Picture-perfect goals pace Downers Grove North to comeback win over St. Francis
Pair of pretty goals cap 3-2 Trojans win at Plainfield Classic
By Dave Owen
PLAINFIELD – For both effectiveness and YouTube worthiness, Downers Grove North’s first 10 minutes of the second half Monday would be nearly impossible to top.
Trailing St. Francis 2-0 at the break of their Plainfield Classic second round game at Plainfield Central, the Trojans (4-3-0) exploded for three goals in the first 9:14 of the second half to take a 3-2 over the Spartans (2-5-1).
“It was all the halftime talk,” DGN senior Eddie Ursulica said. “We knew we were down, and we had a fighting spirit to come back.
“We showed it in the second half. We started off strong, and we got the three goals to bring us back in the game.”
How the three goals developed was nearly as impressive.
Trygve Hansen provided a wakeup call of sorts three minutes into the second half, when his rising 25-yard free kick was deflected off the crossbar by leaping St. Francis goalkeeper Adam Thill.
On Hansen’s ensuing corner kick, Alex Karrow took a short pass and had his try deflected to Ursulica, whose 12-yard drive brought DGN within 2-1 with 36:39 to play.
“We work in practice on corners,” Ursulica said, “and I stay back post and back off. I’m always the guy at the end to get the loose balls and tap them in. That’s exactly what happened in training, and it worked out in the game.”
For Ursulica and the Trojans, the best was yet to come.
Three minutes later, the senior’s speed and nose for the goal combined to generate the tying goal.
A nice Lucas Turk send from midfield reached Ursulica in the left corner. After sending a cross to Hansen at the left edge of the box, Ursulica made a tough angle run near the end line with a defender on his heels.
Hansen’s touch pass connected with Ursulica inside the 6 for a left-post putaway, as DGN turned a sliver of daylight into a score.
“I was always trying to beat the defender 1-on-1,” said Ursulica, whose momentum-turning first two goals of 2019 earned him Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors.
“It started beating their player 1-v.-1 on the sideline, getting in the box, the little cut back to the 6 and then getting it right back for an easy tap-in.”
If that extra effort finish was a nice combination, the go-ahead goal blew it away.
With 30:46 to play, Sam Bull lined a left-sideline send from 30 yards out towards the back post.
Bull’s perfectly struck ball was matched by a perfect finish, as sprinting forward Aidan Flores’ diving header at the right post found the back of the net to put the Trojans ahead 3-2.
“I saw my teammate (Bull) running in to cross the ball,” Flores said. “I started making the run across the back line to get in position. Then I saw the ball a little ahead of me so I had to dive for it, and luckily I got it in the goal.
“I thought with Eddie’s two goals we started rolling. We knew it was going to be rough (down 2-0). But we knew if we got one, then they would be in a tough position, because we would start rolling.
“Once we got one,” Flores added, “then we got the momentum, and we just had to keep it going.”
The Bull-to-Flores goal capped the momentum swing – and was both a game-winner and an award winner.
“That third one was probably the best goal we’ve scored all season,” Trojans coach Mike Schmitt said. “It was fantastic, a great cross and a great finish.”
The play was the highlight of a great night for Bull, a junior captain who is building nicely on a strong sophomore season.
“Sam Bull had a fantastic whole game, but the second half especially,” Schmitt said. “He was really a part of everything we did.
“He got that assist for the third goal, and he was putting in some really dangerous crosses. And I thought he showed a lot of leadership as a junior captain.
“Alex Karrow also played really well,” Schmitt added, “I could really name all 22 players on our roster. But we had such strong leadership tonight, and it really came from our captains and our backline.”
In a matter of just under six minutes, DGN had turned a two-goal deficit into a lead.
“Once we got that first one,” Schmitt said, “you could feel something was going to happen the rest of the way. And we pulled it out and worked really hard as a unit.”
St. Francis’ own quick-strike offense off set pieces had stolen the spotlight in the first half.
In the 22nd minute, Michael Fasana’s strong free kick send from 45 yards ricocheted to Trey Gora at the upper right edge of the box. Gora’s 16-yard liner inside the left post put the Spartans up 1-0 with 18:28 until halftime.
Then just 76 seconds later, Fasana again lit the fuse on more St. Francis fireworks. His free kick send from just inside midfield found Nathan Corrigan right of the box.
Corrigan's cross connected with Frank Marsico in front, who lined a low shot off the DGN goalkeeper’s hands and in for a 2-0 lead.
