Experienced Oswego East turns away DGS
Burns brace leads Wolves to 4-2 nonconference win
By Matt Le Cren
OSWEGO – With 17 seniors on his 20-man roster, most of whom are capable of starting, Oswego East coach Steve Szymanski has no shortage of talent.
His problem is finding places for them all to play when only 11 are allowed on the field at any one time.
“I’m excited about this group,” Szymanski said. “My biggest problem as a coach is trying to find time for all these guys.
“It’s hard to keep 20 guys happy and that’s kind of the mindset – we have to be as selfless as possible and be happy for other guys’ successes. We’re finding that success.”
The Wolves have started strong.
Ben Burns collected his second-consecutive two-goal game and DuPablo Parodis-Yu continued his fine work with a goal and two assists as Oswego East knocked off visiting Downers Grove South 4-2 Saturday.
The Wolves (4-0-0) have scored 11 goals this season. Burns has five of them and Parodis-Yu has three to go with a team-leading four assists.
“They’ve got a very good team,” Downers Grove South coach Jon Stapleton said. “They’ve got 17 seniors, several guys that have been with them for a couple of years, so we knew their ability. Credit to them, it showed.”
It didn’t take long for the Wolves to show their qualities. Carter Boberg found the back of the net in the first minute with a left-footed volley from the back post off a throw-in from defender John Danison.
“It gave us confidence because we knew this was going to be a hard game, so scoring right off the bat was really essential,” Burns said. “We had a good attitude the rest of the game.”
The Wolves never trailed, though Downers Grove South tied the game in the 11th minute on Dardona Sylejmani’s shot from the middle of the box. Parodis-Yu gave Oswego East the lead back just four minutes later when his shot deflected off a defender in the 15th minute.
After that, the Downers Grove South spent much of its time chasing the Wolves around trying to gain and keep possession.
“We talked about our inability to play out of the back against them at halftime,” Stapleton said. “I thought our decision-making was incredibly slow.
“I thought we did a little bit better in the second half in terms of possession and trying to get the ball forward quickly. We did a better job of that.”
But those efforts were uneven and the Wolves were just too good with their passing game, which consistently put the Mustangs (0-3-0) under pressure. Downers Grove South goalkeeper Andrik Vidaurri came up with some sensational stops and finished with eight saves, but it wasn’t enough.
“Defensively, (Parodis-Yu) killed us,” Stapleton said. “We did not defend well 1-v-1. Even double teams, they were able to get out of them numerous times.”
Parodis-Yu did it with regularity and teamed with Burns, Boberg and Grant Glorioso to cause all sorts of tense moments for the Downers Grove South defense. That quartet accounted for the vast majority of the Wolves’ 18 shots.
“We knew going into the season that we’d rely on Ben and DuPablo a lot to get a lot of goals,” Szymanski said. “DuPablo scored a ton of goals with the JV team and Ben was hurt all year, broke his leg, so played probably 80 minutes all year.”
The time off filled Burns with a fury to produce firepower.
“He came into the season and was like, ‘I’m going to be our leading scorer,’” Szymanski said. “I was like, ‘All right, I hope you are.’”
Burns is. He scored the final two goals Saturday to put the game out of reach. Both came off crosses from the left side from Parodis-Yu, the first in the 46th minute to make it 3-1 and the second in the 69th, 11 minutes after Josh Venouziou’s goal had pulled Downers South within 3-2.
The chemistry between Parodis-Yu and Burns is undeniable, and it has spread throughout the offense.
“I think it’s perfect, because we have a lot of wingers that can play that ball into me or any other forward,” Burns said. “I think it’s hard for defenders to defend that, so as long as we keep on doing that, we’ll keep on scoring goals.”
Parodis-Yu, a junior forward who is one of only two non-seniors in the starting lineup, loves his role as a set-up man.
“I like to take it down the line,” Parodis-Yu said. “If I see I can get past them, I just try to drive it past them and I try to find that cross to Ben.
“When I’m crossing the ball, I just look up to see if anyone’s there. Ben is always there.”
Indeed, Burns always seems to be near the net, and not just during matches.
“In practice we’ve been doing shooting a lot,” Burns said. “At the end of every single practice, we spend like 20-30 minutes just focusing on shooting and finishing the ball. It’s been paying off.”
That applies to the distributing as well as the finishing. The Wolves excel at both, and the level of play remains consistent.
