Smith stars, GK Welch scores,
Naperville North rolls past Geneva
GK bags 1st varsity goal, Smith scores brace in 5-1 victory
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – Zach Smith was named Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match on against Geneva on Thursday at the Best of the West Tournament.
The honor was well-deserved. The Naperville North junior midfielder scored two brilliant goals for his second-consecutive two-goal game and led the host Huskies, ranked no. 1 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, to a 5-1 victory.
But that wasn’t what had the crowd buzzing.
Star goalkeeper Tom Welch was replaced by backup Jason Barba for the second half, allowing Welch to play forward.
The 6-foot-8 Welch gave Huskies fans what they wanted to see when he scored his first varsity goal with 7:28 remaining to finish the scoring.
Ty Konrad got his third assist of the game on the play, taking the ball to the end line in the left side of the Geneva box before slotting a pass to Welch just outside the 6. Welch showed he is adept with his feet as well as his hands, knocking a one-timer past Geneva goalkeeper Chris Morales.
“Ty basically gave me the goal,” Welch said. “Got past a defender, side-centered it and put it back across to an open goal, and I placed it.”
The roar was out of proportion to the importance of the play, considering the Huskies (4-0-0) already had put the game out of reach, but understandable. Welch had a big grin on his face.
“Playing the field just makes me feel like a little kid again,” Welch said. “I’m just happy (Naperville North coach Jim) Konrad put me out there and to get a goal, maybe we didn’t need it to win, but my teammates enjoy seeing me out there. I was just having fun, and that’s what soccer is all about.”
Jim Konrad said before the season that Welch would be North’s sixth or seventh best field player. Indeed, Welch is no stranger to playing different positions and didn’t go between the pipes until freshman year. He said his stint at forward was a nice change of pace.
“I grew up playing soccer and obviously when high school came around I started playing keeper,” Welch said. “Now it’s fun to do something different,
especially when the pressure is not on.
“He put me in, and hopefully I entertained a few people. If coach wants me to play forward, score another goal, I’ll do that.”
Welch took three shots and one of the previous two nearly went in. Just a minute before he struck paydirt, Welch rose up to get a corner kick from Ty Konrad and lined a header off the crossbar.
The absurdity of such a tall player heading a ball was amusing and impressive. As it turned out, Welch would have needed to head the ball downward to score on that play.
“I loved it,” Smith said. “The one he scored was a great goal, finished it well.
“The header, to hit it straight and it hit the crossbar, I mean he is just too big.”
Smith got no argument from Geneva junior Josh Eiss, who was literally looking up to Welch and also scored his first varsity goal.
“I was standing next to him before I came in and I was like, ‘Oh, gosh, how tall is this kid?’” Eiss said. “Sure enough, he put one in, which I actually was very impressed by considering he’s a starting goalie. Props to him, that was a good goal.”
It wasn’t the only goal the Huskies scored, or even the best.
That title could go to either of Smith’s strikes, which helped put the game out of reach.
Geneva (0-5-0) played tough defensively in the first half and trailed only 1-0 at halftime despite being outshot 8-0. Nata Rojas gave the Huskies the lead 4:21 into the game when he volleyed home Colin Iverson’s header off a Ty Konrad corner kick.
Geneva defenders Stuart Turnbull, Jack Cannon, James Miller and Daniel Belzer were stalwart yet eventually became exhausted trying to hold the Huskies at bay.
The dam finally broke with 27:41 to go in the second half when Patrick Koenig took a pass from Ty Konrad, dribbled into the right side of the box and scored on a short shot.
Three minutes later, Ali Khorfan won a ball in the middle and sent a perfect lead pass ahead to Koenig.
Belzer disrupted Koenig’s pass to the goal but Koenig maintained possession and found Smith streaking in on the right wing. Smith buried the shot into the lower left corner for a 3-0 lead.
Smith bagged his second goal just 32 seconds after Eiss put the Vikings on the board at the 13:55 mark. This one was a left-footed bomb from 30 yards on the left wing that went top shelf.
