And the shiny, new Downers Grove
rivalry trophy goes to ... no one
South rallies for 3 goals down to tie North in 1st battle for Cup
By Matt Le Cren
DOWNERS GROVE – Downers Grove North’s Trygve Hansen began the scoring with a brilliant blast.
Downers Grove South’s Kyle Fenner ended it with a fantastic finish.
The two junior midfielders, who both wear no. 16, bookended a wonderful 80 minutes of soccer Thursday night that saw their respective teams renew their crosstown rivalry with a nice, new trophy on the line.
The Downers Cup will be awarded to the winner of the annual match. If the game ends in a tie, the team that has possession of it will retain it.
Downers Grove South coach Jon Stapleton, whose assistant, Nate Terry, acquired the trophy, and Downers Grove North coach Mike Schmitt didn’t fathom that this year’s game would end in a tie.
Yet that’s exactly what happened. The visiting Trojans were in command after taking a 3-0 halftime lead, but the Mustangs regrouped and mounted an impressive rally to tie the game at 3-3.
That’s where it ended, after which both teams posed for pictures with the trophy, which Stapleton said will be put in a closet at South, where it will remain out of sight until the 2020 game.
“It won’t be on display,” Stapleton said. “We’ll bring it over to North and give it a shot next year.”
The North-South rivalry already was electric but the coaches decided to up the ante.
“We’ve talked about it for a couple years, and coach (Nate) Terry is the one who found it and picked it up for us. We didn’t have time to work all the kinks.
“What was really cool was how at the end, everyone came together, both schools, and sort of celebrated a nice night of action.”
There was plenty of that, and it started with the opening kickoff.
The Mustangs (5-7-1) attacked right away and Downers North goalie Gavin Crowson was forced to make a nice kick save on Aaron Venouziou in the opening 10 seconds.
The Trojans (6-6-2) counterattacked and got the ball over the top to Hansen, who blasted a 35-yard shot off the inside of the right post and in to give North a 1-0 lead with only 21 seconds expired.
“The ball just bounced to me, and I saw the goalie was off his line, so I just shot it where he wasn’t,” Hansen said. “I really like shooting from distance.”
It was the seventh goal of the season for Hansen, who has the green light to fire from wherever he may be.
“You couldn’t ask for a better start,” Schmitt said. “He got the ball, and we were all yelling at him to shoot.
“From our angle it looked like it was veering pretty far wide, but it was a perfectly-placed shot, right into the top corner. It was a fantastic way to start, especially in an atmosphere at a game like this.”
That was only the beginning of North’s first half dominance. Each team had five saves for the game, but Crowson made four of his five saves before the break while his teammates converted three of their first four shots.
That included their second shot, a corner kick from Sam Bull that deflected off a Mustang and into the net at the 26:47 mark.
North extended the lead to 3-0 with 14:01 to go on a counterattack. Hansen took the ball to the right end line before crossing to Jose Perez, who roofed a shot from just outside the far post.
“That first goal was unbelievable,” Stapleton said. “We almost score here, they come back and score. It was an unbelievable hit and credit to (Hansen) for putting it in.
“The second one was that the corner kick that was put in. We feel we kind of gave it to them.
“All things considered; we didn’t feel we were out of it. The third goal hurt us mentality wise a little bit because at 2-0 you feel, OK, we can come back.
“At 3-0, it becomes a little bit more of a challenge. But we just felt that if we could get that first one, we’d have a chance to come back.”
The Trojans went to the break understandably elated. But the Mustangs said they were still in high spirits.
“Some people might have (doubted us), but in the locker room we were just telling each other 'Keep our heads up. We got this. We can do this, nothing is impossible,'” Downers South sophomore Josh Venouziou said. “We can win or tie this game, and that’s what happened.”
The Mustangs, who entered with a three-game winning streak, began the second half much the same way the Trojans did the first half – on the attack.
Erick Gonzalez sent a 27-yard shot just wide of the left post at the 35:38 mark and 38 seconds later Blazo Jovicevic rolled a shot off the inside of the right post. A scramble developed in the box, with a North defender blocking one shot before the ball was eventually cleared.
But it was a sign of things to come. Five minutes later, Jovicevic got his team on the board with a long-distance shot over the head of Crowson.
That swung the momentum in favor of the Mustangs, though both teams had an even number of chances. Both sides mustered 10 shots.
