CL South tops Fenton for 1st finals berth
Canfield leads Gators past Fenton in supersectional
By Chris Walker
BURLINGTON – When Crystal Lake South scores first, the Gators win.
That is a fact.
The Gators only needed their first goal during Tuesday’s Class 2A Burlington Central Supersectional, but they tacked on four others to win in convincing fashion while punching their first ticket to the state finals in program history.
Not even rain, and there was a lot of it including lengthy bursts of downpours, could rain on the biggest soccer night in school history when the Gators defeated Fenton 5-0.
“Once we scored that first goal we knew we were going to win,” Crystal Lake South junior Alex Canfield said. “That put us in a great mindset at the start, and we have a statistic where so far this season when we score the first goal, we win.”
The statistic held up thanks to the coaches' all-stater, who scored early to put the Gators in front. He added two other goals to complete a hat-trick while increasing his goal-scoring total to 31 on the season.
Crystal Lake South (20-2-3) jumped on Fenton (14-8-1) on a bullet of a shot from Canfield with 27:14 left before halftime.
“The ball basically came to my feet, and I noticed that the defense wasn’t on my back so I spun around, looked up and took a big touch,” Canfield said. “I knew if I took another touch that the goalie would’ve swept it up, so I took it early from the top of the box.”
The Gators, ranked no. 18 in the final regular season Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, extended their lead to 2-0 with 15:39 before the intermission when Tyler Getzinger converted a penalty kick after what the Fenton sideline deemed to be a poor call.
“We had a great run, but if a game is going to be decided on the field it’s got to be by the players, not by an official,” said Fenton coach Victor Ruiz. “That was a terrible call, and that changed the momentum of the game.
“We made some mistakes, and we owned them, and we've got to grow from there. But the officiating, it just has to get better at this level. They’ve got to be solid and can’t get influenced by the fans, can’t get influenced by a coach.”
Nothing seemed to go right for the Bison, which is the exact opposite of how the postseason had gone for them. While the end wasn’t what Fenton was looking for, they were similar to Crystal Lake South in that 2018 will go down as the best season in school history.
“We beat ourselves more than anything else,” Ruiz said. “I think we had the potential to even beat them, but we made too many mistakes and have to go from there. But the kids made history -- they never made it this far. We just need to build from here. I’m so proud of them.”
Canfield struck again with 1:51 left before halftime to increase Crystal Lake South’s lead to 3-0.
Fenton struggled to do anything to come close to eating away at the deficit in the first half; the Bison didn’t have a shot on goal until the second half. Crystal Lake South's defenders -- Evan Carlson, Andrew Edge, Nick Langdon and Tommy McSweeney -- had something to do with that. They were tough from start to finish.
“We just kept playing hard,” McSweeney said. “We were solid in the back and played it up-top and got some chances early and took advantage of them and held them there for sure.”
The result left a senior like McSweeney in awe that he is now going to state.
“Last year we only got to the regional so to get this far and keep getting better everyday is great,” he said. “I love playing with these guys. It’s just so awesome.
“We definitely knew we had the skills to do this, but we thought of it game by game and not as a whole. We never talked about state, just the next game coming up and then went out and played our best to see where it would take us.”
Canfield completed his hat-trick with 32:30 left to play to make it 4-0. He was able to move past a defender and then take on the goalkeeper. A shot with a soft touch was all it took.
“I think it took us 15-20 minutes to realize that we just have got to go out and play,” Crystal Lake South coach Brian Allen said. “They learned that in the sectional, and we know that early goals are always important. We got that first one and then kept them on their heels. We just kept it going from there, and that’s what we were fortunate to be able to do.”
How impressive and rare is it for someone to score three goals in a supersectional? Canfield scored more goals by himself than Lake Park, Libertyville and Naperville North did in 3A and Gibault Catholic and St. Ignatius did in AA to win their respective supersectionals and also advance to state.
“It feels absolutely amazing right now,” Canfield said. “It’s such a brotherhood here always cheering for each other and thinking about the team more than each other.”