“Zach had two great shots,” Jim Konrad said. “The first one was just a classy, get-your-body-in-the-right-spot and finish in the corner.
“I wish more guys would do that and then the second one was just a world-class strike.”
Smith, a transfer from Kaneland, has meshed well with his new teammates. He has played the past three seasons with the Galaxy club team that won the U17 national title last month. That squad included nine other Huskies, though not Welch, a Loyola basketball recruit who only plays soccer during the high school season.
“I didn’t know we were going to get him,” Welch said. “I didn’t know who he was, but super good kid.
“That’s why I think he fits in with us so well. His personality is great and with his feet, he can do almost anything.
“I’m still being impressed every day with what he can do at practice. Obviously in a game, you saw that hit he had from about 30-yards out with his off foot. He can do so much, and he’s going to be a huge aspect of why we’re going to do good things.”
Smith is excited to contribute.
“I love it here, no complaints at all,” Smith said. “I was welcomed. And of course I know most of the guys, so I’ve got no trouble playing with any of them.
“I’m really optimistic about the season. We’ve got a lot of work to do still, but I’m looking forward to it and just keep doing what I’m doing. It seems to be working.”
Geneva, on the other hand, remains a work in progress, mainly because of their inexperienced roster. But Eiss remains upbeat even though Geneva has scored just two goals so far, albeit against stiff opposition.
“This is a tough year for us,” Eiss said. “We’re a really new team with a bunch of different kinds of grade levels all combining into one team, and we’re all new to each other.
“We’ve never really played together, so I think that’s why we’re struggling so much, considering we’re playing teams like Naperville North, who has won state two years in a row, and Wheaton Academy, another studly team. But I think the next couple of years we’ll really be able to be good.”
There are signs of that beginning to peek through. Eiss provided the offensive highlight of the night when he buried the rebound of his own penalty kick, which Barba made a tremendous diving save on.
Barba lunged to his left to stop Eiss, but the rebound trickled around the goal line and Eiss raced in and booted the ball home before a couple of Huskies could get there.
“It was (a great save),” Eiss said. “He read me like a book on that one.
“I looked to the left side, thought he’d see my eyes and go, 'Oh, man, that kid’s going to go to (his) left.’
“Then I went to the right, and he knew it. Good save, but I was ready for it, and I followed it up.”
Now the Vikings are looking to follow up a solid effort with continued progress and perhaps some victories against teams that aren’t quite as good as the Huskies.
“North is big and strong, so matching up that way with a lot of inexperienced guys who haven’t played varsity, it’s tough because the one thing they’re not used to is the physicality of the game at this level,” Geneva coach Jason Bhatta said. “But they give you space to play and at times we looked OK.
“I was hoping we could roll it on the ground more and play a little better possession-wise, but the lessons we can take from playing them (are positive). We’re learning the lessons and moving on.”
Indeed, the Vikings learned a valuable lesson from playing the Huskies, who were relentless in the attack and nearly impregnable on defense.
“That’s what (North) does,” Bhatta said. “They wear you down, they batter you and credit to them for knowing what they have and playing to their strengths.”
Starting lineups
Geneva
GK Chris Morales
D Stuart Turnbull
D Jack Cannon
D James Miller
D Daniel Belzer
M Ethan Hipp
M Jack Belloli
M Dominick Perl
M Matthew Fuller
F Joel Peruba
F Colin Fromm
Naperville North
GK Tom Welch
D Cam Ferus
D Cesar Recendez
D Christian Romano
D Colin Iverson
M Myles Barry
M Nata Rojas
M Zach Smith
M Ali Khorfan
F Patrick Koenig
F Ty Konrad
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match – Zach Smith, jr., M, Naperville North.
Scoring summary
First half
Naperville North – Nata Rojas (Colin Iverson, Ty Konrad) 35:39
Second half
Naperville North – Patrick Koenig (Ty Konrad) 27:41
Naperville North – Zach Smith (Koenig, Ali Khorfan) 24:54
Geneva – Joshua Eiss 13:55
Naperville North – Smith 13:23
Naperville North – Tom Welch (Konrad) 7:28
Naperville North rolls past Geneva
GK bags 1st varsity goal, Smith scores brace in 5-1 victory
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – Zach Smith was named Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match on against Geneva on Thursday at the Best of the West Tournament.
