Metea V. surprises Naperville C.
to end on high note
Bach bags 1st-career goal in prep finale to cap 2-1 comeback win
By Matt Le Cren
AURORA – Talk about saving your best for last.
Metea Valley senior Evan Bach scored his first varsity goal in the last game he will ever play, and it turned out to be the game-winner.
Bach made a great run through several defenders and into the left side of the box before slipping a shot inside the far post with 14:26 left in the second half and the host Mustangs held on for a 2-1 DuPage Valley Conference victory over Naperville Central on Tuesday.
It was the season finale for Metea Valley (4-7-1, 1-3-1) and put an exclamation point on what had been an otherwise frustrating campaign of close losses and, for players like Bach, near misses.
“It was a lot of fun,” Bach said. “We’ve had a lot of hard games, so it’s finally good to get a comeback win to end on.”
Bach was a varsity rookie this spring. He didn’t play soccer the past two years, instead opting to run track. He had been so snakebit that Metea Valley coach Josh Robinson said after the game that “every other game this year, Evan’s ball doesn’t go in the net.”
By his own count, Bach has had three goals called back by offsides calls this season, as well as several other close-but-no-cigar moments. So when he broke a 1-1 tie to put his team ahead to stay, it was a relief.
“I think Brady (McCann) laid it off to me, and it was kind of a blur,” Bach said. “I just got past a few guys and tried to shoot, and it went in. So that was cool.”
Robinson thought it was cool to see his guys end on a victory. The roster includes 12 seniors, none of whom are planning to play in college.
“It was awesome,” Robinson said. “They played great. It was fun to watch.”
That wasn’t always the case during this pandemic-shortened season. The Mustangs lost four one-goal games, including one in overtime, and dropped two more matches by two goals.
In addition, all four of their wins came by one goal, which included a three-game winning streak to end the season.
“We asked for them to treat these games bigger than what they are, and they did,” Robinson said. “They played with tons of energy today.
“So proud that every player played today, and they all contributed in some different way. They can all step away from this feeling like they did. It was awesome to see. It’s rare when you get to finish your last game in life saying that you won your last game.”
For Bach, McCann and fellow seniors Clarke Simonich, Nick Sanchez, Drew Marquardt, Adam Casselman, Jacob Tune, Tyler Green, Reece Tayler, Michael Morris, Austin Whittaker and Mark Thurow, success was a long time coming. Heck, just getting the chance to take the pitch took longer than anyone thought it would.
“Even through the contact days in the fall, we were ready to go,” Bach said. “We were waiting to get a chance to play again, and when it finally came it was a lot of fun. We all were focused on the season and trying to make the most of it.
“Throughout the season we’ve known that we are a strong team, and it all comes down to how hard we work and want it. I think in this case, we knew it was a winnable game if we kept working as a team and tried to finish it out. It worked out.”
In the beginning, though, it looked like it would be anything but.
Naperville Central (3-3-4, 2-2) scored on its first shot of the game, with Nathan Dodsworth connecting on a sliding shot inside the right post just 84 seconds in.
The Redhawks pressed their advantage and barely missed adding to their lead. One shot hit off the crossbar, another hit the outside side netting and another drive from 22 yards sailed over the crossbar.
Another chance was snuffed out by Metea goalkeeper Oscar Mejia, who made three of his five saves in the first half as his team was outshot 9-4.
“We came out in the first 10 minutes and played pretty good soccer,” Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said. “The unfortunate side is I didn’t think the intensity stayed there the whole game.
“It definitely dissipated as the game went on, and it’s one of those things where you get the goal early and unfortunately you have that idea that there are going to be more goals. And there weren’t.”
Instead, it was the Mustangs who found the back of the net. They, too, scored on their first shot of the night when McCann intercepted a clearing attempt at the top of the box and one-timed a shot inside the right post for the equalizer with 22:39 to go before intermission.
It was the second goal of the season for McCann, another first-year varsity player who didn’t see action as a junior due to injury.
“I was kind of in the right place at the right time,” McCann said. “It just bounced right to me. I shot it and it went in.”
Both teams had a few quality scoring chances early in the second half before the Mustangs gradually started tilting the field their way. Mejia had a ball chipped over his head with 26:00 remaining but defender Joseph Fitzgerald cleared it wide of the right post before Dodsworth could get to it inside the 6.
At the other end, Naperville Central goalkeeper Caden Redpath made five of his six stops after the break, including a kick save on McCann and a standing denial on Ethan Danehl’s rebound from just outside the box.
The play of the game was a defense gem by Redhawks fullback Evan Lueckhoff with 30:15 to go. Sophomore Erik Mena had a 2-on-0 breakaway from midfield and raced up the middle, only to have Lueckhoff slide-tackle the ball away from him at the top of the box before he could get a shot off.
