Naperville Central gives
seniors proper sendoff
Deflected free kick triggers 3-0 win over Lincoln-Way East
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – Many coaches will tell you that senior nights can be tricky.
Any healthy senior is going to be in the starting lineup, whether they are stars or reserves, and strategies vary as to how much playing time some of them will get before the regular starters return.
Which is why the home team doesn’t always win these matches.
“Senior Night is always more enjoyable when you win,” Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said. “It’s not the only thing that goes on tonight, but it’s always enjoyable to win”
The Redhawks did just that Friday, giving Adams the best of both worlds during a 3-0 victory over Lincoln-Way East at Memorial Stadium.
It was the final home game for seniors Caden Redpath, Randy Achi, Spenser Lhota, Patrick Longhitano, Ethan Wilcox, Thomas Fogelsong, Evan Lueckhoff and Nathan Dodsworth.
Of that octet, Lhota might the least heralded. The 5-foot-6 defender worked his way up through the ranks, spending the last two years on the JV team, before making the varsity roster this spring.
Lhota came off the bench to provide depth at outside back on a deep and formidable defense that now has produced seven shutouts after limiting the visiting Griffins (1-8-2) to only two shots, both from long-distance.
But in his first varsity start, Lhota scored his first varsity goal. It was unintentional yet unquestionably important; it came in the eighth minute of a scoreless game and established the home side’s superiority. Naperville Central (4-3-4) dominated the action after Lhota’s free kick from the right end line was deflected into the net by a defender.
The kick, which came from just outside the right side of the Lincoln-Way East penalty area, was essentially a shorter version of a corner kick, and Lhota was intent on setting up fellow senior defender Evan Lueckhoff for a header.
“Before the game I was thinking this is the one chance that I have to bring it all and show what I have on the field,” Lhota said. “I’m going to do what I can to make my family happy for all the support that they’ve done for me.
“So when I was going through with the free kick, I was noticing that all of (the defenders) were marking in (toward) the back (post). So if someone at the front post was able to get there, they would have an easy header, especially Evan for how tall he is.”
Lhota lofted the ball toward Lueckhoff, but before it got to him and defender inadvertently knocked it inside the right post to give the Redhawks a 1-0 lead.
“Normally we just lob it up,” Lueckhoff said. “Me and Evan King and Nathan Kwon have some height so we can go up and compete for the ball.
“But luckily it just ricocheted off one of their defenders and went right past their keeper bottom corner. A goal is a goal. It doesn’t matter how it goes in.”
The play clearly mattered to Lhota and his fellow seniors, who were delighted for the varsity rookie.
“It was a great moment,” Lueckhoff said. “Senior Night, his parents here, family here, just all of the seniors getting plenty of playing time. Especially his first one on varsity, that’s awesome on Senior Night.
“The energy was awesome today. All the seniors hyped each other up. The first goal of the game hyped the team up a little bit. It put us on the right foot for the game.”
Adams was pleased to see the Redhawks put into practice what he had discussed with them before the game.
“(Lhota) put it in a good position,” Adams said. “That’s what we’d been talking about – putting the ball in spots that would be dangerous – and he did a good job there.”
The Redhawks, who had won only one of their previous six games, did a good job all over the field, especially defensively. That’s been a given.
“We’ve been good defensively,” Lueckhoff said. “Me and King have been a great center back duo. He’s a great player, and we rotate outside backs a lot; Benny (Tietjen), Patrick, Spenser, Tommy, Mateo (Lopez). It’s great to have a lot of defenders to rotate them in.”
The Griffins could never mount a sustained attack, regardless of what they tried or how many players they sent forward.
“I don’t think we gave up many shots, if any at all,” Lueckhoff said. “We really did a great job and the midfield did a great job tracking their mids.
“They push a lot of guys up so me and Evan King and the outside backs had to really cover for those extra guys that (the Griffins) were pushing up.”
The visitors never found the equalizer and eventually the Redhawks wore down their defense. Lincoln-Way East goalkeeper Mason Struttman made two of his seven saves late in the first half, including a nice effort to deflect a drive from Joey LoDuca over the crossbar, to keep his team within a goal at halftime.
But LoDuca and the Redhawks broke through twice early in the second half to put the game out of reach. Central’s offense was as good after intermission as the defense was before the break.
“The defense played well,” Adams said. “We didn’t give up that many real dangerous balls.
“We were better in the attack the second half. We talked at halftime about the creativity in the final third.
