SC North's intensity stops Lake Park
North Stars record upset, hand Lancers their 1st loss
By Gary Larsen
ST. CHARLES -- St. Charles North showed on Tuesday that playing winning soccer is not that complicated. All you have to do is play it with the heart of a lion.
Small and scrappy might best describe this year’s North Stars. So when they fell behind 1-0 at 15 minutes to Lake Park, they had to tap into their inner beast.
Sixty-five minutes later, host St. Charles North (8-3-1, 1-1-1) had a 2-1 win in the DuKane Conference showdown, and Lake Park was no longer an unbeaten team (12-1-1, 1-1-0).
“St. Charles North came to play tonight,” Lake Park defender Max Ellenbecker said.
A player and coach from the North Stars’ side couldn’t agree more.
“We worked our butts off,” North Stars midfielder Josh Amaro said.
“The fight was awesome,” North Stars coach Eric Willson said. “We felt like we needed to turn it into a dogfight, and I think that it was. It was such a team effort and just fun to watch.”
Ranked fifth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, Lake Park grabbed its lead when Ellenbecker launched a 50-yard freekick into the box, and Tom Zakic rose above the crowd to head it into the goal from eight yards.
With its size advantage, Lake Park’s set-piece goal threatened to be a recurring event against the smaller North Stars. It wasn’t. No. 20 St. Charles North shored up its defense against those set pieces.
After Zakic’s goal, St. Charles North’s work-rate picked up. Lake Park still found a few dangerous shots that North keeper Bobby Curran handled, plus a handful of free kicks, but North buttoned up its set-piece defense.
“They’ve got a lot of size on that team so credit us for how hard we worked,” Willson said. “You’ve got to be in position when you’re playing size like that.
“It started right off the bat. They’ve got some long throwers and John Kirby, our sophomore center back, positions himself in front of their player, wins the head ball, wins the foul, and that’s just guys learning where to be.”
North’s intensity also began carrying its attack.
“They gave us some challenges, because they just opened us up,” Lake Park coach Sean Crosby said. “They went pretty direct, and they worked hard. They got the ball forward, and they hustled for every fifty-fifty challenge.”
St. Charles North forward Matt Beaulieu headed over the crossbar at 18 minutes midfielder, and Amaro may have chipped some paint off the crossbar with a vicious swipe from distance at 20 minutes.
The North Stars' effort paid off when Beaulieu’s header goal at 38 minutes from 10 yards tied the score.
North’s Joe Sommer served a ball in front from 35 yards on the right side, and Beaulieu capitalized on some defensive uncertainty in the box by Lake Park. With no defender stepping to the ball, Beaulieu saw his chance.
“It felt like Christmas morning,” Beaulieu said. “It was really nice. I just took advantage of their miscommunication.”
St. Charles North continued to pressure after intermission. Logan Michels shot was just high at 43 minutes, and Lake Park keeper Christian Lekki made a sprawling save on a shot near the goalmouth taken by Amaro at 44 minutes.
“We had chances, couldn’t put them away, but we kept going at it and eventually we had to hit one,” Amaro said.
Beaulieu sent a free kick off the Lancers’ wall and right to Lekki at 46 minutes, and Curran left his line to take a shot off the foot of Lake Park’s Grayden McClellan at 47 minutes. The Lancers’ Matteo Costa also hit the crossbar on a free kick from 25 yards at 55 minutes.
One minute later, North found its go-ahead goal. Beaulieu lined up a free kick near the touchline deep on the right side and the left-footed senior swung his leg.
“I was trying to chip the keeper, because he was really close on his front post. I was trying to play it over him to the far post,” Beaulieu said. “It almost got there, and my teammate helped me out.”
That teammate was Amaro, who located the ball on the turf in the goalmouth and buried it.
“That felt so good,” Amaro said. “I saw the keeper shifting left-side so I decided to go back where it came from.”
“It’s always hard to go down a goal, especially conceding the first goal, but we had some guys step up and make sure we stayed with high energy.”
