Naperville North edges Central
in Best of the West
Barger nets game-winner to extend tourney title streak to 6
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – Naperville North star Alex Barger left Saturday night for a recruiting visit to Indiana.
Before hitting the road, he did something that will give him something to talk about with the Hoosiers’ coaching staff.
Barger bagged his first goal of the season late in the first half. It turned out to be the game-winner as the Huskies edged Naperville Central 2-1 in the Best of the West Tournament title game at Memorial Stadium.
Naperville North (4-1-1), ranked fourth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, now has won the tourney title six-consecutive times, including the last two against their crosstown rival. The Huskies did not allow a goal in four tournament games and snapped no. 13 Naperville Central’s five-game winning streak in the process.
For Barger, who averaged a goal a game over 13 matches in the spring season, it was the end of a frustrating start to the season. Most teams are man-marking him and sometimes manhandling him -- the junior forward went scoreless with one assist during his first six matches.
Nobody was worried, though.
“Alex is always bringing something to the team, even if he’s not scoring goals,” Naperville North coach Jim Konrad said. “Obviously, he’s a key contributor, and we’re all glad that he cracked that today.
“It’s nice he got a goal before he went down to see Indiana.”
The Huskies took a 1-0 lead at the 31:55 mark of the first half when Cam Radeke converted a penalty kick after the Redhawks (5-2) had been whistled for a hand ball in the box.
But despite controlling the possession for significant stretches of the first half, North was unable to break down Central’s defense in the run of play.
Then the Huskies converted another restart. Defender Keegan Flaherty launched a long throw-in from the right side into the box. North defender Ryan Konrad went up for the ball with a Central defender but neither got to it.
The ball bounced to an open Barger, who blasted a volley from near the far post for a 2-0 lead with 4:01 left before intermission.
“Keegan had a throw-in on the 10-yard line,” Barger said. “Ryan went up for it. I lost my marker, and it bounced, so I hit the volley and put it in the back of the net.”
Though Ryan Konrad didn’t get his noggin on the ball, he did affect the play.
“I think he made a difference,” Barger said.
Ryan Konrad concurred.
“I think I stopped a guy from getting his head on it and then Barger hit it in,” he said. “It was a good goal.”
That it came against Central made it all the sweeter for Barger, who was knocked to the ground a couple of times in the match.
“Scoring against a big rival like Central was great,” Barger said. “It was definitely a bit of a slower start for me.
“It was not what I’d hoped for, but scoring in front of all my friends, for the team, was a good feeling.”
The Huskies are feeling good despite the attention defenses are paying to Barger. They’ve now won four-straight games and have pitched five-straight shutouts since a season-opening 2-0 loss to Lyons.
“I have a lot of trust in my teammates,” Barger said. “My movement on the ball and off the ball I think helps my teammates, puts them in a better position.
“If I’m being covered tightly, I tend to look to move the ball pretty quickly.”
Indeed, even when he hasn’t been scoring, Barger has been a disruptive presence in the attacking third. The Huskies have never lacked for scoring chances, especially lately, and they promise more are to come.
“He’s been amazing for the team,” Ryan Konrad said. “He’s been generating a lot of goal-scoring opportunities, a lot of amazing crosses that we should be finishing. And we have finished a lot of them.”
Especially lately. After being shut out in their first two games, the Huskies have scored 11 goals in their last four games, which included a 1-0 win over Benet on Saturday morning, when Caden Hill’s game-winning goal sent North to the final.
“I thought at the beginning of the season, the first 1-2 games we started a bit slow,” Barger said. “We’re still trying to figure out our connections.
“Obviously, today we showed that we’re a competitive team. We’re putting in the work, and we know how to play together.”
That goes for the defensive half of the field, too. The back line of Keegan Flaherty and first-year starters Cole Ritzmann, Adam Zielke and Ryan Konrad continue to jell even against tough opponents.
Konrad, a junior who is Jim Konrad’s son, has grown several inches since last year and is coming into his own.
“It’s amazing to play for my dad,” Ryan Konrad said. “My whole life has been leading up to this. It’s been awesome.”
Though not without challenges because the family name is prominent at North. Jim Konrad and his brother Jay were stars for the Huskies, as were Jay’s sons Mitch, who was in attendance Saturday, and Ty, a sophomore forward at Ohio State.
“It’s a lot of pressure,” Ryan Konrad said. “Even though I’m not the most technical player on the field, I’ve just got to work my butt off to cover for everybody.
