DGN battles to draw at Minooka
Trojans use wind to rally for 1-1 result
By Hannah Bevis
MINOOKA -- Going into Thursday’s game, both Downers Grove North and Minooka expected a physical match.
They were right. Things got heated and seven yellow cards were issued.
In the end, the Trojans (2-2-1) and Indians limped off the field with a 1-1 tie, leaving neither team completely satisfied with the result.
“I thought the referees did an OK job. I mean, it's not an easy job, and I understand that. I just think that if they don’t get control of a game early-on, it tends to get out of hand, especially against an aggressive team like them,” Downer Grove North head coach Mike Schmitt said. “It’s going to be physical, we knew that coming in.”
The contest was part of the Lemont Tournament, which the Trojans had won the last two seasons. They won’t three-peat in the round-robin tourney this season with a loss (4-0 against East Aurora) and the tie against Minooka. But the way things played out on Thursday, they may have been lucky to escape with the draw against the Indians, especially after a rocky opening 40 minutes.
“We were under a lot of pressure in the first half. Going into the wind, it was a pretty strong wind and we understood that going in. So coming out of the first half not giving up a goal was kind of a victory in our eyes,” Schmitt said.
“It was a good first half, I’m not too disappointed about it. We did take a lot of pressure, but we handled it well. We didn’t really give up too many opportunities, and the ones that we did we held them off and kept the ball out of the net.”
That was thanks in part to senior goalkeeper Christopher Bull, who stayed calm and steady with a 25 mph wind in his face and denied Minooka several golden opportunities on net.
From the opening kickoff and with Mother Nature on their side, it was the home team that controlled the pace of the game. The first couple of the Indian’s offensive attacks stopped short because of mistimed passes, but as the half wore on, Minooka spent most of its time peppering Bull, who earned Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match honor for his work.
“We had chances to score and just didn’t covert,” said Minooka head coach Nate Spriggs. “And that’s the way it goes sometimes in soccer.”
Considering Downers Grove North has been dealing with injuries, their defensive performance against Minooka was even more noteworthy.
“Our center back was out today, Nick Eshghy. He’s kind of a big piece of our backline, and he was missing today,” Schmitt said. “We filtered in players across that backline that I thought did a good job stepping in and playing a full 80 minutes today.”
Despite a couple of corner kicks from Minooka and a few charging blasts from the center of the slot that sailed just over the crossbar, both teams went into halftime tied at 0-0.
In the second half, the game started to get dicey.
Things started off on a positive note for Downers Grove North. Midfielder Jack Richards took three free kicks in the opening minutes of the second half that were just wide, and it looked like the Trojans could keep riding that momentum and use the wind that was now at their backs.
But with less than 20 minutes to play and play on the field getting increasingly more physical, the refs handed out their first yellow card of the match to Downer Grove’s Ramsey Forst, a forward who’d come off of the Trojans bench and had been creating some solid opportunities since entering the game.
Minooka began to press hard offensively, and it paid off for them. Alex Richter took a throw-in on the left side of the field and his offering found a perfectly placed Jared Avalos, who headed the ball past Bull for a 1-0 lead with just 12:51 left in the game.
“I think with such a physical team, (we needed) a little more pride and a little more aggressiveness inside our own box to get to the ball first, just having that grit to want to be the first to the ball,” Schmitt said.
Needing a response, Downers Grove North came out firing but got another yellow card shortly after the goal, this one given to Richards.
With frustration starting to mount on both sides, the Trojans got a free kick that turned into the lucky break they needed.
Will Thomas sent what was meant to be a cross into the box, but the wind carried it right over keeper Heglund Carson’s head and into the net to tie the game 1-1 with 9:10 remaining.
“It wasn’t exactly a shot, it was more of a cross that just happened to catch the goalie off guard,” said Thomas. "He wasn’t looking, he was back on his heels, and it just went right over his head.
“Our guys crashed the box well and created a lot of pressure on their goalie … I don’t think anybody was really expecting that.”
Expected or not, it was just what the Trojans needed. Minooka pressed hard in the final nine minutes, and tensions finally boiled over in the form of several skirmishes that gave the Indians another free kick.
Yellow cards were still flying at the end of 80 minutes as players from both teams got a little heated before going back to their benches after the 1-1 draw.
“I think we know now that there are going to be some teams that are going to play pretty physical in this tournament, and I think we have to meet them with that,” said Bull.
Thomas agreed with his keeper.
“I think it’s good to see a team this physical," he said. “That will prepare us more for later opponents that are just as physical. We’ll be expecting it in our next game for sure and come out stronger.”
The Trojans conclude the tournament with a game against host Lemont on Saturday and the sire to finish the five-team round-robin event on a high note.
Starting lineups
Downers Grove North
GK: Christopher Bull
D: Ryan Newstrom
D: Samuel Bull
D: Will Thomas
D/M: Victor Antonyuk
M: Brett Mills
M: Jack Richards
M: Nicholas Chapa
M: Declan Kramper
F: Tyler Cree
F: Braeden Gagliano
Minooka
GK: Carson Heglund
D: Dakota Nelson
D: Isaac Westerhoff
D: Tim Doody
D/M: Frank Thompson
M: Jared Avalos
M: Dominic Ruettiger
M: Erik Lakota
M: Jake Westerhoff
F: Blake Brandenburg
F: Conor Waldron
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Christopher Bull, sr., GK, Downers Grove North
Trojans use wind to rally for 1-1 result
By Hannah Bevis
MINOOKA -- Going into Thursday’s game, both Downers Grove North and Minooka expected a physical match.
