Willowbrook puts on
Senior Night show vs. Hinsdale South
7 Warriors score in enthusiastic victory
By Dave Owen
VILLA PARK -- An especially accomplished group of Willowbrook seniors produced some extra special results on Senior Night on Tuesday.
The Wariors (9-7-3, 3-2-x), who had gone winless in conference play in the last two seasons and 1-5-x in 2019, made an emphatic statement of their vast improvement with a 9-0 win over Hinsdale South (5-10-1, 1-2-x).
“It was exciting for them,” Willowbrook first-year coach Victor Lopez said. “I told them since yesterday that all my seniors tonight, it was their night. We wanted to make it special for them.
"We knew we’ve had a good season, and today we wanted to make it the best possible for the whole team to have a nice night. And I think they did. I was happy for them.”
Senior captain Ricardo Acosta has been on varsity since sophomore year.
“It means a lot,” Acosta said. “This is our last year, so we had to perform really well. … We worked really well, and we played as a team like we always have to.”
Senior Aiden Amin has been a great addition to the team and a huge difference-maker after playing club soccer in the fall for three years.
And it was Amin who fittingly opened the scoring just 2:51 into Tuesday’s match.
“I saw (Acosta) with the ball in the middlle,” Amin said. “There was a gap between the defenders. I made a run, he played it through. A simple touch and I placed it in the corner.”
Hinsdale South defeated the Warriors 3-2 last season, but Willowbrook’s rise in talent and Senior Night motivation were just two factors that were too much to overcome.
“We have a lot of injuries, with six starters out,” Hornets coach Danny Makaric said. “We start without our central defender, our best defender, and it’s a hard time to play. Plus our left defender is out. And in the first 11 I have three freshmen.
“I finished the game with six freshmen on the field. Injuries are killing us. A week ago, we had a 2-1 (loss to Leyden) and 3-1 (loss to Brother Rice).”
Despite those factors, the Hornets kept the game 1-0 for the first 16-plus minutes, until Amin scored again via an assist by sophomore Vinicius DaSilva to make the score 2-0.
“We moved the ball really well today” Amin said. “That was what kept us going in the game. I said before, when you have the ball, they (opponents) can’t do anything.
“I think that (Senior Nigtt) was a factor,” Amin said. “Everyone was really motivated and wanted to do well. Do it for the seniors, do it for themselves and for the team. I think that was a big contributor.”
Marwan Smadi kept the Warriors rolling just four minutes later, putting his team up 3-0 on a header off an Acosta cross.
“It was on a cross to me,” Smadi said. “I told him (Acosta) before ‘Cross it to me so I can turn and take it.’ So he saw me, I jumped (for the header), and I made it.”
The goal was especially sweet for Smadi.
I was injured and missed eight games, and I just came back,” he said. “This is my second game back, and I have two goals. I scored one last game too.
“It was really hard (to be out). I had to come back.”
The Warriors continued to roll into halftime. Juniors Lucas Bohm (9:01 before halftime) and Liron Ebema (4:05 before the half) scoring to build the lead to 5-0. Ebema and Bohm assisted on the other’s goal.
A bad situation turned into a nightmare for Hinsdale South.
“We gave them lots of space,” Makaric said. “They pushed the ball in the middle, and we played 40 yards away from them. For the first 10 or 15 minutes, they played against us the way we wanted to play against them. Then they scored three goals, and that was it.
“When we came here we, had to pack in the back, and we couldn’t (due to the defender injuries). We can carry the future better with this team, but today was our worst game.”
Sophomore DaSilva was at the center of the scoring activity in the second half, beginning with his goal with 28:14 left that made the score 6-0.
Then with 21:44 to go, an Amin corner kick send found senior defender Luke Ceplecha alone in front for a point-blank header put-away inside the crease and a 7-0 score.
That seventh score reduced the remaining time in half to under 11 minutes, but the Warriors weren’t done.