Downers Grove North had two great chances with the score at 3-1. Alessandro Karrow launched a nasty 25-yard rocket which Downers South goalie Christopher Gory tipped over the crossbar with 27:00 remaining.
Five minutes later, Bull sent a 30-yard free kick from the left wing into the box, where it was blocked in front. The ball came to Eddie Ursulica, whose shot sailed high.
After that, it was all Mustangs.
Josh Venouziou pulled South within 3-2 when he headed in a tight corner kick from Gonzalez with 14:30 to go.
Crowson kept the Trojans in front with a terrific leaping effort to tip a 29-yard drive off the foot of Jony Flores over the pipe with 6:35 left.
But immediately following an injury timeout, the Mustangs got a throw-in deep down the left wing. Defender Ethan Kelly heaved a high-arcing toss to the edge of the six, where Fenner headed it past Crowson for the equalizer at the 4:55 mark.
“We went in the locker room and everyone was like, 'Keep your heads up,'” said Fenner, who like Josh Venouziou has five goals this season. “We got the first, got the second. The third one, we’ve been dangerous on throw-ins all year me and Ethan.
“Even Josh has a lot of goals that way. We’ve always been dangerous on corners and throw-ins.”
When the horn ended what was by all accounts a fair result, the Mustangs celebrated as if they had won, while the Trojans were understandably dejected.
“That was probably the best first half we’ve played this season and probably one of the worst second halves we’ve played,” Bull said. “We’ve been caught in that situation before, and we’ve been on the good side of that before. It’s just really frustrating to be on that bad side.”
Schmitt concurred.
“It was definitely an entertaining game, and it was definitely a game of two halves -- two different story lines basically,” Schmitt said. “2-0 is a dangerous score. It was a good thing we got a third goal in the first half or that could have been a really bad scenario for us.”
It is rare for a team to overcome a three-goal deficit, but South’s comeback proved anything is possible.
“I think we were pretty confident coming out at halftime," Schmitt said. "I think we may have gotten a little overconfident and a little complacent. We left a sitter in the box, and we put it over the goal. I think that would have put the game out of reach.
“Once we gave up that first goal, I think we got put on the back foot. You could kind of feel it coming, too.”
The Trojans’ up-and-down performance mirrored their, thus the .500 record.
“We’re doing pretty well but there are a lot of areas (that need) improvement,” Hansen said. “We take out a lot of things (from the match).
“We had a really good first half, and we had really good build-up. We’ve just got to keep our composure in the second half and (if we had) we would have won the game.”
Unlike the Trojans, the Mustangs left on a high note.
“It feels good,” Fenner said. “Everyone is excited.
“No one is down from this game. It feels like a win right now. It feels like our streak is still going.”
After a frustratingly poor start, the Mustangs are 3-0-1 in their last four outings, giving them hope for strong finish for the regular season.
“I think we’ve picked up the tempo, and we’re playing better as a team and you can see the results,” Josh Venouziou said. “This is what happens when you work together.”
While the Downers Cup will be stashed in a closet, it still gives the players a target for next year. The Trojans hope to seize it when they host the Mustangs in 2020 at Carstens Field.
“It’s already such an energetic game on its own and we wanted to add something to it,” Schmitt said. “It’s something tangible that you can hold onto and have for a year.”
Starting lineups
Downers Grove North
GK Gavin Crowson
D Brian Benton
D Sam Bull
D Owen Lesley
D James Nuttall
M Alessandro Karrow
M Trygve Hansen
M Andrew Janowiak
F Eddie Ursulica
F Aiden Flores
Downers Grove South
GK Kenny Rosales
D Michael Loughran
D Ethan Kelly
D Peter Pierropoulos
D Jack Storrs
M Blazo Jovicevic
M Jony Flores
M Devin Boone
M Kyle Fenner
M Aaron Venouziou
F Erick Gonzalez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Trygve Hansen, jr., M, Downers Grove North
Scoring summary
First half
Downers North – Trygve Hansen 39:39
Downers North – Sam Bull 26:14
Downers North – Jose Perez (Hansen) 14:01
Second half
Downers South – Blazo Jovicevic 30:16
Downers South – Josh Venouzious (Erick Gonzalez) 14:30
Downers South – Kyle Fenner (Ethan Kelly) 4:55
rivalry trophy goes to ... no one
South rallies for 3 goals down to tie North in 1st battle for Cup
By Matt Le Cren
DOWNERS GROVE – Downers Grove North’s Trygve Hansen began the scoring with a brilliant blast.