The honor was well-deserved. The Naperville North junior midfielder scored two brilliant goals for his second-consecutive two-goal game and led the host Huskies, ranked no. 1 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, to a 5-1 victory.
But that wasn’t what had the crowd buzzing.
Star goalkeeper Tom Welch was replaced by backup Jason Barba for the second half, allowing Welch to play forward.
The 6-foot-8 Welch gave Huskies fans what they wanted to see when he scored his first varsity goal with 7:28 remaining to finish the scoring.
Ty Konrad got his third assist of the game on the play, taking the ball to the end line in the left side of the Geneva box before slotting a pass to Welch just outside the 6. Welch showed he is adept with his feet as well as his hands, knocking a one-timer past Geneva goalkeeper Chris Morales.
“Ty basically gave me the goal,” Welch said. “Got past a defender, side-centered it and put it back across to an open goal, and I placed it.”
The roar was out of proportion to the importance of the play, considering the Huskies (4-0-0) already had put the game out of reach, but understandable. Welch had a big grin on his face.
“Playing the field just makes me feel like a little kid again,” Welch said. “I’m just happy (Naperville North coach Jim) Konrad put me out there and to get a goal, maybe we didn’t need it to win, but my teammates enjoy seeing me out there. I was just having fun, and that’s what soccer is all about.”
Jim Konrad said before the season that Welch would be North’s sixth or seventh best field player. Indeed, Welch is no stranger to playing different positions and didn’t go between the pipes until freshman year. He said his stint at forward was a nice change of pace.
“I grew up playing soccer and obviously when high school came around I started playing keeper,” Welch said. “Now it’s fun to do something different,
especially when the pressure is not on.
“He put me in, and hopefully I entertained a few people. If coach wants me to play forward, score another goal, I’ll do that.”
Welch took three shots and one of the previous two nearly went in. Just a minute before he struck paydirt, Welch rose up to get a corner kick from Ty Konrad and lined a header off the crossbar.
The absurdity of such a tall player heading a ball was amusing and impressive. As it turned out, Welch would have needed to head the ball downward to score on that play.
“I loved it,” Smith said. “The one he scored was a great goal, finished it well.
“The header, to hit it straight and it hit the crossbar, I mean he is just too big.”
Smith got no argument from Geneva junior Josh Eiss, who was literally looking up to Welch and also scored his first varsity goal.
“I was standing next to him before I came in and I was like, ‘Oh, gosh, how tall is this kid?’” Eiss said. “Sure enough, he put one in, which I actually was very impressed by considering he’s a starting goalie. Props to him, that was a good goal.”
It wasn’t the only goal the Huskies scored, or even the best.
That title could go to either of Smith’s strikes, which helped put the game out of reach.
Geneva (0-5-0) played tough defensively in the first half and trailed only 1-0 at halftime despite being outshot 8-0. Nata Rojas gave the Huskies the lead 4:21 into the game when he volleyed home Colin Iverson’s header off a Ty Konrad corner kick.
Geneva defenders Stuart Turnbull, Jack Cannon, James Miller and Daniel Belzer were stalwart yet eventually became exhausted trying to hold the Huskies at bay.
The dam finally broke with 27:41 to go in the second half when Patrick Koenig took a pass from Ty Konrad, dribbled into the right side of the box and scored on a short shot.
Three minutes later, Ali Khorfan won a ball in the middle and sent a perfect lead pass ahead to Koenig.
Belzer disrupted Koenig’s pass to the goal but Koenig maintained possession and found Smith streaking in on the right wing. Smith buried the shot into the lower left corner for a 3-0 lead.
Smith bagged his second goal just 32 seconds after Eiss put the Vikings on the board at the 13:55 mark. This one was a left-footed bomb from 30 yards on the left wing that went top shelf.
