York seniors get win they craved, top Lyons
Dukes post 1-0 win, spoil stellar effort by Lions' GK Schmitt
By Bobby Narang
ELMHURST – The party started just a few seconds after the completion of Thursday’s highly ranked match.
For the previous three seasons York, which sits at no. 2 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, has accomplished many memorable feats to take its program to a new level.
Following a late, regular-season shutout loss to Lyons last fall, the Dukes completed an eight-game winning streak that culminated with a 4-0 win over Fremd in the Class 3A state championship match.
Even after all the success of the past two seasons, the Dukes’ 17-member senior class had one glaring omission on their resume – a win over their West Suburban Conference Silver Division nemesis Lyons.
That was rectified against the fourth-ranked Lions on Thursday night at Clarence D. East Field.
Behind a first half goal from Jose Herrera, the host Dukes recorded an uplifting 1-0 victory over Lyons in the key league clash. Seconds after the game ended, the entire York team raced to the main grandstand to greet the large throng of students, family members and others in attendance.
Then they preserved the moment by gathering for a team picture along the sideline.
By defeating their conference rival, the Dukes (13-0-3, 4-0-x) extended their unbeaten string to 24 games, remained in the rarified air among the state’s unbeaten teams and remained on pace to win the school's first league title since 2008.
With the win, the Dukes have won seven in a row since back-to-back ties against Oak Park and River Forest and Lake Park in the first week of September.
York coach Jordan Stopka, a Lyons alum, beat his former coach Paul Labbato for the first time.
The Dukes conclude the regular-season with league games when they visit Glenbard West on Saturday and host Downers Grove North on Oct. 11.
Last season, after all the big wins and accomplishments, the Dukes failed to win the conference. Stopka said that’s been a goal for the team this season.
“Beating (Paul) is kind of nice for me,” Stopka said. “This date has been marked for a long time. They really whipped us last year.
“One of our goals was to win conference. I think we can almost check that off. We’re going to try and win our last two conference games and use that as a snowball effect going into the playoffs. This is a great group of kids who listen and work hard. Maybe we can do it again.”
York junior Gustavo Herrera midfielder called it an emotional victory.
“Our goalie played amazing, and saved us a lot with another big game,” Herrera said. “The game plan was to win. We were connecting the ball good. Our defense was solid in the back. We knew they were going to try and get us off set pieces. We trained on those, so we were ready for that.
“This is a big win. Last year’s loss to them ruined our chances for conference. It feels good to beat them, but we still have two more games.”
Labbato said his team played near flawless defense, but just couldn’t convert in the final third. Junior goalie Connor Schmitt, the co-Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, played like a superhero against the defending state champions. He registered 12 saves, including eight in a frenetic second half. The Dukes repeatedly slammed shots at Schmitt in the final 31 minutes.
“That’s a very good team,” Labbato said. “They’re just so good at every position and move the ball and their spacing is great. I’m really proud of our guys because we had to defend every inch of the field. We had to work so hard to keep them somewhat in check.
“Our goalkeeper played great. Not having (injured) Collin Sullivan in the back (hurts). He’s such a difference-maker in the air, and all the things that give them extra chances. We can’t allow a team like that to have extra chances.
“Connor made probably seven A-plus saves. It was pretty incredible. That was by far his best game of the year. Their keeper made a great save in the last three minutes, and a couple of great saves.
“I was proud of our kids getting after it. They rose up to the moment. We didn’t a goal, but held them back and certainly created a few chances for ourselves.”
Schmitt said he was happy with his play, but he would’ve preferred to record a clean-sheet. Schmitt had a reaction kick-save with just under nine minutes left in the game that turned heads and earned praise from York players.
Schmitt called his the save his most memorable even though, he said: “I don’t know how I did it.”
Schmitt added a tap-out save in the 73rd minute. In all, he recorded saves on corner kicks, bullet shots, deflections and free kicks. Four minutes after allowing the only goal of the game, Schmitt kept the deficit from growing with a stellar save off a shot from York’s Jayden Waski.
“I thought I played well, but probably could’ve done something more on their goal,” Schmitt said. “It was one-touch, one-touch and he put it past me. … I started off the season strong, had a few bad games and it got into my head which led to more bad games.
“You don’t want that but (Tuesday’s) game I played great and kept my team in the game. I had a penalty kick save in regulation, and it gave me a lot of confidence. I brought it into this game. It helps when a goalkeeper is confident.”
