New Trier sharp against Grayslake Central
Trevians shake, rattle and roll to 7-0 win in Showcase opener
By Bill McLean
NORTHFIELD — New Trier soccer mates Jake Krueger and Will Franzen attempted to demonstrate their post-goal handshake to an inquisitive scribbler after a Northside College Showcase match on their home pitch Saturday afternoon.
It featured various rapid slaps, grips and gyrations, but some of the exchanges weren’t so clean. The pair hesitated at times during the peformance outside of the Trevians’ cozy team meeting room — bigger than a shed, smaller than a locker room — underneath a set of bleachers at Robert Naughton Field.
“It still needs some work,” Krueger, a junior midfielder, admitted with a smile.
Does that apply to the Trevians' offense?
It does not appear so based on what it did in New Trier’s 7-0 win over a shorthanded Grayslake Central side in pleasant weather. The match was scoreless until the 26th minute, when New Trier senior forward Alex Powell Beane struck for the first of his two tallies after a delivery from senior reserve forward Simon Kellman (goal, 3 assists), who had entered the match in the eighth minute.
The formidable hosts, ranked 12th in the Chicagoland Soccer First 50 preseason poll, poured it on in the second half, doubling their 2-0 halftime lead to 4-0 via goals from senior forward Aidan Crowder and Beane in the 43rd and 44th minutes. Boom-boom.
What preceded the squad’s fifth goal deserves YouTube status under the category “Mesmerizing, Highly Creative Passing in Prep Soccer”. At least three weaving Trevians provided hockey-ish assists before Kellman deftly fed Franzen (goal, 2 assists), who beat Rams sophomore goalkeeper Jonathan Piggott in the 50th minute to make it, fittingly, 5-0.
“Our guys are incredibly confident with the ball, and they’re very good at establishing patterns and being decisive [during transitions and rushes],” said Trevians coach Matt Ravenscraft, whose boys have won twice since a 3-3 tie with Fremd in their rainy season opener August 26 in Northfield. “You saw what was going on during that sequence; we had five, six guys locked in.
“The game,” he added, “slows down for many of them.”
The 5-foot-10 Krueger finished with exactly zero goals and zero assists versus the Rams. But Ravenscraft dismissed any notion that Krueger’s performance was a quiet one.
“Jake does so much for us, does so many things well for us,” the coach said. “I know he didn’t score today, but there is so much more to his game than the ability to score. He played great today, again. He works on the ball with a mentality that’s there — that’s on — for 80 minutes every match.”
Beane, who could probably learn how to play a sport one day and excel in it the next, added an assist in the rout. Crowder (2 goals) netted the sixth goal of the afternoon, and sophomore defender James Paden contributed an assist. New Trier sophomore keeper Aidan Crawford stopped two shots after securing five in a 1-0 defeat of York in his varsity debut August 29 in Elmhurst.
“All of our goals today were beautiful,” Franzen said. “What we showed today, more than anything else, was our depth.”
Grayslake Central, meanwhile, played without starting goalkeeper Garcia Perez, a junior who suffered a broken left ankle during preseason club action with the Mundelein Strikers, and six Rams who had out-of-town commitments. A hopeful, cast-wearing Perez watched the Rams battle the Trevians.
“We’re not using that [the depleted squad] as an excuse,” Grayslake Central coach Tom Hamilton said. “Credit the Trevians, a very good team. We’re not communicating the way we need to communicate right now. You need to do that against fast, big, technical teams, and you’re going to see teams like that at this tournament. We have a lot of players with technical skills. We can be organized.
“I know this is going to sound weird after a 7-0 loss, but we worked hard, played with energy and effort.”
Hamilton, like most soccer bosses, welcomes the opportunities to play against the area’s best teams early in the season.
“We’re going to find out who we are in showcase games,” Hamilton said a few minutes before kickoff. “That’s what I like about coming here and going against a team like New Trier.”
Hamilton belongs in a soccer broadcast booth. Listen to him during a soccer match and he is always positive while shouting orders to his players. The coach is adept at assessing his team’s shape, breaking down what needs to be corrected and then relaying spot-on, encouraging messages to his Rams.
And he provided levity after the scoreboard operator at New Trier’s stadium inadverteNew Trierly increased New Trier’s lead to 3-0 moments after New Trier had taken a 2-0 lead.
“Well, it was a nice goal,” a grinning Hamilton commented after making eye contact with Ravenscraft and others on New Trier’s side.