“I think the whole team has done a great job of working their butts off, too.”
There’s no doubt about that, and the effort was needed against the Redhawks, who are getting tired of playing second fiddle to the Huskies in this rivalry.
Central made things interesting in the second half after the Huskies appeared poised to put the game away. With 25 minutes to go. Jacob Ryu had a wide-open shot in the middle of the box but Central goalkeeper Austin Waite made a brilliant stop.
Ten minutes later, senior Benjamin Tietjen put the Redhawks on the board when he pounced on a loose ball in the box and scored on a 10-yard shot to make it 2-1.
“I think they came out with a lot more energy than us the first half,” Tietjen said. “They were pressing us hard the whole game, all the way up to our backline, and we just weren’t really ready for it.
“We were playing a lot of kickball at the start. We started playing their game and not our game.
But the Redhawks hung tough behind their defense, which saw a string of five-consecutive shutouts end.
“I think our defense is our strong suit,” Tietjen said. “Before this we were on a five-game winning streak with five shutouts.
“I think we had just as many chances, if not more, than North this game. We just need to finish them.”
That Naperville North did not finish anything over the final 44 minutes of the match spoke to the resilience of Central’s backline, which is led by senior Mateo Lopez. It held up in the face of North’s powerful attack.
“I think our whole defense is playing very solid all the way down to our subs,” Lopez said. “Evan King, Patrick Bohan, Patrick Berryman, everyone has been playing lights-out.”
Lopez enjoyed the test of playing his crosstown rivals in a tournament final.
“It’s good because we like the competition,” Lopez said. “It’s always good to play good players and you get to know what you’re going to play against in the playoffs. You get to learn different situations and how to handle them.”
The Redhawks had to learn how to handle a situation no team wants when they lost several key players to injury. King went out in the first half and backup Owen Stevens left in the second half. Midfielder Tomas McCormack also got hurt.
“We talked about adversity, because we had a lot of it today,” Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said. “We lose a center back fairly early in Evan and had to make some adjustments and honestly played pretty well since he was out.
“We started getting light on numbers at one point but there were kids who played hard. I thought Patrick Berryman and Patrick Bohan had to go in and play center back, and they haven’t played a lot of it together. I thought they adjusted well.”
Adams also was impressed with the play of senior midfielder Matt Driessens, who held his own against North standouts Ryu and Tyson Amoo-Mensah.
“North games are going to be tough, and I thought Matt did a good job of matching North’s physicality and the way that they played,” Adams said. “The good news is we get to play them again in two weeks.
“It’s what can we learn from this game. How can we adjust and how can we beat them in the DVC game?”
The Redhawks host the Huskies again on September 21, with the winner being heavily favored to win the conference.
Jim Konrad isn’t looking that far ahead yet. He’s savoring the victory.
“We did a good job of coming together tonight,” he said. “Obviously, Central is a great team so it’s always a battle with them. We were fortunate to come out ahead.
“It’s always fun to play in this game. I’m glad it was the two Naperville schools again. I’ve always been proud of District 203, that between us and Central we’ve continued to set the bar.”
The standard has been set high for Ryan Konrad, too. Yet the elder Konrad said his son has handled the situation with grace.
“It’s hard with not only Ryan but all his friends,” Jim Konrad said. “I’ve known these kids their whole lives. “Obviously when your son is playing, you’re coaching your team and you’re demanding from him what you demand from everybody else.
“But you’re also his dad. So you’re really hoping for maybe he scores a goal or makes sure that we don’t make the big mistake that leads to an opponent’s goal.
“He’s very responsible, wants to be good, and he’s surrounded by his teammates who are also good kids.”
Starting lineups
Naperville North
GK Patrick Horn
D Keegan Flaherty
D Cole Ritzmann
D Adam Zielke
D Ryan Konrad
M Tyson Amoo-Mensah
M Jacob Ryu
M Caden Hill
M Bryan Biggs
F Cam Redeke
F Alex Barger
Naperville Central
GK Dean Scott
D Mateo Lopez
D Patrick Berryman
D Evan King
D Patrick Bohan
M Matt Driessens
M Josh Weigel
M Sean O’Reilly
M Tomas McCormack
F Benjamin Tietjen
F Joseph LoDuca
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Alex Barger, jr., F, Naperville North
Scoring summary
First half
Naperville North – Cam Radeke (PK) 31:55 remaining
Naperville North – Alex Barger (Keegan Flaherty) 4:01 remaining
Second half
Naperville Central – Benjamin Tietjen 15:06 remaining
in Best of the West
Barger nets game-winner to extend tourney title streak to 6
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – Naperville North star Alex Barger left Saturday night for a recruiting visit to Indiana.
