Brother Rice stays perfect
in league, downs Fenwick
Crusaders 2-for-2 in CCL Blue Division after 2-0 victory
By Curt Herron
CHICAGO – The Chicago Catholic League Blue Division is headed into a key stretch of important matches. Recently there has been a conference member with a rich history that hasn't been in the title mix for a number of years. Now they sit atop the league table.
Brother Rice got goals from junior Tyler Wojcik and sophomore Jimmy Gricus in just over three minutes during the first half of its home match against Fenwick at Tom Mitchell Field and then relied on its defense to capture a 2-0 victory Tuesday night in the Mount Greenwood community.
It was the second shutout of the season for coach Matt Prunckle's squad. The other came on September 13 when the Crusaders captured a 1-0 home victory over St. Ignatius in its division opener.
The stormy night led to the postponement of the St. Ignatius-Loyola match in the first half. The St. Laurence at Mount Carmel match was rescheduled to Wednesday and ended in a 1-1 draw.
Brother Rice and Fenwick began play shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday after waiting for more than an hour due to lightning in the area.
Brother Rice has had a soccer program since 1967, five years before the IHSA started its state tournament. The school was a force to be reckoned with in the Chicago Catholic League for 32 years under IHSSCA Hall of Fame coach Nick Markulin. He won 459 matches at the school and had stints there from 1972-1993 and 1999-2008. Markulin’s teams were regularly in the mix for the league title. One of his top players was Billy Savarino, who set the IHSA record for overall goals with 159 in 1993. He led that category until 2011 and is now ranked third.
Prunckle, a 2004 Brother Rice graduate, played for Markulin on a Class AA fourth place team in 2003, when the state only had two classes. That was the Crusaders’ last state qualifying team; it lost to eventual champion Neuqua Valley in the semifinals. All told, the school has advanced seven teams to the state finals.
Prunckle also played for the 2002 team, which set the state record for consecutive shutouts (16) that still stands. Eventual state champion Sandburg knocked the Crusaders out on penalties in a sectional final to deny them a state berth (there were no supersectionals that year). Those 2002-03 seasons produced the most back-to-back wins in school history (20, 21) and represent the only time Brother Rice has had consecutive campaigns of 20 or more wins.
After leading St. Laurence's program for four seasons, Prunckle returned to his alma mater in 2018 to be its head coach. He hopes that he can eventually turn the Crusaders into a consistent conference and postseason threat.
Brother Rice is 4-7-1 overall this season against a challenging schedule. The losses include matches against three teams in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25: no. 12 Hinsdale Central; no. 13 Stagg; and no. 21 Sandburg. Two other losses came against honorable mention teams Taft and Joliet West.
"We've played a lot of good teams in anticipation of the Catholic League Blue," Prunckle said. "I don't think that any team is going to go unscathed through the conference, and you've seen that already. We want to win and compete to win trophies. Obviously winning as many regular-season games as possible puts you in a position to have a higher seed going into regionals and sectionals, but the Catholic League really means a lot to us. It means a lot to the program and what coach Nick was able to do, being the kings of the hill for quite a while.
"We're just trying to prove that we belong with these other teams, and that's got to be our mindset. I was at St. Laurence for four years and got that program turned around and had the opportunity to come back here. Coach Mac, Kevin (McAlinden), the former head coach, is our associate head coach."
After allowing three or more goals in four of their first seven matches, Brother Rice has yielded just five in its last five matches. Two were shutouts in league play.
The Crusaders are on the road for their next three division matches, playing at St. Laurence on Thursday, at Loyola on Saturday and at Marmion on Sept. 27. They close out conference play on Oct. 6 when they host Mount Carmel.
"Julian Zambrano, who played center back on Sunday in the makeup of the BodyArmor after not playing center back before, stepped in and did a great job. He solidified us so much today," Prunckle said. "My big thing as a coach is goals against average. We want to make things as difficult as possible for other teams.
“In the games that we've lost, we've given up goals. Julian, who's only a sophomore, coming in and taking over and being a huge presence, he solidified us today and in the second half against Joliet West (on Sunday).
"With Julian at center back, Javier Franco at right back and Jovani Zuniga at left back and our two holding midfielders Bruce Harris and Angelo Piech playing in front of them, they locked it down. Our midfielders have to do a lot of work.
“We know that we're still kind of young and still undersized. Our work-rate hopefully is what carries us through these games, and being organized and disciplined. We knew that Fenwick was going to look for a lot of free kicks, and they would be very dangerous. Limiting those opportunities and forcing them to score out of the play was good for us.
"This is a big week for us. … Half of our conference games are this week."