“It was off a free kick, and normally I make that back post run,” said Marsico, who has seven goals this season. “But I decided to change it up and cut to the front post, because I noticed no one was there.
“I figured if it pops out towards me, I’m wide open. And Nathan found me on a great pass, I hit them with a volley and put it in.”
Coming off a 2-1 win over Oswego East in the Plainfield Classic first round, St. Francis was rolling again.
“I think it’s one of those things that was similar to Oswego,” Marsico said. “We just do our thing (on offense) and good things happen. When we play well, good things happen for us.
“We did a good job in the first half (vs. DGN),” Marsico added. “We just have to find a way to keep that up the entire 80 minutes even though that’s not easy. They (DGN) were a good team.”
Making it even harder for the Spartans to continue rolling was a leg injury to Marsico later in the first half.
The senior would not return to the match until 15:20 remained – well after the trio of DGN goals.
“There was a loose ball, and I just went in for it,” Marsico said. “Looking back on it, it probably wasn’t the smartest idea to go for it. I talked to the trainer, and she said she thinks it’s just bruised, so hopefully I can ice it the next couple of days and be back full strength.”
St. Francis coach Kevin Ward was succinct in summing up the impact of Marsico’s absence.
“You saw it hurt us a lot,” Ward said.
With St. Francis up 2-0, the Trojans began to stir with threats by Karrow (low shot that angled just wide of the right post in the 27th minute) and Jose Perez (shot wide right off a close-in Colin Nutall throw-in).
DGN goalkeeper Gavin Crowson then came up big to keep St. Francis from adding to its lead. Off a Marsico right side run and cross, Gora’s 8-yard shot from in-front was blocked point blank by Crowson coming off his line.
“One theme that’s been working for us is us moving the ball,” Marsico said., “and making a lot of combos up -top. When we do that, we get a lot of chances that we can eventually convert.”
Early first half chances included a Karrow liner wide right in the 4th minute off a DGN corner kick; a Marsico shot deflected wide left off a Gora pass nine minutes in; and a Karrow 12-yard free kick left of the box in the 12th minute that rocketed just wide of the right post.
“We just came into halftime and felt we had controlled most of the first half,” Schmitt said, “except for a five-or-six minute period where we gave up a couple of set pieces that we just weren’t tough enough on.
“We let the ball drop and didn’t get that second ball, and we gave them opportunities we don’t normally like to give away.”
Said Ursulica: “We started the game really strong, but then after five or 10 minutes we kind of turned it off. We talked at halftime that we had to turn it around. We knew we could do better, and we came back.”
After rallying to the 3-2 lead, the Trojans continued to push.
Hansen’s nice 50-50 ball win and left-side dash led to a Peter Bednar shot that was thwarted by Guy Defeo’s shot block with 28:40 to play. Then with 16:55 left, another nice Bull send (a 33-yard free kick) narrowly missed a would-be header connection at the right post.
With 9:15 to go, Franklin Griffin took a Hansen pass and angled a right-side shot just wide of the left post. Then 40 seconds later, Thill’s leaping deflection denied a Hansen chip towards the net from near the left end line.
“We had really good sequences of play,” Schmitt said. “We had control of the ball, we were possessing well and creating a lot of opportunities. We could have probably gotten four or five (goals) out of that, but I’ll take the three.”
That comment came after the 3-2 lead held up under some last-minute duress.
With 4:40 left, a sequence of 50-50 ball wins inside midfield by Bull, Brian Benton and Hansen quieted the Spartans and ignited a counterattack, which ended with a Flores shot just wide of the net.
DGN would then rely on its defense in a frenetic final 90 seconds.
Goalkeeper Thill’s defensive end free kick was initially headed away from 30 yards out by DGN’s Joshua LeBlanc.
But a St. Francis midfield resend would set up a Nick Felty pass to Nico Lajewski, whose 10-yard shot forced DGN second half goalkeeper Jason Pluister into a catch save.
Trojan defender Colin Doyle’s nice clear with 20 seconds left seemed to cap the match. But a last-second, long Spartans send towards Gora on a left wing run ended with Pluister diving on the loose ball just ahead of contact with five seconds left.
The tale of two halves ended in DGN’s favor, but St. Francis had positives to draw on.
“We had two free kicks that we executed,” Ward said. “If we could have hung on in the second half…," said Ward.
“But they were a little more physical than we were, bigger than we were. And that probably played a factor in what was going on.”
