Senior moment on Senior Night gives Wheaton North win over Lake Park
Falcons senior back Ramirez notches his 1st goal in DKC triumph
By Bill McLean
WHEATON — Wheaton North’s victory against visiting Lake Park on Tuesday night was fitting for a couple of reasons.
The lone goal scorer on WN’s Senior Night is a senior, back Kevin Ramirez.
And Ramirez’s jersey no. 10 — minus a small dash between the ‘1’ and ‘0’ — matched the 1-0 final score.
“Got lucky,” a humble Ramirez said after netting his first tally of the season in the DuKane Conference clash at Rexilius Field.
Sorry, Kevin. One-timing a descending ball, from a chaos-filled spot in the box following a corner kick, required more than luck. Plus you play in a perennially talent-drenched conference with programs that have to relegate varsity-worthy players to JV teams.
SEC college football is DuKane Conference soccer’s older cousin.
Ramirez struck the goal, from about six yards in the 17th minute after a rare miss from Lancers junior goalkeeper Andrew Swacha (six saves). Falcons junior midfielder Diego Evangelista’s arcing corner glanced simultaneously off Swacha’s mitts and a part of Wheaton North senior back Peter Tiesman’s frame.
Ramirez then pounced, making the most of the opportunity and adding to Tiesman’s assist total.
The victory was Wheaton North’s second 1-0 decision over Lake Park in 20 days; the Falcons (6-3-3, 1-1-1 in the DuKane) had downed the Lancers (4-6-2, 1-1-0) in a Hillner Classic game at Lake Park on Sept. 2.
“Andrew grabs that ball 99 times out of 100,” Lake Park coach Sean Crosby said.
“Too much individual play by us in the first half,” he added. “But I believe we had the better run of play in the second half.”
Evangelista played magnificent soccer in both halves and earned Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors. His speed, quickness and dribbling acumen stood out and wowed countless witnesses including Wheaton North coach Rob Stassen.
“Diego was on fire,” said Stassen, whose team sits with honorable mention status in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25. “He’d been struggling at the start of games for some reason, maybe because he was lacking confidence.
“Not tonight, though. He put his head down and played with an ‘I’m coming after you’ mentality. I loved the way he played for us in an atmosphere that was electric from beginning to end.
“Our whole team played with a swagger and a lot of confidence, especially in the first half. My players made me proud.”
The hosts nearly went up 2-0 14 minutes after Ramirez’s goal. Falcons reserve junior forward Axel Leon drew a foul and took the ensuing penalty kick with just under 10 minutes left in the first half. His PK banged off a post. Leon then settled the rebound quickly and blasted a shot past Swacha, but the goal was disallowed because the ball hadn’t come in contact with a Lancer after the PK try.
Swacha made a pair of saves in the final eight minutes of the half.
Winning goalkeeper and Falcons senior Sam Wakeman finished with two saves. His first stop came in the 45th minute on a shot by Lake Park sophomore midfielder Anthony Juarez, who’d received the ball from junior back Shane Donnelly.
Wakeman had quelled a dangerous moment in the first half, diving forward in traffic to secure a free ball near the top of the box.
Donnelly was sturdy throughout on chilly night, as were Lancers mates Edgar Villagran, a senior tri-captain and midfielder, and senior back Aidan Killmer. Nobody on the pitch lofted better services than Villagran did, and Killmer kept his colleagues on defense organized.
“Edgar has such great vision,” Crosby said. “And he’s our most selfless player.”
The Wheaton North player they call “El Capitan” is senior forward Ethan Martinez, who appeared to be in four places at once Tuesday night. If the 5-foot-8 Falcon ever gets tired in a match, it would be a first.
“His aggressiveness,” Ramirez said of one of Martinez’s strengths in soccer. “He also has very good leadership skills.”
Martinez didn’t have to say a word at any point in the 80-minute game. His actions essentially reached deafening decibel levels every second of every minute.
“Coach Stassen likes it when we play hard for 80 minutes, and we played that way for that long tonight,” Martinez said. “Coach is big on 80 minutes.”
Stassen also received a noteworthy effort from junior Max Riccelli, a 6-foot-2 midfielder with superb possession abilities. The young man, with the ball at his feet, has quite a knack for weaving smoothly and intelligently in enemy territory.