With 6:11 left, DaSilva set up Ebema for an 8-0 lead. And fittingly, the final minutes put two of the Warriors with the most varsity time in the spotlight,
First it was Acosta, who took a pass from DaSilva, dribbled up the middle and lined a shot inside the lower right corner of the net to close the scoring.
“I was trying to score so hard,” said Acosta, who has five goals in 2022. “This was a great feeling, because in past years with other seniors (on Senior Night) we couldn’t (win), and it was hard for them
“My role as I see it most is as a defender/midfielder, because Aiden moved the ball well up-top. So, I just stay back in case of a rebound, or if I have to make a quick pass if they choose to pass it to me or to shift the ball.”
Another third-year varsity senior is goalkeeper Jack Voss, and the final moments of play capped off his four-save shutout on Senior Night.
With the postgame party underway, Acosta reflected on what a difference a year makes.
“A lot of it has to do with the coach,” he said. “He brings a lot of improvements, and Aiden too. He wasn’t here in the past so that’s a lot of help to us too to move around the ball in the middle and shoot well.”
Added Smadi: “This year we are much better than other years. The team works hard, and the coach does a lot.”
Lopez was quick to deflect any credit.
“Everyone did an awesome job,” he said. “They’ve been working hard since Day One, and we’re just looking forward and moving forward every time we have a chance. Today we knew it was going to be tough, but I said ‘Let’s play for our seniors.’ And I think everyone did their job. To name one or two players would be selfish.
“More than anything it’s the kids. They’re the ones working hard, and they believe in it. I’m just doing a little on my side to make them believe everything is possible. My goal is just that they can feel confident. They can have it, as long as they try hard and work hard. And they do an excellent job.”
The job was near perfect Tuesday.
Willowbrook continued its rebound from a midseason four-game winless streak (0-3-1) to run their bounce-back win streak to three games heading into a Wednesday night home match with Montini.
“This game especially really pumped us up,” Amin said. “We were on a little bit of a tie and losing streak, but we’ve turned it around, and this is a good thing to push us forward.”
Smadi offered his own take on Willowbrook’s most decisive win in recent memory.
“I feel like we were really excited for this,” he said. “We played from our hearts, and that’s how we won the game.
“Actually they beat us (last year). This year we’ve won a lot of games. Teams that beat us last year, this year we beat them.”
Lopez has liked the Warriors’ resiliency.
“They played really good,” he said. “They’ve really wanted to make something new this year.
“At the beginning we were working hard and getting good results,” Lopez added, “and then we got a little bit too confident, and it didn’t work our best for a couple of games.
“But after that, right now the last three games we’ve focused a lot on the playoffs. We told them ‘If we really want to make a nice showing in the playoffs we have to be ready and get back to the spot we were before.’ Right now they’re looking good and trying hard.
“We’ll see. We’re ready. We’re looking forward. We know on our side we’ll do whatever is in our hands to make it possible.”
Starting lineups
Hinsdale South
GK: Feras Alnass
D: Brody Hallman
D: Aryan Patel
D: Justis Gaudisauskas
D: Jacob Charters
M: Ben Bartninkas
M: Diego Castellanos
M: Jake Lu
M: James Martin
F: Richie Pikula
F: Daniel Ciesla
Willowbrook
GK: Jack Voss
D: Luke Ceplecha
D: Dean Romano
D: Maximiliano Solis
D: Dali Acuna
M: Ricardo Acosta
M: Lucas Bohm
M: Aiden Amin
M: Liron Ebema
F: Marwan Smadi
F: Vinicius DaSilva
Scoring summary
First half
W- Aiden Amin (Ricardo Acosta assist), 3’
W- Amin (Vinicius DaSilva), 17’
W- Marwan Smadi (Acosta), 21’
W- Lucas Bohm (Liron Ebema), 32’
W- Ebema (Bohm), 36’
Second half
W- DaSilva, 52’
W- Luke Ceplecha (Amin), 59’
W- Ebema (DaSilva), 74’
W- Acosta (DaSilva), 77’
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match:
Aiden Amin, sr., MF, Willowbrook;
Ricardo Acosta, sr., MF, Willowbrook
Senior Night show vs. Hinsdale South
7 Warriors score in enthusiastic victory
By Dave Owen
VILLA PARK -- An especially accomplished group of Willowbrook seniors produced some extra special results on Senior Night on Tuesday.