“You’ve got to be able to play at pace and you’ve got to run at pace. We did a better job in the first 10-15 minutes of the second half.”
Indeed, LoDuca scored on a dribble-drive deep into the box just 37 seconds into the second half. It was the second goal of the season for the sophomore, whose lead pass sprung fellow sophomore Sean O’Reilly for a similar quick hitter just 2:28 later.
“The backline really played up high, so I took advantage of that,” LoDuca said. “There were always wide gaps through the line so I was ready for that.
“Eric (Sonnenschein) played a real nice ball through. After that the defenders couldn’t get me, and I just finished it from there.”
LoDuca nearly finished a couple more chances, but Struttman stopped two long-range blasts. O’Reilly barely missed a second goal as well, skimming a 35-yard drive off the top of the crossbar.
“We were really trying to get a win, because at the beginning of the season we didn’t really start as well as we wanted to,” LoDuca noted. “So at the end of the day, this win is going to be a booster for us for the start of next fall.
“Maybe next year will be better.”
Lhota believes it will be if players like LoDuca and O’Reilly continue to develop.
“I definitely think our younger talent is superb,” Lhota said. “They have a great finishing technique and great work rate that you need as a striker, especially Joey.
“I think he’s one of the better strikers. He knows how to be in the right place, make the right runs and always being very superb on his finishing.”
Starting lineups
Lincoln-Way East
GK Mason Struttman
D Lucas Garcia
D Khari Obichere
D Caden Udani
D Michael Hearn
D Johnathan Marchal
D Jeffrey Newberry
M Cesar Barranca
F Nicholas Porada
F Dominic Lee
F Dylan Waishwell
Naperville Central
GK Caden Redpath
D Spenser Lhota
D Evan King
D Ethan Wilcox
D Evan Lueckhoff
D Ben Tietjen
D Patrick Longhitano
D Thomas Fogelsong
M Josh Weigel
M Randy Achi
F Nathan Dodsworth
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Evan Lueckhoff, sr., D, Naperville Central.
Scoring summary
First half
Naperville Central – Spenser Lhota 32:19 remaining
Second half
Naperville Central – Joey LoDuca 39:23 remaining
Naperville Central – Sean O’Reilly (LoDuca) 36:55 remaining
seniors proper sendoff
Deflected free kick triggers 3-0 win over Lincoln-Way East
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – Many coaches will tell you that senior nights can be tricky.
Any healthy senior is going to be in the starting lineup, whether they are stars or reserves, and strategies vary as to how much playing time some of them will get before the regular starters return.
Which is why the home team doesn’t always win these matches.
“Senior Night is always more enjoyable when you win,” Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said. “It’s not the only thing that goes on tonight, but it’s always enjoyable to win”
The Redhawks did just that Friday, giving Adams the best of both worlds during a 3-0 victory over Lincoln-Way East at Memorial Stadium.
It was the final home game for seniors Caden Redpath, Randy Achi, Spenser Lhota, Patrick Longhitano, Ethan Wilcox, Thomas Fogelsong, Evan Lueckhoff and Nathan Dodsworth.
Of that octet, Lhota might the least heralded. The 5-foot-6 defender worked his way up through the ranks, spending the last two years on the JV team, before making the varsity roster this spring.
Lhota came off the bench to provide depth at outside back on a deep and formidable defense that now has produced seven shutouts after limiting the visiting Griffins (1-8-2) to only two shots, both from long-distance.
But in his first varsity start, Lhota scored his first varsity goal. It was unintentional yet unquestionably important; it came in the eighth minute of a scoreless game and established the home side’s superiority. Naperville Central (4-3-4) dominated the action after Lhota’s free kick from the right end line was deflected into the net by a defender.
The kick, which came from just outside the right side of the Lincoln-Way East penalty area, was essentially a shorter version of a corner kick, and Lhota was intent on setting up fellow senior defender Evan Lueckhoff for a header.
“Before the game I was thinking this is the one chance that I have to bring it all and show what I have on the field,” Lhota said. “I’m going to do what I can to make my family happy for all the support that they’ve done for me.
“So when I was going through with the free kick, I was noticing that all of (the defenders) were marking in (toward) the back (post). So if someone at the front post was able to get there, they would have an easy header, especially Evan for how tall he is.”
Lhota lofted the ball toward Lueckhoff, but before it got to him and defender inadvertently knocked it inside the right post to give the Redhawks a 1-0 lead.