One of Lake Park’s most promising sequences on offense occurred in the 54th minute. It started at midfield, with Donnelly delivering a pass to a sprinting Raim Ramani, a tri-captain who dwarfs most football defensive linemen. Ramani then booted a spot-on pass to senior midfielder and tri-captain Frankie Caira.
Wheaton North’s backliners coalesced, again, to douse the threat.
Wheaton North visits Glenbard North on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.; Lake Park hosts St. Charles North on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Both are DuKane Conference games. St. Charles North is an honorable mention team in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25.
Footnotes
Stassen moved recently from Oswego to Lake Barrington. … Wheaton North played five games in seven days, beginning Sept. 13, before getting two days off ahead of Tuesday’s match. Stassen’s side went 3-1-1 during that grueling stretch. … Stassen, on Crosby: “We’re good friends. I’ve always respected him. I respect his teams, every year.” The men have coached against each for six years, Stassen noted. … Lake Park’s Donnelly sounded like a concerned coach while he broke down Tuesday night’s match. “We didn’t create enough chances. We didn’t string enough passes together. We need to play more as a team. Good individual performances, but we need to be better as a team than we were tonight.” … Wheaton North tied Lake Park 1-1 and topped the Lancers 6-0 in the shortened season last spring. … Lake Park surpassed its spring victory total (three) this fall when it defeated Auburn 6-1 at Streamwood on Sept. 16. The win was the Lancers’ third-straight, during which they outscored foes by a combined 16-3.
Starting lineups
Lake Park
GK Andrew Swacha
D Jack Tucci
D Aidan Killmer
D Erdet Agaj
D Eric Reyes
D Shane Donnelly
MF Edgar Villagran
MF Jason Salwach
MF Frankie Caira
MF Anthony Juarez
F Raim Ramani
Wheaton North
GK Sam Wakeman
D Kevin Ramirez
D Nathan Gordeuk
D Peter Tiesman
D Noah Froebe
MF Max Riccelli
MF Tim Dulzer
MF Diego Ramirez
MF Carter Evans
MF Caleb Hodel
F Ethan Martinez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Diego Evangelista, jr., MF, Wheaton North
Scoring summary
First half
Wheaton North — Ramirez (Tiesman), 17’
Second half
No scoring
Falcons senior back Ramirez notches his 1st goal in DKC triumph
By Bill McLean
WHEATON — Wheaton North’s victory against visiting Lake Park on Tuesday night was fitting for a couple of reasons.
The lone goal scorer on WN’s Senior Night is a senior, back Kevin Ramirez.
And Ramirez’s jersey no. 10 — minus a small dash between the ‘1’ and ‘0’ — matched the 1-0 final score.
“Got lucky,” a humble Ramirez said after netting his first tally of the season in the DuKane Conference clash at Rexilius Field.
Sorry, Kevin. One-timing a descending ball, from a chaos-filled spot in the box following a corner kick, required more than luck. Plus you play in a perennially talent-drenched conference with programs that have to relegate varsity-worthy players to JV teams.
SEC college football is DuKane Conference soccer’s older cousin.
Ramirez struck the goal, from about six yards in the 17th minute after a rare miss from Lancers junior goalkeeper Andrew Swacha (six saves). Falcons junior midfielder Diego Evangelista’s arcing corner glanced simultaneously off Swacha’s mitts and a part of Wheaton North senior back Peter Tiesman’s frame.
Ramirez then pounced, making the most of the opportunity and adding to Tiesman’s assist total.
The victory was Wheaton North’s second 1-0 decision over Lake Park in 20 days; the Falcons (6-3-3, 1-1-1 in the DuKane) had downed the Lancers (4-6-2, 1-1-0) in a Hillner Classic game at Lake Park on Sept. 2.
“Andrew grabs that ball 99 times out of 100,” Lake Park coach Sean Crosby said.
“Too much individual play by us in the first half,” he added. “But I believe we had the better run of play in the second half.”
Evangelista played magnificent soccer in both halves and earned Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors. His speed, quickness and dribbling acumen stood out and wowed countless witnesses including Wheaton North coach Rob Stassen.
“Diego was on fire,” said Stassen, whose team sits with honorable mention status in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25. “He’d been struggling at the start of games for some reason, maybe because he was lacking confidence.
“Not tonight, though. He put his head down and played with an ‘I’m coming after you’ mentality. I loved the way he played for us in an atmosphere that was electric from beginning to end.
