Wheaton A. defies wind to edge Batavia
Score into gust delivers 1-0 victory in WarStang Invitational
By Dave Owen
AURORA -- When it comes to understanding the elements, meteorologist Tom Skilling has nothing on Wheaton Academy senior Daniel Rychenkov.
In Saturday’s WarStang tournament match at Metea Valley, the Warriors were unable to solve Batavia’s strong defense in the first half despite having a 30-mile-per-hour wind at their backs.
Then Rychenkov’s efforts into the strong gale in the second half produced the difference-maker in a 1-0 Wheaton Academy win.
Taking a pass from Logan Finnegan and bursting in on left wing, Rychenkov powered an 18-yard shot into the upper right corner with 29:49 left to play for the deciding goal.
“We warmed up that side (towards the south goal),” Rychenkov said, “so when we were shooting I felt the wind. I knew you would have to shoot it hard and hope it goes in. It turned out to be a really good shot.
“It was just a good play with Logan. We’ve played for many years, so I just know he’s going to get me the ball when I get open. I kind of waited for my defender to come up with me, and as soon as I saw him look up I just ran in.”
Said Wheaton Academy coach Cody Snouffer: “That’s something Dan and I have been talking about, continuing to make the runs and trust that eventually the goals will start coming.
“It’s good to get a game-winner, have a nice finish -- especially into the wind on a really blustery day.”
Standout midfielder Finnegan was an offensive force all day, and set the table for the game-winner.
“It was a good win by our defensive midfield, they played me the ball,” Finnegan said. “And we talked at halftime about playing one-touch, two-touch.
“Daniel made an incredible run. You can’t miss that. You have to pass to him there -- and a great finish by him.”
Great finish also describes the regular season for the Warriors (11-4-3). Saturday’s win gave the squad a 6-1-2 record in their last nine games.
“Lots of guys have been playing well, which is great,” Snouffer said. “Our backline is looking good -- Jack Liechty is doing a great job at center back. We’re playing a lot of young players in spots, and it’s fun to see sophomores stepping up at a myriad of different positions and playing them confidently.
“And Finnegan is having an incredible season. He’s put in a ton of work and to see the dividends in games is really cool.”
Things are also paying off big time lately for Rychenkov, who has five goals this fall.
“I had a little bit of a rough start, but lately I think I have five goals in like eight games,” he said. “You have to pick it up. It’s all about winning right now.”
Batavia is also putting together a finish worthy of praise.
A 2-14-1 record has been rendered meaningless after junior Kyle Nicely’s sudden passing due to a brain aneurysm.
The Bulldogs have regrouped as best they can.
On the field they responded with a nice closing stretch this past week (a tie with Waubonsie Valley and a win over Boylan). The performance against Wheaton Academy was another very good sign.
“You can definitely see the progress,” Batavia defender Quinn Carlson said. “We played them (the Warriors) earlier this season and lost to them 3-0. Now we’re just losing 1-0, and it was just one sudden breakdown in our defense.
“You can obviously see the progression, and I think it’s good things looking forward going into playoffs. It’s really important that we keep improving, keep playing and show up as a team to fear in the playoffs.”
Batavia similarly hit its peak in October last year, turning underdog status entering the postseason into a regional title.
“We’re building towards the end,” Bulldogs coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “We’re not worried about winning the WarStang tournament or conference – we’re out of that. It’s just about improving every day to set us up for the playoffs, because after Tuesday we're 0-0 (record). That’s what we’re building for.
“We’re obviously looking a little tighter defensively. We’re tighter with that, and a little bit more fluid offensively than we were earlier in the year.
“We’ve seen some good results lately,” Gianfrancesco added, “and in our fourth game of the week, it’s a good showing here today.”
Playoff success is on everyone’s mind now, and Wheaton Academy is leaving nothing to chance.
Despite their recent surge in the win column, the Warriors took an added step to further fine-tune their focus.
“Two days ago,” Rychenkov said, “me, Logan and Jack Liechty the senior captains did a closed-door team meeting. And we just said, ‘We have to play together and trust each other.’
“We’ve had results where we would have won if we didn’t dribble too much or play individually too much. We just decided to say something about it before the postseason, because it’s about trusting. You can go as far as you want, as long as you play as a team.”
