Miedema stands out
in Loyola's win vs. Fenwick
Senior's hat-trick leads Ramblers to 2nd place finish in CCL Blue
By Michael Wojtychiw
GLENVIEW -- With the playoffs starting next week, the hope for all area soccer coaches is that the lessons they've been preaching all season finally come to fruition as the second-season starts.
Whether that be players executing what their coaches have been talking about all season, inserting new wrinkles or teams finally gelling as one, seeing everything start to come together is a gratifying moment for all involved.
Loyola and manager Justin Dunn experienced that in the Ramblers regular-season finale against Fenwick on Thursday, a 4-0 win over their Chicago Catholic League Blue Division rivals.
"We instituted what we wanted, everything that we talked about " Dunn said. "It was like the pinnacle of the season. It ended up working. Going into playoffs it's nice knowing that you can do things that you'd hoped you were able to do and can implement them, especially against quality opponents. It's a big deal.
"We've been saying it all year that this is eventually the way we've been wanting to play," he said. "It was a complete culture shock to them, but it's all about convincing the people you have that they are able to do it, and it showed tonight."
Amidst it all, Loyola senior forward Frank Miedema had himself a night.
The Western Washington University commit put on a show in his last regular-season home game by scoring a hat-trick for the Ramblers, who are ranked no. 12 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25,
"The first half, I just wasn't calm enough and was taking too many big touches and trying to take on the whole team," Miedema said. "At halftime, coach said to keep up the energy, but to hold it some more, try to slow down the dribble and look for a guy.
"It was just calming down a little more. Playing against my club coach is a little exciting, I needed to just take a breath."
He put his first one in in the 16th minute when he stole an errant Fenwick pass back toward the keeper and slotted the ball past the Friars' netminder Greg Price.
After that first goal, Dunn called his players over to the sideline to implement something they had hoped to work on in the game.
After playing back defensively to start the game, the Ramblers decided to put the pressure on the visitors, something that Fenwick manager Craig Blazer said was a little shocking.
"They showed us a couple different looks at the beginning of the game," he said. "At the beginning they dropped off, and I think it was a surprise to us how much time and space we had.
"After they scored, they pressed us and posed us a lot of challenges."
"You've got to have it in your mind that you can play a second style," Dunn said. "It's all about trying to figure out what scenario works best at the time."
For the Friars (7-10-4, 1-4-1), who have had a rough time scoring lately, the switch was hard to adjust to at times.
"When you're a player, you're dealing with a lot of pressure and sometimes it's hard to see within your own 10 yards," Blazer said. "To make that quick switch tactically can be tough.
"We tried to point it out at halftime, and I think we did a better job in the second half, but that's tough to handle."
The Ramblers, who finished with six shots on goal in the first half, scored their second off of a corner by Oskar Duenkel. The ball came into the box, bounced off of Price's hands right to Loyola defender Liam Drehkoff, who put the ball into the net.
"Everything comes from our midfield," Miedema said. "Our midfield just holding onto the ball and looking to get out wide, getting it back and flushing it inside, looking for those pockets, looking for those through-balls."
One big reason for Loyola's success has been its defense, led by senior keeper Alex Ainsworth. The captain picked up his seventh clean-sheet of the year after making two saves on the night.
"A lot of the success comes from our focus and that comes from the top and their communication," Ainsworth said. "As long as we're talking to each other, we're able to pass them off, and we were able to shut them down today."
Ainsworth isn't one to take all the credit, however. He credits his backline of fellow seniors Drehkoff, Niko Douvalakis, Ryan Leider and John Phillips.
"Our midfield plays a big role in it as well," Ainsworth said. "Joseph Roscoe is a big part in it because when he's in front of our backline, he gives all five of us in the back a lot of confidence and allowed us to play a higher line which teams find hard to break down."