York’s Herrera, a senior forward, showed why he’s among team’s top goals scorer this season. He parlayed a nice pass from Joe Hernandez into the only goal of the game in the 19th minute. The co-Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match scored from close to the goal line, popping up a short shot into the net for the game-winner.
“I gave a one-two to Joe, and he found me. I had to find a way to finish it. I hit with the outside of the foot, and it went in,” said Herrera. “It felt amazing, that feeling of going up 1-0. It was crazy.
“It’s crazy, because each year before the game against them, it rains. We came back and won it. We could’ve won by more, but we won 1-0. We have to keep moving forward as a team.”
Lyons senior midfielder Will Swicionis had a good vantage point of the winning goal. The Lions lost for the second time in a row after dropping a shootout to Oak Park and River Forest on Tuesday.
“Their goal was pretty spectacular to watch,” he said. “I was in the midfield and saw a perfect ball and soon as I saw it, I knew it was a goal. Their attackers in the midfield created so many opportunities.
“They’re amazing at dribbling and creating space. It’s really hard to mark them up. Our defenders played really well. Keeping them to one goal is spectacular.
“We showed we can give 100 percent, play our best and get a ton of shots on goal but still lose the game. It wasn’t our day.”
York senior midfielder Joe Hernandez put the most pressure on Schmitt and his backline with shot after shot on the Lyons’ goal. Even though Hernandez failed to score a goal, he was thrilled to defeat the Lions for the first time in his varsity career.
“I had a goal going in the top right in the first half. I didn’t think he would get to it, but he did,” Hernandez said. “He was really good. Lyons had that pride on us, because we had never beaten them. Today was the day. We finally beat them. I had that in my mind, before I left high school I had to beat these guys.
“This was big. We have to now focus on Glenbard West on Saturday and get the job done and hopefully conference is ours. I’m happy with this, as long as the team wins. I’ll definitely have to go to practice and shoot some with my right leg. It was definitely off today. I have to hit some shots in practice.”
York sophomore keeper Diego Ochoa earned the clean-sheet. He wasn’t as busy as his Lyons’ counterpart, but he tallied four saves, including a big one with three minutes left in regulation.
“I had to communicate to my defenders, tell them to mark up and to make sure not to let set pieces go through,” Ochoa said, a first-year starter. “That last save was a header, and a I had to cut back to get the save. This feels good. The backline is playing amazing. We’ve been playing possession and playing smart and keeping our options open.”
Ochoa admitted it was “pretty cool” to see Schmitt pulling down save after save on the other end.
Stopka didn’t want to dwell on his team’s missed chances. He wanted to focus on simply beating a high-caliber opponent, essentially by any means necessary.
“It means we’re attacking,” Stopka said. “We can put in a lot of goals on people. All we need is one if we can keep the other team to zero. We’ll take this one, especially after so many amazing saves by their keeper. But we got our own great keeper in Diego. We feel completely safe with him in the back.”
Lyons finishes the season with games against Glenbard West, Argo and Kenwood.
With the state playoffs on the horizon, Lyons senior defender Jackson Rempfer put the loss into proper perspective.
“I thought (York) played a great game, but we tried our hardest and just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net,” he said. “We created a lot of chances, but their goalie played a really good game. Our goalie played great, too. If he’s not back there, it was 4-0 or even more.
“At the end of day, state is more important than conference. We didn’t win conference, but we still got state.”
Starting lineups
Lyons
GK: Connor Schmitt
D: Liam Carolan
D: Igor Chrobotowicz
D: Daniel Svelnis
D: Jackson Rempfer
MF: Patrick Kracker
MF: Will Swicionis
MF: Ben Swicionis
MF: Harris Sarajlija
F: Larry Martinez Jr.
F: Brian Salvino
York
GK: Diego Ochoa
D: Stefan Rebic
D: Mateusz Janowski
D: Ryder Kohl
D: Soren Moore
MF: Michael Greco
MF: Frank Rofrano
MF: Joe Hernandez
MF: Gustavo Herrera
F: Jayden Waski
F: Jose Herrera
Chicagoland Men of the Match:
Jose Herrera, sr., F, York;
Connor Schmitt, jr., GK, Lyons
Scoring summary
First half
York: Herrera (Hernandez), 19’
Second half
No scoring
Dukes post 1-0 win, spoil stellar effort by Lions' GK Schmitt
By Bobby Narang
ELMHURST – The party started just a few seconds after the completion of Thursday’s highly ranked match.