As a Class AA team playing mostly larger school competition in early season tournaments, St. Francis has progressed.
“We’re playing better ball all the time,” Ward said. “We could have walked out of here 2-0 in this tournament right now. That’s the way we’re looking at it. Nothing disparaging, we’re not down; I’m not upset right now. We’re right in it.
“You can always draw the line and say you lost, and that’s the way we’ll look at it,” Ward added. “But we’re going to look at where we are right now, and we’re getting better. From the first two or three games of the year, you can tell the difference.”
As for differences, DGN’s ability to change the tide in the second half was a very good sign for the future.
“We made a pretty big point at the half that 2-0 is a dangerous score to have on either side,” Schmitt said. “That first goal of the second half is going to be very important, and it was crucial that we get it.
“And if we get one, we can get two and then three, and sure enough that’s what happened. The first 10 to 12 minutes was everything we could have asked for. And it was a fantastic second half for us.”
The Trojans now look to ride the wave into a key conference match Tuesday at Glenbard West. They will resume Plainfield Classic play Thursday as the Group 4 leader with seven points. A positive result against Oswego East would push them into the Saturday semifinals.
“I feel like we’re rolling right now,’ Flores said. “We haven’t seen a loss in a little bit, and we’re all connecting really well.”
Said Ursulica: “This win makes us push more for the next game and to want better results in the future and keep winning.”
Starting lineups:
DGN
GK Gavin Crowson
D Brian Benton
D Owen Lesley
D Mason Roberts
M Ryan Padovani
M Sam Bull
M Trygve Hansen
M Peter Bednar
M Alex Karrow
F Eddie Ursulica
F Aidan Flores
St. Francis
GK Adam Thill
D Cameron Crawford
D Nathan Corrigan
D Brendan Yarusso
D Sam Premak
M Nico Lajewski
M Frank Marsico
M Guy Defeo
M Jack Hartle
F Trey Gora
F Michael Fasana
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Eddie Ursulica, sr. F, DGN
Scoring summary
First half
St F- Trey Gora, 22nd min
St F- Frank Marsico (Nathan Corrigan assist), 23rd min
Second half
DGN- Eddie Ursulica (Alex Karrow), 44th min
DGN- Ursulica (Trgve Hansen), 47th min
DGN- Aidan Flores (Sam Bull), 50th min
Pair of pretty goals cap 3-2 Trojans win at Plainfield Classic
By Dave Owen
PLAINFIELD – For both effectiveness and YouTube worthiness, Downers Grove North’s first 10 minutes of the second half Monday would be nearly impossible to top.
Trailing St. Francis 2-0 at the break of their Plainfield Classic second round game at Plainfield Central, the Trojans (4-3-0) exploded for three goals in the first 9:14 of the second half to take a 3-2 over the Spartans (2-5-1).
“It was all the halftime talk,” DGN senior Eddie Ursulica said. “We knew we were down, and we had a fighting spirit to come back.
“We showed it in the second half. We started off strong, and we got the three goals to bring us back in the game.”
How the three goals developed was nearly as impressive.
Trygve Hansen provided a wakeup call of sorts three minutes into the second half, when his rising 25-yard free kick was deflected off the crossbar by leaping St. Francis goalkeeper Adam Thill.
On Hansen’s ensuing corner kick, Alex Karrow took a short pass and had his try deflected to Ursulica, whose 12-yard drive brought DGN within 2-1 with 36:39 to play.
“We work in practice on corners,” Ursulica said, “and I stay back post and back off. I’m always the guy at the end to get the loose balls and tap them in. That’s exactly what happened in training, and it worked out in the game.”
For Ursulica and the Trojans, the best was yet to come.
Three minutes later, the senior’s speed and nose for the goal combined to generate the tying goal.
A nice Lucas Turk send from midfield reached Ursulica in the left corner. After sending a cross to Hansen at the left edge of the box, Ursulica made a tough angle run near the end line with a defender on his heels.
Hansen’s touch pass connected with Ursulica inside the 6 for a left-post putaway, as DGN turned a sliver of daylight into a score.
“I was always trying to beat the defender 1-on-1,” said Ursulica, whose momentum-turning first two goals of 2019 earned him Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors.
“It started beating their player 1-v.-1 on the sideline, getting in the box, the little cut back to the 6 and then getting it right back for an easy tap-in.”
If that extra effort finish was a nice combination, the go-ahead goal blew it away.
With 30:46 to play, Sam Bull lined a left-sideline send from 30 yards out towards the back post.