Brother Rice had the first two good chances of the game. Senior Mason Mroz and junior Bruce Harris had attempts that deflected off defenders. Senior Frank Felice countered for the Friars (5-5-1, 0-2-1) with two attempts that also were halted by defenders.
Shortly after sophomore Salvador Perez had a corner kick punched away by Fenwick freshman goalkeeper Dominick Ballarin and senior Morgan Riste had a try blocked by a defender, the hosts connected for their first goal in the 28th minute. Riste sent a corner kick into the box, and Wojcik put in a short attempt to put his team up for good.
"One thing that our team knows is that hard work pays off," said Wojcik, whose father, Billy, was an All-Stater for the Crusaders in 2002, as was Cesar Zambrano, who is the uncle of sophomore Julian Zambrano. "We have to work hard in every game, 80 minutes in a game and play one game at a time, that's what we have to do. My dad played with coach Prunckle and told me a lot of stories, and he's been teaching me since I started walking.
"I think that we just have to communicate since the main thing is communication and chemistry. Once you get to the playoffs, everyone's record is even. We have to just play one game at a time. I like our fast play and the fast touches and making runs."
Less than a minute after Brother Rice scored the first goal, Fenwick threatened to even things. It had some good chances capped by Max Ballarin, whose shot was hauled in by freshman goalkeeper David Valencia.
Fenwick's Ballarin brothers, senior Max, junior John on defense and freshman Dominick in goal, played together for a half in the team's previous match against Marmion but this was the first time that the trio started a match together.
In the 32nd minute, the Crusaders connected again when Wojcik sent a pass to Gricus, who made a run and put in an attempt from about 20 yards to give the hosts their final 2-0 margin.
"It's great," Gricus said. "We always pick it up a notch when we're playing against another Catholic League team. It's really important to get off to a good start so that we're not chasing anybody toward the end.
“Everybody was always in the right spot at the right time and everybody was on the same page. It's just the little moments that we need to switch on. Tyler just knew, and he put it right where I needed it.
"It's great to have a good start so we have confidence going into this week. I like our hard work. We're always running before the games, and we know that we have to get back or the other team might capitalize."
In the final half, Fenwick threatened early when junior Ian MacKinnon sent in a header to Valencia. Sophomore Angelo Piech responded a short time later for Brother Rice with a free kick that was punched away by Dominick Ballarin.
After junior Jake Brecknock had a corner kick cleared by a Crusaders defender, Gricus made a long run but was shut down by John Ballarin. Wojcik was stopped on a pair of tries in the last 20 minutes of the match. John Ballarin sent in a long free kick that Valencia punched away to assure the clean-sheet.
The defeat was a tough one for the Friars, who have now been held scoreless in three of their last four matches. Fenwick opened Blue Division play with a 2-2 draw with Mount Carmel on Sept. 13 and fell 2-0 to Marmion two days later. The Friars, who showed earlier signs of their potential with one-goal losses to top-ranked Lyons and no. 17 Oak Park and River Forest, return to league play on Thursday at Loyola and then host third-ranked defending Class 3A state champion York on Saturday.
"Every Catholic League game is a challenge," Friars coach Craig Blazer said. "Perhaps emotionally we weren't quite ready to play, and I'll take responsibility for that with the rain delay. We had some chances at the beginning, but they did enough not to let us get a clean look. Then we had some corner kicks and some restarts.
"We did a number of tactical items and then they scored first on the corner kick. That's been a little bit of a challenge for us. Then the counter that they ended up scoring on was a good goal, as well.
"We've added a number of good pieces … to our game. Hopefully we can find a solution. We're pretty good. We've made a lot of strides but right now we're just in a little bit of a rough patch. They're young guys, and it's very emotional. We'll see if we can find it."
Starting lineups
Fenwick
GK: Dominick Ballarin
D: John Ballarin
D: Evan Hickman
D: Max Ballarin
D: Ian MacKinnon
MF: Lucas Garcia
MF: Frank Felice
MF: James Zimmer
MF: Matt Bero
F: Ian Martinello
F: Jake Brecknock
Brother Rice
GK: David Valencia
LB: Jovani Zuniga
CB: Julian Zambrano
RB: Javier Franco
LMF: Jimmy Gricus
CMF: Bruce Harris
CMF: Angelo Piech
CMF: Christian Potoczny
RMF: Mason Mroz
F: Cristian Morales
F: Mateo DelBosque
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match
Tyler Wojcik, jr., MF, Brother Rice
Scoring summary
First half
Brother Rice: Tyler Wojcik (Morgan Riste), 28'
Brother Rice: Jimmy Gricus (Tyler Wojcik), 32'
Second half
No scoring
in league, downs Fenwick
Crusaders 2-for-2 in CCL Blue Division after 2-0 victory
By Curt Herron
CHICAGO – The Chicago Catholic League Blue Division is headed into a key stretch of important matches. Recently there has been a conference member with a rich history that hasn't been in the title mix for a number of years. Now they sit atop the league table.
