Crowder power drives New Trier past GBN
Senior striker's hat-trick leads Trevians to 3-0 win over Spartans
By Gary Larsen
NORTHFIELD — The Most Valuable Aidan award was a tough call on Thursday night.
During New Trier’s 3-0 win over visiting Glenbrook North, Trevians keeper Aidan Crawford stood tall in presiding over the team’s third shutout of the year. But the game that teammate Aidan Crowder had was one for the scrapbook.
“He finished once with his left foot, once with his right, and once with a head shot,” Trevians coach Matt Ravenscraft said. “It was the perfect hat-trick. And the lead performances for us tonight were the two Aidans on either end of the pitch.”
Crowder’s hat-trick powered New Trier to the Central Suburban League South Division win, and earned him Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors. The senior forward now leads the team with nine goals this season.
Crowder was just happy his side got the game’s first lead. The Trevians had to come back to force a 1-1 tie with Glenbrook South in their previous CSL South game.
“We’ve had a couple rough starts where we’ve conceded (goals) early and been able to dig ourselves out in the second half,” Crowder said. “We didn’t want to do that tonight. As Ravenscraft said, our two goals tonight were to get a shutout and get the win, and we were able to do that.”
In Glenbrook North (4-5-1, 0-2-1), New Trier (7-1-2, 1-0-1) took on a rival team with a deceptive record and talent all over the pitch. Add the inherent intensity of a CSL South game and energy was easy to come by for both teams Thursday.
Glenbrook North went into the game on the heels of a 3-1 loss to Niles West, and coach Paul Vignocchi liked the way his boys responded to that loss.
“We fought,” Vignocchi said. “I was real happy with how we came back after Tuesday night’s game. I think everybody was disappointed with our game against Niles West. They’re a great team, but we just didn’t compete as well as we should have.
“Tonight, we competed. We just made a couple mistakes but it could have gone either way and in our mind, we didn’t think it was a 3-0 game.”
Crowder’s first goal came at six minutes from just inside the top of the box. Julio Mora served him a ball from the right side and Crowder did the rest.
“He (fed) me perfectly through the defenders, I took a touch, and (the ball) popped up,” Crowder said. “I didn’t see the goal at all. I just shot it.”
Crowder’s volleyed blast with his right foot hit nothing but back netting. Glenbrook North answered with pressure. Gabe Nayman challenged Crawford for a ball served to the far post, keeper elevated to snare it at 11 minutes.
New Trier’s Alex Powell headed a shot wide at 14 minutes. A Glenbrook North corner kick at 16 minutes led to Crawford leaving his line to beat Spartans forward Joey Martens to a ball near the goalmouth.
North keeper Nick Washelesky came out to beat Powell to a ball sent over the top at 17 minutes, and two minutes later Washelesky punched out a corner kick taken by New Trier’s Jake Krueger.
The game was 20 minutes old and its back-and-forth tone was set.
“I know a lot of the guys on their team, and I know they’re quality,” Crowder said of North. “I’m friends with a lot of them. It was huge for us to start strong, make sure we don’t concede early and control the game. Because we know what they can do.”
North midfielder Nico Adducci liked the way his side kept its shoulder to the wheel against a New Trier team ranked no. 7 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25.
“That first goal in the first five minutes — we did a pretty good job of wiping that out of our short-term memory,” Adducci said. “In a game like this against a team like New Trier, everyone gets more mentally prepared, and we played a lot harder. If we bring that to every other game we could be really good.”
Washelesky punched out another serve at 26 minutes, and Glenbrook North earned a trio of corner kicks at 28 minutes, with Crowder eventually clearing a ball back up the field. Crawford fielded a low-rolling shot from Martens, and Washelesky made a fine sprawling save on a point-blank New Trier shot near the post just before halftime.
Intense play marked play after halftime to the 46th minute. New Trier’s Will Franzen slipped a slick pass to Crowder near the top of the box and this time, Crowder buried a left-footed shot from 16 yards.
One minute later, Powell busted behind the Spartans’ backline at the post and fired off the crossbar. Crowder was there to head in the rebound for his third goal of the night and his team-leading ninth goal of the season.
