett’s back line, which looked shaky all afternoon, gave the Spartans a number of chances to score on the play before Roehl finally punched it in on the team’s fourth try.
Roehl’s first goal came in the 31st minute with St. Francis trailing 1-0.
St. Francis coach Kevin Ward acknowledged Roehl’s versatility, as he often plays forward in the Spartans offense but responded well in his positioning against Bartlett.
“Nick’s a goal scorer,” Ward said. “He’s got a nose for the goal. No matter what’s going on, whether he’s having a great game in the field or not he seems to come up with the magic goal for us here and there. I put him in the middle and it worked for us tonight.”
Roehl attributed most of his side’s success on the afternoon to the pace and attacking decisions started by the defense.
“Today we restarted the defense and worked from the back,” Roehl said. “We defended with a block of eight and really held up Bartlett there and got to transition quick, got a couple kids forward and were able to put it in the back of the net. I would say Dave Johnson held it down for us. He really gave us the spark in the back and allowed us to transition.”
For Bartlett, perhaps it was a game that it allowed to slip away, especially after leading 1-0 just three minutes into the game.
Junior midfielder Tim Riordan opened the scoring for the Hawks after finding space and the rout looked like it could be on as Bartlett continued to pressure the Spartans back line for most of the first half.
But Roehl’s first goal shifted the momentum. Roehl took a pass from Josh Baker inside the 18 and tried to push it through Bartlett goalkeeper Brian Hollatz on the right side.
Hollatz was able to partially block it but it slipped under him, enabling Roehl to continue his run and put the ball in the empty net.
The play was controversial, as Roehl appeared to catch part of Hollatz on the way and Bartlett coach Ben Beary was awarded a yellow card after defending his goalkeeper. It was an ugly pattern from the officials, who doled out an excessive amount of yellow cards to both sides.
The greater number of calls went against Bartlett, including a blatantly missed call outside the box when Bartlett’s A.J. Santori was tripped inside the 18 and should have been awarded a penalty.
Instead, the Hawks, trailing 2-1 early in the second half, were awarded an off-angle free kick from outside the box, which Santori floated into the waiting arms of St Francis goalkeeper Jonathan Burke.
Bartlett Coach Ben Beary was more disappointed with the performance and finger pointing his side had, which contributed to the lack of unity and poor play defensively.
“If you play as individuals, you get beat by teams. That’s what happened today,” Beary said. “Really easily it could have gone the other way, but frankly the team that deserved the win got the win. There was nothing that we did today that showed anything close to deserving to win this game.”
Bartlett did manage to keep it a close game for a while in the second half. After creating a bevy of chances the Hawks finally cashed in to tie the game in the 52’ minute when senior midfielder Saul Espinosa slotted one past Burke with a left-footed ball from just outside the 18.
But the momentum would be short-lived when Roehl scored just six minutes later.
St. Francis tacked on another goal in a goal-mouth crash after another couple of shots were knocked around. Eventually both sophomore midfielder Carney Heward and the ball wound up in the net.
Coming off of three straight defeats, the win was needed for the Spartans, who had scored three goals over that stretch.
Midfielder Keenan Corrigan, who added two assists on the day, said determination after going down a goal early on emboldened his side.
"We just didn’t stop and we kept trying after the (goal) that put us down a bit, but once we got the first one we kept scoring,” Corrigan said. “It was just hard work that got us the win.”
For Bartlett, which had won two of its last three, the loss was a setback, but not one that would linger, said Riordan.
“We’ll get back to work in practice with more intensity to prepare for next week,” Riordan said.
St. Francis will start its first of four straight conference matches on the road against Montini on Tuesday, while Bartlett will host Downers Grove South on Thursday.
Starting lineups
Bartlett
G-Brian Hollatz
D-Zane Kaiser
D-Josh Merkel
D-Saul Espinosa
D-Bryan Recinos
M-Venici Leone
M-Oliver Saile
M-A.J. Santori
M-Ryan Stratton
M-Tim Riordan
F-T.J. Ivkovich
St. Francis
G-Jonathan Burke
D-Josh Baker
D-Brian Cochrane
D-Colin Scharf
D-David Johnson
M-Keenan Corrigan
M-Ian Hart
M-Carney Herald
M-Matthew Martin
M-David Gianos
F-Joey Wood
Referees: Dennis Tyszkiewicz, Jose Gonzalez, Bill Niemeyer
Man of the Match: Nick Roehl, St. Francis
as Spartans down Bartlett
Roehl shows 'nose for the goal' with pair of scores
By Derek Wolff
WHEATON — It was far from “The Beautiful Game,” but for St. Francis, a 4-2 home defeat over Bartlett on Saturday was just that -- beautiful.
