Trio powers Wheaton Warrenville
South to win in season opener
Tigers find offense that was lacking last year
By Derek Wolff
DARIEN -- Last season, scoring was at a premium for Wheaton Warrenville South -- the Tigers found the back of the net just 14 times in 22 games.
It was a different story for the start of the 2014 campaign. The visitors tallied three times in 17 minutes Tuesday night to earn a 3-1 win over Hinsdale South.
C.J. Navarro, Darby Anderson and Carlos Rojas scored for the Tigers. Michael Noble had the lone goal for Hinsdale South.
The win was slightly overshadowed by physical, chippy play, particularly in the second half, when both sides accumulated yellow cards. Tiger defender Luis Cruz was sent off after earning his second yellow card of the match for a hard challenge midway through the second half.
WWS head coach Guy Callipari was pleased with the result but also wary of the yellow card total, which equaled his team's three goals. New ISHA rules this season mandate that a team can only have 25 over the course of the season to participate in the playoffs.
“I’m excited about the goals being scored; I’m not so excited about the yellow card accumulation,” Callipari said. “We need to be a little more disciplined, but on the other side of the coin we had a lot of good looks. We could have been on the board maybe with six (goals), barring luck here and there. If we can keep can our heads about ourselves and play disciplined, we’ll be in good shape.”
The Tigers pushed the play early and often, creating a number of chances in the early going. Just minutes after coming on as a substitute, Navarro found an opening inside the 18-yard box and buried a chance for the 1-0 lead at the 28-minute mark.
Ten minutes later, senior right back Anderson stepped up and put home what would be the game winner.
“I saw Carlos (Rojas) receive the ball and open space behind him,” Anderson said. “I came around him, and he just gave me a perfect ball. The center defenders were out of place. They weren’t behind, so I just had an open chance on the goalie, saw his legs were open and put it through.”
However, the two-goal lead quickly evaporated. Hinsdale South midfielder Michael Noble scored on a late free quick with just seconds remaining in the first half to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Any momentum gained by the Hornets was short lived. Rojas extended the Wheaton Warrenville South lead to 3-1 five minutes into the second half. The midfielder found space up the right side and blasted it home from just inside the 18.
“I thought we scored a couple of pretty good goals on the right side,” Callipari said. “That’s where we thought we could go, go after that back and down that right flank. We had two headed balls that we missed the goal with on the six on the right side as well so it looked like that was going to be there all day for us.”
The physical play intensified following Rojas’ goal, and both sides received yellow cards. The Tigers' Cruz was sent off when he got his second yellow of the match.
Tigers captain Elliot Kettle sympathized with his teammate but thought the physical play could be an advantage for his side moving forward.
“The red card is never positive,” Kettle said. “Having gotten one last year, I know what it’s like. I think in terms of the chippiness it’s all part of the game, and it gives us a little more of an edge. Maybe we’ll need that in the playoffs where we can match that physical play. I think we do have as a team the skills, the technical side of it. If we can develop that chippiness and play against chippy teams, we'll get a result that will be excellent for us.”
Cruz’s soft red card provided a shift in the tone of the game. The Tigers played a man down for most of the second half. The momentum swing boosted the Hornets offense, which controlled most of the possession afterward despite being unable to score.
Junior WWS goalkeeper Adam Mrzlak wasn’t tested often but came up large late in the second half. Noble won another free-kick opportunity, blasting one at the top left corner. But a terrific diving save from Mrzlak deflected the ball over the crossbar. It was the last key look the Hornets would have in the game as time wound down.
Hinsdale South head coach James VanDenburgh felt there were a number of positives to take away from his side’s performance, particularly in the second half.
“I felt like we figured some things out in the first half and came out with a different intensity,” VanDenburgh said. "That’s what we’re really trying to teach those guys. You’ve got to play that way every single minute, every single game, and that kind of showed when we got back in the game, not necessarily on the scoreboard but with our intensity. Our intensity went up, and we started to play really good soccer against a good team.”
VanDenburgh gave credit to the Tigers, who won the fourth-straight meeting between the two teams. Noble followed suit and acknowledged the strength of the opposing side.
“We’re getting better,” Noble said. They’re a great team, and they set the standard for the league. That’s the level of team we’ll play all throughout the season, so it kind of lets us know what we’ll be up against.”
The Hornets will look to improve with a mix of veteran talent and raw younger players as the season moves along. Freshman Karel Ondra got the start Tuesday night at striker and made a promising debut, while the team overall looked strong on set pieces.
Both Noble’s goal and his near miss came via the free kick and have VanDenburgh hopeful for the near future.
“We have some players who showed some offensive spark, but I think set pieces are going to be really important for us," VanDenburgh said. "Having that opportunity, they’re not going to come very often against some of these top teams, so we want to take advantage of that.”
Wheaton Warrenville South will host Plainfield Central on Thursday, while Hinsdale South will play next in the Hinsdale Tournament next Tuesday.
Starting lineups
WWS
GK: Adam Mrzlak
DEF: Luis Cruz, Chris Stamatopoulos, Ian Daniel, Darby Anderson
MF: Anthony Berardi, Danny Jimenez, Haris Hadzic, Elliot Kettle, Carlos Rojas
F: Edwin Huerta
HS
GK: Alec Carpenter
Lucas Carlson, Karel Ondra, Austin West, Alec Raatz, Homar Garcia, Michael Noble, Chris Metcalf, Paul Figus, Danny Jaworski, Myk Melius.
Man of the Match: Darby Anderson, Wheaton Warrenville South.