Canfield acknowledged that the Gators were more worried about playing their game their way, than anything their opponent, in this case Fenton, could do to prohibit them from doing so.
“We normally think about us as being our biggest enemy,” he said. “We didn’t have much scouting on the them. We only knew their seed and decided to play our game, play our roles and put it to them. We really focus on what we need to do not on them.”
As for donning the no. 13 kit, Canfield isn’t superstitious but wears the number in homage to retired German national team star Michael Ballack. Canfield has worn no. 13 for as long as he can remember; he lived in Germany at one time and has been a huge fan of Ballack.
Crystal Lake South's Ryan Coughlin finished the scoring for the Gators with 22:34 left to play when he cut across the penalty box before connecting to make it 5-0. At this point, it wasn’t a concern of whether or not Crystal Lake South would win, but if the rain would stop afterward so friends and family of its players could take pictures without getting soaked. The rain did finally stop.
“Before the game we said to each other that we’ve been in this stuff before,” Crystal Lake South senior Jack Wruck said. “When it’s raining, it’s awful, but we have confidence we can play in any condition. It doesn’t matter. It affects both sides, and I think we just tried to outwork them.”
Gators should be used to the water anyway, shouldn’t they?
“Most of the game we were just focusing on being ourselves and playing our way,” Wruck said. “We knew if we did that, we’d be fine. That was the biggest part of it. That’s been the biggest part of the season. Everyone was doing their part and this showed today. 5-0. It’s amazing how much we can do when we do it as a team.”
Crystal Lake South did not take its situation lightly.
“The playoffs are a different animal and anything can happen,” Canfield said. “The weather could be good, it could be bad like this. Teams can play better than normal, teams can play worse. The playoffs are so much different than the regular season.”
Nor did it take Fenton lightly.
“We knew they were really a good attacking team with good skills all over the field,” Allen said. “Our midfield and defense locked them down and kept them off the board, and we knew they were very skilled and could score some goals.
“We won 50/50 balls, kept organized in back and just kept really good shape. We really have prided ourselves on being a defensive-minded team first, but we can go on offense too. Today we were efficient in front of the goal which helps.”
Crystal Lake South will play Gibault in the opening semifinal at 1 p.m. Friday at Hoffman Estates High School.
“I’m super happy or the guys,” Allen said. “The really cool part is watching them smile and celebrate, because they’ve put in so much work, and not just this year.
“I’ve had some of these seniors for four years and others for three years. So seven or eight of them have been here a long time building towards this moment, so to see them rewarded is awesome. It’s the coolest thing.
“And they’re not done. They don’t want to just go to (state) and just be happy to be (at state). They know there are things to accomplish and want to leave their mark with bigger things.”
Gibault hopes to end Crystal Lake South’s 13-game unbeaten streak and earn an opportunity to play for the state title and improve on last year’s runner-up performance.
Starting lineups
Fenton
GK: Carlos Popoca
D: Matthew Plizga
D: Jason Fuentes
D: Ismael Ibarez
D: Ulises Ponce
MF: Ethan Rojas
MF: Abraham Sanchez
MF: Konrad Madej
MF: Fernando Arias
F: Brandon Arias
F: Branny Salas
Crystal Lake South
GK: Matt McCaleb
D: Evan Carlson
D: Andrew Edge
D: Nick Langdon
D: Tommy McSweeney
MF: Ryan Coughlin
MF: Tom Coughlin
MF: Ricky Cristante
MF: Jack Wruck
F: Alex Canfield
F: Brad Grabowski
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Alex Canfield, jr., F, Crystal Lake South
Scoring summary
First half
Crystal Lake South – Alex Canfield (unassisted), 27:14
Crystal Lake South – Tyler Getzinger PK, 15:39
Crystal Lake South – Alex Canfield (Nick Langdon), 1:51
Second half
Crystal Lake South – Alex Canfield (unassisted), 32:30
Crystal Lake South – Ryan Coughlin (unassisted), 22:34
Canfield leads Gators past Fenton in supersectional
By Chris Walker
BURLINGTON – When Crystal Lake South scores first, the Gators win.