They were right. Things got heated and seven yellow cards were issued.
In the end, the Trojans (2-2-1) and Indians limped off the field with a 1-1 tie, leaving neither team completely satisfied with the result.
“I thought the referees did an OK job. I mean, it's not an easy job, and I understand that. I just think that if they don’t get control of a game early-on, it tends to get out of hand, especially against an aggressive team like them,” Downer Grove North head coach Mike Schmitt said. “It’s going to be physical, we knew that coming in.”
The contest was part of the Lemont Tournament, which the Trojans had won the last two seasons. They won’t three-peat in the round-robin tourney this season with a loss (4-0 against East Aurora) and the tie against Minooka. But the way things played out on Thursday, they may have been lucky to escape with the draw against the Indians, especially after a rocky opening 40 minutes.
“We were under a lot of pressure in the first half. Going into the wind, it was a pretty strong wind and we understood that going in. So coming out of the first half not giving up a goal was kind of a victory in our eyes,” Schmitt said.
“It was a good first half, I’m not too disappointed about it. We did take a lot of pressure, but we handled it well. We didn’t really give up too many opportunities, and the ones that we did we held them off and kept the ball out of the net.”
That was thanks in part to senior goalkeeper Christopher Bull, who stayed calm and steady with a 25 mph wind in his face and denied Minooka several golden opportunities on net.
From the opening kickoff and with Mother Nature on their side, it was the home team that controlled the pace of the game. The first couple of the Indian’s offensive attacks stopped short because of mistimed passes, but as the half wore on, Minooka spent most of its time peppering Bull, who earned Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match honor for his work.
“We had chances to score and just didn’t covert,” said Minooka head coach Nate Spriggs. “And that’s the way it goes sometimes in soccer.”
Considering Downers Grove North has been dealing with injuries, their defensive performance against Minooka was even more noteworthy.
“Our center back was out today, Nick Eshghy. He’s kind of a big piece of our backline, and he was missing today,” Schmitt said. “We filtered in players across that backline that I thought did a good job stepping in and playing a full 80 minutes today.”
Despite a couple of corner kicks from Minooka and a few charging blasts from the center of the slot that sailed just over the crossbar, both teams went into halftime tied at 0-0.
In the second half, the game started to get dicey.
Things started off on a positive note for Downers Grove North. Midfielder Jack Richards took three free kicks in the opening minutes of the second half that were just wide, and it looked like the Trojans could keep riding that momentum and use the wind that was now at their backs.
But with less than 20 minutes to play and play on the field getting increasingly more physical, the refs handed out their first yellow card of the match to Downer Grove’s Ramsey Forst, a forward who’d come off of the Trojans bench and had been creating some solid opportunities since entering the game.
Minooka began to press hard offensively, and it paid off for them. Alex Richter took a throw-in on the left side of the field and his offering found a perfectly placed Jared Avalos, who headed the ball past Bull for a 1-0 lead with just 12:51 left in the game.
“I think with such a physical team, (we needed) a little more pride and a little more aggressiveness inside our own box to get to the ball first, just having that grit to want to be the first to the ball,” Schmitt said.
Needing a response, Downers Grove North came out firing but got another yellow card shortly after the goal, this one given to Richards.
With frustration starting to mount on both sides, the Trojans got a free kick that turned into the lucky break they needed.
Will Thomas sent what was meant to be a cross into the box, but the wind carried it right over keeper Heglund Carson’s head and into the net to tie the game 1-1 with 9:10 remaining.
“It wasn’t exactly a shot, it was more of a cross that just happened to catch the goalie off guard,” said Thomas. "He wasn’t looking, he was back on his heels, and it just went right over his head.
“Our guys crashed the box well and created a lot of pressure on their goalie … I don’t think anybody was really expecting that.”
Expected or not, it was just what the Trojans needed. Minooka pressed hard in the final nine minutes, and tensions finally boiled over in the form of several skirmishes that gave the Indians another free kick.
Yellow cards were still flying at the end of 80 minutes as players from both teams got a little heated before going back to their benches after the 1-1 draw.
“I think we know now that there are going to be some teams that are going to play pretty physical in this tournament, and I think we have to meet them with that,” said Bull.
Thomas agreed with his keeper.
“I think it’s good to see a team this physical," he said. “That will prepare us more for later opponents that are just as physical. We’ll be expecting it in our next game for sure and come out stronger.”
The Trojans conclude the tournament with a game against host Lemont on Saturday and the sire to finish the five-team round-robin event on a high note.
Starting lineups
Downers Grove North
GK: Christopher Bull
D: Ryan Newstrom
D: Samuel Bull
D: Will Thomas
D/M: Victor Antonyuk
M: Brett Mills
M: Jack Richards
M: Nicholas Chapa
M: Declan Kramper
F: Tyler Cree
F: Braeden Gagliano
Minooka
GK: Carson Heglund
D: Dakota Nelson
D: Isaac Westerhoff
D: Tim Doody
D/M: Frank Thompson
M: Jared Avalos
M: Dominic Ruettiger
M: Erik Lakota
M: Jake Westerhoff
F: Blake Brandenburg
F: Conor Waldron
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Christopher Bull, sr., GK, Downers Grove North