The Wariors (9-7-3, 3-2-x), who had gone winless in conference play in the last two seasons and 1-5-x in 2019, made an emphatic statement of their vast improvement with a 9-0 win over Hinsdale South (5-10-1, 1-2-x).
“It was exciting for them,” Willowbrook first-year coach Victor Lopez said. “I told them since yesterday that all my seniors tonight, it was their night. We wanted to make it special for them.
"We knew we’ve had a good season, and today we wanted to make it the best possible for the whole team to have a nice night. And I think they did. I was happy for them.”
Senior captain Ricardo Acosta has been on varsity since sophomore year.
“It means a lot,” Acosta said. “This is our last year, so we had to perform really well. … We worked really well, and we played as a team like we always have to.”
Senior Aiden Amin has been a great addition to the team and a huge difference-maker after playing club soccer in the fall for three years.
And it was Amin who fittingly opened the scoring just 2:51 into Tuesday’s match.
“I saw (Acosta) with the ball in the middlle,” Amin said. “There was a gap between the defenders. I made a run, he played it through. A simple touch and I placed it in the corner.”
Hinsdale South defeated the Warriors 3-2 last season, but Willowbrook’s rise in talent and Senior Night motivation were just two factors that were too much to overcome.
“We have a lot of injuries, with six starters out,” Hornets coach Danny Makaric said. “We start without our central defender, our best defender, and it’s a hard time to play. Plus our left defender is out. And in the first 11 I have three freshmen.
“I finished the game with six freshmen on the field. Injuries are killing us. A week ago, we had a 2-1 (loss to Leyden) and 3-1 (loss to Brother Rice).”
Despite those factors, the Hornets kept the game 1-0 for the first 16-plus minutes, until Amin scored again via an assist by sophomore Vinicius DaSilva to make the score 2-0.
“We moved the ball really well today” Amin said. “That was what kept us going in the game. I said before, when you have the ball, they (opponents) can’t do anything.
“I think that (Senior Nigtt) was a factor,” Amin said. “Everyone was really motivated and wanted to do well. Do it for the seniors, do it for themselves and for the team. I think that was a big contributor.”
Marwan Smadi kept the Warriors rolling just four minutes later, putting his team up 3-0 on a header off an Acosta cross.
“It was on a cross to me,” Smadi said. “I told him (Acosta) before ‘Cross it to me so I can turn and take it.’ So he saw me, I jumped (for the header), and I made it.”
The goal was especially sweet for Smadi.
I was injured and missed eight games, and I just came back,” he said. “This is my second game back, and I have two goals. I scored one last game too.
“It was really hard (to be out). I had to come back.”
The Warriors continued to roll into halftime. Juniors Lucas Bohm (9:01 before halftime) and Liron Ebema (4:05 before the half) scoring to build the lead to 5-0. Ebema and Bohm assisted on the other’s goal.
A bad situation turned into a nightmare for Hinsdale South.
“We gave them lots of space,” Makaric said. “They pushed the ball in the middle, and we played 40 yards away from them. For the first 10 or 15 minutes, they played against us the way we wanted to play against them. Then they scored three goals, and that was it.
“When we came here we, had to pack in the back, and we couldn’t (due to the defender injuries). We can carry the future better with this team, but today was our worst game.”
Sophomore DaSilva was at the center of the scoring activity in the second half, beginning with his goal with 28:14 left that made the score 6-0.
Then with 21:44 to go, an Amin corner kick send found senior defender Luke Ceplecha alone in front for a point-blank header put-away inside the crease and a 7-0 score.
That seventh score reduced the remaining time in half to under 11 minutes, but the Warriors weren’t done.