Brother Rice got goals from junior Tyler Wojcik and sophomore Jimmy Gricus in just over three minutes during the first half of its home match against Fenwick at Tom Mitchell Field and then relied on its defense to capture a 2-0 victory Tuesday night in the Mount Greenwood community.
It was the second shutout of the season for coach Matt Prunckle's squad. The other came on September 13 when the Crusaders captured a 1-0 home victory over St. Ignatius in its division opener.
The stormy night led to the postponement of the St. Ignatius-Loyola match in the first half. The St. Laurence at Mount Carmel match was rescheduled to Wednesday and ended in a 1-1 draw.
Brother Rice and Fenwick began play shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday after waiting for more than an hour due to lightning in the area.
Brother Rice has had a soccer program since 1967, five years before the IHSA started its state tournament. The school was a force to be reckoned with in the Chicago Catholic League for 32 years under IHSSCA Hall of Fame coach Nick Markulin. He won 459 matches at the school and had stints there from 1972-1993 and 1999-2008. Markulin’s teams were regularly in the mix for the league title. One of his top players was Billy Savarino, who set the IHSA record for overall goals with 159 in 1993. He led that category until 2011 and is now ranked third.
Prunckle, a 2004 Brother Rice graduate, played for Markulin on a Class AA fourth place team in 2003, when the state only had two classes. That was the Crusaders’ last state qualifying team; it lost to eventual champion Neuqua Valley in the semifinals. All told, the school has advanced seven teams to the state finals.
Prunckle also played for the 2002 team, which set the state record for consecutive shutouts (16) that still stands. Eventual state champion Sandburg knocked the Crusaders out on penalties in a sectional final to deny them a state berth (there were no supersectionals that year). Those 2002-03 seasons produced the most back-to-back wins in school history (20, 21) and represent the only time Brother Rice has had consecutive campaigns of 20 or more wins.
After leading St. Laurence's program for four seasons, Prunckle returned to his alma mater in 2018 to be its head coach. He hopes that he can eventually turn the Crusaders into a consistent conference and postseason threat.
Brother Rice is 4-7-1 overall this season against a challenging schedule. The losses include matches against three teams in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25: no. 12 Hinsdale Central; no. 13 Stagg; and no. 21 Sandburg. Two other losses came against honorable mention teams Taft and Joliet West.
"We've played a lot of good teams in anticipation of the Catholic League Blue," Prunckle said. "I don't think that any team is going to go unscathed through the conference, and you've seen that already. We want to win and compete to win trophies. Obviously winning as many regular-season games as possible puts you in a position to have a higher seed going into regionals and sectionals, but the Catholic League really means a lot to us. It means a lot to the program and what coach Nick was able to do, being the kings of the hill for quite a while.
"We're just trying to prove that we belong with these other teams, and that's got to be our mindset. I was at St. Laurence for four years and got that program turned around and had the opportunity to come back here. Coach Mac, Kevin (McAlinden), the former head coach, is our associate head coach."
After allowing three or more goals in four of their first seven matches, Brother Rice has yielded just five in its last five matches. Two were shutouts in league play.
The Crusaders are on the road for their next three division matches, playing at St. Laurence on Thursday, at Loyola on Saturday and at Marmion on Sept. 27. They close out conference play on Oct. 6 when they host Mount Carmel.
"Julian Zambrano, who played center back on Sunday in the makeup of the BodyArmor after not playing center back before, stepped in and did a great job. He solidified us so much today," Prunckle said. "My big thing as a coach is goals against average. We want to make things as difficult as possible for other teams.
“In the games that we've lost, we've given up goals. Julian, who's only a sophomore, coming in and taking over and being a huge presence, he solidified us today and in the second half against Joliet West (on Sunday).
"With Julian at center back, Javier Franco at right back and Jovani Zuniga at left back and our two holding midfielders Bruce Harris and Angelo Piech playing in front of them, they locked it down. Our midfielders have to do a lot of work.
“We know that we're still kind of young and still undersized. Our work-rate hopefully is what carries us through these games, and being organized and disciplined. We knew that Fenwick was going to look for a lot of free kicks, and they would be very dangerous. Limiting those opportunities and forcing them to score out of the play was good for us.
"This is a big week for us. … Half of our conference games are this week."