“Our whole team played with a swagger and a lot of confidence, especially in the first half. My players made me proud.”
The hosts nearly went up 2-0 14 minutes after Ramirez’s goal. Falcons reserve junior forward Axel Leon drew a foul and took the ensuing penalty kick with just under 10 minutes left in the first half. His PK banged off a post. Leon then settled the rebound quickly and blasted a shot past Swacha, but the goal was disallowed because the ball hadn’t come in contact with a Lancer after the PK try.
Swacha made a pair of saves in the final eight minutes of the half.
Winning goalkeeper and Falcons senior Sam Wakeman finished with two saves. His first stop came in the 45th minute on a shot by Lake Park sophomore midfielder Anthony Juarez, who’d received the ball from junior back Shane Donnelly.
Wakeman had quelled a dangerous moment in the first half, diving forward in traffic to secure a free ball near the top of the box.
Donnelly was sturdy throughout on chilly night, as were Lancers mates Edgar Villagran, a senior tri-captain and midfielder, and senior back Aidan Killmer. Nobody on the pitch lofted better services than Villagran did, and Killmer kept his colleagues on defense organized.
“Edgar has such great vision,” Crosby said. “And he’s our most selfless player.”
The Wheaton North player they call “El Capitan” is senior forward Ethan Martinez, who appeared to be in four places at once Tuesday night. If the 5-foot-8 Falcon ever gets tired in a match, it would be a first.
“His aggressiveness,” Ramirez said of one of Martinez’s strengths in soccer. “He also has very good leadership skills.”
Martinez didn’t have to say a word at any point in the 80-minute game. His actions essentially reached deafening decibel levels every second of every minute.
“Coach Stassen likes it when we play hard for 80 minutes, and we played that way for that long tonight,” Martinez said. “Coach is big on 80 minutes.”
Stassen also received a noteworthy effort from junior Max Riccelli, a 6-foot-2 midfielder with superb possession abilities. The young man, with the ball at his feet, has quite a knack for weaving smoothly and intelligently in enemy territory.
One of Lake Park’s most promising sequences on offense occurred in the 54th minute. It started at midfield, with Donnelly delivering a pass to a sprinting Raim Ramani, a tri-captain who dwarfs most football defensive linemen. Ramani then booted a spot-on pass to senior midfielder and tri-captain Frankie Caira.
Wheaton North’s backliners coalesced, again, to douse the threat.
Wheaton North visits Glenbard North on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.; Lake Park hosts St. Charles North on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Both are DuKane Conference games. St. Charles North is an honorable mention team in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25.
Footnotes
Stassen moved recently from Oswego to Lake Barrington. … Wheaton North played five games in seven days, beginning Sept. 13, before getting two days off ahead of Tuesday’s match. Stassen’s side went 3-1-1 during that grueling stretch. … Stassen, on Crosby: “We’re good friends. I’ve always respected him. I respect his teams, every year.” The men have coached against each for six years, Stassen noted. … Lake Park’s Donnelly sounded like a concerned coach while he broke down Tuesday night’s match. “We didn’t create enough chances. We didn’t string enough passes together. We need to play more as a team. Good individual performances, but we need to be better as a team than we were tonight.” … Wheaton North tied Lake Park 1-1 and topped the Lancers 6-0 in the shortened season last spring. … Lake Park surpassed its spring victory total (three) this fall when it defeated Auburn 6-1 at Streamwood on Sept. 16. The win was the Lancers’ third-straight, during which they outscored foes by a combined 16-3.
Starting lineups
Lake Park
GK Andrew Swacha
D Jack Tucci
D Aidan Killmer
D Erdet Agaj
D Eric Reyes
D Shane Donnelly
MF Edgar Villagran
MF Jason Salwach
MF Frankie Caira
MF Anthony Juarez
F Raim Ramani
Wheaton North
GK Sam Wakeman
D Kevin Ramirez
D Nathan Gordeuk
D Peter Tiesman
D Noah Froebe
MF Max Riccelli
MF Tim Dulzer
MF Diego Ramirez
MF Carter Evans
MF Caleb Hodel
F Ethan Martinez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Diego Evangelista, jr., MF, Wheaton North
Scoring summary
First half
Wheaton North — Ramirez (Tiesman), 17’
Second half
No scoring