With 6:11 left, DaSilva set up Ebema for an 8-0 lead. And fittingly, the final minutes put two of the Warriors with the most varsity time in the spotlight,
First it was Acosta, who took a pass from DaSilva, dribbled up the middle and lined a shot inside the lower right corner of the net to close the scoring.
“I was trying to score so hard,” said Acosta, who has five goals in 2022. “This was a great feeling, because in past years with other seniors (on Senior Night) we couldn’t (win), and it was hard for them
“My role as I see it most is as a defender/midfielder, because Aiden moved the ball well up-top. So, I just stay back in case of a rebound, or if I have to make a quick pass if they choose to pass it to me or to shift the ball.”
Another third-year varsity senior is goalkeeper Jack Voss, and the final moments of play capped off his four-save shutout on Senior Night.
With the postgame party underway, Acosta reflected on what a difference a year makes.
“A lot of it has to do with the coach,” he said. “He brings a lot of improvements, and Aiden too. He wasn’t here in the past so that’s a lot of help to us too to move around the ball in the middle and shoot well.”
Added Smadi: “This year we are much better than other years. The team works hard, and the coach does a lot.”
Lopez was quick to deflect any credit.
“Everyone did an awesome job,” he said. “They’ve been working hard since Day One, and we’re just looking forward and moving forward every time we have a chance. Today we knew it was going to be tough, but I said ‘Let’s play for our seniors.’ And I think everyone did their job. To name one or two players would be selfish.
“More than anything it’s the kids. They’re the ones working hard, and they believe in it. I’m just doing a little on my side to make them believe everything is possible. My goal is just that they can feel confident. They can have it, as long as they try hard and work hard. And they do an excellent job.”
The job was near perfect Tuesday.
Willowbrook continued its rebound from a midseason four-game winless streak (0-3-1) to run their bounce-back win streak to three games heading into a Wednesday night home match with Montini.
“This game especially really pumped us up,” Amin said. “We were on a little bit of a tie and losing streak, but we’ve turned it around, and this is a good thing to push us forward.”
Smadi offered his own take on Willowbrook’s most decisive win in recent memory.
“I feel like we were really excited for this,” he said. “We played from our hearts, and that’s how we won the game.
“Actually they beat us (last year). This year we’ve won a lot of games. Teams that beat us last year, this year we beat them.”
Lopez has liked the Warriors’ resiliency.
“They played really good,” he said. “They’ve really wanted to make something new this year.
“At the beginning we were working hard and getting good results,” Lopez added, “and then we got a little bit too confident, and it didn’t work our best for a couple of games.
“But after that, right now the last three games we’ve focused a lot on the playoffs. We told them ‘If we really want to make a nice showing in the playoffs we have to be ready and get back to the spot we were before.’ Right now they’re looking good and trying hard.
“We’ll see. We’re ready. We’re looking forward. We know on our side we’ll do whatever is in our hands to make it possible.”
Starting lineups
Hinsdale South
GK: Feras Alnass
D: Brody Hallman
D: Aryan Patel
D: Justis Gaudisauskas
D: Jacob Charters
M: Ben Bartninkas
M: Diego Castellanos
M: Jake Lu
M: James Martin
F: Richie Pikula
F: Daniel Ciesla
Willowbrook
GK: Jack Voss
D: Luke Ceplecha
D: Dean Romano
D: Maximiliano Solis
D: Dali Acuna
M: Ricardo Acosta
M: Lucas Bohm
M: Aiden Amin
M: Liron Ebema
F: Marwan Smadi
F: Vinicius DaSilva
Scoring summary
First half
W- Aiden Amin (Ricardo Acosta assist), 3’
W- Amin (Vinicius DaSilva), 17’
W- Marwan Smadi (Acosta), 21’
W- Lucas Bohm (Liron Ebema), 32’
W- Ebema (Bohm), 36’
Second half
W- DaSilva, 52’
W- Luke Ceplecha (Amin), 59’
W- Ebema (DaSilva), 74’
W- Acosta (DaSilva), 77’
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match:
Aiden Amin, sr., MF, Willowbrook;
Ricardo Acosta, sr., MF, Willowbrook