Lake Park won the title of the inaugural Plainfield Classic on Saturday, and the North Stars knew the Lancers were highly-ranked and unbeaten heading into Tuesday’s conference match.
The also knew Lake Park wasn’t going to lie down in the game’s final 20 minutes.
“They’re a great team,” Amaro said of Lake Park. “We had to make sure we played smart defensively and do a lot of team defending. And the big thing was staying strong defensively on those set pieces.”
With a goal and an assist, Beaulieu earned Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors, but players all over the pitch stepped up for North.
Amaro and Kolb were two of many North Stars helping to defend set pieces, outside defender Sommer got up the field into the attack well, and Kolb cleared a ball off the goal line in the 80th minute on one final Lake Park corner kick.
“We slid Parker Kolb into a new position tonight,” Willson said. “He’s been grinding it out in the middle of the field for us for a couple seasons, and he moved to a center back position tonight. Not only did he do an awesome job all night long, but he cleared a ball off the line for us.
“And some of the stuff Josh Amaro does can go unnoticed at that grind-it-out position of a defensive midfielder, where you do all the little things needed to win that don’t go into a stat book. But man, a lot of what he does is so awesome for us.”
Afterwards, Lake Park walked away with its first loss of the season but a lesson well-learned.
“(Crosby) has been telling us the same thing all season, but we really need to hear it again,” Ellenbecker said. “We have to pick up our intensity in training, and I’m not going to lie, we got a little comfortable. But a setback like this should get our guys going again. I just hope we come back to practice tomorrow ready to work.”
Crosby applauded the day’s work put forth by senior Ellenbecker at center back.
“Max had to cover a lot of ground, because we pushed (defender Zakic) up a little bit, so he did really well,” Crosby said. “Jesus (Juarez) played well in the midfield but when we had him pushed up we weren’t hitting him enough, and Franco (Presta) obviously gives us a chance all the way to the end.
“I also thought the young guys in the back, (Anthony) Magner and Frankie (Ciara), made big-time plays against opponents that are much older, stronger and much more physical. They were the scrappy-type guys on our side that battled for us.”
Crosby is confident that the skill, desire to work, and leadership on this year’s Lancers will get them to snap quickly back to being one of the best teams in Illinois.
He also hopes they take one specific lesson away from Tuesday’s loss.
“Everything in your heart and your head is what we needed tonight, not the talent of what you can do with a ball at your feet,” Crosby said. “We haven’t been given a ton of adversity this year and this was one of the toughest tests we’ve had. We just didn’t match them with our heads and our hearts.”
Beaulieu distilled his side’s win down to two elements.
“Just fight and belief,” he said. “Always being first to the ball and playing for each other. Even when we were making mistakes tonight, we were picking each other up, and the bench was energetic. It was all good.”
Beaulieu was asked if Lake Park’s high ranking and unbeaten record added extra motivation for his side.
“We don’t take rankings too far into consideration,” he said, smiling, “but we’re definitely better than our ranking suggests.”
Starting lineups
St. Charles North
GK Bobby Curran
D Johnny Mincieli
D Parker Kolb
D John Kirby
D Joey Sommer
MF Josh Amaro
MF Gabriel D’Amico
MF Logan Michels
MF Tommy Weber
MF Faizan Moiuddin
F Matt Beaulieu
Lake Park
GK Christian Lekki
D Max Ellenbecker
D Tom Zakic
D Victor Pawlik
D Paul Grzybowicz
MF Franco Presta
MF Gabriel Mendrano
MF Francesco Ciara
MF Jesus Juarez
MF Matteo Costa
F Grayden McClellan
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Matt Beaulieu, sr., F, St. Charles North
Scoring summary
First half
Lake Park - Zakic (Ellenbecker) at 15 minutes
St. Charles North - Beaulieu (J. Sommer) at 38 minutes
Second half
St. Charles North - Amaro (Beaulieu) at 56 minutes
North Stars record upset, hand Lancers their 1st loss
By Gary Larsen
ST. CHARLES -- St. Charles North showed on Tuesday that playing winning soccer is not that complicated. All you have to do is play it with the heart of a lion.