Rychenkov doesn’t have to search his memory long for proof of that.
“I was a sophomore on varsity when we took third place,” he said. “When we lost I looked at (then) coach (Jeff) Brooke and thought, ‘I have two more years, I’ll get you that state (title).’
“But looking back now I wish I was like the seniors sophomore year and kind of grieved with them. It was their last game. I just walked off like ‘I’ll take my third place medal and move on.’
“We have a really special group of guys here,” Rychenkov added, “but lose one game (in the playoffs) and we’re out. We have to play for each other.
After Monday (the regular season finale vs. West Chicago) you don’t know how many games you have, seven or one. And for me and the seniors, it’s our last chance.”
Finnegan is another senior standout stressing that seriousness of purpose.
“Like Daniel said, we took the team into the locker room, no coaches, and kind of told them we really have to work together now and be one,” Finnegan said. “Stay positive and that’ll take us far.
“It’s going smoothly. And when it isn’t, we’ll fix it.”
In the first half Saturday, Batavia made Wheaton Academy hopes for a smooth ride impossible.
“Obviously going against the wind in the first half,” Carlson said, “that was a big feat to be able to shut them down with no goals in the half with the wind. That was pretty good for us.
“Going forward I would have liked to see more shots,” Carlson added, “but I think even when we were going into the wind we were still able to connect well and get up and counterattack on them.”
Finnegan had praise for the Batavia defense, and his team’s eventual ability to shake off the elements.
“They have two solid center backs,” Finnegan said of the Bulldogs, “so even when we had the wind they were making good tackles. We had a few chances we probably should have put away, me included.
“But the second half before it started we kind of realized that the wind isn’t as big a factor as we think it is. We just have to play better as a team, one-touch, two-touch.”
When his chance came 10 minutes into the second half, Rychenkov was more into launching a strong shot than wind readings.
“I think it had pros and cons both ways,” he said of the wind. “When you go this way (north with the wind), you can’t play through-balls. And here (going south) you can’t punt really, but you can do through-balls because it stops where you want it to.
“But I don’t think it affects much. If you play (the ball) on the ground, it doesn’t matter.”
After the scoreless first half, Batavia answered a Warriors threat 35 seconds into the second half (Giovanni Nicoski’s chip just wide off a Finnegan pass) with two chances.
An Isaac Hager shot wide right five minutes in began the Bulldogs response. Then with 31:55 left, Jeff Lillig won a 50-50 ball, burst in right and had his end line shot grabbed by Warriors goalkeeper Andrew Hoekstra.
The Warriors jumped ahead two minutes later, and continued their push with 27:15 to go on a Finnegan offensive end interception and 28-yard one-timer just wide of the left post.
Batavia’s first bid to erase the 1-0 deficit was denied by the defense. With 24:50 left, an offensive zone win by Ryan Kahley was matched seconds later by a steal 25 yards out by Warriors standout defender Liechty.
Many other building attacks for Batavia met an unlikely challenge behind them -- a wind of increasing velocity that was too much in favor of through-balls.
“(The wind) was more consistent in the second half,” Gianfrancesco said. “We have to get better in the offensive third, and unfortunately when you got it in there today you saw a lot of balls go out of bounds.”
One long Lillig send with 21:45 left skipped wind-aided to goalkeeper Hoekstra.
Wheaton Academy's offense also wasn’t done.
With 19:05 left, a Nicoski corner kick was headed just over the net by Luke Froese.
Batavia’s Austin Saenz followed with a nice header away off a Warriors free kick. Then with 17 minutes left, a Finnegan pass set up Andrew Ramirez’s 16-yard straight on shot over frame.
Scoring bids in the final minutes were also gone with the wind.
Batavia’s best came with 9:40 left. Riley Miller’s corner kick produced a Dylan Knapp header towards Carlson, whose 6-yard header redirect was solidly hit but grabbed by Hoekstra.
Bulldogs through-balls with 6:20 and 4:40 both sped over the end line. Then with three minutes left, another long Batavia send to the box was swatted away by Hoekstra a microsecond before Will Chandler arrived.