“We have a lot of depth in our squad, so whenever a sub comes in, nothing really changes,” Burns said. “We keep going and fighting hard. We have a lot of chemistry, because we’ve been playing together for a long time. So it’s really easy to find those passes.”
Far easier than it is for Szymanski to dole out playing time.
“It’s hard to get some guys in,” Szymanski said. “I have 17 seniors and they are all good players. So my hardest job this year is trying to make everybody happy, and I’ve come to realize I can’t make everybody happy.
“It’s a good problem to have.”
It’s a problem any coach would love to have. Certainly Stapleton, who has yet to be able to deal from a full deck this fall, wouldn’t mind.
The Mustangs played Saturday without three players, including forward Jerry Smazil, who scored two goals in the first two games and is in COVID protocol, and returning starting goalkeeper Zach Johnson, who suffered a concussion seven minutes into the season opener.
“I don’t think we’re 100 percent at full strength but it’s not an excuse,” Stapleton said. “I think we have the ability to play better than we are.
“It’s just the continuity isn’t quite there yet. We’ve got to regroup.”
Starting lineups
Downers Grove South
GK Andrik Vidaurri
D Michael Mendoza
D Max Paschall
D Matt Crowley
D Andrwe Cimbalista
M Giovanni Torrijos
M Julian Lopez
M Nick Opacian
M Dardan Sylejmani
F Josh Venouziou
F Jaden Palmer
Oswego East
GK Erik Santillan
D Drew Karg
D Grayson Alperin
D John Danison
D Gilberto Majarez
M Carter Boberg
M Josh Frank
M Grant Glorioso
M Kellen Klosterman
F Ben Burns
F DuPablo Parodis-Yu
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ben Burns, sr., F, Oswego East
Scoring summary
First half
OE – Carter Boberg (John Danison) 1st minute
DGS – Dardon Sylejmani (Nick Opacian) 11th minute
OE – DuPablo Parodis-Yu 15th minute
Second half
OE – Ben Burns (Parodis-Yu) 46th minute
DGS – Josh Venouziou (Giovanni Torrijos) 58th minute
OE – Burns (Parodis-Yu) 69th minute
Burns brace leads Wolves to 4-2 nonconference win
By Matt Le Cren
OSWEGO – With 17 seniors on his 20-man roster, most of whom are capable of starting, Oswego East coach Steve Szymanski has no shortage of talent.
His problem is finding places for them all to play when only 11 are allowed on the field at any one time.
“I’m excited about this group,” Szymanski said. “My biggest problem as a coach is trying to find time for all these guys.
“It’s hard to keep 20 guys happy and that’s kind of the mindset – we have to be as selfless as possible and be happy for other guys’ successes. We’re finding that success.”
The Wolves have started strong.
Ben Burns collected his second-consecutive two-goal game and DuPablo Parodis-Yu continued his fine work with a goal and two assists as Oswego East knocked off visiting Downers Grove South 4-2 Saturday.
The Wolves (4-0-0) have scored 11 goals this season. Burns has five of them and Parodis-Yu has three to go with a team-leading four assists.
“They’ve got a very good team,” Downers Grove South coach Jon Stapleton said. “They’ve got 17 seniors, several guys that have been with them for a couple of years, so we knew their ability. Credit to them, it showed.”
It didn’t take long for the Wolves to show their qualities. Carter Boberg found the back of the net in the first minute with a left-footed volley from the back post off a throw-in from defender John Danison.
“It gave us confidence because we knew this was going to be a hard game, so scoring right off the bat was really essential,” Burns said. “We had a good attitude the rest of the game.”
The Wolves never trailed, though Downers Grove South tied the game in the 11th minute on Dardona Sylejmani’s shot from the middle of the box. Parodis-Yu gave Oswego East the lead back just four minutes later when his shot deflected off a defender in the 15th minute.
After that, the Downers Grove South spent much of its time chasing the Wolves around trying to gain and keep possession.
“We talked about our inability to play out of the back against them at halftime,” Stapleton said. “I thought our decision-making was incredibly slow.
“I thought we did a little bit better in the second half in terms of possession and trying to get the ball forward quickly. We did a better job of that.”