The Spartans (2-4-2), playing at home for just the third time this season, were able to outslug the Hawks in a rough-and-tumble, physical match that saw plenty of yellow cards and ugly goals.
Junior midfielder and Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match Nicholas Roehl wound up netting the game winner, his second of the match, in the 58th minute.
Bartlett’s back line, which looked shaky all afternoon, gave the Spartans a number of chances to score on the play before Roehl finally punched it in on the team’s fourth try.
Roehl’s first goal came in the 31st minute with St. Francis trailing 1-0.
St. Francis coach Kevin Ward acknowledged Roehl’s versatility, as he often plays forward in the Spartans offense but responded well in his positioning against Bartlett.
“Nick’s a goal scorer,” Ward said. “He’s got a nose for the goal. No matter what’s going on, whether he’s having a great game in the field or not he seems to come up with the magic goal for us here and there. I put him in the middle and it worked for us tonight.”
Roehl attributed most of his side’s success on the afternoon to the pace and attacking decisions started by the defense.
“Today we restarted the defense and worked from the back,” Roehl said. “We defended with a block of eight and really held up Bartlett there and got to transition quick, got a couple kids forward and were able to put it in the back of the net. I would say Dave Johnson held it down for us. He really gave us the spark in the back and allowed us to transition.”
For Bartlett, perhaps it was a game that it allowed to slip away, especially after leading 1-0 just three minutes into the game.
Junior midfielder Tim Riordan opened the scoring for the Hawks after finding space and the rout looked like it could be on as Bartlett continued to pressure the Spartans back line for most of the first half.
But Roehl’s first goal shifted the momentum. Roehl took a pass from Josh Baker inside the 18 and tried to push it through Bartlett goalkeeper Brian Hollatz on the right side.
Hollatz was able to partially block it but it slipped under him, enabling Roehl to continue his run and put the ball in the empty net.
The play was controversial, as Roehl appeared to catch part of Hollatz on the way and Bartlett coach Ben Beary was awarded a yellow card after defending his goalkeeper. It was an ugly pattern from the officials, who doled out an excessive amount of yellow cards to both sides.
The greater number of calls went against Bartlett, including a blatantly missed call outside the box when Bartlett’s A.J. Santori was tripped inside the 18 and should have been awarded a penalty.
Instead, the Hawks, trailing 2-1 early in the second half, were awarded an off-angle free kick from outside the box, which Santori floated into the waiting arms of St Francis goalkeeper Jonathan Burke.
Bartlett Coach Ben Beary was more disappointed with the performance and finger pointing his side had, which contributed to the lack of unity and poor play defensively.
“If you play as individuals, you get beat by teams. That’s what happened today,” Beary said. “Really easily it could have gone the other way, but frankly the team that deserved the win got the win. There was nothing that we did today that showed anything close to deserving to win this game.”
Bartlett did manage to keep it a close game for a while in the second half. After creating a bevy of chances the Hawks finally cashed in to tie the game in the 52’ minute when senior midfielder Saul Espinosa slotted one past Burke with a left-footed ball from just outside the 18.
But the momentum would be short-lived when Roehl scored just six minutes later.
St. Francis tacked on another goal in a goal-mouth crash after another couple of shots were knocked around. Eventually both sophomore midfielder Carney Heward and the ball wound up in the net.
Coming off of three straight defeats, the win was needed for the Spartans, who had scored three goals over that stretch.
Midfielder Keenan Corrigan, who added two assists on the day, said determination after going down a goal early on emboldened his side.
"We just didn’t stop and we kept trying after the (goal) that put us down a bit, but once we got the first one we kept scoring,” Corrigan said. “It was just hard work that got us the win.”
For Bartlett, which had won two of its last three, the loss was a setback, but not one that would linger, said Riordan.
“We’ll get back to work in practice with more intensity to prepare for next week,” Riordan said.
St. Francis will start its first of four straight conference matches on the road against Montini on Tuesday, while Bartlett will host Downers Grove South on Thursday.
Starting lineups
Bartlett
G-Brian Hollatz
D-Zane Kaiser
D-Josh Merkel
D-Saul Espinosa
D-Bryan Recinos
M-Venici Leone
M-Oliver Saile
M-A.J. Santori
M-Ryan Stratton
M-Tim Riordan
F-T.J. Ivkovich
St. Francis
G-Jonathan Burke
D-Josh Baker
D-Brian Cochrane
D-Colin Scharf
D-David Johnson
M-Keenan Corrigan
M-Ian Hart
M-Carney Herald
M-Matthew Martin
M-David Gianos
F-Joey Wood
Referees: Dennis Tyszkiewicz, Jose Gonzalez, Bill Niemeyer
Man of the Match: Nick Roehl, St. Francis