Bull’s perfectly struck ball was matched by a perfect finish, as sprinting forward Aidan Flores’ diving header at the right post found the back of the net to put the Trojans ahead 3-2.
“I saw my teammate (Bull) running in to cross the ball,” Flores said. “I started making the run across the back line to get in position. Then I saw the ball a little ahead of me so I had to dive for it, and luckily I got it in the goal.
“I thought with Eddie’s two goals we started rolling. We knew it was going to be rough (down 2-0). But we knew if we got one, then they would be in a tough position, because we would start rolling.
“Once we got one,” Flores added, “then we got the momentum, and we just had to keep it going.”
The Bull-to-Flores goal capped the momentum swing – and was both a game-winner and an award winner.
“That third one was probably the best goal we’ve scored all season,” Trojans coach Mike Schmitt said. “It was fantastic, a great cross and a great finish.”
The play was the highlight of a great night for Bull, a junior captain who is building nicely on a strong sophomore season.
“Sam Bull had a fantastic whole game, but the second half especially,” Schmitt said. “He was really a part of everything we did.
“He got that assist for the third goal, and he was putting in some really dangerous crosses. And I thought he showed a lot of leadership as a junior captain.
“Alex Karrow also played really well,” Schmitt added, “I could really name all 22 players on our roster. But we had such strong leadership tonight, and it really came from our captains and our backline.”
In a matter of just under six minutes, DGN had turned a two-goal deficit into a lead.
“Once we got that first one,” Schmitt said, “you could feel something was going to happen the rest of the way. And we pulled it out and worked really hard as a unit.”
St. Francis’ own quick-strike offense off set pieces had stolen the spotlight in the first half.
In the 22nd minute, Michael Fasana’s strong free kick send from 45 yards ricocheted to Trey Gora at the upper right edge of the box. Gora’s 16-yard liner inside the left post put the Spartans up 1-0 with 18:28 until halftime.
Then just 76 seconds later, Fasana again lit the fuse on more St. Francis fireworks. His free kick send from just inside midfield found Nathan Corrigan right of the box.
Corrigan's cross connected with Frank Marsico in front, who lined a low shot off the DGN goalkeeper’s hands and in for a 2-0 lead.
“It was off a free kick, and normally I make that back post run,” said Marsico, who has seven goals this season. “But I decided to change it up and cut to the front post, because I noticed no one was there.
“I figured if it pops out towards me, I’m wide open. And Nathan found me on a great pass, I hit them with a volley and put it in.”
Coming off a 2-1 win over Oswego East in the Plainfield Classic first round, St. Francis was rolling again.
“I think it’s one of those things that was similar to Oswego,” Marsico said. “We just do our thing (on offense) and good things happen. When we play well, good things happen for us.
“We did a good job in the first half (vs. DGN),” Marsico added. “We just have to find a way to keep that up the entire 80 minutes even though that’s not easy. They (DGN) were a good team.”
Making it even harder for the Spartans to continue rolling was a leg injury to Marsico later in the first half.
The senior would not return to the match until 15:20 remained – well after the trio of DGN goals.
“There was a loose ball, and I just went in for it,” Marsico said. “Looking back on it, it probably wasn’t the smartest idea to go for it. I talked to the trainer, and she said she thinks it’s just bruised, so hopefully I can ice it the next couple of days and be back full strength.”
St. Francis coach Kevin Ward was succinct in summing up the impact of Marsico’s absence.
“You saw it hurt us a lot,” Ward said.
With St. Francis up 2-0, the Trojans began to stir with threats by Karrow (low shot that angled just wide of the right post in the 27th minute) and Jose Perez (shot wide right off a close-in Colin Nutall throw-in).
DGN goalkeeper Gavin Crowson then came up big to keep St. Francis from adding to its lead. Off a Marsico right side run and cross, Gora’s 8-yard shot from in-front was blocked point blank by Crowson coming off his line.
“One theme that’s been working for us is us moving the ball,” Marsico said., “and making a lot of combos up -top. When we do that, we get a lot of chances that we can eventually convert.”
Early first half chances included a Karrow liner wide right in the 4th minute off a DGN corner kick; a Marsico shot deflected wide left off a Gora pass nine minutes in; and a Karrow 12-yard free kick left of the box in the 12th minute that rocketed just wide of the right post.
“We just came into halftime and felt we had controlled most of the first half,” Schmitt said, “except for a five-or-six minute period where we gave up a couple of set pieces that we just weren’t tough enough on.
