Practice makes perfect, Naperville Central stops St. Charles North
Redhawks post 2-0 road upset after full week of workouts
By Gary Larsen
ST. CHARLES — Naperville Central practiced for a full week prior to squaring off with St. Charles North on Saturday, an uncommon luxury during a shortened season that has been packed with multiple games each week.
All of that uninterrupted practice gave the Redhawks a sharpness on display in a 2-0 win over the North Stars.
“I believe this was probably the most complete game we've played,” Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said. “The first three weeks of the season it’s been play and recover, recover and play, so getting a full week of practice really helps. I know (players) don't like practice as much as playing games but you get things cleaned up.”
Redhawks senior Nate Dodsworth and his mates were just happy to face live competition after an inordinately long week of training.
“I don’t think I could have taken any more than five days of practice,” Dodsworth said, “but it’s nice to play a game and see that we can put in what we’ve been practicing.”
Josh Weigel scored a first half goal on an assist from Joe LoDuca, and Dodsworth struck in the second half on a Meteo Lopez feed to provide all of the day’s scoring.
Naperville Central keeper Caden Redpath and his backline earned the Redhawks’ fifth shutout of the season. The Redhawks (3-2-4) have only given up four goals in nine games.
Defenders Lopez, Ben Tietjen, Evan King, Evan Lueckhoff and Patrick Longhitano have played rock-solid in front of Redpath this season, as the Redhawks searched for an attack like the one they displayed Saturday.
With the wind at their backs in the second half, the Redhawks attacked particularly well.
“Overall our offense played a lot better today,” Dodsworth said. “We really came together. I feel like we were making runs and working off of each other much better, and there wasn't a lot of stagnant play. It was nice because we were getting in behind, a lot more than we've been doing, so it all kind of came full circle today.”
St. Charles North (10-4-1) -- ranked fifth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 -- didn’t go without its scoring chances, hitting a crossbar in the second half and sending a few decent looks wide of net.
“We hit the crossbar once, hit a couple over the net, and Caden made a couple of saves,” St. Charles North senior Mark Sollenberger said. “So we were close, but we just didn't find the back of the net. We’re always disappointed with a loss, but we just have to move on and worry about our next couple of games.”
The North Stars sit atop the standings in the DuKane Conference race. Glenbard North and Batavia remain on their DKC schedule.
Through Saturday’s opening 15 minutes, St. Charles North saw shots off the feet of James Kucaba, Jared Sinnaeve and Collin Michels sent wide of net, along with a header sent wide from Sam Strader.
Naperville Central scored its first goal soon thereafter. Weigel received a pass ahead from LoDuca in the final third on the left side, took a touch or two to his right, and fired from 17 yards to give Central a 1-0 lead.
Neither Redpath nor North Stars keeper Alex Curtis were tested much from there to halftime. With a stiff wind at their backs to start the second half, the Redhawks’ plan was to ratchet up their attacking pressure.
“We talked about the wind being a factor,” Adams said. “So now let's press their line a little higher, get the ball in their half a little more and look to be more dangerous.
“We spent a whole week of practice talking about how a shot doesn't have to be perfect, but you have to take it. We had some nice shots. We had one hit the post, and we have some kids that can shoot. We just have to convince them to shoot. You ask kids to do certain things and when it actually happens, you're kind of happy about it.”
The Redhawks hit a crossbar at 49 minutes, and the North Stars’ Strader ripped a low shot just wide in transition at 53 minutes. LoDuca raced behind the defense in pursuit of a ball sent over the top by Tietjen, but Curtis raced off his line and destroyed the scoring chance at 55 minutes.
Curtis made another nice stop on a LoDuca shot one minute later.
St. Charles North nearly knotted the score at 60 minutes when Strader took a touch ahead deep on the right side and sent a ball off the crossbar. But Dodsworth grabbed the spotlight at 62 minutes, taking a Lopez cross and burying it for the day’s final tally.
“We've played well defensively the whole year, but that's the first time we've been able to get out and really attack and get forward a little bit more,” Adams said.
“I thought that Sean O'Reilly really played well; Joey (LoDuca) and Josh (Weigel) played really well. Nate Dodsworth, up-top, does such a nice job of settling the ball and then finding that next player to let us build in the attack. He’s a kid that has really improved his play over four years, and he's really looking good as a senior.”
Dodsworth’s strong day earned him Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors.
Naperville Central plays Metea Valley on Tuesday before finishing up its season with a home game on Friday against Lincoln-Way East.
After hosting Glenbard North on Tuesday and Batavia on Thursday, St. Charles North will play its final game of the season Saturday at Naperville North.
“We performed pretty well today but we could've done better. In the first half we had a few defensive errors, but we were able to possess the ball well,” Sollenberger said.
“It's been a fun season. Usually we worry about getting to state but this year the goal has been to win a conference championship. And we’re a couple points ahead of St. Charles East in the standings so we’ll see what happens this week.”
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Starting lineups
Naperville Central
GK Caden Redpath
D Mateo Lopez
D Ben Tietjen
D Evan King
D Evan Lueckhoff
M Johnny Kim
M Josh Weigel
M Sean O’Reilly
M Matt Driessens
F Joe LoDuca
F Nate Dodsworth
St. Charles North
GK Alex Curtis
D Drew Balster
D Michael DePasquale
D John Kirby
D Mark Sollenberger
M Collin Michels
M Branden Collins
M Jared Sinnaeve
M James Kucaba
F Sam Strader
F Nate Hanselman
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Nate Dodsworth, sr., F, Naperville Central
Scoring summary
First half
Naperville Central — Weigel (LoDuca) 17 minutes
Second half
Naperville Central — Dodsworth (Lopez) 62 minutes
Redhawks post 2-0 road upset after full week of workouts
By Gary Larsen
ST. CHARLES — Naperville Central practiced for a full week prior to squaring off with St. Charles North on Saturday, an uncommon luxury during a shortened season that has been packed with multiple games each week.