Downers Grove South’s Kyle Fenner ended it with a fantastic finish.
The two junior midfielders, who both wear no. 16, bookended a wonderful 80 minutes of soccer Thursday night that saw their respective teams renew their crosstown rivalry with a nice, new trophy on the line.
The Downers Cup will be awarded to the winner of the annual match. If the game ends in a tie, the team that has possession of it will retain it.
Downers Grove South coach Jon Stapleton, whose assistant, Nate Terry, acquired the trophy, and Downers Grove North coach Mike Schmitt didn’t fathom that this year’s game would end in a tie.
Yet that’s exactly what happened. The visiting Trojans were in command after taking a 3-0 halftime lead, but the Mustangs regrouped and mounted an impressive rally to tie the game at 3-3.
That’s where it ended, after which both teams posed for pictures with the trophy, which Stapleton said will be put in a closet at South, where it will remain out of sight until the 2020 game.
“It won’t be on display,” Stapleton said. “We’ll bring it over to North and give it a shot next year.”
The North-South rivalry already was electric but the coaches decided to up the ante.
“We’ve talked about it for a couple years, and coach (Nate) Terry is the one who found it and picked it up for us. We didn’t have time to work all the kinks.
“What was really cool was how at the end, everyone came together, both schools, and sort of celebrated a nice night of action.”
There was plenty of that, and it started with the opening kickoff.
The Mustangs (5-7-1) attacked right away and Downers North goalie Gavin Crowson was forced to make a nice kick save on Aaron Venouziou in the opening 10 seconds.
The Trojans (6-6-2) counterattacked and got the ball over the top to Hansen, who blasted a 35-yard shot off the inside of the right post and in to give North a 1-0 lead with only 21 seconds expired.
“The ball just bounced to me, and I saw the goalie was off his line, so I just shot it where he wasn’t,” Hansen said. “I really like shooting from distance.”
It was the seventh goal of the season for Hansen, who has the green light to fire from wherever he may be.
“You couldn’t ask for a better start,” Schmitt said. “He got the ball, and we were all yelling at him to shoot.
“From our angle it looked like it was veering pretty far wide, but it was a perfectly-placed shot, right into the top corner. It was a fantastic way to start, especially in an atmosphere at a game like this.”
That was only the beginning of North’s first half dominance. Each team had five saves for the game, but Crowson made four of his five saves before the break while his teammates converted three of their first four shots.
That included their second shot, a corner kick from Sam Bull that deflected off a Mustang and into the net at the 26:47 mark.
North extended the lead to 3-0 with 14:01 to go on a counterattack. Hansen took the ball to the right end line before crossing to Jose Perez, who roofed a shot from just outside the far post.
“That first goal was unbelievable,” Stapleton said. “We almost score here, they come back and score. It was an unbelievable hit and credit to (Hansen) for putting it in.
“The second one was that the corner kick that was put in. We feel we kind of gave it to them.
“All things considered; we didn’t feel we were out of it. The third goal hurt us mentality wise a little bit because at 2-0 you feel, OK, we can come back.
“At 3-0, it becomes a little bit more of a challenge. But we just felt that if we could get that first one, we’d have a chance to come back.”
The Trojans went to the break understandably elated. But the Mustangs said they were still in high spirits.
“Some people might have (doubted us), but in the locker room we were just telling each other 'Keep our heads up. We got this. We can do this, nothing is impossible,'” Downers South sophomore Josh Venouziou said. “We can win or tie this game, and that’s what happened.”
The Mustangs, who entered with a three-game winning streak, began the second half much the same way the Trojans did the first half – on the attack.
Erick Gonzalez sent a 27-yard shot just wide of the left post at the 35:38 mark and 38 seconds later Blazo Jovicevic rolled a shot off the inside of the right post. A scramble developed in the box, with a North defender blocking one shot before the ball was eventually cleared.
But it was a sign of things to come. Five minutes later, Jovicevic got his team on the board with a long-distance shot over the head of Crowson.
That swung the momentum in favor of the Mustangs, though both teams had an even number of chances. Both sides mustered 10 shots.