Miedema scored both of his second half goals in a span of three minutes. He won a 1-v-1 with the keeper on a breakaway to make it 3-0 with 11:58 for a 3-0 lead. Then boxed out a defender before taking a pass from Drehkoff and finishing for the final tally with 8:46 remaining.
With the regular-season over, both teams now prepare for the state playoffs. The Ramblers are the fourth seed in the Class 3A New Trier Sectional and host a regional. Fenwick is the third seed in the Class 2A Speer Sectional and will also host a regional.
"We're really looking forward to playoffs," Dunn said. "For some of them, the last playoff win may have been when they were freshmen, so we're looking to do some things this Loyola program hasn't done in recent history.
"Without (assistant) Scott Ackman and Baer Fisher, who led the program for seven, eight years, we wouldn't be where we're at right now and wouldn't have the collective skill we have currently.”
Fenwick takes the toughness it gained against Class 3A opponents and hopes to us put it to good use in Class AA.
"We're still growing," Blazer said. “Still maturing and unfortunately they made some mistakes, but I know we can learn from this
Starting lineups
Fenwick
GK: Greg Price
D: Max Ballarin
D: Ian Martinello
D: James Zimmer
D: Ian MacKinnon
D: Will Jancewicz
MF: Jack Powers
MF: Matt Bero
MF: Luigi Mollo
MF: Ryan Bero
F: Kamil Pilecki
Loyola
GK: Alex Ainsworth
D: Liam Drehkoff
D: Niko Douvalakis
D: Ryan Leider
D: John Phillips
MF: Bryan Ramsay
MF: Joey Vehovsky
MF: Joseph Roscoe
MF: Oliver Szorc
MF: Oskar Duenkel
F: Frank Miedema
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Frank Miedema, sr., F, Loyola
Scoring summary
First half
Loyola - Frank Miedema (unassisted), 24:54 remaining
Loyola - Liam Drehkoff (unassisted), 21:46 remaining
Second half
Loyola - Miedema (unassisted), 11:58 remaining
Loyola - Miedema (Drekhoff), 8:46 remaining
in Loyola's win vs. Fenwick
Senior's hat-trick leads Ramblers to 2nd place finish in CCL Blue
By Michael Wojtychiw
GLENVIEW -- With the playoffs starting next week, the hope for all area soccer coaches is that the lessons they've been preaching all season finally come to fruition as the second-season starts.
Whether that be players executing what their coaches have been talking about all season, inserting new wrinkles or teams finally gelling as one, seeing everything start to come together is a gratifying moment for all involved.
Loyola and manager Justin Dunn experienced that in the Ramblers regular-season finale against Fenwick on Thursday, a 4-0 win over their Chicago Catholic League Blue Division rivals.
"We instituted what we wanted, everything that we talked about " Dunn said. "It was like the pinnacle of the season. It ended up working. Going into playoffs it's nice knowing that you can do things that you'd hoped you were able to do and can implement them, especially against quality opponents. It's a big deal.
"We've been saying it all year that this is eventually the way we've been wanting to play," he said. "It was a complete culture shock to them, but it's all about convincing the people you have that they are able to do it, and it showed tonight."
Amidst it all, Loyola senior forward Frank Miedema had himself a night.
The Western Washington University commit put on a show in his last regular-season home game by scoring a hat-trick for the Ramblers, who are ranked no. 12 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25,
"The first half, I just wasn't calm enough and was taking too many big touches and trying to take on the whole team," Miedema said. "At halftime, coach said to keep up the energy, but to hold it some more, try to slow down the dribble and look for a guy.
"It was just calming down a little more. Playing against my club coach is a little exciting, I needed to just take a breath."
He put his first one in in the 16th minute when he stole an errant Fenwick pass back toward the keeper and slotted the ball past the Friars' netminder Greg Price.
After that first goal, Dunn called his players over to the sideline to implement something they had hoped to work on in the game.
After playing back defensively to start the game, the Ramblers decided to put the pressure on the visitors, something that Fenwick manager Craig Blazer said was a little shocking.