That preserved the tie, but only until Bach’s back-breaker.
“I think we just wanted it more than them,” McCann said. “We were winning more in the midfield.
“We were winning every ball in the air. We were just putting pressure on their backline, which led to our final winning goal for Evan.”
That did not go unnoticed by Adams, whose team’s final scoring chance, a 23-yard rocket of a free kick off the foot of Eric Sonnenschein, was stopped by Mejia with 5:40 left. Naperville Central after it upset St. Charles North on Saturday to jump up to no. 10 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25.
“I know it’s a hard year to have that confidence but that focus and desire and intensity to win wasn’t there the whole last 70 minutes,” Adams said. “(Metea) finished strong.
“We played in spurts but then they would take 10 minutes where I felt they outworked us. In the DVC, you can’t take 10 minutes off. There’s no chance in this conference where you can just cruise to a victory.
“That’s something we need to take away from this – the intensity and desire has to be high the whole game, and it has to be high no matter who we’re playing.
At least the Redhawks will get a chance to rewrite a better ending. They have two more games left, hosting Lincoln-Way East on Friday before traveling to DeKalb for a DVC match on Saturday.
Perhaps they will end their campaign the way the Mustangs did.
“It was nice to end on a win, especially since we don’t have a state playoff this year,” McCann said. “We ended it as best as we can.”
Starting lineups
Naperville Central
GK Caden Redpath
D Mateo Lopez
D Ben Tietjen
D Evan King
D Evan Lueckhoff
M Eric Sonnenschein
M Johnny Kim
M Josh Weigel
M Sean O’Reilly
F Joseph DeLuca
F Nathan Dodsworth
Metea Valley
GK Oscar Mejia
D Clarke Simonich
D Adam Casselman
D Evan Bach
D Joseph Fitzgerald
M Nick Sanchez
M Drew Marquardt
M Brady McCann
M Tyler Green
M Colin Bastianoni
F Ethan Danehl
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Evan Bach, sr., MF, Metea Valley
Scoring summary
First half
Naperville Central – Nathan Dodsworth (Josh Weigel) 38:26 remaining
Metea Valley – Brady McCann 22:39 remaining
Second half
Metea Valley – Evan Bach (Brady McCann) 14:26 remaining
to end on high note
Bach bags 1st-career goal in prep finale to cap 2-1 comeback win
By Matt Le Cren
AURORA – Talk about saving your best for last.
Metea Valley senior Evan Bach scored his first varsity goal in the last game he will ever play, and it turned out to be the game-winner.
Bach made a great run through several defenders and into the left side of the box before slipping a shot inside the far post with 14:26 left in the second half and the host Mustangs held on for a 2-1 DuPage Valley Conference victory over Naperville Central on Tuesday.
It was the season finale for Metea Valley (4-7-1, 1-3-1) and put an exclamation point on what had been an otherwise frustrating campaign of close losses and, for players like Bach, near misses.
“It was a lot of fun,” Bach said. “We’ve had a lot of hard games, so it’s finally good to get a comeback win to end on.”
Bach was a varsity rookie this spring. He didn’t play soccer the past two years, instead opting to run track. He had been so snakebit that Metea Valley coach Josh Robinson said after the game that “every other game this year, Evan’s ball doesn’t go in the net.”
By his own count, Bach has had three goals called back by offsides calls this season, as well as several other close-but-no-cigar moments. So when he broke a 1-1 tie to put his team ahead to stay, it was a relief.
“I think Brady (McCann) laid it off to me, and it was kind of a blur,” Bach said. “I just got past a few guys and tried to shoot, and it went in. So that was cool.”
Robinson thought it was cool to see his guys end on a victory. The roster includes 12 seniors, none of whom are planning to play in college.
“It was awesome,” Robinson said. “They played great. It was fun to watch.”
That wasn’t always the case during this pandemic-shortened season. The Mustangs lost four one-goal games, including one in overtime, and dropped two more matches by two goals.
In addition, all four of their wins came by one goal, which included a three-game winning streak to end the season.
“We asked for them to treat these games bigger than what they are, and they did,” Robinson said. “They played with tons of energy today.
“So proud that every player played today, and they all contributed in some different way. They can all step away from this feeling like they did. It was awesome to see. It’s rare when you get to finish your last game in life saying that you won your last game.”
For Bach, McCann and fellow seniors Clarke Simonich, Nick Sanchez, Drew Marquardt, Adam Casselman, Jacob Tune, Tyler Green, Reece Tayler, Michael Morris, Austin Whittaker and Mark Thurow, success was a long time coming. Heck, just getting the chance to take the pitch took longer than anyone thought it would.