“He’s probably the player of ours that has grown the most,” Ravenscraft said of Crowder. “He took that step forward. You always wonder who is going to return and make that next step.
“Aidan is often the fastest player on the field. He’s intelligent with his movement; he loves to come back on the play, and he’s got a great first touch. He’s willing to dig the ball out, receive the ball with a man on his back, and bump it back and spin off into space. And credit to the players around him, because they’re able to use his attributes.”
Crowder applauded the nice ball from Mora, the sweet feed from Franzen, and workhorse effort that Powell used to create the shot that gave him his third goal, and downplayed his own fine finishes.
“As a senior, that’s what I’m supposed to do,” Crowder said.
North’s Martens, Yusuf Shaaban, and Jan Bogdan sent shots wide to the 53rd minute, and Crawford dove forward to punch a ball away one minute later. Adducci hit a long shot off the football crossbar at 55 minutes before Martens laced in a free kick from 33 yards but Crawford was on the spot to snare it.
If there was any quit in a Spartans team chasing three goals, they didn’t show it.
“We’re keeping our heads up, and we’re bouncing back and putting in the same amount of work in every practice,” Adducci said. “Eventually, it’s going to pay off. Everyone has a positive attitude on this team, and that’s contagious. We don’t have a negative attitude anywhere on this team.”
Washelesky made a sliding kick-save on a Powell shot from point-blank range at 65 minutes, before the game’s final 15 minutes played out to a New Trier win.
And a shutout.
Ravenscraft lauded the play and the development this season of the sophomore Crawford in net. New Trier’s backline Thursday featured two more sophomores in defenders James Paden and Ronan O’Neill, and two juniors in Jack Cudmore and Peter Norehad.
“I put a lot of trust in our backline,” Crawford said. “We’re young, but we’re really physical. As a goalkeeper, I know they can cover those long balls over, and I can stay in and make more saves.
“We keep taking strides forward. We’re continuously progressing. But we’re still not there and we have a lot to prove. We’re not at our max yet.”
Ravenscraft has had numerous players shine during given games this year and Thursday was no different.
“Alex (Powell) brought great energy tonight,” Ravenscraft said. “He gives energy to the team, and they rally behind him. He was getting behind with his movement, connecting passes, and brought that physicality piece to the game. When Alex is locked in like that, he just brings the whole team up.”
Ravenscraft also liked the effort that midfielders Franzen, Jake Krueger, and Ryan Ball provided, and the quality minutes he got from midfielders Mora, Zach Moskowitz, and Will Gerstein.
“Will Franzen deserves a lot of praise for what he does,” Ravenscraft said. “He’s constantly on the ball, constantly slipping balls in behind for us.”
For Glenbrook North, nobody exemplified the Spartans’ punch-the-gas-pedal effort more than senior midfielder Adducci. For the postgame interview, Adducci was urged by teammates to put on the construction hard hat he had just been handed.
The Spartans have begun a new tradition of handing the hard hat to the player who gives the best effort in a game, and Adducci was officially the inaugural winner of the award.
“I thought Nico Adducci did a good job controlling the midfield for us today,” Vignocchi said. “And I was real happy with George Luke tonight. He did a great job stepping up. He was all over the place at midfield today and then we put him up-top at the end just to try to get a little more offense.
“I thought Nick (Washelesky) made a couple key saves to keep us in the game but we just couldn’t generate the offense that we needed today.”
Starting lineups
New Trier
GK: Aidan Crawford
D: Jack Cudmore
D: James Paden
D: Ronan O’Neill
D: Peter Norehad
M: Ryan Ball
M: Jake Krueger
M: Will Franzen
M: Julio Mora
F: Aidan Crowder
F: Alex Powell
Glenbrook North
GK: Nick Washelesky
D: David Schueler
D: Peyton Bernstein
D: Jan Bogdan
D: Scott Phadnis
M: Kyle Brown
M: Nico Adducci
M: Gabe Nayman
M: Yusuf Shaaban
M: George Luke
F: Joey Martens
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Aidan Crowder, sr., F, New Trier
Scoring summary
First half
New Trier — Crowder (Mora) 6th minute
Second half
New Trier — Crowder (Franzen) 46th minute
New Trier — Crowder (Powell) 47th minute
Senior striker's hat-trick leads Trevians to 3-0 win over Spartans
By Gary Larsen
NORTHFIELD — The Most Valuable Aidan award was a tough call on Thursday night.
