Wheaton Academy
shuts out Wheaton North
Warriors reward devoted fans with final home win
By Chris Walker
WEST CHICAGO – Reid Culberson was at home on Thursday.
That’s exactly where he wanted to be on a cool fall evening.
Playing in his final home game, Culberson was a young man in motion, doing all he could wherever he could to help Wheaton Academy win.
The senior forward added an insurance goal while helping the Warriors dominate possession in a 3-0 nonconference win over Wheaton North.
Thanks to his efforts, Culberson was selected Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match.
“Reid was so active tonight, and he was dangerous every time he got the ball,” Wheaton Academy coach Jeff Brooke said. “He was really all over the place. I’m so proud of him.”
Culberson wasn’t going to waste any seconds of the 80-minute game, especially knowing that he wouldn’t play another game there.
“It’s my last home game, and as a senior I just wanted to make it special,” he said. “I really was going all over trying to get my goal, trying to help my team get the very last win on the field this year.”
Culberson lifted the Warriors to a 2-0 lead with 20:05 left in the second half. He took a cross from Ty Seager and finished.
“Whenever I see Ty shoot down the line, I know I have to get in somewhere,” Culberson said. “The defender just missed the ball, to be honest. I got kind of lucky and just slotted it in.”
The large crowd, which included a whole section of Wheaton Academy students, erupted after Culberson scored, yet another final bonus of playing at home one last time.
“They’ve been huge for us all season,” Culberson said. “Even though you don’t come out here to play for the fans, you hear them supporting you and know they are here, and that provides a big boost.”
Brooke also appreciated the students, parents and other relatives, faculty and friends who cheered on the squad on its new home turf throughout the season.
“I appreciate the student body and others who have supported us all year,” he said. “We’re trying to play a good brand of soccer so it’s entertaining.”
Wheaton North (9-7-1) was unable to do much offensively to challenge the Warriors. The few chances that the Falcons created were either finally denied by Wheaton Academy keeper Drew Sezonov or redirected the other way by the back line of Michael Carver, Hunter Finnegan, Parker Setran and Andrew VanNispen.
“Our back four have been playing great this year,” Sezonov said. “We haven’t given up many goals this season, so I’m happy to have them in front of me. In practice, we always work on playing one and two touch and we don’t want to keep the pace high.”
Wheaton Academy (16-1-1) jumped ahead 1-0 with 16:35 remaining in the first half on Jacob Kapitaniuk’s corner kick that was headed in by Seager.
In addition to Culberson’s goal midway through the second half, they got a tally from sophomore reserve Luis Rocha, who came off the bench and tapped in a cross from Grant Rougas with just over 10 minutes remaining in the game.
“Ty scores off a corner, we got a great finish from Reid and Luis comes off the bench and gets a nice confidence-building goal,” Brooke said. “Both goals in the second half came off of getting the ball wide and slotting it across and working on finishing, so I was thrilled at how we made adjustments at halftime.”
Wheaton North remained within striking distance until Culberson gave the Warriors some insurance, but the Falcons never put any serious pressure on Wheaton Academy.
“We tried to play to our strengths, and they tried to play to their strengths,” Wheaton North senior Jason Szumski said. “I thought we played well, but they were able to play more of their game. It looks like the better team came out on top today.”
A couple of mistakes certainly made a difference too.
“We had some unlucky balls that just snuck through, but our back line played very well. We just had a couple too many slips here and there, but that’s the game of soccer. Against a good team, they make you pay for those slipups.”
The Falcons were unable to keep the Warriors from spreading the ball against them. While they were able to disrupt possessions after periods of time in the first half, the Warriors did a better job of nullifying their efforts in the final 40 minutes.
“They were very good at passing the ball back and forth,” Wheaton North junior defender Armand Torrez said. “They would split us and get it from side to side, which was really tough for us to defend.”
Starting lineups
Wheaton North
GK: Connor Reece
D: Cole Montejano
D: Zach Oslund
D: Ethan Taira
D: Armand Torrez
MF: Nico Biebergall
MF: Aaron Deeke
MF: Sam Mason
MF: Dan Norton
MF: Jason Szumski
F: Alex Bienduga
Wheaton Academy
GK: Drew Sezonov
D: Michael Carver
D: Hunter Finnegan
D: Parker Setran
D: Andrew VanNispen
MF: Lucas Hoepner
MF: JhaLon Johnson
MF: Jacob Kapitaniuk
MF: Grant Rougas
F: Reid Culberson
F: Ty Seager
Man of the Match: Reid Culberson, Wheaton Academy
shuts out Wheaton North
Warriors reward devoted fans with final home win
By Chris Walker
WEST CHICAGO – Reid Culberson was at home on Thursday.