“Even through the contact days in the fall, we were ready to go,” Bach said. “We were waiting to get a chance to play again, and when it finally came it was a lot of fun. We all were focused on the season and trying to make the most of it.
“Throughout the season we’ve known that we are a strong team, and it all comes down to how hard we work and want it. I think in this case, we knew it was a winnable game if we kept working as a team and tried to finish it out. It worked out.”
In the beginning, though, it looked like it would be anything but.
Naperville Central (3-3-4, 2-2) scored on its first shot of the game, with Nathan Dodsworth connecting on a sliding shot inside the right post just 84 seconds in.
The Redhawks pressed their advantage and barely missed adding to their lead. One shot hit off the crossbar, another hit the outside side netting and another drive from 22 yards sailed over the crossbar.
Another chance was snuffed out by Metea goalkeeper Oscar Mejia, who made three of his five saves in the first half as his team was outshot 9-4.
“We came out in the first 10 minutes and played pretty good soccer,” Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said. “The unfortunate side is I didn’t think the intensity stayed there the whole game.
“It definitely dissipated as the game went on, and it’s one of those things where you get the goal early and unfortunately you have that idea that there are going to be more goals. And there weren’t.”
Instead, it was the Mustangs who found the back of the net. They, too, scored on their first shot of the night when McCann intercepted a clearing attempt at the top of the box and one-timed a shot inside the right post for the equalizer with 22:39 to go before intermission.
It was the second goal of the season for McCann, another first-year varsity player who didn’t see action as a junior due to injury.
“I was kind of in the right place at the right time,” McCann said. “It just bounced right to me. I shot it and it went in.”
Both teams had a few quality scoring chances early in the second half before the Mustangs gradually started tilting the field their way. Mejia had a ball chipped over his head with 26:00 remaining but defender Joseph Fitzgerald cleared it wide of the right post before Dodsworth could get to it inside the 6.
At the other end, Naperville Central goalkeeper Caden Redpath made five of his six stops after the break, including a kick save on McCann and a standing denial on Ethan Danehl’s rebound from just outside the box.
The play of the game was a defense gem by Redhawks fullback Evan Lueckhoff with 30:15 to go. Sophomore Erik Mena had a 2-on-0 breakaway from midfield and raced up the middle, only to have Lueckhoff slide-tackle the ball away from him at the top of the box before he could get a shot off.
That preserved the tie, but only until Bach’s back-breaker.
“I think we just wanted it more than them,” McCann said. “We were winning more in the midfield.
“We were winning every ball in the air. We were just putting pressure on their backline, which led to our final winning goal for Evan.”
That did not go unnoticed by Adams, whose team’s final scoring chance, a 23-yard rocket of a free kick off the foot of Eric Sonnenschein, was stopped by Mejia with 5:40 left. Naperville Central after it upset St. Charles North on Saturday to jump up to no. 10 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25.
“I know it’s a hard year to have that confidence but that focus and desire and intensity to win wasn’t there the whole last 70 minutes,” Adams said. “(Metea) finished strong.
“We played in spurts but then they would take 10 minutes where I felt they outworked us. In the DVC, you can’t take 10 minutes off. There’s no chance in this conference where you can just cruise to a victory.
“That’s something we need to take away from this – the intensity and desire has to be high the whole game, and it has to be high no matter who we’re playing.
At least the Redhawks will get a chance to rewrite a better ending. They have two more games left, hosting Lincoln-Way East on Friday before traveling to DeKalb for a DVC match on Saturday.
Perhaps they will end their campaign the way the Mustangs did.
“It was nice to end on a win, especially since we don’t have a state playoff this year,” McCann said. “We ended it as best as we can.”
Starting lineups
Naperville Central
GK Caden Redpath
D Mateo Lopez
D Ben Tietjen
D Evan King
D Evan Lueckhoff
M Eric Sonnenschein
M Johnny Kim
M Josh Weigel
M Sean O’Reilly
F Joseph DeLuca
F Nathan Dodsworth
Metea Valley
GK Oscar Mejia
D Clarke Simonich
D Adam Casselman
D Evan Bach
D Joseph Fitzgerald
M Nick Sanchez
M Drew Marquardt
M Brady McCann
M Tyler Green
M Colin Bastianoni
F Ethan Danehl
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Evan Bach, sr., MF, Metea Valley
Scoring summary
First half
Naperville Central – Nathan Dodsworth (Josh Weigel) 38:26 remaining
Metea Valley – Brady McCann 22:39 remaining
Second half
Metea Valley – Evan Bach (Brady McCann) 14:26 remaining