“Normally we just lob it up,” Lueckhoff said. “Me and Evan King and Nathan Kwon have some height so we can go up and compete for the ball.
“But luckily it just ricocheted off one of their defenders and went right past their keeper bottom corner. A goal is a goal. It doesn’t matter how it goes in.”
The play clearly mattered to Lhota and his fellow seniors, who were delighted for the varsity rookie.
“It was a great moment,” Lueckhoff said. “Senior Night, his parents here, family here, just all of the seniors getting plenty of playing time. Especially his first one on varsity, that’s awesome on Senior Night.
“The energy was awesome today. All the seniors hyped each other up. The first goal of the game hyped the team up a little bit. It put us on the right foot for the game.”
Adams was pleased to see the Redhawks put into practice what he had discussed with them before the game.
“(Lhota) put it in a good position,” Adams said. “That’s what we’d been talking about – putting the ball in spots that would be dangerous – and he did a good job there.”
The Redhawks, who had won only one of their previous six games, did a good job all over the field, especially defensively. That’s been a given.
“We’ve been good defensively,” Lueckhoff said. “Me and King have been a great center back duo. He’s a great player, and we rotate outside backs a lot; Benny (Tietjen), Patrick, Spenser, Tommy, Mateo (Lopez). It’s great to have a lot of defenders to rotate them in.”
The Griffins could never mount a sustained attack, regardless of what they tried or how many players they sent forward.
“I don’t think we gave up many shots, if any at all,” Lueckhoff said. “We really did a great job and the midfield did a great job tracking their mids.
“They push a lot of guys up so me and Evan King and the outside backs had to really cover for those extra guys that (the Griffins) were pushing up.”
The visitors never found the equalizer and eventually the Redhawks wore down their defense. Lincoln-Way East goalkeeper Mason Struttman made two of his seven saves late in the first half, including a nice effort to deflect a drive from Joey LoDuca over the crossbar, to keep his team within a goal at halftime.
But LoDuca and the Redhawks broke through twice early in the second half to put the game out of reach. Central’s offense was as good after intermission as the defense was before the break.
“The defense played well,” Adams said. “We didn’t give up that many real dangerous balls.
“We were better in the attack the second half. We talked at halftime about the creativity in the final third.
“You’ve got to be able to play at pace and you’ve got to run at pace. We did a better job in the first 10-15 minutes of the second half.”
Indeed, LoDuca scored on a dribble-drive deep into the box just 37 seconds into the second half. It was the second goal of the season for the sophomore, whose lead pass sprung fellow sophomore Sean O’Reilly for a similar quick hitter just 2:28 later.
“The backline really played up high, so I took advantage of that,” LoDuca said. “There were always wide gaps through the line so I was ready for that.
“Eric (Sonnenschein) played a real nice ball through. After that the defenders couldn’t get me, and I just finished it from there.”
LoDuca nearly finished a couple more chances, but Struttman stopped two long-range blasts. O’Reilly barely missed a second goal as well, skimming a 35-yard drive off the top of the crossbar.
“We were really trying to get a win, because at the beginning of the season we didn’t really start as well as we wanted to,” LoDuca noted. “So at the end of the day, this win is going to be a booster for us for the start of next fall.
“Maybe next year will be better.”
Lhota believes it will be if players like LoDuca and O’Reilly continue to develop.
“I definitely think our younger talent is superb,” Lhota said. “They have a great finishing technique and great work rate that you need as a striker, especially Joey.
“I think he’s one of the better strikers. He knows how to be in the right place, make the right runs and always being very superb on his finishing.”
Starting lineups
Lincoln-Way East
GK Mason Struttman
D Lucas Garcia
D Khari Obichere
D Caden Udani
D Michael Hearn
D Johnathan Marchal
D Jeffrey Newberry
M Cesar Barranca
F Nicholas Porada
F Dominic Lee
F Dylan Waishwell
Naperville Central
GK Caden Redpath
D Spenser Lhota
D Evan King
D Ethan Wilcox
D Evan Lueckhoff
D Ben Tietjen
D Patrick Longhitano
D Thomas Fogelsong
M Josh Weigel
M Randy Achi
F Nathan Dodsworth
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Evan Lueckhoff, sr., D, Naperville Central.
Scoring summary
First half
Naperville Central – Spenser Lhota 32:19 remaining
Second half
Naperville Central – Joey LoDuca 39:23 remaining
Naperville Central – Sean O’Reilly (LoDuca) 36:55 remaining