That’s exactly where he wanted to be on a cool fall evening.
Playing in his final home game, Culberson was a young man in motion, doing all he could wherever he could to help Wheaton Academy win.
The senior forward added an insurance goal while helping the Warriors dominate possession in a 3-0 nonconference win over Wheaton North.
Thanks to his efforts, Culberson was selected Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match.
“Reid was so active tonight, and he was dangerous every time he got the ball,” Wheaton Academy coach Jeff Brooke said. “He was really all over the place. I’m so proud of him.”
Culberson wasn’t going to waste any seconds of the 80-minute game, especially knowing that he wouldn’t play another game there.
“It’s my last home game, and as a senior I just wanted to make it special,” he said. “I really was going all over trying to get my goal, trying to help my team get the very last win on the field this year.”
Culberson lifted the Warriors to a 2-0 lead with 20:05 left in the second half. He took a cross from Ty Seager and finished.
“Whenever I see Ty shoot down the line, I know I have to get in somewhere,” Culberson said. “The defender just missed the ball, to be honest. I got kind of lucky and just slotted it in.”
The large crowd, which included a whole section of Wheaton Academy students, erupted after Culberson scored, yet another final bonus of playing at home one last time.
“They’ve been huge for us all season,” Culberson said. “Even though you don’t come out here to play for the fans, you hear them supporting you and know they are here, and that provides a big boost.”
Brooke also appreciated the students, parents and other relatives, faculty and friends who cheered on the squad on its new home turf throughout the season.
“I appreciate the student body and others who have supported us all year,” he said. “We’re trying to play a good brand of soccer so it’s entertaining.”
Wheaton North (9-7-1) was unable to do much offensively to challenge the Warriors. The few chances that the Falcons created were either finally denied by Wheaton Academy keeper Drew Sezonov or redirected the other way by the back line of Michael Carver, Hunter Finnegan, Parker Setran and Andrew VanNispen.
“Our back four have been playing great this year,” Sezonov said. “We haven’t given up many goals this season, so I’m happy to have them in front of me. In practice, we always work on playing one and two touch and we don’t want to keep the pace high.”
Wheaton Academy (16-1-1) jumped ahead 1-0 with 16:35 remaining in the first half on Jacob Kapitaniuk’s corner kick that was headed in by Seager.
In addition to Culberson’s goal midway through the second half, they got a tally from sophomore reserve Luis Rocha, who came off the bench and tapped in a cross from Grant Rougas with just over 10 minutes remaining in the game.
“Ty scores off a corner, we got a great finish from Reid and Luis comes off the bench and gets a nice confidence-building goal,” Brooke said. “Both goals in the second half came off of getting the ball wide and slotting it across and working on finishing, so I was thrilled at how we made adjustments at halftime.”
Wheaton North remained within striking distance until Culberson gave the Warriors some insurance, but the Falcons never put any serious pressure on Wheaton Academy.
“We tried to play to our strengths, and they tried to play to their strengths,” Wheaton North senior Jason Szumski said. “I thought we played well, but they were able to play more of their game. It looks like the better team came out on top today.”
A couple of mistakes certainly made a difference too.
“We had some unlucky balls that just snuck through, but our back line played very well. We just had a couple too many slips here and there, but that’s the game of soccer. Against a good team, they make you pay for those slipups.”
The Falcons were unable to keep the Warriors from spreading the ball against them. While they were able to disrupt possessions after periods of time in the first half, the Warriors did a better job of nullifying their efforts in the final 40 minutes.
“They were very good at passing the ball back and forth,” Wheaton North junior defender Armand Torrez said. “They would split us and get it from side to side, which was really tough for us to defend.”
Starting lineups
Wheaton North
GK: Connor Reece
D: Cole Montejano
D: Zach Oslund
D: Ethan Taira
D: Armand Torrez
MF: Nico Biebergall
MF: Aaron Deeke
MF: Sam Mason
MF: Dan Norton
MF: Jason Szumski
F: Alex Bienduga
Wheaton Academy
GK: Drew Sezonov
D: Michael Carver
D: Hunter Finnegan
D: Parker Setran
D: Andrew VanNispen
MF: Lucas Hoepner
MF: JhaLon Johnson
MF: Jacob Kapitaniuk
MF: Grant Rougas
F: Reid Culberson
F: Ty Seager
Man of the Match: Reid Culberson, Wheaton Academy