Grayslake Central junior midfielder James Rohlfing exudes leadership qualities. It’s one of the reasons Hamilton chose him to serve as a team spokesman after the game.
“Coach is right,” said Rohlfing, who plays club ball with the Chicago Magic. “Our communication was lacking today. On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d give it a 5, maybe a 6. It has to be better. It’s there, at times.”
Rohlfing wants to follow in his uncle’s cleat steps. Todd Arbiture, a Libertyville graduate and a midfielder/forward, played Division I soccer at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
Rams senior midfielder Owen Aaberg, a tri-captain with senior midfielder Thomas Ramsey and senior defender Mitchell Kocialkowski, impressed with his speed and footwork Saturday. He found seams and extended possessions with his vision and shiftiness.
But New Trier’s form was midseason sharp in late August. The Trevians boast size, talent, patience and excessive amounts of shrewdness.
New Trier (2-0-1) faces visiting and third-ranked Libertyville (2-0-0) in Northside College Showcase action at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday; Grayslake Central (1-2-0) faces visiting no. 23 Loyola on the same day at 5 p.m.
Libertyville edged Loyola 2-1 in Showcase clash Saturday afternoon.
Starting lineups
Grayslake CeNew Trierral
GK: Jonathan Piggott
D: Thomas Conlon
D: Nick Hoffman
D: Caschu Model
MF: Thomas Ramsey
MF: Christian Hinestrosa
MF: Owen Aaberg
MF: Tyler Armstrong
F: Tyler Kalata
F: James Rohlfing
F: Ben Berry
New Trier
GK: Aidan Crawford
D: Seth Babbitt
D: Jack Cudmore
D: James Paden
MF: Ryan Ball
MF: Julio Mora
MF: Jack Krueger
MF: William Gerstein
F: Aidan Crowder
F: Alex Powell Beane
F: Will Franzen
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Jack Krueger, jr., MF, New Trier
Referee: Rick Geati
Scoring summary
First half
New Trier: Beane (Simon Kellman) 26’
New Trier: Kellman (Paden) 28’
Second half
New Trier: Crowder (Kellman) 43’
New Trier: Beane (Franzen) 44’
New Trier: Franzen (Kellman) 50’
New Trier: Crowder (Franzen) 53’
New Trier: Gerstein (Beane) 59’
Trevians shake, rattle and roll to 7-0 win in Showcase opener
By Bill McLean
NORTHFIELD — New Trier soccer mates Jake Krueger and Will Franzen attempted to demonstrate their post-goal handshake to an inquisitive scribbler after a Northside College Showcase match on their home pitch Saturday afternoon.
It featured various rapid slaps, grips and gyrations, but some of the exchanges weren’t so clean. The pair hesitated at times during the peformance outside of the Trevians’ cozy team meeting room — bigger than a shed, smaller than a locker room — underneath a set of bleachers at Robert Naughton Field.
“It still needs some work,” Krueger, a junior midfielder, admitted with a smile.
Does that apply to the Trevians' offense?
It does not appear so based on what it did in New Trier’s 7-0 win over a shorthanded Grayslake Central side in pleasant weather. The match was scoreless until the 26th minute, when New Trier senior forward Alex Powell Beane struck for the first of his two tallies after a delivery from senior reserve forward Simon Kellman (goal, 3 assists), who had entered the match in the eighth minute.
The formidable hosts, ranked 12th in the Chicagoland Soccer First 50 preseason poll, poured it on in the second half, doubling their 2-0 halftime lead to 4-0 via goals from senior forward Aidan Crowder and Beane in the 43rd and 44th minutes. Boom-boom.
What preceded the squad’s fifth goal deserves YouTube status under the category “Mesmerizing, Highly Creative Passing in Prep Soccer”. At least three weaving Trevians provided hockey-ish assists before Kellman deftly fed Franzen (goal, 2 assists), who beat Rams sophomore goalkeeper Jonathan Piggott in the 50th minute to make it, fittingly, 5-0.
“Our guys are incredibly confident with the ball, and they’re very good at establishing patterns and being decisive [during transitions and rushes],” said Trevians coach Matt Ravenscraft, whose boys have won twice since a 3-3 tie with Fremd in their rainy season opener August 26 in Northfield. “You saw what was going on during that sequence; we had five, six guys locked in.
“The game,” he added, “slows down for many of them.”
The 5-foot-10 Krueger finished with exactly zero goals and zero assists versus the Rams. But Ravenscraft dismissed any notion that Krueger’s performance was a quiet one.