During New Trier’s 3-0 win over visiting Glenbrook North, Trevians keeper Aidan Crawford stood tall in presiding over the team’s third shutout of the year. But the game that teammate Aidan Crowder had was one for the scrapbook.
“He finished once with his left foot, once with his right, and once with a head shot,” Trevians coach Matt Ravenscraft said. “It was the perfect hat-trick. And the lead performances for us tonight were the two Aidans on either end of the pitch.”
Crowder’s hat-trick powered New Trier to the Central Suburban League South Division win, and earned him Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors. The senior forward now leads the team with nine goals this season.
Crowder was just happy his side got the game’s first lead. The Trevians had to come back to force a 1-1 tie with Glenbrook South in their previous CSL South game.
“We’ve had a couple rough starts where we’ve conceded (goals) early and been able to dig ourselves out in the second half,” Crowder said. “We didn’t want to do that tonight. As Ravenscraft said, our two goals tonight were to get a shutout and get the win, and we were able to do that.”
In Glenbrook North (4-5-1, 0-2-1), New Trier (7-1-2, 1-0-1) took on a rival team with a deceptive record and talent all over the pitch. Add the inherent intensity of a CSL South game and energy was easy to come by for both teams Thursday.
Glenbrook North went into the game on the heels of a 3-1 loss to Niles West, and coach Paul Vignocchi liked the way his boys responded to that loss.
“We fought,” Vignocchi said. “I was real happy with how we came back after Tuesday night’s game. I think everybody was disappointed with our game against Niles West. They’re a great team, but we just didn’t compete as well as we should have.
“Tonight, we competed. We just made a couple mistakes but it could have gone either way and in our mind, we didn’t think it was a 3-0 game.”
Crowder’s first goal came at six minutes from just inside the top of the box. Julio Mora served him a ball from the right side and Crowder did the rest.
“He (fed) me perfectly through the defenders, I took a touch, and (the ball) popped up,” Crowder said. “I didn’t see the goal at all. I just shot it.”
Crowder’s volleyed blast with his right foot hit nothing but back netting. Glenbrook North answered with pressure. Gabe Nayman challenged Crawford for a ball served to the far post, keeper elevated to snare it at 11 minutes.
New Trier’s Alex Powell headed a shot wide at 14 minutes. A Glenbrook North corner kick at 16 minutes led to Crawford leaving his line to beat Spartans forward Joey Martens to a ball near the goalmouth.
North keeper Nick Washelesky came out to beat Powell to a ball sent over the top at 17 minutes, and two minutes later Washelesky punched out a corner kick taken by New Trier’s Jake Krueger.
The game was 20 minutes old and its back-and-forth tone was set.
“I know a lot of the guys on their team, and I know they’re quality,” Crowder said of North. “I’m friends with a lot of them. It was huge for us to start strong, make sure we don’t concede early and control the game. Because we know what they can do.”
North midfielder Nico Adducci liked the way his side kept its shoulder to the wheel against a New Trier team ranked no. 7 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25.
“That first goal in the first five minutes — we did a pretty good job of wiping that out of our short-term memory,” Adducci said. “In a game like this against a team like New Trier, everyone gets more mentally prepared, and we played a lot harder. If we bring that to every other game we could be really good.”
Washelesky punched out another serve at 26 minutes, and Glenbrook North earned a trio of corner kicks at 28 minutes, with Crowder eventually clearing a ball back up the field. Crawford fielded a low-rolling shot from Martens, and Washelesky made a fine sprawling save on a point-blank New Trier shot near the post just before halftime.
Intense play marked play after halftime to the 46th minute. New Trier’s Will Franzen slipped a slick pass to Crowder near the top of the box and this time, Crowder buried a left-footed shot from 16 yards.
One minute later, Powell busted behind the Spartans’ backline at the post and fired off the crossbar. Crowder was there to head in the rebound for his third goal of the night and his team-leading ninth goal of the season.