For the previous three seasons York, which sits at no. 2 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, has accomplished many memorable feats to take its program to a new level.
Following a late, regular-season shutout loss to Lyons last fall, the Dukes completed an eight-game winning streak that culminated with a 4-0 win over Fremd in the Class 3A state championship match.
Even after all the success of the past two seasons, the Dukes’ 17-member senior class had one glaring omission on their resume – a win over their West Suburban Conference Silver Division nemesis Lyons.
That was rectified against the fourth-ranked Lions on Thursday night at Clarence D. East Field.
Behind a first half goal from Jose Herrera, the host Dukes recorded an uplifting 1-0 victory over Lyons in the key league clash. Seconds after the game ended, the entire York team raced to the main grandstand to greet the large throng of students, family members and others in attendance.
Then they preserved the moment by gathering for a team picture along the sideline.
By defeating their conference rival, the Dukes (13-0-3, 4-0-x) extended their unbeaten string to 24 games, remained in the rarified air among the state’s unbeaten teams and remained on pace to win the school's first league title since 2008.
With the win, the Dukes have won seven in a row since back-to-back ties against Oak Park and River Forest and Lake Park in the first week of September.
York coach Jordan Stopka, a Lyons alum, beat his former coach Paul Labbato for the first time.
The Dukes conclude the regular-season with league games when they visit Glenbard West on Saturday and host Downers Grove North on Oct. 11.
Last season, after all the big wins and accomplishments, the Dukes failed to win the conference. Stopka said that’s been a goal for the team this season.
“Beating (Paul) is kind of nice for me,” Stopka said. “This date has been marked for a long time. They really whipped us last year.
“One of our goals was to win conference. I think we can almost check that off. We’re going to try and win our last two conference games and use that as a snowball effect going into the playoffs. This is a great group of kids who listen and work hard. Maybe we can do it again.”
York junior Gustavo Herrera midfielder called it an emotional victory.
“Our goalie played amazing, and saved us a lot with another big game,” Herrera said. “The game plan was to win. We were connecting the ball good. Our defense was solid in the back. We knew they were going to try and get us off set pieces. We trained on those, so we were ready for that.
“This is a big win. Last year’s loss to them ruined our chances for conference. It feels good to beat them, but we still have two more games.”
Labbato said his team played near flawless defense, but just couldn’t convert in the final third. Junior goalie Connor Schmitt, the co-Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, played like a superhero against the defending state champions. He registered 12 saves, including eight in a frenetic second half. The Dukes repeatedly slammed shots at Schmitt in the final 31 minutes.
“That’s a very good team,” Labbato said. “They’re just so good at every position and move the ball and their spacing is great. I’m really proud of our guys because we had to defend every inch of the field. We had to work so hard to keep them somewhat in check.
“Our goalkeeper played great. Not having (injured) Collin Sullivan in the back (hurts). He’s such a difference-maker in the air, and all the things that give them extra chances. We can’t allow a team like that to have extra chances.
“Connor made probably seven A-plus saves. It was pretty incredible. That was by far his best game of the year. Their keeper made a great save in the last three minutes, and a couple of great saves.
“I was proud of our kids getting after it. They rose up to the moment. We didn’t a goal, but held them back and certainly created a few chances for ourselves.”
Schmitt said he was happy with his play, but he would’ve preferred to record a clean-sheet. Schmitt had a reaction kick-save with just under nine minutes left in the game that turned heads and earned praise from York players.
Schmitt called his the save his most memorable even though, he said: “I don’t know how I did it.”
Schmitt added a tap-out save in the 73rd minute. In all, he recorded saves on corner kicks, bullet shots, deflections and free kicks. Four minutes after allowing the only goal of the game, Schmitt kept the deficit from growing with a stellar save off a shot from York’s Jayden Waski.
“I thought I played well, but probably could’ve done something more on their goal,” Schmitt said. “It was one-touch, one-touch and he put it past me. … I started off the season strong, had a few bad games and it got into my head which led to more bad games.
“You don’t want that but (Tuesday’s) game I played great and kept my team in the game. I had a penalty kick save in regulation, and it gave me a lot of confidence. I brought it into this game. It helps when a goalkeeper is confident.”