Small and scrappy might best describe this year’s North Stars. So when they fell behind 1-0 at 15 minutes to Lake Park, they had to tap into their inner beast.
Sixty-five minutes later, host St. Charles North (8-3-1, 1-1-1) had a 2-1 win in the DuKane Conference showdown, and Lake Park was no longer an unbeaten team (12-1-1, 1-1-0).
“St. Charles North came to play tonight,” Lake Park defender Max Ellenbecker said.
A player and coach from the North Stars’ side couldn’t agree more.
“We worked our butts off,” North Stars midfielder Josh Amaro said.
“The fight was awesome,” North Stars coach Eric Willson said. “We felt like we needed to turn it into a dogfight, and I think that it was. It was such a team effort and just fun to watch.”
Ranked fifth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, Lake Park grabbed its lead when Ellenbecker launched a 50-yard freekick into the box, and Tom Zakic rose above the crowd to head it into the goal from eight yards.
With its size advantage, Lake Park’s set-piece goal threatened to be a recurring event against the smaller North Stars. It wasn’t. No. 20 St. Charles North shored up its defense against those set pieces.
After Zakic’s goal, St. Charles North’s work-rate picked up. Lake Park still found a few dangerous shots that North keeper Bobby Curran handled, plus a handful of free kicks, but North buttoned up its set-piece defense.
“They’ve got a lot of size on that team so credit us for how hard we worked,” Willson said. “You’ve got to be in position when you’re playing size like that.
“It started right off the bat. They’ve got some long throwers and John Kirby, our sophomore center back, positions himself in front of their player, wins the head ball, wins the foul, and that’s just guys learning where to be.”
North’s intensity also began carrying its attack.
“They gave us some challenges, because they just opened us up,” Lake Park coach Sean Crosby said. “They went pretty direct, and they worked hard. They got the ball forward, and they hustled for every fifty-fifty challenge.”
St. Charles North forward Matt Beaulieu headed over the crossbar at 18 minutes midfielder, and Amaro may have chipped some paint off the crossbar with a vicious swipe from distance at 20 minutes.
The North Stars' effort paid off when Beaulieu’s header goal at 38 minutes from 10 yards tied the score.
North’s Joe Sommer served a ball in front from 35 yards on the right side, and Beaulieu capitalized on some defensive uncertainty in the box by Lake Park. With no defender stepping to the ball, Beaulieu saw his chance.
“It felt like Christmas morning,” Beaulieu said. “It was really nice. I just took advantage of their miscommunication.”
St. Charles North continued to pressure after intermission. Logan Michels shot was just high at 43 minutes, and Lake Park keeper Christian Lekki made a sprawling save on a shot near the goalmouth taken by Amaro at 44 minutes.
“We had chances, couldn’t put them away, but we kept going at it and eventually we had to hit one,” Amaro said.
Beaulieu sent a free kick off the Lancers’ wall and right to Lekki at 46 minutes, and Curran left his line to take a shot off the foot of Lake Park’s Grayden McClellan at 47 minutes. The Lancers’ Matteo Costa also hit the crossbar on a free kick from 25 yards at 55 minutes.
One minute later, North found its go-ahead goal. Beaulieu lined up a free kick near the touchline deep on the right side and the left-footed senior swung his leg.
“I was trying to chip the keeper, because he was really close on his front post. I was trying to play it over him to the far post,” Beaulieu said. “It almost got there, and my teammate helped me out.”
That teammate was Amaro, who located the ball on the turf in the goalmouth and buried it.
“That felt so good,” Amaro said. “I saw the keeper shifting left-side so I decided to go back where it came from.”
“It’s always hard to go down a goal, especially conceding the first goal, but we had some guys step up and make sure we stayed with high energy.”