That is a fact.
The Gators only needed their first goal during Tuesday’s Class 2A Burlington Central Supersectional, but they tacked on four others to win in convincing fashion while punching their first ticket to the state finals in program history.
Not even rain, and there was a lot of it including lengthy bursts of downpours, could rain on the biggest soccer night in school history when the Gators defeated Fenton 5-0.
“Once we scored that first goal we knew we were going to win,” Crystal Lake South junior Alex Canfield said. “That put us in a great mindset at the start, and we have a statistic where so far this season when we score the first goal, we win.”
The statistic held up thanks to the coaches' all-stater, who scored early to put the Gators in front. He added two other goals to complete a hat-trick while increasing his goal-scoring total to 31 on the season.
Crystal Lake South (20-2-3) jumped on Fenton (14-8-1) on a bullet of a shot from Canfield with 27:14 left before halftime.
“The ball basically came to my feet, and I noticed that the defense wasn’t on my back so I spun around, looked up and took a big touch,” Canfield said. “I knew if I took another touch that the goalie would’ve swept it up, so I took it early from the top of the box.”
The Gators, ranked no. 18 in the final regular season Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, extended their lead to 2-0 with 15:39 before the intermission when Tyler Getzinger converted a penalty kick after what the Fenton sideline deemed to be a poor call.
“We had a great run, but if a game is going to be decided on the field it’s got to be by the players, not by an official,” said Fenton coach Victor Ruiz. “That was a terrible call, and that changed the momentum of the game.
“We made some mistakes, and we owned them, and we've got to grow from there. But the officiating, it just has to get better at this level. They’ve got to be solid and can’t get influenced by the fans, can’t get influenced by a coach.”
Nothing seemed to go right for the Bison, which is the exact opposite of how the postseason had gone for them. While the end wasn’t what Fenton was looking for, they were similar to Crystal Lake South in that 2018 will go down as the best season in school history.
“We beat ourselves more than anything else,” Ruiz said. “I think we had the potential to even beat them, but we made too many mistakes and have to go from there. But the kids made history -- they never made it this far. We just need to build from here. I’m so proud of them.”
Canfield struck again with 1:51 left before halftime to increase Crystal Lake South’s lead to 3-0.
Fenton struggled to do anything to come close to eating away at the deficit in the first half; the Bison didn’t have a shot on goal until the second half. Crystal Lake South's defenders -- Evan Carlson, Andrew Edge, Nick Langdon and Tommy McSweeney -- had something to do with that. They were tough from start to finish.
“We just kept playing hard,” McSweeney said. “We were solid in the back and played it up-top and got some chances early and took advantage of them and held them there for sure.”
The result left a senior like McSweeney in awe that he is now going to state.
“Last year we only got to the regional so to get this far and keep getting better everyday is great,” he said. “I love playing with these guys. It’s just so awesome.
“We definitely knew we had the skills to do this, but we thought of it game by game and not as a whole. We never talked about state, just the next game coming up and then went out and played our best to see where it would take us.”
Canfield completed his hat-trick with 32:30 left to play to make it 4-0. He was able to move past a defender and then take on the goalkeeper. A shot with a soft touch was all it took.
“I think it took us 15-20 minutes to realize that we just have got to go out and play,” Crystal Lake South coach Brian Allen said. “They learned that in the sectional, and we know that early goals are always important. We got that first one and then kept them on their heels. We just kept it going from there, and that’s what we were fortunate to be able to do.”
How impressive and rare is it for someone to score three goals in a supersectional? Canfield scored more goals by himself than Lake Park, Libertyville and Naperville North did in 3A and Gibault Catholic and St. Ignatius did in AA to win their respective supersectionals and also advance to state.
“It feels absolutely amazing right now,” Canfield said. “It’s such a brotherhood here always cheering for each other and thinking about the team more than each other.”