But those efforts were uneven and the Wolves were just too good with their passing game, which consistently put the Mustangs (0-3-0) under pressure. Downers Grove South goalkeeper Andrik Vidaurri came up with some sensational stops and finished with eight saves, but it wasn’t enough.
“Defensively, (Parodis-Yu) killed us,” Stapleton said. “We did not defend well 1-v-1. Even double teams, they were able to get out of them numerous times.”
Parodis-Yu did it with regularity and teamed with Burns, Boberg and Grant Glorioso to cause all sorts of tense moments for the Downers Grove South defense. That quartet accounted for the vast majority of the Wolves’ 18 shots.
“We knew going into the season that we’d rely on Ben and DuPablo a lot to get a lot of goals,” Szymanski said. “DuPablo scored a ton of goals with the JV team and Ben was hurt all year, broke his leg, so played probably 80 minutes all year.”
The time off filled Burns with a fury to produce firepower.
“He came into the season and was like, ‘I’m going to be our leading scorer,’” Szymanski said. “I was like, ‘All right, I hope you are.’”
Burns is. He scored the final two goals Saturday to put the game out of reach. Both came off crosses from the left side from Parodis-Yu, the first in the 46th minute to make it 3-1 and the second in the 69th, 11 minutes after Josh Venouziou’s goal had pulled Downers South within 3-2.
The chemistry between Parodis-Yu and Burns is undeniable, and it has spread throughout the offense.
“I think it’s perfect, because we have a lot of wingers that can play that ball into me or any other forward,” Burns said. “I think it’s hard for defenders to defend that, so as long as we keep on doing that, we’ll keep on scoring goals.”
Parodis-Yu, a junior forward who is one of only two non-seniors in the starting lineup, loves his role as a set-up man.
“I like to take it down the line,” Parodis-Yu said. “If I see I can get past them, I just try to drive it past them and I try to find that cross to Ben.
“When I’m crossing the ball, I just look up to see if anyone’s there. Ben is always there.”
Indeed, Burns always seems to be near the net, and not just during matches.
“In practice we’ve been doing shooting a lot,” Burns said. “At the end of every single practice, we spend like 20-30 minutes just focusing on shooting and finishing the ball. It’s been paying off.”
That applies to the distributing as well as the finishing. The Wolves excel at both, and the level of play remains consistent.
“We have a lot of depth in our squad, so whenever a sub comes in, nothing really changes,” Burns said. “We keep going and fighting hard. We have a lot of chemistry, because we’ve been playing together for a long time. So it’s really easy to find those passes.”
Far easier than it is for Szymanski to dole out playing time.
“It’s hard to get some guys in,” Szymanski said. “I have 17 seniors and they are all good players. So my hardest job this year is trying to make everybody happy, and I’ve come to realize I can’t make everybody happy.
“It’s a good problem to have.”
It’s a problem any coach would love to have. Certainly Stapleton, who has yet to be able to deal from a full deck this fall, wouldn’t mind.
The Mustangs played Saturday without three players, including forward Jerry Smazil, who scored two goals in the first two games and is in COVID protocol, and returning starting goalkeeper Zach Johnson, who suffered a concussion seven minutes into the season opener.
“I don’t think we’re 100 percent at full strength but it’s not an excuse,” Stapleton said. “I think we have the ability to play better than we are.
“It’s just the continuity isn’t quite there yet. We’ve got to regroup.”
Starting lineups
Downers Grove South
GK Andrik Vidaurri
D Michael Mendoza
D Max Paschall
D Matt Crowley
D Andrwe Cimbalista
M Giovanni Torrijos
M Julian Lopez
M Nick Opacian
M Dardan Sylejmani
F Josh Venouziou
F Jaden Palmer
Oswego East
GK Erik Santillan
D Drew Karg
D Grayson Alperin
D John Danison
D Gilberto Majarez
M Carter Boberg
M Josh Frank
M Grant Glorioso
M Kellen Klosterman
F Ben Burns
F DuPablo Parodis-Yu
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ben Burns, sr., F, Oswego East
Scoring summary
First half
OE – Carter Boberg (John Danison) 1st minute
DGS – Dardon Sylejmani (Nick Opacian) 11th minute
OE – DuPablo Parodis-Yu 15th minute
Second half
OE – Ben Burns (Parodis-Yu) 46th minute
DGS – Josh Venouziou (Giovanni Torrijos) 58th minute
OE – Burns (Parodis-Yu) 69th minute