Before hitting the road, he did something that will give him something to talk about with the Hoosiers’ coaching staff.
Barger bagged his first goal of the season late in the first half. It turned out to be the game-winner as the Huskies edged Naperville Central 2-1 in the Best of the West Tournament title game at Memorial Stadium.
Naperville North (4-1-1), ranked fourth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, now has won the tourney title six-consecutive times, including the last two against their crosstown rival. The Huskies did not allow a goal in four tournament games and snapped no. 13 Naperville Central’s five-game winning streak in the process.
For Barger, who averaged a goal a game over 13 matches in the spring season, it was the end of a frustrating start to the season. Most teams are man-marking him and sometimes manhandling him -- the junior forward went scoreless with one assist during his first six matches.
Nobody was worried, though.
“Alex is always bringing something to the team, even if he’s not scoring goals,” Naperville North coach Jim Konrad said. “Obviously, he’s a key contributor, and we’re all glad that he cracked that today.
“It’s nice he got a goal before he went down to see Indiana.”
The Huskies took a 1-0 lead at the 31:55 mark of the first half when Cam Radeke converted a penalty kick after the Redhawks (5-2) had been whistled for a hand ball in the box.
But despite controlling the possession for significant stretches of the first half, North was unable to break down Central’s defense in the run of play.
Then the Huskies converted another restart. Defender Keegan Flaherty launched a long throw-in from the right side into the box. North defender Ryan Konrad went up for the ball with a Central defender but neither got to it.
The ball bounced to an open Barger, who blasted a volley from near the far post for a 2-0 lead with 4:01 left before intermission.
“Keegan had a throw-in on the 10-yard line,” Barger said. “Ryan went up for it. I lost my marker, and it bounced, so I hit the volley and put it in the back of the net.”
Though Ryan Konrad didn’t get his noggin on the ball, he did affect the play.
“I think he made a difference,” Barger said.
Ryan Konrad concurred.
“I think I stopped a guy from getting his head on it and then Barger hit it in,” he said. “It was a good goal.”
That it came against Central made it all the sweeter for Barger, who was knocked to the ground a couple of times in the match.
“Scoring against a big rival like Central was great,” Barger said. “It was definitely a bit of a slower start for me.
“It was not what I’d hoped for, but scoring in front of all my friends, for the team, was a good feeling.”
The Huskies are feeling good despite the attention defenses are paying to Barger. They’ve now won four-straight games and have pitched five-straight shutouts since a season-opening 2-0 loss to Lyons.
“I have a lot of trust in my teammates,” Barger said. “My movement on the ball and off the ball I think helps my teammates, puts them in a better position.
“If I’m being covered tightly, I tend to look to move the ball pretty quickly.”
Indeed, even when he hasn’t been scoring, Barger has been a disruptive presence in the attacking third. The Huskies have never lacked for scoring chances, especially lately, and they promise more are to come.
“He’s been amazing for the team,” Ryan Konrad said. “He’s been generating a lot of goal-scoring opportunities, a lot of amazing crosses that we should be finishing. And we have finished a lot of them.”
Especially lately. After being shut out in their first two games, the Huskies have scored 11 goals in their last four games, which included a 1-0 win over Benet on Saturday morning, when Caden Hill’s game-winning goal sent North to the final.
“I thought at the beginning of the season, the first 1-2 games we started a bit slow,” Barger said. “We’re still trying to figure out our connections.
“Obviously, today we showed that we’re a competitive team. We’re putting in the work, and we know how to play together.”
That goes for the defensive half of the field, too. The back line of Keegan Flaherty and first-year starters Cole Ritzmann, Adam Zielke and Ryan Konrad continue to jell even against tough opponents.
Konrad, a junior who is Jim Konrad’s son, has grown several inches since last year and is coming into his own.
“It’s amazing to play for my dad,” Ryan Konrad said. “My whole life has been leading up to this. It’s been awesome.”
Though not without challenges because the family name is prominent at North. Jim Konrad and his brother Jay were stars for the Huskies, as were Jay’s sons Mitch, who was in attendance Saturday, and Ty, a sophomore forward at Ohio State.
“It’s a lot of pressure,” Ryan Konrad said. “Even though I’m not the most technical player on the field, I’ve just got to work my butt off to cover for everybody.
“I think the whole team has done a great job of working their butts off, too.”