Brother Rice had the first two good chances of the game. Senior Mason Mroz and junior Bruce Harris had attempts that deflected off defenders. Senior Frank Felice countered for the Friars (5-5-1, 0-2-1) with two attempts that also were halted by defenders.
Shortly after sophomore Salvador Perez had a corner kick punched away by Fenwick freshman goalkeeper Dominick Ballarin and senior Morgan Riste had a try blocked by a defender, the hosts connected for their first goal in the 28th minute. Riste sent a corner kick into the box, and Wojcik put in a short attempt to put his team up for good.
"One thing that our team knows is that hard work pays off," said Wojcik, whose father, Billy, was an All-Stater for the Crusaders in 2002, as was Cesar Zambrano, who is the uncle of sophomore Julian Zambrano. "We have to work hard in every game, 80 minutes in a game and play one game at a time, that's what we have to do. My dad played with coach Prunckle and told me a lot of stories, and he's been teaching me since I started walking.
"I think that we just have to communicate since the main thing is communication and chemistry. Once you get to the playoffs, everyone's record is even. We have to just play one game at a time. I like our fast play and the fast touches and making runs."
Less than a minute after Brother Rice scored the first goal, Fenwick threatened to even things. It had some good chances capped by Max Ballarin, whose shot was hauled in by freshman goalkeeper David Valencia.
Fenwick's Ballarin brothers, senior Max, junior John on defense and freshman Dominick in goal, played together for a half in the team's previous match against Marmion but this was the first time that the trio started a match together.
In the 32nd minute, the Crusaders connected again when Wojcik sent a pass to Gricus, who made a run and put in an attempt from about 20 yards to give the hosts their final 2-0 margin.
"It's great," Gricus said. "We always pick it up a notch when we're playing against another Catholic League team. It's really important to get off to a good start so that we're not chasing anybody toward the end.
“Everybody was always in the right spot at the right time and everybody was on the same page. It's just the little moments that we need to switch on. Tyler just knew, and he put it right where I needed it.
"It's great to have a good start so we have confidence going into this week. I like our hard work. We're always running before the games, and we know that we have to get back or the other team might capitalize."
In the final half, Fenwick threatened early when junior Ian MacKinnon sent in a header to Valencia. Sophomore Angelo Piech responded a short time later for Brother Rice with a free kick that was punched away by Dominick Ballarin.
After junior Jake Brecknock had a corner kick cleared by a Crusaders defender, Gricus made a long run but was shut down by John Ballarin. Wojcik was stopped on a pair of tries in the last 20 minutes of the match. John Ballarin sent in a long free kick that Valencia punched away to assure the clean-sheet.
The defeat was a tough one for the Friars, who have now been held scoreless in three of their last four matches. Fenwick opened Blue Division play with a 2-2 draw with Mount Carmel on Sept. 13 and fell 2-0 to Marmion two days later. The Friars, who showed earlier signs of their potential with one-goal losses to top-ranked Lyons and no. 17 Oak Park and River Forest, return to league play on Thursday at Loyola and then host third-ranked defending Class 3A state champion York on Saturday.
"Every Catholic League game is a challenge," Friars coach Craig Blazer said. "Perhaps emotionally we weren't quite ready to play, and I'll take responsibility for that with the rain delay. We had some chances at the beginning, but they did enough not to let us get a clean look. Then we had some corner kicks and some restarts.
"We did a number of tactical items and then they scored first on the corner kick. That's been a little bit of a challenge for us. Then the counter that they ended up scoring on was a good goal, as well.
"We've added a number of good pieces … to our game. Hopefully we can find a solution. We're pretty good. We've made a lot of strides but right now we're just in a little bit of a rough patch. They're young guys, and it's very emotional. We'll see if we can find it."
Starting lineups
Fenwick
GK: Dominick Ballarin
D: John Ballarin
D: Evan Hickman
D: Max Ballarin
D: Ian MacKinnon
MF: Lucas Garcia
MF: Frank Felice
MF: James Zimmer
MF: Matt Bero
F: Ian Martinello
F: Jake Brecknock
Brother Rice
GK: David Valencia
LB: Jovani Zuniga
CB: Julian Zambrano
RB: Javier Franco
LMF: Jimmy Gricus
CMF: Bruce Harris
CMF: Angelo Piech
CMF: Christian Potoczny
RMF: Mason Mroz
F: Cristian Morales
F: Mateo DelBosque
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match
Tyler Wojcik, jr., MF, Brother Rice
Scoring summary
First half
Brother Rice: Tyler Wojcik (Morgan Riste), 28'
Brother Rice: Jimmy Gricus (Tyler Wojcik), 32'
Second half
No scoring