"They showed us a couple different looks at the beginning of the game," he said. "At the beginning they dropped off, and I think it was a surprise to us how much time and space we had.
"After they scored, they pressed us and posed us a lot of challenges."
"You've got to have it in your mind that you can play a second style," Dunn said. "It's all about trying to figure out what scenario works best at the time."
For the Friars (7-10-4, 1-4-1), who have had a rough time scoring lately, the switch was hard to adjust to at times.
"When you're a player, you're dealing with a lot of pressure and sometimes it's hard to see within your own 10 yards," Blazer said. "To make that quick switch tactically can be tough.
"We tried to point it out at halftime, and I think we did a better job in the second half, but that's tough to handle."
The Ramblers, who finished with six shots on goal in the first half, scored their second off of a corner by Oskar Duenkel. The ball came into the box, bounced off of Price's hands right to Loyola defender Liam Drehkoff, who put the ball into the net.
"Everything comes from our midfield," Miedema said. "Our midfield just holding onto the ball and looking to get out wide, getting it back and flushing it inside, looking for those pockets, looking for those through-balls."
One big reason for Loyola's success has been its defense, led by senior keeper Alex Ainsworth. The captain picked up his seventh clean-sheet of the year after making two saves on the night.
"A lot of the success comes from our focus and that comes from the top and their communication," Ainsworth said. "As long as we're talking to each other, we're able to pass them off, and we were able to shut them down today."
Ainsworth isn't one to take all the credit, however. He credits his backline of fellow seniors Drehkoff, Niko Douvalakis, Ryan Leider and John Phillips.
"Our midfield plays a big role in it as well," Ainsworth said. "Joseph Roscoe is a big part in it because when he's in front of our backline, he gives all five of us in the back a lot of confidence and allowed us to play a higher line which teams find hard to break down."
Miedema scored both of his second half goals in a span of three minutes. He won a 1-v-1 with the keeper on a breakaway to make it 3-0 with 11:58 for a 3-0 lead. Then boxed out a defender before taking a pass from Drehkoff and finishing for the final tally with 8:46 remaining.
With the regular-season over, both teams now prepare for the state playoffs. The Ramblers are the fourth seed in the Class 3A New Trier Sectional and host a regional. Fenwick is the third seed in the Class 2A Speer Sectional and will also host a regional.
"We're really looking forward to playoffs," Dunn said. "For some of them, the last playoff win may have been when they were freshmen, so we're looking to do some things this Loyola program hasn't done in recent history.
"Without (assistant) Scott Ackman and Baer Fisher, who led the program for seven, eight years, we wouldn't be where we're at right now and wouldn't have the collective skill we have currently.”
Fenwick takes the toughness it gained against Class 3A opponents and hopes to us put it to good use in Class AA.
"We're still growing," Blazer said. “Still maturing and unfortunately they made some mistakes, but I know we can learn from this
Starting lineups
Fenwick
GK: Greg Price
D: Max Ballarin
D: Ian Martinello
D: James Zimmer
D: Ian MacKinnon
D: Will Jancewicz
MF: Jack Powers
MF: Matt Bero
MF: Luigi Mollo
MF: Ryan Bero
F: Kamil Pilecki
Loyola
GK: Alex Ainsworth
D: Liam Drehkoff
D: Niko Douvalakis
D: Ryan Leider
D: John Phillips
MF: Bryan Ramsay
MF: Joey Vehovsky
MF: Joseph Roscoe
MF: Oliver Szorc
MF: Oskar Duenkel
F: Frank Miedema
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Frank Miedema, sr., F, Loyola
Scoring summary
First half
Loyola - Frank Miedema (unassisted), 24:54 remaining
Loyola - Liam Drehkoff (unassisted), 21:46 remaining
Second half
Loyola - Miedema (unassisted), 11:58 remaining
Loyola - Miedema (Drekhoff), 8:46 remaining