“He’s probably the player of ours that has grown the most,” Ravenscraft said of Crowder. “He took that step forward. You always wonder who is going to return and make that next step.
“Aidan is often the fastest player on the field. He’s intelligent with his movement; he loves to come back on the play, and he’s got a great first touch. He’s willing to dig the ball out, receive the ball with a man on his back, and bump it back and spin off into space. And credit to the players around him, because they’re able to use his attributes.”
Crowder applauded the nice ball from Mora, the sweet feed from Franzen, and workhorse effort that Powell used to create the shot that gave him his third goal, and downplayed his own fine finishes.
“As a senior, that’s what I’m supposed to do,” Crowder said.
North’s Martens, Yusuf Shaaban, and Jan Bogdan sent shots wide to the 53rd minute, and Crawford dove forward to punch a ball away one minute later. Adducci hit a long shot off the football crossbar at 55 minutes before Martens laced in a free kick from 33 yards but Crawford was on the spot to snare it.
If there was any quit in a Spartans team chasing three goals, they didn’t show it.
“We’re keeping our heads up, and we’re bouncing back and putting in the same amount of work in every practice,” Adducci said. “Eventually, it’s going to pay off. Everyone has a positive attitude on this team, and that’s contagious. We don’t have a negative attitude anywhere on this team.”
Washelesky made a sliding kick-save on a Powell shot from point-blank range at 65 minutes, before the game’s final 15 minutes played out to a New Trier win.
And a shutout.
Ravenscraft lauded the play and the development this season of the sophomore Crawford in net. New Trier’s backline Thursday featured two more sophomores in defenders James Paden and Ronan O’Neill, and two juniors in Jack Cudmore and Peter Norehad.
“I put a lot of trust in our backline,” Crawford said. “We’re young, but we’re really physical. As a goalkeeper, I know they can cover those long balls over, and I can stay in and make more saves.
“We keep taking strides forward. We’re continuously progressing. But we’re still not there and we have a lot to prove. We’re not at our max yet.”
Ravenscraft has had numerous players shine during given games this year and Thursday was no different.
“Alex (Powell) brought great energy tonight,” Ravenscraft said. “He gives energy to the team, and they rally behind him. He was getting behind with his movement, connecting passes, and brought that physicality piece to the game. When Alex is locked in like that, he just brings the whole team up.”
Ravenscraft also liked the effort that midfielders Franzen, Jake Krueger, and Ryan Ball provided, and the quality minutes he got from midfielders Mora, Zach Moskowitz, and Will Gerstein.
“Will Franzen deserves a lot of praise for what he does,” Ravenscraft said. “He’s constantly on the ball, constantly slipping balls in behind for us.”
For Glenbrook North, nobody exemplified the Spartans’ punch-the-gas-pedal effort more than senior midfielder Adducci. For the postgame interview, Adducci was urged by teammates to put on the construction hard hat he had just been handed.
The Spartans have begun a new tradition of handing the hard hat to the player who gives the best effort in a game, and Adducci was officially the inaugural winner of the award.
“I thought Nico Adducci did a good job controlling the midfield for us today,” Vignocchi said. “And I was real happy with George Luke tonight. He did a great job stepping up. He was all over the place at midfield today and then we put him up-top at the end just to try to get a little more offense.
“I thought Nick (Washelesky) made a couple key saves to keep us in the game but we just couldn’t generate the offense that we needed today.”
Starting lineups
New Trier
GK: Aidan Crawford
D: Jack Cudmore
D: James Paden
D: Ronan O’Neill
D: Peter Norehad
M: Ryan Ball
M: Jake Krueger
M: Will Franzen
M: Julio Mora
F: Aidan Crowder
F: Alex Powell
Glenbrook North
GK: Nick Washelesky
D: David Schueler
D: Peyton Bernstein
D: Jan Bogdan
D: Scott Phadnis
M: Kyle Brown
M: Nico Adducci
M: Gabe Nayman
M: Yusuf Shaaban
M: George Luke
F: Joey Martens
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Aidan Crowder, sr., F, New Trier
Scoring summary
First half
New Trier — Crowder (Mora) 6th minute
Second half
New Trier — Crowder (Franzen) 46th minute
New Trier — Crowder (Powell) 47th minute