“Jake does so much for us, does so many things well for us,” the coach said. “I know he didn’t score today, but there is so much more to his game than the ability to score. He played great today, again. He works on the ball with a mentality that’s there — that’s on — for 80 minutes every match.”
Beane, who could probably learn how to play a sport one day and excel in it the next, added an assist in the rout. Crowder (2 goals) netted the sixth goal of the afternoon, and sophomore defender James Paden contributed an assist. New Trier sophomore keeper Aidan Crawford stopped two shots after securing five in a 1-0 defeat of York in his varsity debut August 29 in Elmhurst.
“All of our goals today were beautiful,” Franzen said. “What we showed today, more than anything else, was our depth.”
Grayslake Central, meanwhile, played without starting goalkeeper Garcia Perez, a junior who suffered a broken left ankle during preseason club action with the Mundelein Strikers, and six Rams who had out-of-town commitments. A hopeful, cast-wearing Perez watched the Rams battle the Trevians.
“We’re not using that [the depleted squad] as an excuse,” Grayslake Central coach Tom Hamilton said. “Credit the Trevians, a very good team. We’re not communicating the way we need to communicate right now. You need to do that against fast, big, technical teams, and you’re going to see teams like that at this tournament. We have a lot of players with technical skills. We can be organized.
“I know this is going to sound weird after a 7-0 loss, but we worked hard, played with energy and effort.”
Hamilton, like most soccer bosses, welcomes the opportunities to play against the area’s best teams early in the season.
“We’re going to find out who we are in showcase games,” Hamilton said a few minutes before kickoff. “That’s what I like about coming here and going against a team like New Trier.”
Hamilton belongs in a soccer broadcast booth. Listen to him during a soccer match and he is always positive while shouting orders to his players. The coach is adept at assessing his team’s shape, breaking down what needs to be corrected and then relaying spot-on, encouraging messages to his Rams.
And he provided levity after the scoreboard operator at New Trier’s stadium inadverteNew Trierly increased New Trier’s lead to 3-0 moments after New Trier had taken a 2-0 lead.
“Well, it was a nice goal,” a grinning Hamilton commented after making eye contact with Ravenscraft and others on New Trier’s side.
Grayslake Central junior midfielder James Rohlfing exudes leadership qualities. It’s one of the reasons Hamilton chose him to serve as a team spokesman after the game.
“Coach is right,” said Rohlfing, who plays club ball with the Chicago Magic. “Our communication was lacking today. On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d give it a 5, maybe a 6. It has to be better. It’s there, at times.”
Rohlfing wants to follow in his uncle’s cleat steps. Todd Arbiture, a Libertyville graduate and a midfielder/forward, played Division I soccer at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
Rams senior midfielder Owen Aaberg, a tri-captain with senior midfielder Thomas Ramsey and senior defender Mitchell Kocialkowski, impressed with his speed and footwork Saturday. He found seams and extended possessions with his vision and shiftiness.
But New Trier’s form was midseason sharp in late August. The Trevians boast size, talent, patience and excessive amounts of shrewdness.
New Trier (2-0-1) faces visiting and third-ranked Libertyville (2-0-0) in Northside College Showcase action at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday; Grayslake Central (1-2-0) faces visiting no. 23 Loyola on the same day at 5 p.m.
Libertyville edged Loyola 2-1 in Showcase clash Saturday afternoon.
Starting lineups
Grayslake CeNew Trierral
GK: Jonathan Piggott
D: Thomas Conlon
D: Nick Hoffman
D: Caschu Model
MF: Thomas Ramsey
MF: Christian Hinestrosa
MF: Owen Aaberg
MF: Tyler Armstrong
F: Tyler Kalata
F: James Rohlfing
F: Ben Berry
New Trier
GK: Aidan Crawford
D: Seth Babbitt
D: Jack Cudmore
D: James Paden
MF: Ryan Ball
MF: Julio Mora
MF: Jack Krueger
MF: William Gerstein
F: Aidan Crowder
F: Alex Powell Beane
F: Will Franzen
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Jack Krueger, jr., MF, New Trier
Referee: Rick Geati
Scoring summary
First half
New Trier: Beane (Simon Kellman) 26’
New Trier: Kellman (Paden) 28’
Second half
New Trier: Crowder (Kellman) 43’
New Trier: Beane (Franzen) 44’
New Trier: Franzen (Kellman) 50’
New Trier: Crowder (Franzen) 53’
New Trier: Gerstein (Beane) 59’