Lake Park won the title of the inaugural Plainfield Classic on Saturday, and the North Stars knew the Lancers were highly-ranked and unbeaten heading into Tuesday’s conference match.
The also knew Lake Park wasn’t going to lie down in the game’s final 20 minutes.
“They’re a great team,” Amaro said of Lake Park. “We had to make sure we played smart defensively and do a lot of team defending. And the big thing was staying strong defensively on those set pieces.”
With a goal and an assist, Beaulieu earned Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors, but players all over the pitch stepped up for North.
Amaro and Kolb were two of many North Stars helping to defend set pieces, outside defender Sommer got up the field into the attack well, and Kolb cleared a ball off the goal line in the 80th minute on one final Lake Park corner kick.
“We slid Parker Kolb into a new position tonight,” Willson said. “He’s been grinding it out in the middle of the field for us for a couple seasons, and he moved to a center back position tonight. Not only did he do an awesome job all night long, but he cleared a ball off the line for us.
“And some of the stuff Josh Amaro does can go unnoticed at that grind-it-out position of a defensive midfielder, where you do all the little things needed to win that don’t go into a stat book. But man, a lot of what he does is so awesome for us.”
Afterwards, Lake Park walked away with its first loss of the season but a lesson well-learned.
“(Crosby) has been telling us the same thing all season, but we really need to hear it again,” Ellenbecker said. “We have to pick up our intensity in training, and I’m not going to lie, we got a little comfortable. But a setback like this should get our guys going again. I just hope we come back to practice tomorrow ready to work.”
Crosby applauded the day’s work put forth by senior Ellenbecker at center back.
“Max had to cover a lot of ground, because we pushed (defender Zakic) up a little bit, so he did really well,” Crosby said. “Jesus (Juarez) played well in the midfield but when we had him pushed up we weren’t hitting him enough, and Franco (Presta) obviously gives us a chance all the way to the end.
“I also thought the young guys in the back, (Anthony) Magner and Frankie (Ciara), made big-time plays against opponents that are much older, stronger and much more physical. They were the scrappy-type guys on our side that battled for us.”
Crosby is confident that the skill, desire to work, and leadership on this year’s Lancers will get them to snap quickly back to being one of the best teams in Illinois.
He also hopes they take one specific lesson away from Tuesday’s loss.
“Everything in your heart and your head is what we needed tonight, not the talent of what you can do with a ball at your feet,” Crosby said. “We haven’t been given a ton of adversity this year and this was one of the toughest tests we’ve had. We just didn’t match them with our heads and our hearts.”
Beaulieu distilled his side’s win down to two elements.
“Just fight and belief,” he said. “Always being first to the ball and playing for each other. Even when we were making mistakes tonight, we were picking each other up, and the bench was energetic. It was all good.”
Beaulieu was asked if Lake Park’s high ranking and unbeaten record added extra motivation for his side.
“We don’t take rankings too far into consideration,” he said, smiling, “but we’re definitely better than our ranking suggests.”
Starting lineups
St. Charles North
GK Bobby Curran
D Johnny Mincieli
D Parker Kolb
D John Kirby
D Joey Sommer
MF Josh Amaro
MF Gabriel D’Amico
MF Logan Michels
MF Tommy Weber
MF Faizan Moiuddin
F Matt Beaulieu
Lake Park
GK Christian Lekki
D Max Ellenbecker
D Tom Zakic
D Victor Pawlik
D Paul Grzybowicz
MF Franco Presta
MF Gabriel Mendrano
MF Francesco Ciara
MF Jesus Juarez
MF Matteo Costa
F Grayden McClellan
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Matt Beaulieu, sr., F, St. Charles North
Scoring summary
First half
Lake Park - Zakic (Ellenbecker) at 15 minutes
St. Charles North - Beaulieu (J. Sommer) at 38 minutes
Second half
St. Charles North - Amaro (Beaulieu) at 56 minutes