“Zach had two great shots,” Jim Konrad said. “The first one was just a classy, get-your-body-in-the-right-spot and finish in the corner.
“I wish more guys would do that and then the second one was just a world-class strike.”
Smith, a transfer from Kaneland, has meshed well with his new teammates. He has played the past three seasons with the Galaxy club team that won the U17 national title last month. That squad included nine other Huskies, though not Welch, a Loyola basketball recruit who only plays soccer during the high school season.
“I didn’t know we were going to get him,” Welch said. “I didn’t know who he was, but super good kid.
“That’s why I think he fits in with us so well. His personality is great and with his feet, he can do almost anything.
“I’m still being impressed every day with what he can do at practice. Obviously in a game, you saw that hit he had from about 30-yards out with his off foot. He can do so much, and he’s going to be a huge aspect of why we’re going to do good things.”
Smith is excited to contribute.
“I love it here, no complaints at all,” Smith said. “I was welcomed. And of course I know most of the guys, so I’ve got no trouble playing with any of them.
“I’m really optimistic about the season. We’ve got a lot of work to do still, but I’m looking forward to it and just keep doing what I’m doing. It seems to be working.”
Geneva, on the other hand, remains a work in progress, mainly because of their inexperienced roster. But Eiss remains upbeat even though Geneva has scored just two goals so far, albeit against stiff opposition.
“This is a tough year for us,” Eiss said. “We’re a really new team with a bunch of different kinds of grade levels all combining into one team, and we’re all new to each other.
“We’ve never really played together, so I think that’s why we’re struggling so much, considering we’re playing teams like Naperville North, who has won state two years in a row, and Wheaton Academy, another studly team. But I think the next couple of years we’ll really be able to be good.”
There are signs of that beginning to peek through. Eiss provided the offensive highlight of the night when he buried the rebound of his own penalty kick, which Barba made a tremendous diving save on.
Barba lunged to his left to stop Eiss, but the rebound trickled around the goal line and Eiss raced in and booted the ball home before a couple of Huskies could get there.
“It was (a great save),” Eiss said. “He read me like a book on that one.
“I looked to the left side, thought he’d see my eyes and go, 'Oh, man, that kid’s going to go to (his) left.’
“Then I went to the right, and he knew it. Good save, but I was ready for it, and I followed it up.”
Now the Vikings are looking to follow up a solid effort with continued progress and perhaps some victories against teams that aren’t quite as good as the Huskies.
“North is big and strong, so matching up that way with a lot of inexperienced guys who haven’t played varsity, it’s tough because the one thing they’re not used to is the physicality of the game at this level,” Geneva coach Jason Bhatta said. “But they give you space to play and at times we looked OK.
“I was hoping we could roll it on the ground more and play a little better possession-wise, but the lessons we can take from playing them (are positive). We’re learning the lessons and moving on.”
Indeed, the Vikings learned a valuable lesson from playing the Huskies, who were relentless in the attack and nearly impregnable on defense.
“That’s what (North) does,” Bhatta said. “They wear you down, they batter you and credit to them for knowing what they have and playing to their strengths.”
Starting lineups
Geneva
GK Chris Morales
D Stuart Turnbull
D Jack Cannon
D James Miller
D Daniel Belzer
M Ethan Hipp
M Jack Belloli
M Dominick Perl
M Matthew Fuller
F Joel Peruba
F Colin Fromm
Naperville North
GK Tom Welch
D Cam Ferus
D Cesar Recendez
D Christian Romano
D Colin Iverson
M Myles Barry
M Nata Rojas
M Zach Smith
M Ali Khorfan
F Patrick Koenig
F Ty Konrad
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match – Zach Smith, jr., M, Naperville North.
Scoring summary
First half
Naperville North – Nata Rojas (Colin Iverson, Ty Konrad) 35:39
Second half
Naperville North – Patrick Koenig (Ty Konrad) 27:41
Naperville North – Zach Smith (Koenig, Ali Khorfan) 24:54
Geneva – Joshua Eiss 13:55
Naperville North – Smith 13:23
Naperville North – Tom Welch (Konrad) 7:28