There’s no doubt about that, and the effort was needed against the Redhawks, who are getting tired of playing second fiddle to the Huskies in this rivalry.
Central made things interesting in the second half after the Huskies appeared poised to put the game away. With 25 minutes to go. Jacob Ryu had a wide-open shot in the middle of the box but Central goalkeeper Austin Waite made a brilliant stop.
Ten minutes later, senior Benjamin Tietjen put the Redhawks on the board when he pounced on a loose ball in the box and scored on a 10-yard shot to make it 2-1.
“I think they came out with a lot more energy than us the first half,” Tietjen said. “They were pressing us hard the whole game, all the way up to our backline, and we just weren’t really ready for it.
“We were playing a lot of kickball at the start. We started playing their game and not our game.
But the Redhawks hung tough behind their defense, which saw a string of five-consecutive shutouts end.
“I think our defense is our strong suit,” Tietjen said. “Before this we were on a five-game winning streak with five shutouts.
“I think we had just as many chances, if not more, than North this game. We just need to finish them.”
That Naperville North did not finish anything over the final 44 minutes of the match spoke to the resilience of Central’s backline, which is led by senior Mateo Lopez. It held up in the face of North’s powerful attack.
“I think our whole defense is playing very solid all the way down to our subs,” Lopez said. “Evan King, Patrick Bohan, Patrick Berryman, everyone has been playing lights-out.”
Lopez enjoyed the test of playing his crosstown rivals in a tournament final.
“It’s good because we like the competition,” Lopez said. “It’s always good to play good players and you get to know what you’re going to play against in the playoffs. You get to learn different situations and how to handle them.”
The Redhawks had to learn how to handle a situation no team wants when they lost several key players to injury. King went out in the first half and backup Owen Stevens left in the second half. Midfielder Tomas McCormack also got hurt.
“We talked about adversity, because we had a lot of it today,” Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said. “We lose a center back fairly early in Evan and had to make some adjustments and honestly played pretty well since he was out.
“We started getting light on numbers at one point but there were kids who played hard. I thought Patrick Berryman and Patrick Bohan had to go in and play center back, and they haven’t played a lot of it together. I thought they adjusted well.”
Adams also was impressed with the play of senior midfielder Matt Driessens, who held his own against North standouts Ryu and Tyson Amoo-Mensah.
“North games are going to be tough, and I thought Matt did a good job of matching North’s physicality and the way that they played,” Adams said. “The good news is we get to play them again in two weeks.
“It’s what can we learn from this game. How can we adjust and how can we beat them in the DVC game?”
The Redhawks host the Huskies again on September 21, with the winner being heavily favored to win the conference.
Jim Konrad isn’t looking that far ahead yet. He’s savoring the victory.
“We did a good job of coming together tonight,” he said. “Obviously, Central is a great team so it’s always a battle with them. We were fortunate to come out ahead.
“It’s always fun to play in this game. I’m glad it was the two Naperville schools again. I’ve always been proud of District 203, that between us and Central we’ve continued to set the bar.”
The standard has been set high for Ryan Konrad, too. Yet the elder Konrad said his son has handled the situation with grace.
“It’s hard with not only Ryan but all his friends,” Jim Konrad said. “I’ve known these kids their whole lives. “Obviously when your son is playing, you’re coaching your team and you’re demanding from him what you demand from everybody else.
“But you’re also his dad. So you’re really hoping for maybe he scores a goal or makes sure that we don’t make the big mistake that leads to an opponent’s goal.
“He’s very responsible, wants to be good, and he’s surrounded by his teammates who are also good kids.”
Starting lineups
Naperville North
GK Patrick Horn
D Keegan Flaherty
D Cole Ritzmann
D Adam Zielke
D Ryan Konrad
M Tyson Amoo-Mensah
M Jacob Ryu
M Caden Hill
M Bryan Biggs
F Cam Redeke
F Alex Barger
Naperville Central
GK Dean Scott
D Mateo Lopez
D Patrick Berryman
D Evan King
D Patrick Bohan
M Matt Driessens
M Josh Weigel
M Sean O’Reilly
M Tomas McCormack
F Benjamin Tietjen
F Joseph LoDuca
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Alex Barger, jr., F, Naperville North
Scoring summary
First half
Naperville North – Cam Radeke (PK) 31:55 remaining
Naperville North – Alex Barger (Keegan Flaherty) 4:01 remaining
Second half
Naperville Central – Benjamin Tietjen 15:06 remaining