One final Batavia bid with 1:50 left produced a Miller corner kick, this time blocked by Nicoski and cleared well towards midfield.
The day ended with a Wheaton Academy victory but good signs for Batavia as well.
“The last week and a half to two weeks we’ve put some stuff together,” Gianfrancesco said. “We’re creating a few more opportunities, and defensively we’re knocking it around a little bit.
“The first half it was pretty grueling (going into the wind), but we did a pretty good job defensively limiting their chances. Unfortunately you switch it off for a minute there against a good team, and they’ll make you pay. And that’s kind of what happened there.”
With playoffs looming after Tuesday’s conference finale at home with Wheaton North, Carlson sees several keys to producing a good finish.
“Coach was saying earlier, when we are connecting through the back it’s a lot of square balls,” he said. “That’s a lot of times when we turn it over. So just getting that extra piece of connection and just getting some more shots off, that’s what we need -- to start scoring more obviously.”
Wheaton Academy faces West Chicago on Monday in its final tuneup before Class AA playoffs begin and the Warriors begin their quest for the ninth state trip in program history.
“It (the winning tradition) kicks in as soon as we start in June,” Rychenkov said. “Wherever I go to college I’ll probably never experience anything like it is here (at Wheaton Academy). We have something special as a high school and as a team.”
Starting lineups
Batavia
GK: Brady Seitzinger
D: Will Bardol
D: Austin Saenz
D: Quinn Carlson
D: Rodrigo Maldonado
M: Ryan Kahley
M: Dylan Knapp
M: Dylan Edwards
M: Hector Rosales
F: Isaac Hager
F: Mark Lillig
Wheaton Academy
GK: Andrew Hoekstra
D: Kaiden Massie
D: Solomon Pitts
D: Jack Liechty
D: Haetham Nasr
M: Logan Finnegan
M: Andrew Ramirez
M: Giovanni Nicoski
M: Justin Riddle
F: Daniel Rychenkov
F: Allen Rodriguez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Daniel Rychenkov, sr. F, Wheaton Academy
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
WA- Daniel Rychenkov (Logan Finnegan assist), 51’
Score into gust delivers 1-0 victory in WarStang Invitational
By Dave Owen
AURORA -- When it comes to understanding the elements, meteorologist Tom Skilling has nothing on Wheaton Academy senior Daniel Rychenkov.
In Saturday’s WarStang tournament match at Metea Valley, the Warriors were unable to solve Batavia’s strong defense in the first half despite having a 30-mile-per-hour wind at their backs.
Then Rychenkov’s efforts into the strong gale in the second half produced the difference-maker in a 1-0 Wheaton Academy win.
Taking a pass from Logan Finnegan and bursting in on left wing, Rychenkov powered an 18-yard shot into the upper right corner with 29:49 left to play for the deciding goal.
“We warmed up that side (towards the south goal),” Rychenkov said, “so when we were shooting I felt the wind. I knew you would have to shoot it hard and hope it goes in. It turned out to be a really good shot.
“It was just a good play with Logan. We’ve played for many years, so I just know he’s going to get me the ball when I get open. I kind of waited for my defender to come up with me, and as soon as I saw him look up I just ran in.”
Said Wheaton Academy coach Cody Snouffer: “That’s something Dan and I have been talking about, continuing to make the runs and trust that eventually the goals will start coming.
“It’s good to get a game-winner, have a nice finish -- especially into the wind on a really blustery day.”
Standout midfielder Finnegan was an offensive force all day, and set the table for the game-winner.
“It was a good win by our defensive midfield, they played me the ball,” Finnegan said. “And we talked at halftime about playing one-touch, two-touch.
“Daniel made an incredible run. You can’t miss that. You have to pass to him there -- and a great finish by him.”
Great finish also describes the regular season for the Warriors (11-4-3). Saturday’s win gave the squad a 6-1-2 record in their last nine games.
“Lots of guys have been playing well, which is great,” Snouffer said. “Our backline is looking good -- Jack Liechty is doing a great job at center back. We’re playing a lot of young players in spots, and it’s fun to see sophomores stepping up at a myriad of different positions and playing them confidently.