Canfield acknowledged that the Gators were more worried about playing their game their way, than anything their opponent, in this case Fenton, could do to prohibit them from doing so.
“We normally think about us as being our biggest enemy,” he said. “We didn’t have much scouting on the them. We only knew their seed and decided to play our game, play our roles and put it to them. We really focus on what we need to do not on them.”
As for donning the no. 13 kit, Canfield isn’t superstitious but wears the number in homage to retired German national team star Michael Ballack. Canfield has worn no. 13 for as long as he can remember; he lived in Germany at one time and has been a huge fan of Ballack.
Crystal Lake South's Ryan Coughlin finished the scoring for the Gators with 22:34 left to play when he cut across the penalty box before connecting to make it 5-0. At this point, it wasn’t a concern of whether or not Crystal Lake South would win, but if the rain would stop afterward so friends and family of its players could take pictures without getting soaked. The rain did finally stop.
“Before the game we said to each other that we’ve been in this stuff before,” Crystal Lake South senior Jack Wruck said. “When it’s raining, it’s awful, but we have confidence we can play in any condition. It doesn’t matter. It affects both sides, and I think we just tried to outwork them.”
Gators should be used to the water anyway, shouldn’t they?
“Most of the game we were just focusing on being ourselves and playing our way,” Wruck said. “We knew if we did that, we’d be fine. That was the biggest part of it. That’s been the biggest part of the season. Everyone was doing their part and this showed today. 5-0. It’s amazing how much we can do when we do it as a team.”
Crystal Lake South did not take its situation lightly.
“The playoffs are a different animal and anything can happen,” Canfield said. “The weather could be good, it could be bad like this. Teams can play better than normal, teams can play worse. The playoffs are so much different than the regular season.”
Nor did it take Fenton lightly.
“We knew they were really a good attacking team with good skills all over the field,” Allen said. “Our midfield and defense locked them down and kept them off the board, and we knew they were very skilled and could score some goals.
“We won 50/50 balls, kept organized in back and just kept really good shape. We really have prided ourselves on being a defensive-minded team first, but we can go on offense too. Today we were efficient in front of the goal which helps.”
Crystal Lake South will play Gibault in the opening semifinal at 1 p.m. Friday at Hoffman Estates High School.
“I’m super happy or the guys,” Allen said. “The really cool part is watching them smile and celebrate, because they’ve put in so much work, and not just this year.
“I’ve had some of these seniors for four years and others for three years. So seven or eight of them have been here a long time building towards this moment, so to see them rewarded is awesome. It’s the coolest thing.
“And they’re not done. They don’t want to just go to (state) and just be happy to be (at state). They know there are things to accomplish and want to leave their mark with bigger things.”
Gibault hopes to end Crystal Lake South’s 13-game unbeaten streak and earn an opportunity to play for the state title and improve on last year’s runner-up performance.
Starting lineups
Fenton
GK: Carlos Popoca
D: Matthew Plizga
D: Jason Fuentes
D: Ismael Ibarez
D: Ulises Ponce
MF: Ethan Rojas
MF: Abraham Sanchez
MF: Konrad Madej
MF: Fernando Arias
F: Brandon Arias
F: Branny Salas
Crystal Lake South
GK: Matt McCaleb
D: Evan Carlson
D: Andrew Edge
D: Nick Langdon
D: Tommy McSweeney
MF: Ryan Coughlin
MF: Tom Coughlin
MF: Ricky Cristante
MF: Jack Wruck
F: Alex Canfield
F: Brad Grabowski
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Alex Canfield, jr., F, Crystal Lake South
Scoring summary
First half
Crystal Lake South – Alex Canfield (unassisted), 27:14
Crystal Lake South – Tyler Getzinger PK, 15:39
Crystal Lake South – Alex Canfield (Nick Langdon), 1:51
Second half
Crystal Lake South – Alex Canfield (unassisted), 32:30
Crystal Lake South – Ryan Coughlin (unassisted), 22:34