Referees: Eric Kyrgien, Justin O’Bryan, Steven Baker
South to win in season opener
Tigers find offense that was lacking last year
By Derek Wolff
DARIEN -- Last season, scoring was at a premium for Wheaton Warrenville South -- the Tigers found the back of the net just 14 times in 22 games.
It was a different story for the start of the 2014 campaign. The visitors tallied three times in 17 minutes Tuesday night to earn a 3-1 win over Hinsdale South.
C.J. Navarro, Darby Anderson and Carlos Rojas scored for the Tigers. Michael Noble had the lone goal for Hinsdale South.
The win was slightly overshadowed by physical, chippy play, particularly in the second half, when both sides accumulated yellow cards. Tiger defender Luis Cruz was sent off after earning his second yellow card of the match for a hard challenge midway through the second half.
WWS head coach Guy Callipari was pleased with the result but also wary of the yellow card total, which equaled his team's three goals. New ISHA rules this season mandate that a team can only have 25 over the course of the season to participate in the playoffs.
“I’m excited about the goals being scored; I’m not so excited about the yellow card accumulation,” Callipari said. “We need to be a little more disciplined, but on the other side of the coin we had a lot of good looks. We could have been on the board maybe with six (goals), barring luck here and there. If we can keep can our heads about ourselves and play disciplined, we’ll be in good shape.”
The Tigers pushed the play early and often, creating a number of chances in the early going. Just minutes after coming on as a substitute, Navarro found an opening inside the 18-yard box and buried a chance for the 1-0 lead at the 28-minute mark.
Ten minutes later, senior right back Anderson stepped up and put home what would be the game winner.
“I saw Carlos (Rojas) receive the ball and open space behind him,” Anderson said. “I came around him, and he just gave me a perfect ball. The center defenders were out of place. They weren’t behind, so I just had an open chance on the goalie, saw his legs were open and put it through.”
However, the two-goal lead quickly evaporated. Hinsdale South midfielder Michael Noble scored on a late free quick with just seconds remaining in the first half to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Any momentum gained by the Hornets was short lived. Rojas extended the Wheaton Warrenville South lead to 3-1 five minutes into the second half. The midfielder found space up the right side and blasted it home from just inside the 18.
“I thought we scored a couple of pretty good goals on the right side,” Callipari said. “That’s where we thought we could go, go after that back and down that right flank. We had two headed balls that we missed the goal with on the six on the right side as well so it looked like that was going to be there all day for us.”
The physical play intensified following Rojas’ goal, and both sides received yellow cards. The Tigers' Cruz was sent off when he got his second yellow of the match.
Tigers captain Elliot Kettle sympathized with his teammate but thought the physical play could be an advantage for his side moving forward.
“The red card is never positive,” Kettle said. “Having gotten one last year, I know what it’s like. I think in terms of the chippiness it’s all part of the game, and it gives us a little more of an edge. Maybe we’ll need that in the playoffs where we can match that physical play. I think we do have as a team the skills, the technical side of it. If we can develop that chippiness and play against chippy teams, we'll get a result that will be excellent for us.”
Cruz’s soft red card provided a shift in the tone of the game. The Tigers played a man down for most of the second half. The momentum swing boosted the Hornets offense, which controlled most of the possession afterward despite being unable to score.
Junior WWS goalkeeper Adam Mrzlak wasn’t tested often but came up large late in the second half. Noble won another free-kick opportunity, blasting one at the top left corner. But a terrific diving save from Mrzlak deflected the ball over the crossbar. It was the last key look the Hornets would have in the game as time wound down.
Hinsdale South head coach James VanDenburgh felt there were a number of positives to take away from his side’s performance, particularly in the second half.
“I felt like we figured some things out in the first half and came out with a different intensity,” VanDenburgh said. "That’s what we’re really trying to teach those guys. You’ve got to play that way every single minute, every single game, and that kind of showed when we got back in the game, not necessarily on the scoreboard but with our intensity. Our intensity went up, and we started to play really good soccer against a good team.”
VanDenburgh gave credit to the Tigers, who won the fourth-straight meeting between the two teams. Noble followed suit and acknowledged the strength of the opposing side.
“We’re getting better,” Noble said. They’re a great team, and they set the standard for the league. That’s the level of team we’ll play all throughout the season, so it kind of lets us know what we’ll be up against.”
The Hornets will look to improve with a mix of veteran talent and raw younger players as the season moves along. Freshman Karel Ondra got the start Tuesday night at striker and made a promising debut, while the team overall looked strong on set pieces.
Both Noble’s goal and his near miss came via the free kick and have VanDenburgh hopeful for the near future.
“We have some players who showed some offensive spark, but I think set pieces are going to be really important for us," VanDenburgh said. "Having that opportunity, they’re not going to come very often against some of these top teams, so we want to take advantage of that.”
Wheaton Warrenville South will host Plainfield Central on Thursday, while Hinsdale South will play next in the Hinsdale Tournament next Tuesday.
Starting lineups
WWS
GK: Adam Mrzlak
DEF: Luis Cruz, Chris Stamatopoulos, Ian Daniel, Darby Anderson
MF: Anthony Berardi, Danny Jimenez, Haris Hadzic, Elliot Kettle, Carlos Rojas
F: Edwin Huerta
HS
GK: Alec Carpenter
Lucas Carlson, Karel Ondra, Austin West, Alec Raatz, Homar Garcia, Michael Noble, Chris Metcalf, Paul Figus, Danny Jaworski, Myk Melius.
Man of the Match: Darby Anderson, Wheaton Warrenville South.
Referees: Eric Kyrgien, Justin O’Bryan, Steven Baker