“And Finnegan is having an incredible season. He’s put in a ton of work and to see the dividends in games is really cool.”
Things are also paying off big time lately for Rychenkov, who has five goals this fall.
“I had a little bit of a rough start, but lately I think I have five goals in like eight games,” he said. “You have to pick it up. It’s all about winning right now.”
Batavia is also putting together a finish worthy of praise.
A 2-14-1 record has been rendered meaningless after junior Kyle Nicely’s sudden passing due to a brain aneurysm.
The Bulldogs have regrouped as best they can.
On the field they responded with a nice closing stretch this past week (a tie with Waubonsie Valley and a win over Boylan). The performance against Wheaton Academy was another very good sign.
“You can definitely see the progress,” Batavia defender Quinn Carlson said. “We played them (the Warriors) earlier this season and lost to them 3-0. Now we’re just losing 1-0, and it was just one sudden breakdown in our defense.
“You can obviously see the progression, and I think it’s good things looking forward going into playoffs. It’s really important that we keep improving, keep playing and show up as a team to fear in the playoffs.”
Batavia similarly hit its peak in October last year, turning underdog status entering the postseason into a regional title.
“We’re building towards the end,” Bulldogs coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “We’re not worried about winning the WarStang tournament or conference – we’re out of that. It’s just about improving every day to set us up for the playoffs, because after Tuesday we're 0-0 (record). That’s what we’re building for.
“We’re obviously looking a little tighter defensively. We’re tighter with that, and a little bit more fluid offensively than we were earlier in the year.
“We’ve seen some good results lately,” Gianfrancesco added, “and in our fourth game of the week, it’s a good showing here today.”
Playoff success is on everyone’s mind now, and Wheaton Academy is leaving nothing to chance.
Despite their recent surge in the win column, the Warriors took an added step to further fine-tune their focus.
“Two days ago,” Rychenkov said, “me, Logan and Jack Liechty the senior captains did a closed-door team meeting. And we just said, ‘We have to play together and trust each other.’
“We’ve had results where we would have won if we didn’t dribble too much or play individually too much. We just decided to say something about it before the postseason, because it’s about trusting. You can go as far as you want, as long as you play as a team.”
Rychenkov doesn’t have to search his memory long for proof of that.
“I was a sophomore on varsity when we took third place,” he said. “When we lost I looked at (then) coach (Jeff) Brooke and thought, ‘I have two more years, I’ll get you that state (title).’
“But looking back now I wish I was like the seniors sophomore year and kind of grieved with them. It was their last game. I just walked off like ‘I’ll take my third place medal and move on.’
“We have a really special group of guys here,” Rychenkov added, “but lose one game (in the playoffs) and we’re out. We have to play for each other.
After Monday (the regular season finale vs. West Chicago) you don’t know how many games you have, seven or one. And for me and the seniors, it’s our last chance.”
Finnegan is another senior standout stressing that seriousness of purpose.
“Like Daniel said, we took the team into the locker room, no coaches, and kind of told them we really have to work together now and be one,” Finnegan said. “Stay positive and that’ll take us far.
“It’s going smoothly. And when it isn’t, we’ll fix it.”
In the first half Saturday, Batavia made Wheaton Academy hopes for a smooth ride impossible.
“Obviously going against the wind in the first half,” Carlson said, “that was a big feat to be able to shut them down with no goals in the half with the wind. That was pretty good for us.
“Going forward I would have liked to see more shots,” Carlson added, “but I think even when we were going into the wind we were still able to connect well and get up and counterattack on them.”
Finnegan had praise for the Batavia defense, and his team’s eventual ability to shake off the elements.
“They have two solid center backs,” Finnegan said of the Bulldogs, “so even when we had the wind they were making good tackles. We had a few chances we probably should have put away, me included.
“But the second half before it started we kind of realized that the wind isn’t as big a factor as we think it is. We just have to play better as a team, one-touch, two-touch.”
When his chance came 10 minutes into the second half, Rychenkov was more into launching a strong shot than wind readings.
“I think it had pros and cons both ways,” he said of the wind. “When you go this way (north with the wind), you can’t play through-balls. And here (going south) you can’t punt really, but you can do through-balls because it stops where you want it to.