“We let the ball drop and didn’t get that second ball, and we gave them opportunities we don’t normally like to give away.”
Said Ursulica: “We started the game really strong, but then after five or 10 minutes we kind of turned it off. We talked at halftime that we had to turn it around. We knew we could do better, and we came back.”
After rallying to the 3-2 lead, the Trojans continued to push.
Hansen’s nice 50-50 ball win and left-side dash led to a Peter Bednar shot that was thwarted by Guy Defeo’s shot block with 28:40 to play. Then with 16:55 left, another nice Bull send (a 33-yard free kick) narrowly missed a would-be header connection at the right post.
With 9:15 to go, Franklin Griffin took a Hansen pass and angled a right-side shot just wide of the left post. Then 40 seconds later, Thill’s leaping deflection denied a Hansen chip towards the net from near the left end line.
“We had really good sequences of play,” Schmitt said. “We had control of the ball, we were possessing well and creating a lot of opportunities. We could have probably gotten four or five (goals) out of that, but I’ll take the three.”
That comment came after the 3-2 lead held up under some last-minute duress.
With 4:40 left, a sequence of 50-50 ball wins inside midfield by Bull, Brian Benton and Hansen quieted the Spartans and ignited a counterattack, which ended with a Flores shot just wide of the net.
DGN would then rely on its defense in a frenetic final 90 seconds.
Goalkeeper Thill’s defensive end free kick was initially headed away from 30 yards out by DGN’s Joshua LeBlanc.
But a St. Francis midfield resend would set up a Nick Felty pass to Nico Lajewski, whose 10-yard shot forced DGN second half goalkeeper Jason Pluister into a catch save.
Trojan defender Colin Doyle’s nice clear with 20 seconds left seemed to cap the match. But a last-second, long Spartans send towards Gora on a left wing run ended with Pluister diving on the loose ball just ahead of contact with five seconds left.
The tale of two halves ended in DGN’s favor, but St. Francis had positives to draw on.
“We had two free kicks that we executed,” Ward said. “If we could have hung on in the second half…," said Ward.
“But they were a little more physical than we were, bigger than we were. And that probably played a factor in what was going on.”
As a Class AA team playing mostly larger school competition in early season tournaments, St. Francis has progressed.
“We’re playing better ball all the time,” Ward said. “We could have walked out of here 2-0 in this tournament right now. That’s the way we’re looking at it. Nothing disparaging, we’re not down; I’m not upset right now. We’re right in it.
“You can always draw the line and say you lost, and that’s the way we’ll look at it,” Ward added. “But we’re going to look at where we are right now, and we’re getting better. From the first two or three games of the year, you can tell the difference.”
As for differences, DGN’s ability to change the tide in the second half was a very good sign for the future.
“We made a pretty big point at the half that 2-0 is a dangerous score to have on either side,” Schmitt said. “That first goal of the second half is going to be very important, and it was crucial that we get it.
“And if we get one, we can get two and then three, and sure enough that’s what happened. The first 10 to 12 minutes was everything we could have asked for. And it was a fantastic second half for us.”
The Trojans now look to ride the wave into a key conference match Tuesday at Glenbard West. They will resume Plainfield Classic play Thursday as the Group 4 leader with seven points. A positive result against Oswego East would push them into the Saturday semifinals.
“I feel like we’re rolling right now,’ Flores said. “We haven’t seen a loss in a little bit, and we’re all connecting really well.”
Said Ursulica: “This win makes us push more for the next game and to want better results in the future and keep winning.”
Starting lineups:
DGN
GK Gavin Crowson
D Brian Benton
D Owen Lesley
D Mason Roberts
M Ryan Padovani
M Sam Bull
M Trygve Hansen
M Peter Bednar
M Alex Karrow
F Eddie Ursulica
F Aidan Flores
St. Francis
GK Adam Thill
D Cameron Crawford
D Nathan Corrigan
D Brendan Yarusso
D Sam Premak
M Nico Lajewski
M Frank Marsico
M Guy Defeo
M Jack Hartle
F Trey Gora
F Michael Fasana
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Eddie Ursulica, sr. F, DGN
Scoring summary
First half
St F- Trey Gora, 22nd min
St F- Frank Marsico (Nathan Corrigan assist), 23rd min
Second half
DGN- Eddie Ursulica (Alex Karrow), 44th min
DGN- Ursulica (Trgve Hansen), 47th min
DGN- Aidan Flores (Sam Bull), 50th min