All of that uninterrupted practice gave the Redhawks a sharpness on display in a 2-0 win over the North Stars.
“I believe this was probably the most complete game we've played,” Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said. “The first three weeks of the season it’s been play and recover, recover and play, so getting a full week of practice really helps. I know (players) don't like practice as much as playing games but you get things cleaned up.”
Redhawks senior Nate Dodsworth and his mates were just happy to face live competition after an inordinately long week of training.
“I don’t think I could have taken any more than five days of practice,” Dodsworth said, “but it’s nice to play a game and see that we can put in what we’ve been practicing.”
Josh Weigel scored a first half goal on an assist from Joe LoDuca, and Dodsworth struck in the second half on a Meteo Lopez feed to provide all of the day’s scoring.
Naperville Central keeper Caden Redpath and his backline earned the Redhawks’ fifth shutout of the season. The Redhawks (3-2-4) have only given up four goals in nine games.
Defenders Lopez, Ben Tietjen, Evan King, Evan Lueckhoff and Patrick Longhitano have played rock-solid in front of Redpath this season, as the Redhawks searched for an attack like the one they displayed Saturday.
With the wind at their backs in the second half, the Redhawks attacked particularly well.
“Overall our offense played a lot better today,” Dodsworth said. “We really came together. I feel like we were making runs and working off of each other much better, and there wasn't a lot of stagnant play. It was nice because we were getting in behind, a lot more than we've been doing, so it all kind of came full circle today.”
St. Charles North (10-4-1) -- ranked fifth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 -- didn’t go without its scoring chances, hitting a crossbar in the second half and sending a few decent looks wide of net.
“We hit the crossbar once, hit a couple over the net, and Caden made a couple of saves,” St. Charles North senior Mark Sollenberger said. “So we were close, but we just didn't find the back of the net. We’re always disappointed with a loss, but we just have to move on and worry about our next couple of games.”
The North Stars sit atop the standings in the DuKane Conference race. Glenbard North and Batavia remain on their DKC schedule.
Through Saturday’s opening 15 minutes, St. Charles North saw shots off the feet of James Kucaba, Jared Sinnaeve and Collin Michels sent wide of net, along with a header sent wide from Sam Strader.
Naperville Central scored its first goal soon thereafter. Weigel received a pass ahead from LoDuca in the final third on the left side, took a touch or two to his right, and fired from 17 yards to give Central a 1-0 lead.
Neither Redpath nor North Stars keeper Alex Curtis were tested much from there to halftime. With a stiff wind at their backs to start the second half, the Redhawks’ plan was to ratchet up their attacking pressure.
“We talked about the wind being a factor,” Adams said. “So now let's press their line a little higher, get the ball in their half a little more and look to be more dangerous.
“We spent a whole week of practice talking about how a shot doesn't have to be perfect, but you have to take it. We had some nice shots. We had one hit the post, and we have some kids that can shoot. We just have to convince them to shoot. You ask kids to do certain things and when it actually happens, you're kind of happy about it.”
The Redhawks hit a crossbar at 49 minutes, and the North Stars’ Strader ripped a low shot just wide in transition at 53 minutes. LoDuca raced behind the defense in pursuit of a ball sent over the top by Tietjen, but Curtis raced off his line and destroyed the scoring chance at 55 minutes.
Curtis made another nice stop on a LoDuca shot one minute later.
St. Charles North nearly knotted the score at 60 minutes when Strader took a touch ahead deep on the right side and sent a ball off the crossbar. But Dodsworth grabbed the spotlight at 62 minutes, taking a Lopez cross and burying it for the day’s final tally.
“We've played well defensively the whole year, but that's the first time we've been able to get out and really attack and get forward a little bit more,” Adams said.
“I thought that Sean O'Reilly really played well; Joey (LoDuca) and Josh (Weigel) played really well. Nate Dodsworth, up-top, does such a nice job of settling the ball and then finding that next player to let us build in the attack. He’s a kid that has really improved his play over four years, and he's really looking good as a senior.”
Dodsworth’s strong day earned him Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors.
Naperville Central plays Metea Valley on Tuesday before finishing up its season with a home game on Friday against Lincoln-Way East.
After hosting Glenbard North on Tuesday and Batavia on Thursday, St. Charles North will play its final game of the season Saturday at Naperville North.
“We performed pretty well today but we could've done better. In the first half we had a few defensive errors, but we were able to possess the ball well,” Sollenberger said.
“It's been a fun season. Usually we worry about getting to state but this year the goal has been to win a conference championship. And we’re a couple points ahead of St. Charles East in the standings so we’ll see what happens this week.”
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Starting lineups
Naperville Central
GK Caden Redpath
D Mateo Lopez
D Ben Tietjen
D Evan King
D Evan Lueckhoff
M Johnny Kim
M Josh Weigel
M Sean O’Reilly
M Matt Driessens
F Joe LoDuca
F Nate Dodsworth
St. Charles North
GK Alex Curtis
D Drew Balster
D Michael DePasquale
D John Kirby
D Mark Sollenberger
M Collin Michels
M Branden Collins
M Jared Sinnaeve
M James Kucaba
F Sam Strader
F Nate Hanselman
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Nate Dodsworth, sr., F, Naperville Central
Scoring summary
First half
Naperville Central — Weigel (LoDuca) 17 minutes
Second half
Naperville Central — Dodsworth (Lopez) 62 minutes