York’s Herrera, a senior forward, showed why he’s among team’s top goals scorer this season. He parlayed a nice pass from Joe Hernandez into the only goal of the game in the 19th minute. The co-Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match scored from close to the goal line, popping up a short shot into the net for the game-winner.
“I gave a one-two to Joe, and he found me. I had to find a way to finish it. I hit with the outside of the foot, and it went in,” said Herrera. “It felt amazing, that feeling of going up 1-0. It was crazy.
“It’s crazy, because each year before the game against them, it rains. We came back and won it. We could’ve won by more, but we won 1-0. We have to keep moving forward as a team.”
Lyons senior midfielder Will Swicionis had a good vantage point of the winning goal. The Lions lost for the second time in a row after dropping a shootout to Oak Park and River Forest on Tuesday.
“Their goal was pretty spectacular to watch,” he said. “I was in the midfield and saw a perfect ball and soon as I saw it, I knew it was a goal. Their attackers in the midfield created so many opportunities.
“They’re amazing at dribbling and creating space. It’s really hard to mark them up. Our defenders played really well. Keeping them to one goal is spectacular.
“We showed we can give 100 percent, play our best and get a ton of shots on goal but still lose the game. It wasn’t our day.”
York senior midfielder Joe Hernandez put the most pressure on Schmitt and his backline with shot after shot on the Lyons’ goal. Even though Hernandez failed to score a goal, he was thrilled to defeat the Lions for the first time in his varsity career.
“I had a goal going in the top right in the first half. I didn’t think he would get to it, but he did,” Hernandez said. “He was really good. Lyons had that pride on us, because we had never beaten them. Today was the day. We finally beat them. I had that in my mind, before I left high school I had to beat these guys.
“This was big. We have to now focus on Glenbard West on Saturday and get the job done and hopefully conference is ours. I’m happy with this, as long as the team wins. I’ll definitely have to go to practice and shoot some with my right leg. It was definitely off today. I have to hit some shots in practice.”
York sophomore keeper Diego Ochoa earned the clean-sheet. He wasn’t as busy as his Lyons’ counterpart, but he tallied four saves, including a big one with three minutes left in regulation.
“I had to communicate to my defenders, tell them to mark up and to make sure not to let set pieces go through,” Ochoa said, a first-year starter. “That last save was a header, and a I had to cut back to get the save. This feels good. The backline is playing amazing. We’ve been playing possession and playing smart and keeping our options open.”
Ochoa admitted it was “pretty cool” to see Schmitt pulling down save after save on the other end.
Stopka didn’t want to dwell on his team’s missed chances. He wanted to focus on simply beating a high-caliber opponent, essentially by any means necessary.
“It means we’re attacking,” Stopka said. “We can put in a lot of goals on people. All we need is one if we can keep the other team to zero. We’ll take this one, especially after so many amazing saves by their keeper. But we got our own great keeper in Diego. We feel completely safe with him in the back.”
Lyons finishes the season with games against Glenbard West, Argo and Kenwood.
With the state playoffs on the horizon, Lyons senior defender Jackson Rempfer put the loss into proper perspective.
“I thought (York) played a great game, but we tried our hardest and just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net,” he said. “We created a lot of chances, but their goalie played a really good game. Our goalie played great, too. If he’s not back there, it was 4-0 or even more.
“At the end of day, state is more important than conference. We didn’t win conference, but we still got state.”
Starting lineups
Lyons
GK: Connor Schmitt
D: Liam Carolan
D: Igor Chrobotowicz
D: Daniel Svelnis
D: Jackson Rempfer
MF: Patrick Kracker
MF: Will Swicionis
MF: Ben Swicionis
MF: Harris Sarajlija
F: Larry Martinez Jr.
F: Brian Salvino
York
GK: Diego Ochoa
D: Stefan Rebic
D: Mateusz Janowski
D: Ryder Kohl
D: Soren Moore
MF: Michael Greco
MF: Frank Rofrano
MF: Joe Hernandez
MF: Gustavo Herrera
F: Jayden Waski
F: Jose Herrera
Chicagoland Men of the Match:
Jose Herrera, sr., F, York;
Connor Schmitt, jr., GK, Lyons
Scoring summary
First half
York: Herrera (Hernandez), 19’
Second half
No scoring