Downers Grove North had two great chances with the score at 3-1. Alessandro Karrow launched a nasty 25-yard rocket which Downers South goalie Christopher Gory tipped over the crossbar with 27:00 remaining.
Five minutes later, Bull sent a 30-yard free kick from the left wing into the box, where it was blocked in front. The ball came to Eddie Ursulica, whose shot sailed high.
After that, it was all Mustangs.
Josh Venouziou pulled South within 3-2 when he headed in a tight corner kick from Gonzalez with 14:30 to go.
Crowson kept the Trojans in front with a terrific leaping effort to tip a 29-yard drive off the foot of Jony Flores over the pipe with 6:35 left.
But immediately following an injury timeout, the Mustangs got a throw-in deep down the left wing. Defender Ethan Kelly heaved a high-arcing toss to the edge of the six, where Fenner headed it past Crowson for the equalizer at the 4:55 mark.
“We went in the locker room and everyone was like, 'Keep your heads up,'” said Fenner, who like Josh Venouziou has five goals this season. “We got the first, got the second. The third one, we’ve been dangerous on throw-ins all year me and Ethan.
“Even Josh has a lot of goals that way. We’ve always been dangerous on corners and throw-ins.”
When the horn ended what was by all accounts a fair result, the Mustangs celebrated as if they had won, while the Trojans were understandably dejected.
“That was probably the best first half we’ve played this season and probably one of the worst second halves we’ve played,” Bull said. “We’ve been caught in that situation before, and we’ve been on the good side of that before. It’s just really frustrating to be on that bad side.”
Schmitt concurred.
“It was definitely an entertaining game, and it was definitely a game of two halves -- two different story lines basically,” Schmitt said. “2-0 is a dangerous score. It was a good thing we got a third goal in the first half or that could have been a really bad scenario for us.”
It is rare for a team to overcome a three-goal deficit, but South’s comeback proved anything is possible.
“I think we were pretty confident coming out at halftime," Schmitt said. "I think we may have gotten a little overconfident and a little complacent. We left a sitter in the box, and we put it over the goal. I think that would have put the game out of reach.
“Once we gave up that first goal, I think we got put on the back foot. You could kind of feel it coming, too.”
The Trojans’ up-and-down performance mirrored their, thus the .500 record.
“We’re doing pretty well but there are a lot of areas (that need) improvement,” Hansen said. “We take out a lot of things (from the match).
“We had a really good first half, and we had really good build-up. We’ve just got to keep our composure in the second half and (if we had) we would have won the game.”
Unlike the Trojans, the Mustangs left on a high note.
“It feels good,” Fenner said. “Everyone is excited.
“No one is down from this game. It feels like a win right now. It feels like our streak is still going.”
After a frustratingly poor start, the Mustangs are 3-0-1 in their last four outings, giving them hope for strong finish for the regular season.
“I think we’ve picked up the tempo, and we’re playing better as a team and you can see the results,” Josh Venouziou said. “This is what happens when you work together.”
While the Downers Cup will be stashed in a closet, it still gives the players a target for next year. The Trojans hope to seize it when they host the Mustangs in 2020 at Carstens Field.
“It’s already such an energetic game on its own and we wanted to add something to it,” Schmitt said. “It’s something tangible that you can hold onto and have for a year.”
Starting lineups
Downers Grove North
GK Gavin Crowson
D Brian Benton
D Sam Bull
D Owen Lesley
D James Nuttall
M Alessandro Karrow
M Trygve Hansen
M Andrew Janowiak
F Eddie Ursulica
F Aiden Flores
Downers Grove South
GK Kenny Rosales
D Michael Loughran
D Ethan Kelly
D Peter Pierropoulos
D Jack Storrs
M Blazo Jovicevic
M Jony Flores
M Devin Boone
M Kyle Fenner
M Aaron Venouziou
F Erick Gonzalez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Trygve Hansen, jr., M, Downers Grove North
Scoring summary
First half
Downers North – Trygve Hansen 39:39
Downers North – Sam Bull 26:14
Downers North – Jose Perez (Hansen) 14:01
Second half
Downers South – Blazo Jovicevic 30:16
Downers South – Josh Venouzious (Erick Gonzalez) 14:30
Downers South – Kyle Fenner (Ethan Kelly) 4:55