“But I don’t think it affects much. If you play (the ball) on the ground, it doesn’t matter.”
After the scoreless first half, Batavia answered a Warriors threat 35 seconds into the second half (Giovanni Nicoski’s chip just wide off a Finnegan pass) with two chances.
An Isaac Hager shot wide right five minutes in began the Bulldogs response. Then with 31:55 left, Jeff Lillig won a 50-50 ball, burst in right and had his end line shot grabbed by Warriors goalkeeper Andrew Hoekstra.
The Warriors jumped ahead two minutes later, and continued their push with 27:15 to go on a Finnegan offensive end interception and 28-yard one-timer just wide of the left post.
Batavia’s first bid to erase the 1-0 deficit was denied by the defense. With 24:50 left, an offensive zone win by Ryan Kahley was matched seconds later by a steal 25 yards out by Warriors standout defender Liechty.
Many other building attacks for Batavia met an unlikely challenge behind them -- a wind of increasing velocity that was too much in favor of through-balls.
“(The wind) was more consistent in the second half,” Gianfrancesco said. “We have to get better in the offensive third, and unfortunately when you got it in there today you saw a lot of balls go out of bounds.”
One long Lillig send with 21:45 left skipped wind-aided to goalkeeper Hoekstra.
Wheaton Academy's offense also wasn’t done.
With 19:05 left, a Nicoski corner kick was headed just over the net by Luke Froese.
Batavia’s Austin Saenz followed with a nice header away off a Warriors free kick. Then with 17 minutes left, a Finnegan pass set up Andrew Ramirez’s 16-yard straight on shot over frame.
Scoring bids in the final minutes were also gone with the wind.
Batavia’s best came with 9:40 left. Riley Miller’s corner kick produced a Dylan Knapp header towards Carlson, whose 6-yard header redirect was solidly hit but grabbed by Hoekstra.
Bulldogs through-balls with 6:20 and 4:40 both sped over the end line. Then with three minutes left, another long Batavia send to the box was swatted away by Hoekstra a microsecond before Will Chandler arrived.
One final Batavia bid with 1:50 left produced a Miller corner kick, this time blocked by Nicoski and cleared well towards midfield.
The day ended with a Wheaton Academy victory but good signs for Batavia as well.
“The last week and a half to two weeks we’ve put some stuff together,” Gianfrancesco said. “We’re creating a few more opportunities, and defensively we’re knocking it around a little bit.
“The first half it was pretty grueling (going into the wind), but we did a pretty good job defensively limiting their chances. Unfortunately you switch it off for a minute there against a good team, and they’ll make you pay. And that’s kind of what happened there.”
With playoffs looming after Tuesday’s conference finale at home with Wheaton North, Carlson sees several keys to producing a good finish.
“Coach was saying earlier, when we are connecting through the back it’s a lot of square balls,” he said. “That’s a lot of times when we turn it over. So just getting that extra piece of connection and just getting some more shots off, that’s what we need -- to start scoring more obviously.”
Wheaton Academy faces West Chicago on Monday in its final tuneup before Class AA playoffs begin and the Warriors begin their quest for the ninth state trip in program history.
“It (the winning tradition) kicks in as soon as we start in June,” Rychenkov said. “Wherever I go to college I’ll probably never experience anything like it is here (at Wheaton Academy). We have something special as a high school and as a team.”
Starting lineups
Batavia
GK: Brady Seitzinger
D: Will Bardol
D: Austin Saenz
D: Quinn Carlson
D: Rodrigo Maldonado
M: Ryan Kahley
M: Dylan Knapp
M: Dylan Edwards
M: Hector Rosales
F: Isaac Hager
F: Mark Lillig
Wheaton Academy
GK: Andrew Hoekstra
D: Kaiden Massie
D: Solomon Pitts
D: Jack Liechty
D: Haetham Nasr
M: Logan Finnegan
M: Andrew Ramirez
M: Giovanni Nicoski
M: Justin Riddle
F: Daniel Rychenkov
F: Allen Rodriguez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Daniel Rychenkov, sr. F, Wheaton Academy
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
WA- Daniel Rychenkov (Logan Finnegan assist), 51’